In November 1972 Countdown emerged to introduce our younger selves to the baby Channel 4. Thirty years, sixty-seven series and thousands of contestants later, our beloved programme eases us into 2013 with a real mouth-waterer of a series: the 30th Birthday Championship, in which forty-one past contestants will meet and play and reminisce, with one eventually being crowned… well… the best player in Countdown history.

Today's game, the 5615th in that history, brings together Series 47 runner-up Tom Hargreaves and Series 62 runner-up Nicki Sellars to compete for a place in Round 1. I played along and have put my scorecard below, followed by the word game rules and round-up of the last game's entries.

Rnd Selection Declaration Score
1 gvtsoiaro roots 5
2 dlheuitoa toiled 11
3 rpnluiojs juniors 17
4 dmteoidal loaded 23
5 75 8 1 4 7 6 → 287 287
75 × 4 − 7 − 6		 33
TTT darndeep pandered1  
6 gksueirvm muskier 40
7 ptlroaesi realist2 47
8 gbreaotfx forage 53
9 lhgdieurs sludgier 61
10 75 4 1 8 5 6 → 433 433 ☓ 61
TTT violapin pavilion3  
11 nwcdoaetu counted 68
12 ndmsoieae noised 74
13 pbynuioam moan 78
14 25 1 1 6 5 6 → 931 931
(6 × 6 + 1) × 25 + 5 +1		 88
15 marcomund (communard) 88

1 Solved by Rosie
2 Tom found EPILATORS for 9
3 Solved by Rosie

Game

Words: roots toiled juniors loaded muskier realist forage sludgier counted noised moan
Rules: Comment or write an article on your own blog, utilising all of the words
Hints: If you blog here on BCUK, use the trackback-URL when publishing your entry and a snippet of your entry will then appear here as a comment

Round-up of the last game's entries

'A Story for Christmas' by Tearose
'A Good Mother' by LucyMGreenfield