OK, first of all, thank you to Thomas Cappleman for clearing up OC's new format for us last week. This series will comprise of 24 teams, with the four highest scoring losers from the first six matches, and the four from the second six matches surviving to the play-off round. From then on, I would guess it goes back to UC's format for the rest of the run. A good twist on UC's format then, but one I don't think would really work with UC itself. On with last night's show now.
Playing last night were the Cosmopolitans, Annette Fenner, Emily Watnick and captain Amy Godel (twice a Fifteen-to-One grand finalist), and the Taverners, Dean Reilly, Simon Gibbons and captain Mickey Alexander.
Round 1. The Cosmopolitans kicked off the show with 'Horn-ed' Viper: 'The Murder Road', then 'Flaubert's Company', then 'Where Convocations Dare'; at this point, they identified that these were book titles where birds have been replaced by the collective names for that bird. (The final unneeded clue was 'The Parliament and the Pussy-Cat'!) Two points there. The Taverners opened their account with Two Reeds: 'Eurovision Song Contest', then 'Cow & Gate', then 'Wall's', and finally 'I Love New York'. They didn't know it, their opponents did: they all have heart-shaped logos. A bonus there. For their own question, the Cosmopolitans chose Twisted Flax: 'Nawal El Moutawakel (Olympic women's gold)', then 'Anwar Sadat (Nobel Laureate), then 'Sadiq Khan (UK Cabinet Minister)', and finally 'Nadiya Hussain (Great British Bake Off winner). They ran out of time before they could offer something, but their opponents knew it: they are the first Muslims to achieve the brackets. A bonus for them there. For their own question, the Taverners chose Lion, and got the picture set: we saw a portait of Paul Cezanne, then RuPaul, then Paul the Octopus (of World Cup predictions fame), and finally St Paul's Cathedral. They correctly offered that they are all called Paul for a point. The Cosmopolitans chose Water next: 'Church: Antoine Court's Protestant followers', then 'Pearl: Palmyra'; this was enough for them to offer 'Things' of the Desert, which was correct for three points. (One of the unneeded clues was 'Sons: Laurel and Hardy fan society', which I've been thinking for joining for years!) Left with Eye of Horus, the Taverners got the music set, and heard the theme to Desert Island Discs, then Roy Orbison's Blue Bayou, then a bit of Swan Lake; they offered 'sea', and then 'sailing', neither of which was enough. The Cosmopolitans heard the final clue, which was the Scots classic Loch Lomond, and offered 'bodies of water' for a bonus. At the end of the first round, the Cosmopolitans led 7-2.
Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Cosmopolitans kicked off the round with Twisted Flax: 'Theresa Cara Booth', then 'Fred Peloux', and then 'Cherilyn Sarkisian'. They didn't get it, nor did their opponents. The first clue is Cherie Blair's full name, the second is a character in a French novel series called Cheri, and the third clue is Cher's real name. So 'Ernesto Guevara', Che Guevara's real name, would finish off the set. The Taverners chose Eye of Horus next, and got the picture set again: we saw Jim Capaldi of the band Traffic, then Dame Maggie Smith, and then Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys fame. They didn't spot the link, nor did their opponents, and both were gutted when the answer was given: they are namesakes of Doctor Who actors going backwards, so something Eccleston would finish off the set. The Cosmopolitans chose 'Horn-ed' Viper next: 'Temple Menorah', then 'Catholic solemn high mass', and then 'Traditional Advent wreath'; they offered it to be descending numbers of candles, and offered ''Two Ronnies' sketch' for two points. The Taverners chose Water next: '1st: J (3)', then '2nd=: M (2)', and then '2nd=: A (2)'. Neither team spotted this superb answer: '4th: F, S, O, N, D (1)'. They are months of the year, and now many begin with those letters. For their final choice, the Cosmopolitans chose Lion: 'Space' (crossed out), then 'Choice' (likewise), and then 'Jobs' (likewise again). Again, neither team knew it. They are the chapters of Naomi Klein's 'No Logo', so 'Logo' (crossed out) would complete the set. Left with Two Reeds, the Taverners saw 'Bran', then 'Arya', and immediately offered 'Robb', for three points; they are the Stark children in Game of Thrones. At the end of the second round, the Cosmopolitans led 9-5.
On to the Walls then. The Taverners went first, and chose to tackle the Water wall. Immediately, they isolated 'Dr Strangelove', 'Timmy', 'Professor X' and 'Ironside', who are fictional wheelchair users. They then very quickly slotted in 'Unready', 'Confessor', 'Bloody' and 'Curtmantle', which are epithets of English monarchs. The final links they spotted quickly, and they final sets slipped in very quickly: 'Katie Price', 'John the Baptist', 'Petra' and 'King Hussein' are all associated with 'Jordan', while 'Bonnie', 'Goldie' and 'Shep' are Blue Peter dogs. A full set, so ten points!
The Cosmopolitans were thus under pressure as they began playing with the Lion wall. After spotting some links, they spent a while trying to untangle the groups. They eventually unravelled 'Bowie', 'Flink', 'Stanley' and 'Cheese', which are knives, and then 'Gray', 'Soul', 'Essex' and 'Guetta', which are musical Davids. They surveyed the remaining clues, spotted one of the links and promptly sorted out the remaining sets: 'Prison', 'Icarus', 'Paul McCartney' and 'Butterfly' are all associated with 'wings', which they got, while 'Identity', 'Ryan', 'Hunting' and 'Eleven' are the last words of the names of Matt Damon films, which they didn't get. So, seven points there reduced their lead to 16-15 going into the final round.
So, it would be decided on Missing Vowels. 'Words that mean 'irreligious'' was split 2-each. 'Adjectives plus two-dimensional geometric shapes', such as 'ROUGH DIAMOND' was a clean sweep for the Cosmopolitans 4-0. 'Named after woodland', such as 'NOTTINGHAM FOREST FOOTBALL CLUB', was split 1-each, and that was time. The Cosmopolitans won 23-18.
A good match between two decent enough teams. Unlucky Taverners, but hopefully 18 will be enough to bring you back. Well done Cosmopolitans, and best of luck next time!
Next week's match: Psmiths vs Verbivores
For the "1st: J (3)" question, I thought "4th=: F (1)" fitted the sequence better as the answer - of course, they might well have allowed that too.
ReplyDeleteLooked like a tactical error in Round 3 by the Cosmopolitans; when they spotted the 3rd group they put it in straight away, rather than using their time to try to crack the 4th group. Still, it didn't cost them in the end.