Countdown Game Show - Series 87 Week 7 (2023)

The clock is ticking as contestants compete in games of lexical dexterity and numerical agility. Each day two contestants compete in 15 rounds of words and numbers to become the Countdown Champion.
Colin Murray and Rachel Riley host as contestants race against the clock to pit their wits against vowels, consonants and numbers. Jamelia joins Susie Dent in Dictionary Corner.
SPIN-OFF
"8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown" is hosted by Jimmy Carr, with Rachel Riley and Susie Dent assuming their Countdown roles. The formation of the crossover with "8 Out if 10 Cats" began as a series of specials, the first of which was broadcast on 2 January 2012, when Channel 4 orchestrated a special "mash-up night", merging two shows to form a special edition of the pair, as part of its 30th-anniversary celebrations eleven years ago.

[@hannahpreece3651]

For those looking for 222 Unless I’m wrong again 4*50= 200 +75 = 275 /25 = 11 +100= 111 *2 = 222 Edit on replay I beat Rachel to 222 a different way. (4*100)+50 = 450 450/2= 225 75/25 = 3 225-3 = 222

[@easternbrown]

Nice

[@Bradonthe333]

Nice. I did it like this: 4*100= 400 400+50=450 450÷2=225 75÷25=3 225-3=222

[@THEMINDCASTLE]

For the first one, it took me 10 minutes but I have a fun solution: 75 - 9 = 66 66 x 100 = 6600 7 x 50 = 350 6600 + 350 = 6950 6950 / 25 = 278 !!!

[@joe_z]

11:26 I did it the James Martin way and took 100 - 25 = 75, multiplied that by 75 to get 5625, added 5 for 5630, and divided the result by 10. I was _giddy_ when that solution was the first thing that popped into my head just 2 seconds in.

[@daviddesreumaux338]

473 9×75=675 100+1=101 50÷25=2×101=202 675-202=473

[@Ima-hoot]

I got 575 a different way. (8*6)+9 = 57. Multiply by 10 and then add 5

[@manget66]

576 is Rachel's infamous square from #catscountdown, 8*3 =24, 25-1=24, 24*24= 576

[@ricksimon9867]

Is it zero?

[@christian-tylerwildman765]

25, 50, 75, 100, 2, 4 -13:34-15:00 100×4=400 400+50=450 450÷2=225 225-3=222

[@denniscain7218]

6:14 575=10*9*6+(8-1)*5, seems more intuitive. 11:14 701=(75+3)*9-8+7 14:58 had 221=50/2+100+75+25-4 20:50 had 784=(50-1)*(8+5+3) 22:00 can't get there even with exponents. 24:43 had 387=(10+3)*6*5-4+1 25:55 423=75*7-100-2

[@chriscotterill1989]

Monday’s last numbers 575 10 x (9 x 6) = 540 5 x (8 - 1) = 35 540 + 35 = 575

[@RyanADillon]

It was very obvious to me to get 781 (1 away) which would have won: (75+3)*(50/5)+1

[@harryholden5377]

For the last one I did 100x5-75-2=423

[@DA-eq1yp]

So did I

[@quizmaster85]

My solution for 576: (75 + 25) - (1 + 3) = 96 96 × 6 = *_576_*

[@TheSherihollywood]

Does anyone know why there haven't been any new Cats does Countdown episodes? Thanks for the upload btw! :)

[@easternbrown]

Funny how he broke down at 0:55. I was thinking he did the same as me until he didn't just do (75/25)x9 to get the 27 he needed.

[@NaviafromtheSDR]

701 7 + 3 = 10 10* 75 = 750 750 - 50 = 700 9 - 8 = 1 700 + 1

[@brendanr9732]

789: (100+25+7)*2=264 264-1=263 263*3=789

[@einSteppenwolf]

117=4×25+9+8=4×(25+4)+9-8=9×(25-4×3)=3×(25+9+4+8/4)

[@jamesrobert994]

Fridays final numbers game I hoped they realised (75+10)*5=425-2

[@izme1000]

5:31 Didn't use the 8. Could have been off by 3 instead of 5.

[@TheSpotify95]

21:06 Fantastic; two 1's and a 2, overall very small numbers, and a whopper of a target! Good luck getting any points at all! edit: Knew it, off by 606, that's not going to get you anything - that's worse than the infamous 967 round (only 800 possible) in Anne Robinson's era!

[@kenchristie9214]

Another way to get 701. 75 + 3 = 78 x 9 = 702 - (8 - 7) = 701.

[@medusa_404]

Friday: 966 This must have been the worst numbers round ever. Only small small numbers, and a very large target. Don't think I've ever seen a round where 606 away is the best you could've done! 117 25 * 4 = 100 100 + 9 + 8 = 117 9 - 4 = 5 25 * 5 = 125 125 - 8 = 117 25 - 8 - 4 = 13 13 * 9 = 117 All small solution 8 + 4 + 4 - 3 = 13 13 * 9 = 117 388 6 + 5 - 1 = 10 10 * 10 = 100 100 - 3 = 97 97 * 4 = 388 5 * 4 = 20 20 * 10 = 200 200 - 6 = 194 3 - 1 = 2 194 * 2 = 388 10 + 3 = 13 13 * 5 = 65 65 - 1 = 64 64 * 6 = 384 384 + 4 = 388 423 5 * 100 = 500 500 - 75 - 2 = 423 7 * 5 = 35 35 * 10 = 350 350 + 75 - 2 = 423 75 + 10 = 85 85 * 5 = 425 425 - 2 = 423

[@isaacking6305]

576: 75 x 8 = 600 25 - 1 = 24. 600 - 24 = 576

[@djcaesar9114]

What is Rachel doing everytime when she waits looking at the roof?

[@jennywolswinkel8548]

I wonder if there is a monitor nup there with the numbers on it, so she can look at them without standing in front of the board? I also wonder if it tells her whether or not it's possible.

[@santerikoho1579]

I think Rachel has been told to that, but she does some solutions way harder than they could be done. Is it to make the players not feel bad? At 6:03 Rachel uses 19 x 6 AND 115 x 5. I dont think either of those are the ways that regular folks use to solve that round. I did it this way: 6x8 = 48, add 9 and then you have 57. After that there are still 10 and 5 to be used. So pretty straightforward I would say. Or at least I think that multiplying by 10 is easier than multiplying by 19 :D

[@stefanjoeres7149]

It's also straightforward to see that 575 = 5 * 115. And 20 * 6 = 120, so (10 + 9) * 6 = 114. And then you have a 1 still to use.

[@isaacking6305]

423: 100 x 5 = 500 75 + 2 = 77 500 - 77 = 423

[@rodrigomarinho1807]

Some numbers games are impossible whichever the target is (targets > 99), such as 1/2/3/1/2/3. If this selections eventually comes.up, will they let it play?

[@theanitmeme]

Yes, they play it. After the round, Rachel says it’s impossible instead of solving it.

[@isaacking6305]

782: 50/5 = 10 10 x 75 = 750 3 + 1 = 4 4 x 8 = 32 750 + 32 = 782

[@jacquesmertens3369]

I pointed out your attention-seeking behaviour in a separate comment. Hope you get the hint.

[@isaacking6305]

511: 75 x 7 = 525 10 + 4 = 14 525 - 14 = 511

[@isaacking6305]

117: 25 x 4 = 100 8 + 9 = 17 100 + 17 = 117

[@Bradonthe333]

For 526 i did: (25+3)*(10+9)=532 532-8+2=526

[@einSteppenwolf]

423=5×100-75-2

[@isaacking6305]

154: 75 x 2 = 150 150 + 4 = 154

[@daviddesreumaux338]

701 9×75=675+50=725 3×8=24 725-24=701

[@jacquesmertens3369]

(25x10)+9=259, 259x2=518, 518+8=526 And unlike IsaacKing and so many other attention-seekers I don't need 20 lines to write that down.

[@daviddesreumaux338]

575 10+9=19×6=114+1=115×5=575

[@daviddesreumaux338]

576 75-3=72×8=576

[@daviddesreumaux338]

234 75÷25=3+10=13 100÷50=2×9=18 ×13=234

[@stoatystoat174]

:)

[@NT-lq3lq]

Finally Rachel is losing weight and going mil f

[@Nullifidian]

Monday Countdown In the first round I saw Rachel's solution, and I also had these ones: 100 - 9 = 91 91 x 75 = 6825 6825 - 50 = 6775 6775 / 25 = 271 271 + 7 = 278 75 - 9 = 66 100 x 66 = 6600 50 x 7 = 350 6600 + 350 = 6950 6950 / 25 = 278 25 x 7 = 175 175 + 9 = 184 184 x 75 = 13800 13800 + 100 = 13900 13900 / 50 = 278 The logic behind the first two are that, when divided by 25, 100 reduces to 4, 75 to 3, and 50 to 2. So in the first case I did (100 - 9) x 3 - 2 + 7 = 278 and in the second (75 - 9) x 4 + 7 x 2 = 278. The third is a bit more involved, but I'm essentially multiplying by a ratio: 3:2 or 1.5. Since the bottom number is now 50, 100 is equivalent to 2. Therefore (25 x 7 + 9) x 1.5 + 2 = 278. In the second round, I immediately saw 24^2, so my solution was: 25 - 1 = 24 8 x 3 = 24 24 x 24 = 576 Other obvious solutions were: 75 - 3 = 72 72 x 8 = 576 100 - 3 - 1 = 96 96 x 6 = 576 In the third round, I saw Rachel's solution at once, so I played around with multiplying the target by 8, since the interim target would be 4056 and there was already a 6. And it actually worked: 100 / 25 = 4 50 + 4 = 54 75 x 54 = 4050 4050 + 6 = 4056 4056 / 8 = 507 In the fourth round, I saw Rachel's solution, but I also had this solution from hitting an interim target of 65 x 9 and then subtracting: 8 + 6 = 14 14 - 1 = 13 13 x 9 x 5 = 585 585 - 10 = 575 As well as this solution that I'm somewhat surprised neither of the contestants saw: 8 x 6 = 48 48 + 9 = 57 57 x 10 = 570 570 + 5 = 575

[@Nullifidian]

Tuesday Countdown In the first round, I saw the contestants' solution, but a couple of clever solutions Rachel could have done are these: 75 x 10 = 750 750 - 100 = 650 650 x 9 = 5850 5850 / 25 = 234 50 + 10 = 60 100 x 60 = 6000 6000 + 75 = 6075 6075 / 25 = 243 243 - 9 = 234 The logic being that 100 / 25 is equivalent to 4 and 75 / 25 is equal to 3, so the first is equivalent to (3 x 10 - 4) x 9 = 234 and the second equivalent to (50 + 10) x 4 + 3 - 9 = 234. In the second round, I did NOT see Dan's solution at all, though I suppose it makes sense if you start from the premise of reaching 800 first. Instead, I honed in on the fact that 789 is 14 above 775, as follows: 100 + 2 = 102 102 x 7 = 714 25 x 3 = 75 714 + 75 = 789 And I also saw this solution based on factoring: 100 + 25 + 7 = 132 132 x 2 = 264 264 - 1 = 263 263 x 3 = 789 In the third round, I beat Rachel in the numbers round, because I had this solution: 75 x 9 = 675 100 + 1 = 101 50 / 25 = 2 101 x 2 = 202 675 - 202 = 473 That may be the only solution, however. In the fourth round, my heart sank for Dan because I saw Rachel's solution. Also, he was very lucky his opponent didn't realize that 50 x (9 + 8 - 3) = 700, although I suppose it doesn't matter since it was already a runaway. An equivalent way of doing this problem is: 9 + 7 = 16 50 x 16 = 800 800 - 75 = 725 8 x 3 = 24 725 - 24 = 701 Also, I had this solution: 75 + 3 = 78 78 x 9 = 702 8 - 7 = 1 702 - 1 = 701

[@Nullifidian]

Wednesday Countdown: In the first numbers round, I saw Dan's solution, but there's another trick you can do with problems like these based on the square of 75: 100 - 25 = 75 75 x 75 = 5625 5625 + 5 = 5630 5630 / 10 = 563 Here it didn't matter, but by choosing between 50 + 25 or 100 - 25, you can leave either the 50 or the 100 to add or subtract with. So say this had been 558 instead with the same two smalls, the _only_ possible solution would have been: 100 - 25 = 75 75 x 75 = 5625 5625 - 50 = 5575 5575 + 5 = 5580 5580 / 10 = 558 In the second round, I saw Simon's solution and also had these: 9 x 4 = 36 36 + 8 = 44 44 x 10 x 2 = 880 880 + 6 = 886 9 x 6 x 2 = 108 108 + 4 = 112 112 x 8 = 896 896 - 10 = 886 In the third round, Rachel was again stymied by a four-large, so I beat her to the solution because I got these within the 30 seconds: 100 x 4 = 400 400 + 50 = 450 450 / 2 = 225 75 / 25 = 3 225 - 3 = 222 50 x 4 = 200 200 + 75 = 275 275 / 25 = 11 100 + 11 = 111 111 x 2 = 222 50 + 4 = 54 100 x 54 = 5400 75 x 2 = 150 5400 + 150 = 5550 5550 / 25 = 222 For the last solution, the logic is that 100 / 25 is equal to 4 and 75 / 25 is equal to 3, so the equation is the equivalent of (50 + 4) x 4 + 3 x 2 = 222. The same logic guides the second one: 50 / 25 is 2 and 75 / 25 is 3, therefore (50 x 4 + 75) / 25 = 11. In the fourth round, I saw Rachel's solution and also had these: 25 + 3 = 28 28 x 10 = 280 280 - 9 - 8 = 263 263 x 2 = 526 25 + 3 = 28 10 + 9 = 19 28 x 19 = 532 8 - 2 = 6 532 - 6 = 526 I was sad to see Dan go. It's always a disappointment to me, as someone who likes four-large, when a contestant who specializes in that selection has to leave.

[@Nullifidian]

Thursday Countdown In the first round, I saw Simon's solution, but also had this easier one based on the same idea: 100 + 7 = 107 107 x 9 = 963 963 + 8 = 971 And I had this solution: 7 - 3 = 4 8 / 4 = 2 100 - 2 = 98 98 x 10 = 980 980 - 9 = 971 In the second round, I saw the contestants' solution, of course. Another solution almost as easy is: 5 + 4 = 9 9 x 3 x 2 = 54 100 + 54 = 154 And I had this from factoring (11 x 7 x 2 = 154): 100 - 75 (or 100 / 4) = 25 25 - 3 = 22 5 + 2 = 7 22 x 7 = 154 In the third round, I saw the contestants' solution, and also had this one from factoring: 8 / 4 (or 10 - 8) = 2 75 - 2 = 73 73 x 7 = 511 And I also had this solution, just to use all the numbers: 75 - 10 = 65 65 x 8 = 520 7 - 4 = 3 3 x 3 = 9 520 - 9 = 511 In the final round, I saw Rachel's solution, but I also did it this way: 75 + 3 + 1 = 79 50 / 5 = 10 79 x 10 = 790 790 - 8 = 782 And I had this solution from factoring (23 x 17 x 2 = 782): 5 - 1 = 4 50 - 4 = 46 75 / 3 = 25 25 - 8 = 17 46 x 17 = 782

[@Nullifidian]

Friday Countdown The first round was a null round, so I'm skipping to the second round. In this round, I saw both contestants' solutions and also had these by factoring (13 x 3^2 = 117): First, a couple of "five-smalls": 8 + 4 + 4 = 16 16 - 3 = 13 13 x 9 = 117 9 + 4 = 13 4 - 3 = 1 8 + 1 = 9 13 x 9 = 117 But it's easier with the 25: 25 - 8 - 4 = 13 13 x 9 = 117 In the third round, I saw Rachel's solution but also these obvious ones the contestants missed: 6 + 5 = 11 11 - 1 = 10 10 x 10 = 100 100 - 3 = 97 97 x 4 = 388 6 + 4 = 10 10 x 10 = 100 100 - 3 = 97 5 - 1 = 4 97 x 4 = 388 Not mentioning them might have been tact on Rachel's part. Another potential solution was: 10 + 3 = 13 13 x 5 = 65 65 - 1 = 64 64 x 6 = 384 384 + 4 = 388 In the final round, I saw the contestants' solution. A couple of solutions that are just as easy are the following: 75 x 7 = 525 525 - 100 - 2 = 423 75 + 10 = 85 85 x 5 = 425 425 - 2 = 423

[@jennywolswinkel8548]

507 100/25 = 4 (50 + 4) x 75 = 4056 4056 / 8 = 507 701 9 x (75 + 3) = 702 702 - (8 - 7) = 701 563 5 x 100 + 50 + 10 = 560 75 / 25 = 3 154 100 + 75 = 175 3 × (5 + 2) = 21 175 - 21 = 154 388 5 x (10 + 3) - 1 = 64 64 x 6 = 384 384 + 4 = 388

[@stoatystoat174]

789 (100 + 2) x 7 = 714 3 x 25 = 75 714 + 75 = 789

[@romeostroe]

782 = (75+3+1)*50/5-8

[@daviddesreumaux338]

789 3+1=4×100=400+7=407×2=814-25=789

[@isaacking6305]

971: 100 - 3 = 97 97 x 10 = 970 8 - 7 = 1 970 + 1 = 971

[@mm9773]

Yeah, that’s much neater, and I thought it was quite easy to spot, too.

[@savetheclocktower]

971 = (100 + 7) * 9 + 8