OK, with OC being a week behind UC, and doing its QF process in a different order, I've been finding it hard to keep track of where we are with OC. But now I know exactly where we are: four left after tonight, and we finish up one week later than UC does.
Playing last night were the Detectives, Ian King, Tim Harrison and captain Tim Hall, who have beaten the Theatricals, the Arrowheads and the Beaks on a tie break, but have also been beaten by the Escapologists, and the Vikings, Mark Oxley, John Wilson and captain Mick Lee, whose victories thus far have been over the Geocachers, the Parishioners and the Vikings, but a defeat to the Inquisitors is in there too.
Round 1. The Detectives kicked the match off with Twisted Flax: '12.5 mile stretch of A52, 2005', then 'Phoenix Way, Coventry, 2017'; they came in here and suggested that the roads were all renamed after football stadiums in those years, not correct. Their opponents saw 'Portman's Walk, Ipswich, 1999' and 'Warwick Road North, Manchester, 1993', and correctly said they were named after football managers for a bonus. For their own first question, the Vikings chose Lion: 'Collide and work together', then 'Joist and complete for superiority'; they suggested here that changing the I in the first word to a U gives a word meaning the latter, and collected three good points there. The Detectives chose Horned Viper next: 'Railway', then 'Lonely', then 'Little wheel', and finally 'Twenty-one'. They picked up their first point, identifying them as the translations of the French names of card games. The Vikings chose Two Reeds next, and got the picture set: we saw a djembe drum, then a map with Djibouti highlighted, then Jamie Foxx as the title character in Django Unchained; they were timed out here before they could offer anything. Their opponents saw Novak Djokovic as the final clue, and spotted the link for a bonus. For their own question, the Detectives chose Eye of Horus: 'Vic Wild', then 'Roy Jones Jr', then 'Steven Seagal'; they saw that they were all granted Russian citizenship, and collected two points. Left with Water, and the music question, the Vikings heard Debussy's 'Poissons D'or', then 'Too Many Fish in the Sea' by the Marvelettes, then an excerpt from Bizet's 'The Pearl Fishers'; they suggested them to all be by 'The Three [something]', not right. Their opponents heard Bing Crosby singing 'Gone Fishin'', but couldn't see the connection for a bonus. At the end of the first round, the teams were tied on 4-each.
Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Detectives opened with Lion: 'Lord Northcliffe', then 'The Astor family', and then 'Roy Thompson'. They suggested 'News International', which was correct, though they didn't get the right reason: they are the owners of The Times newspaper. The Vikings chose Water next: '4: New Zealand', then '3: Burundi', and then '2: Panama'. They didn't get there, their opponents did: they are countries with that number of stars on their flag, so '1: Morocco', as offered by them, would be acceptable. For their own question, the Detectives chose Two Reeds: '9th September 1981', then '1st January 2001', and then '2nd February 2004'. They saw it to be '3rd March 2009' for the points, the sequence being days which when written as 'DD/MM/YY', would spell out a square root sum. The Vikings chose Eye of Horus next, and got the picture set: we saw writer Aaron Sorkin, then Abraham Lincoln, and then Acker Bilk. They identified their first names as beginning Aa, Ab and Ac, so offered 'Adele' as an acceptable answer for the two points. For their final choice, the Detectives chose Twisted Flax: 'Boston', then 'Ter-Ovanesyan =', and then 'Beamon'. They saw them to be holder of the men's world long jump record, so offered 'Powell' for the points. ('Lewis' would have been acceptable, provided 'world record' wasn't mentioned, his having been chalked off as wind assisted) Left with Horned Viper, the Vikings saw 'Adult', then 'Horrific', and then 'X'. They saw it to be BBFC certificate ratings, but their offer of '18' was wrong. So was their opponents' of 'R'. 'R18' would complete the set! At the end of the second round, the Detectives led 11-6.
On to the Walls. The Vikings went first here, and chose to tackle the Water wall. After spotting some potential links, isolating sets proved somewhat difficult at first. Eventually, they isolated 'Xebec', 'Clipper', 'Hoy' and 'Ketch', which are sailing boats, followed in short order by 'Rock', 'Jericho', 'Pine' and 'Evert', which are surnames of famous people called Chris. After that, everything fell into place on their first go: 'Junk', 'Chain', 'Fan' and 'Royal' can all precede 'mail', while 'Bachelor', 'Caravel', 'Chandelier' and 'Verdict' all have the names of composers hidden in them. A well worked full ten there.
The Detectives thus set to work on the Lion wall requiring similar to maintain a similar lead. Their first set came slightly quicker: 'Perfect', 'Irrational', 'Real' and 'Complex' are types of number. But that was all they could figure out, so they had to try for connection bonuses: 'Cardinal', 'Bishop', 'Loon' and 'Booby' are birds, which they knew, 'Abbot', 'Prior', 'Oblate' and 'Primate' are religious occupations, which they got close enough to, while 'Long', 'French', 'Brand' and 'Porter' are surnames of female comedians. Four points there, which meant they now trailed 16-15 going into the final round.
So, Missing Vowels would decide who took the penultimate semi-final place. 'Trios' was split 2-each. 'Events and their months', which saw 'GROUNDHOG DAY AND FEBRUARY' come up twice(!), was also split 2-each. 'Works by Michaelangelo' went to the Detectives 3-1. 'Non-cricketing fielding positions' went to the Vikings 2-0 with the two clues there was time for. The Vikings had snuck home 23-22!
Another fine match, very well done both teams on some fine quizzing. Unlucky Detectives, but a fine series of showings, thanks very much for playing. Well done Vikings though, and best of luck in the semi-finals!
Next week's match: a rematch between the Eco-Warriors and the Escapologists.
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