Due to persistent vandalism, account creation has been suspended. If you would like an account, please contact Charlie Reams on Apterous.

Conundrum

From Countdown
Revision as of 00:53, 9 May 2020 by The Doctor (talk | contribs)
Martin Gardner solving the conundrum INNERMOST.

The conundrum is a 9 letter word, presented to contestants in the form of an anagram. The first person to buzz in and provide the answer scores 10 points. If neither contestant gets the answer within 30 seconds then it was often thrown over to the studio audience. A correct answer from an audience member won them a Countdown mug.

A crucial conundrum occurs when the two players are within ten points of each other before the final conundrum round, and hence the winner will be whichever player can solve it. Since 2003, the studio lights are dimmed on a crucial conundrum and since 2017, the ceiling and table lights will turn pinkish-purple.

Between Series 1 and Series 21, and in 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, if the scores were level on a conundrum, the game was declared a draw and the contestants returned the next day for a rematch, except in the series finals, where tie-break conundrums were necessary. Otherwise draws are resolved by a second "sudden death" conundrum. If the second conundrum goes unsolved, and the scores remain tied, a third conundrum is used (and so on, presumably, ad infinitum.) Only a few games have ever required a third conundrum, and fourth Conundrums are even rarer, with none ever having been televised. One game has allegedly gone to six conundrums, but most of these were cut from broadcast.

If a Contestant buzzes in with an incorrect answer in the 30 seconds, then the Countdown is re-started, and their opponent is given any remaining remaining time to try and solve the Conundrum, with the Contestant who initially buzzed in now disqualified from buzzing in again before the 30 seconds have elapsed, irrespective of whether they later spot the correct answer or not.

If both Contestants offer an incorrect answer to a Conundrum in the 30 seconds, then the Countdown is stopped and the solution is revealed immediately, with neither contestant getting another opportunity to solve the Conundrum.

For the purpose of differentiating between which Contestant presses their button to offer a solution first on a Conundrum, both the Champion's and Challenger's nameplates have a lamp which illuminates when their button is pressed, with the Champion's button also sounding as a "bell", and the Challenger's as a "buzzer".

On occasions where one of the contestants has been partially sighted or blind altogether, the conundrum is phonetically read out, the most recent example of this being on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Series 19, Episode 6.