OK, in a break with tradition, my annual UC first round review will be tomorrow rather than today. Not doing Only Connect on Tuesday night seems wrong I've been doing it so often this series, so, unless I have a backlog to work through, that's how it's staying.
Anyway, the final first round match (sort of) last night; playing it were the Scunthorpe Scholars, Paddy Stronach, Michael Wilson, and his wife captain Isabelle Heward (a noted alumnus of both old and new Fifteen-to-One), and the Beekeepers, Ian Wallace, Josh Spero (UC champion in 03-04 with Magdalen College Oxford) and Ian's son captain Mark Wallace.
Round 1. The Scholars went first, and opened the match with Lion: 'Umgrammatical string follows', then 'Multiply', then 'Not out', and finally 'Required field'. They didn't get it, their opponents did: they are all denoted by *. For their own first question, the Beekeepers chose Twisted Flax, and got the music question: we heard 'Going Down to Liverpool' by the Bangles, then Cilla Black's 'Liverpool Lullaby', then the Dubliners' 'The Leaving of Liverpool'; that one gave the connection to them for two points. The Scholars chose Water next: 'Actaeon, Stag, Artemis', then 'Io, Cow, Zeus'; they offered that they are Greek gods who punished people by turning them into those animals, and earned a good three points. The Beekeepers chose Two Reeds next: ''Interesting': Rip Rig + Panic', then ''Boring' and 'Sick': Madness', then ''Summer Holiday': John Otway', and finally ''Bambi': Motorhead'. The last clue gave it to me, at least one YT commentator had it at the first, but neither team saw it: they are episodes of the Young Ones and the bands that performed on them for funding reasons. The Scholars chose 'Horn-ed' Viper next: 'Grant Park, Chicago in October', then 'Tavern on the Green, Central Park, NYC in November', then 'Brandenburg Gate, Berlin in September', and finally 'St James's Palace, The Mall, London in April'. They offered 'locations of marathons in those cities in those months'; close enough, it's specifically where they finish. Left with Eye of Horus, the Beekeepers got the picture set, and saw a weight circle, then two men in drag, then a woman enacting a thrust exercise; they offered 'forces in physics', which Victoria accepted, having given the Scholars a borderline allowance. Specifically, they are the four forces acting on aircraft. At the end of the first round, the Beekeepers led 5-4.
Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Scholar opened with Lion: 'Buddhism: China', then 'Hinduism: India', and then 'Islam: Indonesia'. They offered 'Christianity: USA', which was correct; they are the largest religious populations. The Beekeepers chose Horned Viper next: 'Saving Private Ryan', then 'Catch Me If You Can', and then 'The Terminal'. Neither team got it: they are collaborations between Tom Hanks and Stephen Spielberg, so 'Bridge of Spies' would be fourth. The Scholars chose Water next, and got a music question: we heard Green Day, then James Brown with 'Night Train', and then 'Don't Fear the Reaper'. They didn't get it, their opponents did: 'I'm Coming Up' by Pink would acceptably complete the sequence (cue an admittedly rather good enforced sing-along!), the link being balls in snooker in ascending order of points. (Green, Brown, Blue) For their own question, the Beekeepers chose Eye of Horus: 'O+N+E = 3', then 'T+W+O = 6'; they saw it to be what the numbers are worth in Scrabble, but their answer of 'F+O+U+R = 8' was wrong. Their opponents saw 'T+H+R+E+E = 8', and offered 'F+O+U+R = 7' for a bonus. For their own final choice, the Scholars chose Two Reeds, and got the picture set: we saw a stick man, then a floor plan, and then a canal. Neither side saw it til it was too late: 'A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!', so something resembling Panama, such as the ubiquitous papers, would suffice. Left with Twisted Flax, the Beekeepers saw 'Nancy-Lorraine', then 'Monaco', and then 'Nagoya Grampus Eight'. Neither side gave an acceptable answer, though the Scholar's guess of 'Leicester City' was surprisingly close. 'Arsenal' completes the set; it is the managerial career of Arsene Wenger. (What's the betting 'England' will come next soon?!) At the end of the second round, the Scholars led 7-6.
On to the Walls. The Beekeepers went first this time, and chose the Lion wall. After quickly spotting a link of 'things that can be blown', they eventually isolated 'Trumpet', 'Fuse', 'Raspberry' and 'Gasket'. They then had a second set of 'Yoke', 'Knit', 'Connect' and 'Bind', which are words that can mean 'unite' or 'tie'. They looked over the remaining clues, and quickly had it all figured out: 'Man', 'Manic', 'Ruby' and 'Sheffield' can all precede days of the week, while 'Chinese', 'Titian', 'Blood' and 'Pillar box' are shades of red. A full ten for that.
The Scholars thus had the Water wall to deal with. They too spotted some links early on, and then managed to isolate 'Cayenne', 'Empty', 'Decay' and 'Essex', which all sound like a combo of two letters (eg KN, MT and so on). After studying the rest of the clues, they eventually isolated 'Barney the Dinosaur', 'Amethyst', 'Tinky Winky' and 'Cadbury Dairy Milk', which are all purple. They tried to resolve the wall, but ran out of goes, and thus had to try and pick up bonuses: 'Murano', 'Amaryllis', 'Maze' and 'Aubergine' are restaurants associated with Gordon Ramsay, which they didn't get, while 'Diner', 'Bugsy', 'Avalon' and 'Envy' are films directed by Barry Levinson, which they didn't quite figure out. So just four there, which gave the Beekeepers a lead of 16-11 going into the final round.
So, Missing Vowels would decide both the winners and the play-off places. 'Ways of asking some to repeat something' was a clean sweep to the Beekeepers 4-0, thus probably winning them the match. 'Things imagined in the song 'Imagine'' was split 2-each. 'Things you might find in a cage' went to the Beekeepers 3-0. 'Fictional professors and their subjects' only managed one clue, which the Beekeepers got wrong and the Scholars right. The Beekeepers won 24-14.
Another decent match despite not being as close as we've got used to. Very well done Beekeepers, and best of luck in the next round. Unlucky Scholars, who did perfectly respectably, but haven't quite done enough to push the Wrestlers out of the play-off places. Both them and the Eurovisionaries should count themselves unlucky they weren't in the other half of the draw, as they'd both have done enough there. I'll offer up some more thoughts on this format should I decide to do a second round preview in two weeks' time.
Next week's match: the Maltsters vs the Oscar Men in the first Group B play-off. Presumably the Genealogists will play the Wrestlers the week after.
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