Definition of Underlap:

"To attempt a long throw-in, but fail to reach the penalty area"

(from Dictionary of Very Weak Football Jokes)

Yes. There has definitely been a sexing down of her image of late

Love figure hugging red number today

What happens if Countdown ends?

How will men get their fix of Rachel?

Rest assured she won't be short of tv work should Countdown end. I could definitely see her presenting the One Show or something similar. Hell they should even invent a show for her. She'd certainly attract a captive audience

Or she could always appear on C5, weeknights at 5.30pm.

I think whoever advises her on clothes needs the boot. Some of them are so old fashioned. I wonder if she wears anyof them when she is not in count down? She used to look alot nicer with modern younger looking clothes.

Very Miss Prim and Proper today.

did I hear them allow interlap today but not underlap a few days back ?!

ODoE don't seem to always get it right but Countdown usually just goes straight from the ODoE irrespective of this*. interlap and underlap aren't the worst examples of this, I would cite "pooter" not being there despite being in common usage where archaic literary terms always seem to be.

*The exception is Susy's inconsistent "restaurant rule" where sometimes she allows mass nouns to be pluralised and sometimes she doesn't.

I was watching the early morning repeat today which I presume was yesterday's programme, I was surprised moleskins wasn't allowed for a 9 letter word.

So was I. That's the problem with Suzy's "restaurant rule" that I mentioned above. If they just had a straight rule that mass nouns couldn't be pluralised (i.e. follow the dictionary) then such fuzziness can't occur - this can change and has in the past changed the outcome of a game.

Moleskin trousers and skirts are sold in Australia (not actually made of mole skins, obviously, but a very heavy cotton) and are referred to as "moleskins" in the way denim jeans are "denims".

Also, have others noticed Nick seems quite taken with Rachel but is sometimes a bit curt with Susie?

I got focalised Woo. Had pavings as well, but that was another "Susie decision"

I prefer her in old-fashioned styles. I feel that they are more flattering to her beauty - but then I'm an old-fashioned person

I haven't been on this topic for a couple of weeks and wonder how people are taking to Nick now he's had a wee while to settle in (although I realise a week of Countdown is just a day) so obviously he's not really had many weeks. I like him and glad he's back on The Apprentice, too!

Back to something like form today from Rachel. Her boobs looks smashing.

WTF is the point of having a little known newsreader on just to tell us that in her hotel she was mistaken for a better known newsreader. Yawn.

Doesn't bode well for the rest of the week, filler anecdotes should only come out on Thursday/Friday.

I fast-forwarded though the guest. It's rarely I don't these days although the consumer-law guy last week was quite interesting so I watched him through.

Dictionary Corner failed to come up with a possible 8 in Round 2: DAINTIER and, worse, in Round 4: ENROLLER - worse because they did come up with ENROLL. Both my suggestions are in the Countdown dictionary.

Somebody up-thread asked about Nick who I think is doing an excellent job now that a few rough edges have been smoothed off.

The ODE has a lengthy section in its introduction which attempts to explain what categories of mass nouns can be pluralised. It even mentions Countdown by name, and this is the advice that Susie tries to follow. I think the section gets substantially re-written with each edition (I don't have the latest, published in 2010) and this may explain why some of her rulings seem to change over time.

A blanket "mass nouns can't be pluralised" rule would definitely be contrary to the dictionary.

If i was Fiona Armstrong i would feel rather miffed being mistaken for Angela Ripoff.She must be a good few years younger

Goodness me. Rachel looks fantastic today!

Oh, indeed! Especially on the numbers rounds. That split in her skirt went a very tantalising way towards her wonder-bum.

But nonetheless a simple rule which would remove the ambiguity and prevent the result of the game coming down to a decision by Suzy which she could make either way depending on her whim - this has happened in the past more than once. They don't always go exactly by the dictionary such as they disallow US spellings but the important thing is the rule is clear.