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Mark Goodliffe
Mark Goodliffe octochamp statistics | |
---|---|
Final position | Quarter-finalist |
Seeding | 5 |
Points total | 816 |
Conundrums solved | 4 |
Mark Goodliffe was a contestant in Series 62 and 88, and an octochamp and Quarter-finalist in Series 89. He was a chartered accountant from London, and has qualified for the end-of-series finals. At the time of his first appearance in 2010, he was a finance director. As of his return, he was a non-executive director and former chief financial officer.
Contents
Appearances
Series 62
Goodliffe first appeared on 21 January 2010 against eventual series winner Oliver Garner, where he lost his only match on a crucial conundrum by 75 points to Garner's 81, and this was despite being 26 points ahead at one stage.
Series 88 and Series 89 Heat games
As a result of the unfortunate above matchup, Goodliffe returned to the show just under 14 years later, winning his first match against 5-time winner JJ Burrows with 93 points to Burrows' 81 points. After 3 further wins, including a personal best of 117 points in his 2nd game, Goodliffe was placed aside for the series finals of Series 88, and returned to Countdown in January 2024.
He immediately picked up where he left off by powering his way to octochampdom with four more victories; of particular note, his last three games were all centuries and included the nine-letter word spots of REACTIONS, ABSENTERS and REPOSTING. He also did very well to recover from a 17-point deficit in his final heat against challenger Laura Gilbert as a reverse-card of his match against Oliver Garner. This helped him finish with an octotal of 816 points, thus becoming the first octochamp of the series.
Series 89 Finals
Goodliffe ultimately returned as the fifth seed for a match against fellow returnee and octochamp Jessica Pratesi. In a very nip-and-tuck affair the two stayed close to each other the whole match, but Pratesi got some crucial spots with the first numbers round, paired with the word findings of LOUDISH and the darrenic MADUROS to secure victory at Mark's expense after a relatively easy final 6-small numbers round. Goodliffe did finish with a flourish turning USASECRET into SECATEURS to score a still excellent 99 points, and bowed out of the tournament with a grand total of 990 across his ten games, taking account of his Series 62 appearance as well.
Outside Countdown
Outside of Countdown, Goodliffe is a twelve-time winner of The Times Crossword Championships, with a remarkable ten-year undefeated run spanning 2008 to 2017. He is also a former UK Sudoku Champion.
Goodliffe is well known alongside Simon Anthony, who represented the UK at the World Sudoku Championships, for their YouTube channel Cracking the Cryptic. On this channel they demonstrate (and occasionally live-stream) challenging paper-and-pencil puzzles, mainly Sudoku but also cryptic crosswords. The channel has been active since 2017, but grew in popularity during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. It now boasts over 500,000 subscribers.
Episodes
# | Date | Type | Contestant 1 | Score | Contestant 2 | Presenters | Guest | Lex | Max | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4962 | 21/01/2010 | P | Oliver Garner | 81 – 75 | Mark Goodliffe | Jeff Stelling | Rachel Riley | John Stapleton | Susie Dent | 115 | ||
8166 | 08/12/2023 | P | JJ Burrows | 81 – 93 | Mark Goodliffe | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Bob Harris | Susie Dent | 137 | ||
8167 | 11/12/2023 | P | Mark Goodliffe | 117 – 41 | Nicola Lawson | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Marcus Brigstocke | Susie Dent | 122 | ||
8168 | 12/12/2023 | P | Mark Goodliffe | 94 – 38 | Paul Woodward | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Marcus Brigstocke | Susie Dent | 120 | ||
8169 | 13/12/2023 | P | Mark Goodliffe | 95 – 89 | Jill Davies | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Marcus Brigstocke | Susie Dent | 133 | ||
8177 | 02/01/2024 | P | Mark Goodliffe | 91 – 58 | Dan Morrell | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Babatunde Aléshé | Susie Dent | 135 | ||
8178 | 03/01/2024 | P | Mark Goodliffe | 116 – 43 | Sharon McIvor | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Babatunde Aléshé | Susie Dent | 133 | ||
8179 | 04/01/2024 | P | Mark Goodliffe | 105 – 58 | Julie Acheson | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Babatunde Aléshé | Susie Dent | 147 | ||
8180 | 05/01/2024 | P | Mark Goodliffe | 105 – 82 | Laura Gilbert | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Babatunde Aléshé | Susie Dent | 134 | ||
8302 | 25/06/2024 | QF | Jessica Pratesi | 102 – 99 | Mark Goodliffe | Colin Murray | Rachel Riley | Marcus Brigstocke | Susie Dent | 124 |
External Links
- Cracking the Cryptic on YouTube