Countdown - 11 November 1996 

Monday 11th November 1996

r.i.p barry cryer

Exactly 10 years before I was born

I had EPIBLAST too in that first round.

I got 442 here: 100 x 9 = 900 10 - 8 = 2 900 / 2 = 450 450 - 9 = 441 441 + 1 = 442

I can get to 442: 100 x 9 = 900 10 - 8 = 2 900 / 2 = 450 450 - 9 = 441 441 + 1 = 442

In the first round, I also got EPIBLAST, but I came by it through an expected channel: my professor covered the stages of embryonic development in zoology class. Other than that, the most interesting word was perhaps TALIPES, which is the medical term for club foot. In the third round, I had MORTISE, a word I've been trained to look for by other episodes of _Countdown_ . In the first numbers round, 443 was indeed impossible, but there was a really wild solution for one-away from above (one-away from below is a bit more straightforward, as Gcat3000 has shown). 100 x 10 = 1000 1000 - 1 = 999 999 x 8 = 7992 9 + 9 = 18 7992 / 18 = 444 The reason this works is because 18 is 9 x 2, therefore the 2 cancels out and leaves 4 (8 / 2), and then the 9 cancels out leaving 111 (999 / 9), so the problem becomes 111 x 4 = 444. But you have to multiply up to 4 digits before dividing because the ratio isn't a whole number (4 / 9). This is one of the few times you can use a solution most commonly encountered in four-large games. And if anyone is curious about the 831 thing Carol mentions, it has to do with a numbers game from the episode that aired on 6 November 1996. It was 100 75 25 10 5 3 --> 831. Carol only got 830 (probably (75 + 5 + 3) x 10 = 830) and presumably pronounced 831 impossible. Frankly, this is not new. She often pronounced far less difficult problems than this impossible, even when they could be solved perfectly, so I'm not sure why this would be an issue unless someone in the audience showed her up. I tried solving it without looking at the answer and it was doable, but very difficult. I only knew what to do because I've played four-large games like this. 100 x 25 = 2500 75 - 5 = 70 70 / 10 = 7 2500 - 7 = 2493 2493 / 3 = 831 I'm somewhat critical of Carol's mental arithmetic skills, but even here I'll willingly admit that she had a good excuse for not getting this one, so I don't know why it's rankling so much. I think one would have to watch the episode to find out, but unfortunately it doesn't seem there's a recording of that particular episode available. In the fifth round, there was also MATIEST. In the seventh round, I also had BREECH, but in the firearms sense. In the second numbers round, there were a couple of ways of factoring for the answer (79 x 3 = 237): 6 - 2 = 4 75 + 4 = 79 7 + 5 = 12 12 - 9 = 3 79 x 3 = 237 9 - 5 = 4 75 + 4 = 79 6 / 2 = 3 79 x 3 = 237 And there was also this solution: 6 - 2 = 4 75 x 4 = 300 9 x 7 = 63 300 - 63 = 237

Second letters round, I got ADEPTEST. Pretty sure that's a word.

237 method (without using the 75) (9 x 6) - 7 = 47 47 x 5 = 235 235 + 2 = 237

Brilliant

Jolters

I got 440 in my first attempt. I did 9/9 = 1 + 1 = 2/8 = 4 x 100 + 10 = 440.

Archery

Tesla electric car company 5 letters

I got FUMIEST for 16:00