So, Only Connect on Friday night; gonna take some getting used to, as is doing my reviews on Sunday night. It does at least give me something to do, as I usually struggle for things to do, and watch; normally it's whatever's on Dave in the background while I update my football spreadsheets, only its cup weekend, and there's none of that to do tonight, so here we are.
Anyway, playing on Friday evening were the Genealogists, Derek Caudwell, Andy Crane and captain Traci Whitehead, who lost to the Surrealists (already through), but survived a late slump to beat the Wrestlers, and the Oscar Men, Howard Freedman, Adrian Knott and captain Michael Slowey, who narrowly lost to the Part Time Poets (defeated by the Surrealists), but also survived a fightback to triumph over the Maltsters.
Round 1. The Genealogists went first, and kicked off the match with Eye of Horus, and the music round: we heard Thank You (Falettinme By Mice Elf Agin) by Sly and the Family Stone, then Pop Muzik by M, then Hot in Herre by Nelly, and finally Slade's Mama Weer All Crazee Now. They suspected it to be songs with deliberate misspellings in their titles at the first clue, but took the rest before knowing for sure and claiming a point. The Men opened their account with Horned Viper: 'A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL', then 'METHYLHEX-ANAMINE', then NINETEEN FIFTY-FIVE', and finally 'TANZANIA'. They were timed out before they could come up with anything, and their opponents had nothing to offer. This was hard: they are all composed entirely of straight lined letters. The Genealogists chose Two Reeds next: 'Three arrowheads', then 'Red hexagon containing two white triangles', then 'Blue spread eagles'; they offered 'bank logos', which was correct for two points. The Men chose Twisted Flax next: 'Lawrence (Hamlet)', then 'Richardson (The Tempest)', then 'Banderas (The Merchant of Venice)', and finally 'Winslet (The Taming of the Shrew)'. They got it just in time: they are the surnames of actors who share their forenames with characters in those plays. The Genealogists chose Lion next: 'Eurovision: Jorgen Olsen', then 'Booker Prize: William Golding', then 'Grand Slam: Ken Rosewall', and finally 'US Masters: Jack Nicklaus'. They didn't know it, their opponents did: they are the oldest winners of those categories. Left with Water for their own question, the Oscar Men got the picture set, and saw a Roman soldier, then the actor Frank Thornton, then Lady Godiva, and finally Elizabeth Fry on a bank note. They spotted them to all share their names with chocolate brands, and collected a point (the soldier being Leonidas). At the end of the first round, the teams were level at 3-each.
Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Genealogists opened with Two Reeds: 't', then 'Sn', and then 'X'. Neither team had this: we have a ton, then tin, then ten, so something representing 'tan' would suffice. The Men chose Eye of Horus next: '4: Torre de Cristal, Madrid', then '3: Messe Turm, Frankfurt', and then '2: Commerzbank Tower, Frankfurt'. They didn't get it, their opponents did: its the tallest habitable buildings in the (current) EU, so '1: The Shard, London' satisfies. For their own question, the Genealogists chose Lion: 'Possess', then 'Unit of Chinese length', and then 'Nasty trick'. Neither side saw this excellent sequence: we have 'Own', 'Li' and 'Con', so some homophone for 'nect' would suffice to give us 'On, ly, Con, nect'! The Men chose Water next: 'Emmanuel Adebayor' (on the right), then 'Michael Essien' (centrally on the right), and then 'Yaya Toure' (centrally on the left). Again, neither side got this: 'George Weah' (on the left) would suffice, the link being African footballers and their countries of origin going west. For their final choice, the Genealogists chose Twisted Flax, and got the picture set: we saw Sir Andrew Motion, on the set of OC, then Ted Hughes, and then John Betjeman. It was obviously poets laureate, but they didn't identify Ted Hughes as the second and thus offered him. Their opponents made no mistake, and offered Cecil Day Lewis for a bonus. Left with Horned Viper for their own final question, the Men saw 'Assemble', then 'Age'; they knew it to be Marvel Avengers films, but their answer of 'Civil' was not right. The Genealogists saw 'Infinity', but were none the wiser. It's 'Infinity' again; the trick is that that the last two haven't been released yet, and are slated as 'Avengers Infinity War Part 1' and 'Part 2'. At the end of a tough second round, the teams were still tied, at 4-each.
On to the Walls. The Men went first this time, and chose to tackle the Water wall. They quickly spotted a sequence of famous Monicas, and after a few wrong tries, isolated 'Lewinsky', 'Galetti', 'Ali' and 'Seles'. They spotted some more sequences, but had no further luck isolating anything else. They were thus left to collect bonus connection points: 'Beelzebub', 'Mephisto', 'Azed' and 'EV' are crossword compilers, which they knew, 'Fiend', 'Dickens', 'Scratch' and 'Imp' are synonyms of the devil, which they also knew, while 'Gimme', 'Massau', 'Fore' and 'Rough' are golf terms, which they knew as well. So five points there.
The Genealogists were thus left with the Lion wall to deal with. They had even less luck, spotting connections, but failing to isolate anything, and were timed out completely defeated. They thus had to collect bonus points too: 'Grisham', 'Slaughter', 'Rendell' and 'Child' are thriller authors, which they got, 'Kept', 'Demon', 'Cornwell' and 'Corset' are English counties with one letter changed, which they unsurprisingly missed, 'Farthingale', 'Teddy', 'Basque' and 'Slip' are undergarments, which they did get, while 'Keep', 'Bailey', 'Chemise' and 'Glascis' are parts of a castle, which they also got. Three for that, which left them trailing 9-7 going into the final round.
So Missing Vowels would decide who took the final place in the group phase. 'Wealthy individuals' was split 2-each. 'From Newcastle-upon-Tyne', such as 'ALAN SHEARER' and 'STEPHENSON'S ROCKET', went to the Men 3-1. 'UNESCO World Heritage Sites' went to the Men 3-0. 'Assistants' only managed one clue, which the Genealogists got. At the end of the show, the Men won 17-11.
A very tough show, which both teams did well to get those scores out of considering. Unlucky Genealogists, but nothing to be ashamed of at all, and thanks for playing. Well done to the Oscar Men though, and best of luck in the group phase!
Next week: the group phase kicks off with the Fire-Eaters vs the Korfballers; will review either next Sunday or back on the Tuesday. Be back tomorrow with UC; see yous then.
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