But then, if you wanted easy questions then you really ought to watch family fortunes and tackle brain teasers such as "name something red".

It was quite clear that the calculations all came to somewhere around 31,556,926 so there must be a significance specific to that number and so "approximations to the number of seconds in a year" would be the answer and they knew it was the length of a year, but missed out the key part.

That's exactly what I said. People do enjoy that kind of question but in the appropriate setting. A quiz where the object is to see which team can score the most points and they only have six questions each of this type is definitely not the right setting as it isn't constructive to the outcome of the quiz and its sole purpose would appear to be 'look how clever and devious the question setters are.'

Well ... sort of.

As soon as their answer was deemed incorrect, I came on here to see who else was outraged by the unusually harsh judgement, given the number of times loose approximations to the answer have been accepted. (It seems everyone else was still watching the rest of the quiz. )

He didn't mention seconds but in my mind (his thinking too I assume) 'the length of a year' was the answer 'obviously' (implied but not specifically stated) in seconds.

I studied physics and often had to convert times to seconds and have worked in engineering and in software. The latter included time calculations, so even the first clue (pi x 10 million (~ 31 million)) stirred something but as soon as I saw 365.25 then 86400 I knew it and as I said the answer was 'a year' (measured in seconds). Probably I'd have said a year in seconds when prompted but unfortunately he didn't, presumably thinking everyone knew it. VC saying "I need a more precise answer" would have clinched it.

I like OC but I'd like to see more consistency in acceptance of the answers. Unless this case affected the result (I don't know, I'd given up before the end) it's just something to put down to human imperfections even in the world of TV quizzes.

Are you sure "outrage" is the correct word? Really?

"TV quiz team didn't answer question correctly and didn't get a point" - OUTRAGE - really?

OK, I withdraw 'outrage'.

Annoyance perhaps.

TV quiz team answered question with lack of precision when other less precise answers are accepted and didn't get a point. .... viewer gets miffed.

Miffed is a much better word.

But I think overall those questions where you need a vital keyword to show you have fully understood the connection blend in amongst those where a broader definition is enough quite well.

Milfed is an even better word.

Given answer: Their names are nouns with an S on the end
Answer onscreen: Third-Person singular present indicative


I bet they were happy that they finally got some leeway

The Julian calendar had a leap year every 4 years leading to an average of exactly 365.25 days, the Gregorian calendar in use in England since 1751 has the modification that century years are only leap if they divide by 400, meaning the average year is slightly shorter (by about 15 minutes iirc). There is no reason for any astronomer to use exactly 365.25 as it doesn't correspond to any of the physical 'years' I listed in my previous post. The question was badly thought through and pretty meaningless as it stands, particularly as one of the clues wasn't even exact.

"once had his hat blown off during a windy day in Cornwall" has to be a new low for the dreadfully twee contestant introductions

Although I can well believe to be fair that that is the most interesting thing about that lad - man he is never ever going to get laid.

No, it's far more impressive than that, he... gasp.... "lost his cap" that fateful day.

Unless that's a euphemism for something else.....

You've got to admit he aced the Pixar and collectable card game rounds though...

I'm sure I can't have been the only person who just knew that "P" was going to come up for one of the Pixars...

Nonsense.

He need only ask me.

You can't be sure, just look at the number of well known people who are as ugly as anything but got gorgeous wives or girl friends - obviously wealth is a good aphrodisiac but often the partner is already wealthy.

He does seem to contribute a lot to the team though, just seems rather shy to me.

If she wasn't spoken for, he'd be just VCM's type.

Hahaha, was that seriously his introduction? I missed that bit. I thought he was going to surprise us with an actual anecdote - as did Victoria - when he said he heard a radio show once about one of the clues but alas that was the end of the story.

It's sad how anyone who appears on TV, even on a show like this where he surely isn't seeking fame or attention, is fair game for ridicule. I'm sad to say I probably appear to people as shy and socially awkward as he does so I shouldn't really mock.

The question setters/researchers/producers have been a bit out of order in putting a Countdown-based question on an episode featuring someone who had appeared on Countdown loads of times. That's akin to a 'home' question on A Question Of Sport. That particular question should have been used on a different episode.

The question this week with the hidden animal names was more like a Connecting Wall group (although in that instance they wouldn't have capped anything up).

Just pure luck of the draw; you can't put out questions targeted for and/or against the particular team in that round.

Re Countdown question, what was a 'Whitehall'?

It's a one-two-one-two, derived from the old Whitehall 1212 phone number for Scotland Yard. One from one row, two from the next, one from the next, two from the next.

(1212) Beaten to the buzzer!

Thanks!

What a tramp.