Toby Byfield

Toby Byfield octochamp statistics
Final position	Quarter-finalist
Seeding	3
Points total	830
Conundrums solved	5

Toby Byfield in Series 89.

Toby Byfield was an octochamp and quarter-finalist in Series 89. He was a political statistician and not-for-profit company director from Guildford, Surrey. He is also an Apterite and has spent time in different countries as an elections observer.

Appearances

Series 89 heat games

Byfield made a very confident debut against six-time winner and fellow Apterite, Lucas Glanville – Byfield achieved a century and maxed 10 rounds to finish with 111 while restricting Glanville to his lowest score of 44. After that, he then racked up seven more winning performances which included three further centuries to his name.

He stood out by his frequent choosing of four large numbers games, and spotted the nine-letter words MATERIALS and OPERATING. He also achieved a personal best of 117 points in his fourth game, with the latter being made more impressive in that it was gained despite missing both of the available nines RIVALISED and OUTSMILES in that heat.

It wasn't wholly smooth sailing though – in fact, he had to overcome two particularly stern tests against challengers Bernard Greep and Jonno Smith in his third and eighth games respectively to secure octochamp status and membership of the 800 club, which he did in his last heat after Smith blanked on a six small numbers gamble. This left Byfield with a final total of 830 points, provisionally set him as the number two seed for the finals, and also made him the sixth octochamp of the series in a little under three months.

After recording his heat games, he made his Co-event debut at Co:Reading 2024.

Series 89 finals

Byfield returned for his quarter-final against number six seed Michael Calder. Despite initially racing off to an 18-point lead, Calder crept his way back, with the match turning out to be a very testy affair with neither player maxing many rounds. Consequently, they stayed within range of each other right up to the crucial conundrum SATINCLOG. After just under 17 seconds, Calder buzzed in with NOSTALGIC, which was correct, and that broke Byfield's unbeaten record and saw him exit the competition with his lowest score to date. His final points tally across nine games came to 912, giving him an average of roughly 101 points a game.

Episodes

#	Date	Type	Contestant 1	Score	Contestant 2	Presenters				Guest	Lex	Max
8233	20/03/2024	P	Lucas Glanville	44 – 111	Toby Byfield	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Neil Delamere	Susie Dent	120
8234	21/03/2024	P	Toby Byfield	98 – 51	Nigel Gardner	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Neil Delamere	Susie Dent	136
8235	22/03/2024	P	Toby Byfield	92 – 86	Bernard Greep	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Neil Delamere	Susie Dent	124
8236	25/03/2024	P	Toby Byfield	117 – 40	Stuart Ingham	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Paul Sinha	Susie Dent	146
8237	26/03/2024	P	Toby Byfield	113 – 58	Andy Wilkinson	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Paul Sinha	Susie Dent	153
8238	27/03/2024	P	Toby Byfield	108 – 59	Gerry Kelly	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Paul Sinha	Susie Dent	145
8239	28/03/2024	P	Toby Byfield	95 – 65	Sonia Dari	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Paul Sinha	Susie Dent	129
8240	29/03/2024	P	Toby Byfield	96 – 84	Jonno Smith	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Paul Sinha	Susie Dent	119
8301	24/06/2024	QF	Toby Byfield	82 – 84	Michael Calder	Colin Murray	Rachel Riley				Lucy Summers	Marcus Brigstocke	Susie Dent	131