(back to The Loser's Guide to Countdown)


With many thanks to the following very clever people who contributed advice: Kirk Bevins, Michael Wallace, David Williams, David Roe, Jon Corby, Peter Mabey, Malcolm James, Jon O'Neill, David O'Donnell, Craig Beevers, Martin Gardner, Junaid Mubeen, JackHurst, Joseph Bolas, Charlie Reams, Gary Male, Roxanne, Hannah O, Kate Richardson, Gavin Chipper.



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***** CONUNDRUMS *****
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If you find a nonsensical but convincing conundrum solution, like LOVESTICK or MINEHWALE, try a little spoonerisation (LIVESTOCK, MEANWHILE)

Look at conundrum PROPERLY for a couple secs before writing letters down.

Remember the buzzer! This may sound crazy but on a different quiz show I lost precious time trying to find the damn thing. Keep your finger on or very near it.


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***** LETTERS ROUNDS *****
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Watch out for DE / ED, RE / ER, and combinations thereof.

Suffixes / prefixes to watch out for:
UNDER, OVER, ABLE, IST, ISM, HEAD, NESS, LESS, TION, IER, IEST,
ED, ER, RE, DE, ATE, ITE, ISE, LE, LY, ABLY, ILY, GHT, INTER
IES, TION, OUT, OUS, OUR

If there's -NESS, there might be -LESS!

1. Check for 7-stems
2. Look for anything that jumps out
3. Check for common endings
4. Check for composite words
5. Look at the board

When looking for IER and IEST and you have (eg) FOAK, remember to just try 2 vowels and 1 consonant, eg OAKIEST.

If you have a noun, look for S.

Whatever you get, look for prefixes and suffixes to add, eg IM- (PLANT, PROVE) or -ER or -ATE.

DON'T ASSUME THERE ISN'T ANYTHING THERE. Keep trying till the end.

Pay attention and try to anticipate as the letters come out.

Make sure when choosing letters that the first seven to come out are 3 vowels 4 consonants.

Use the monitor to watch the letters.

p189 of Toiurnoff's book gives suggested placings of letters in grid.

Comparitives of 2-syllable adjectives (eg LARDY) must be specified in the dictionary. But not for one-syllable adjactives, eg DARKER and DARKEST.

All verbs can be extended with -ING and -ED

British English tends to double the final consonant in inflected forms, e.g TUNNELLED, CRUELLEST. US spelling does not: TUNNELED, CRUELEST. There are lots of exceptions to this rule (eg EDITED.) American words (PARDNER, HAULER) are allowed, it is only American spellings of universal words that are not allowed.



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***** APTEROUS *****
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Don't start a new round until you're ready (paper, pen etc).

Whenever you log on, play practice game first to get brain in gear.

Put cursor in box ready for declaration