Noel's Countdown Puzzle Page

Rounds 1 - 3: Letters

You are allowed thirty seconds for each set of letters. The aim is to find the longest word you can from the set of letters given. Each letter may be used once. Proper nouns are not allowed, nor are hyphenated words, but comparatives, superlatives and inflections are allowed. In the real version of Countdown, the Oxford Dictionary of English is used. I, however, (to my shame) do not possess a copy of this dictionary, so I am using the Collins English Dictionary.

After each set of letters is a space to input the best word you could find. The verification algorithm does not currently check the word you put in, but this will be added in a near-future update!

Round 4: Numbers

We're moving away from the letters now, and on to the numbers. There are 6 large numbers and three small. The six large numbers are the numbers you have to use. The three small numbers make the 3-digit target you need to make using the 6 large numbers. You have thirty seconds to do this.

You do not have to use all 6 numbers if you do not need to. Only BODMAS is allowed (brackets, division, multiplication, addition and subtraction). Only integers are allowed, no fractions or percentages. The verification algorithm does not currently check this, but it will in near-future update!

Working Out

Listen up, this is important. The first box after the numbers is for your solution - the number you made. The second box is to demonstrate how you got there. This is the only slightly tricky bit, but if you can do the maths, you can make this work.

You input the working just as you would normally, except that the numbers are swapped, algebraically, for letters. So, the first large number is represented by the letter "a", the second by the letter "b", and so on, with the sixth being represented by the letter "f".

So, for example, we have the numbers 100, 10, 8, 5, 3 and 4. Our target number is 276. Very quickly, I see I can make the number 277 - 1 away from the target. So, I declare the number 277 in the first box. In the second box, I declare how I got there. In numerical terms, I did this:

(100 * 3) - (10 + 8 + 5)

So, in essence, I have made 300 and taken away 23. However, to declare this to the system, I have to do the following:

(a * e) - (b + c + d)

If you can do the maths, you can cope with simple algebra like that. At some point, I may design something to make it a little more obvious which number corresponds with which letter - although it's easy enough to work out!

Declared score:

Your working out:

Round 5: The Conundrum

This is the final round, and it's really simple. There's a nine-letter word jumbled up in there, and you need to work out what it is. Once you have, enter it in the space below, and you will have finished the quiz.

Here is today's Countdown Conundrum!

Solution:

Finished? Let's see how you've done!