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Conundrum

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Revision as of 19:26, 3 January 2010 by Countdowner (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. From the start of 2009, this procedure of asking the audience appears to have been dropped from the show to save time and money.

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. On the 2003-8 striped set, the studio lights would be faded before the crucial conundrum was revealed, a trend which has continued with the blue 2009- set.

In the early days of the show, if the scores were level on a conundrum, the game was declared a draw and the contestants returned the next day for a rematch. (The procedure during the finals is unknown, as no draw ever occurred.) In the modern format, 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.