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Teatime Teaser
[edit] Lengths of Teatime Teasers
| ||
|---|---|---|
| Seven | 24 September 2001 | 5 December 2003 |
| Eight | 8 December 2003 | 30 November 2016 |
| Nine | 1 December 2016 | 17 November 2020 |
| Eight | 18 November 2020 | 17 September 2021 |
| Nine | 20 September 2021 | 8 October 2021 |
| Eight | 11 October 2021 | 13 July 2022 |
| Nine | 14 July 2022 | 3 August 2022 |
| Eight | 4 August 2022 | 28 October 2022 |
| 7 November 2022 | 5 May 2023 | |
| Nine | 8 May 2023 | 27 July 2023 |
| Eight | 28 July 2023 | 1 December 2023 |
| Nine | 4 December 2023 | 22 December 2023 |
| Eight | 2 January 2024 | 16 August 2024 |
| Nine | 19 August 2024 | 4 October 2024 |
| Eight | 7 October 2024 | 13 December 2024 |
| Nine | 16 December 2024 | |
| Eight | 17 December 2024 | 25 April 2025 |
| Nine | 28 April 2025 | 16 May 2025 |
| Eight | 19 May 2025 | 8 August 2025 |
| Nine | 4 July 2025 | 7 July 2025 |
| 9 July 2025 | ||
| 17 July 2025 | ||
| 11 August 2025 | 29 August 2025 | |
| Eight | 1 September 2025 | present |
The Teatime Teaser is an anagram presented for the viewers to solve during each commercial break. They have been used continuously since Series 46, back when Countdown aired at teatime, with the exception of Floella Benjamin's week of 40th Anniversary episodes in Series 86, when clips of previous episodes aired instead.
Initially, seven-letter anagrams were used – from 8 December 2003 to 30 November 2016, the anagrams were eight letters long – and from 1 December 2016 to 17 November 2020, the anagrams were nine-letter anagrams. Since then, the lengths of Teasers have flipped sporadically between eight and nine letters, as shown in the table. In addition, 1 April 2020's first Teatime Teaser (RIVALTUNE → AVIRULENT) was cut for sensitivity reasons, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Several episodes in July 2025 used one nine and one eight letter teaser.
The scramble and a clue for the solution are read out by the presenter each time a commercial break is introduced. The puzzle then appears on the Countdown logo screen – at the end of the commercial break, the solution is displayed.
Before the name "Teatime Teaser" was decided, this feature was known at different times by the names "Granagram", "Intergram" (from "interval" and "telegram"). It was also briefly renamed the "Santagram" during at least one Christmas season, and “Tinsel Teasers” for Episode S47, S48, and S49. They were initially clue-less, but clues became standardised at some point during Series 47.
A forerunner to the Teatime Teaser was used from Series 40 through 42, when Countdown was sponsored by Seven Seas cod liver oil, whose sponsorship screen presented an anagram, between five and nine letters in length, for viewers to solve during the 9-round format's single commercial break. Despite its having appeared in more than 300 episodes, only about 100 distinct Seven Seas Teasers were ever used, with many scrambles having been repeated up to four times over the course of the feature's history.
Unlike conundrums, Teatime Teasers can have more than one solution, for example NUDEMAN could give MUNDANE or UNNAMED. The clue would most likely indicate that one is more acceptable than the other.
On Letters and Numbers, the Australian adaptation of Countdown, Teatime Teasers were known as "Word Mixes". They were eight letters in length and there were two per game, one at each advert break.
