FED PHRASE GAME (Early Edition)
25 October 2006
by Gwaptiva
Liakell, Brookerf and Gilar joined me this week in Studio 1 on The Lattice for the early edition of Fed Phrase Game. With the wheel fixed and all the lights seemingly in order, we got the game underway by determining the order of play. Gilar decided to be polite and let Brookerf and Liakell go first... or was it a cunning plan?
The first puzzle was Brookerf's to start and she guessed an S correctly, but then lost her turn to Liakell by guessing the T. Liakell built up a good total and it looked for all the world she was heading straight for the solution. A small hiccup with the board displaying the puzzle even gave her a bit of help, but despite finding the second word of the two-word place, Brasserie, did not help her, and with three blanks still to fill, she guessed a wrong letter. Gilar did appear to have the answer ready, but it turned out he too struggled, but he went with his hunch and found the solution: "Hounslow Brasserie". After all this time in Fed, I still don't know where it is, but I keep finding cards from it in my wallet.
Next it was Liakell's turn to see if she could eat into Gilar's small lead of 750 points, going in search of a three-word place. Having built up a healthy score, and a nice collection of letters, the wheel showed its cruelty by making her Lose a Turn, and by this time Gilar had a fair idea of the solution. He managed to spin 1750 points in two goes, and then decided that spinning on might lose him the chance to cash in, so provided the solution, Scargill Mine Entrance, raising his total to 2500 points.
Obviously, a lead of that size would easily be lost by a few spins of fate, but Gilar was in the driving seat, having first go searching for a four-word object. Here Gilar showed his tactical prowess, deciding to try for a solution rather than maximizing his score, with the risk of losing it all. He spun the wheel only so often as to allow him to buy vowels. Liakell started jumping up and down excitedly, having spotted the solution, and now started crossing everything for Gilar to lose his turn. Of course, Brookerf would be the first to go, but with the wheel fixed, Liakell was hopeful to get a chance to solve the puzzle. However, Gilar's luck, helped by his skill, held out, and despite his careful approach scored 1650 points by finding that the object we were looking for was indeed A Warehouse Building Permit, thus completing a whitewash of his two opponents.
At this time the ladies decided they'd had enough, the winds of fortune obviously blowing into Gilar's sails and not in theirs, and glad to be able to take a share of second place. Next Wednesday, however, at 3.00pm eastern (or 8pm UK time, 21:00 CET), everybody will start again on "nil points" and will it be another chance to play, and win, Fed Phrase Game.
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