Who is Susie Dent, you ask? Well, there is a British game show called Countdown, and also a comedy panel show/satire of Countdown called 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. The game on both shows contains math puzzles and word jumble puzzles, and Susie Dent is the dictionary expert for both shows. On the comedy panel show version, she is constantly under comedic fire from host Jimmy Carr (his best that I’ve heard was opening with “So, Susie Dent, what have you been looking into lately? Other than glory holes?”) She tries to give as good as she gets, but she doesn’t have his timing or sangfroid.
Ms Dent has written lots of books about words and derivations, but this book (Guilty By Definition) is her first mystery. The main character is a department-head editor at the Clarendon English Dictionary or CED in Oxford (an obvious stand-in for the OED, the meta authority on English words and usages), whose older sister disappeared years before and was never found; she is now getting mysterious letters filled with riddles and clues, and she and her colleagues are now investigating all these years later to find out what really happened to her sister. The book so far (25% of the way through) is a good bona fide mystery with clues and suspects galore, and also a lot of fun to read if you like people being playful with words and quotations. Two thumbs up from me. I’m hoping it’s a financial success*, so that it will become an endless series.
*I actually got my copy at the library, so I hope she gets at least a few pennies for that. It’s available in hardcover, paperback, and as an ebook.
For those unfamiliar with the show, part of the opening (and throughout the show for that matter) is Jimmy tearing into everyone on the panel. It looks rough when you watch a ton of them cut together like this, but in a given episode, it’s just a few jokes and on to the next person. FWIW, for as good as Jimmy is at these jokes and insults, he’s can take them just as well.
*I’ve always wondered if Jimmy had that one ready to go or if he came up with it on the spot. That little delay always makes me think it wasn’t pre-written and/or was a callback to something said earlier.
Definitely going to give Guilty by Definition a go. I couldn’t place the name Susie Dent when I saw the thread title. For some stupid reason I thought the little girl from Calvin and Hobbes had written a book.
BTW, for anyone who hasn’t seen it, I recommend 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. It’s hilarious and lots of fun. Susie Dent is great, as is Rachel Riley, who does the numbers rounds. (I’ve barely ever seen Countdown itself, though I’m sure it’s fine. And I wonder why no one has brought that show to the States.)
I’ve seen snippets. It’s boring as fuck. I got spoiled by 8oo10cats, which is mostly about the comedy and the actual game is just a hook they hang it on.
I’m not British so I hope I have this right. 8 Out of 10 Cats was a typical British panel show. It didn’t have the game show aspect. 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown started as a one off special combining the long running game show with the panel show. It proved to be very popular and has gone on for almost as long as the original.
Yes, that’s right. The original 8oo10cats was based on surveys (hence the title) which the panelists had to guess at what the surveys said. Same host, Jimmy Carr, 2 captains and 4 other rotating panelists. One captain was Sean Lock, who has sadly died, as noted above. He had a really unique comedy personality.
And to bring things full circle, Countdown was based on a French game show that aired from 1965-2024, and was called Des chiffres et des lettres (Numbers and Letters). As I said, it could work in America.
And regarding Sean Lock, I particularly enjoyed his reaction to Rachel Riley demonstrating the disguise she uses when she goes skiing to avoid the fans.
I always liked Sean’s Nazi Island bit when he starts with “I’d like to reanimate all the leaders of the Nazi Party…”, clearly heading towards joke but Jimmy cuts him off and Roisin doesn’t quite have the nerve to start in on her bit. I assume it Jimmy and Sean discussed it head of time, including Jimmy cutting him off and Roisin wasn’t aware of it.
