OK, here we go with the final Only Connect special. And as annoying it is that UC isn't on in Scotland tonight, it does at least mean I'm able to get on with this tonight, otherwise it'd be next week before I could do it.
Anyway, playing the Christmas Day special were the QI Elves, Anne Miller, Andrew Hunter Murray and captain James Harkin, who reached the semi-finals of Series 10, and the Inquisitors, Luke Kelly, Rob Cumming and captain Julia Hobbs, who were semi-finalists in the most recent series.
Round 1. The Inquisitors opened the contest with Lion: 'Nicolas Maduro in Caracas', then 'Sandra Bullock as Annie Porter', then 'Neal Cassidy with the Merry Band of Pranksters', and finally 'Reg Varney as Stan Butler'. They knew it for sure after the last one: they were all bus drivers in those contexts. The Elves opened their show with Two Reeds: 'Kim Jong-il (6)', then 'Damon Albarn (2)', then 'Benjamin Britten (16)', and finally 'Ludwig van Beethoven (1)'. They didn't quite get it, their opponents did: they are the number of operas they have written. For their own question, the Inquisitors chose Twisted Flax: 'Stephen Fry', then 'Mel Giedroyc or Sue Perkins', then 'Simon Hoggart', and finally 'William G. Stewart (Adam Hills)'. They didn't know it, their opponents did: they were succeeded as hosts of TV shows by Sandi Toksvig. For their own question, the Elves chose Horned Viper, and got the picture set: we saw a bomber plane, then some apples, then a pink lady cocktail, and finally Rizzo from Grease. They knew them all to be 'pink ladies' for the points. (The plane being the B-17G Flying Fortress bomber, aka The Pink Lady') The Inquisitors chose Eye of Horus next, and got the music set: we heard 'The Belle of St Mark', then 'I Love Rock 'N Roll', then 'I Saw Her Standing There', and finally ABBA with 'Dancing Queen'. Neither team got this: they all refer to seventeen year olds in their lyrics. Left with Water, the Elves saw 'Time: Tomorrow', then 'Pepper: From Xalapa', then 'Climate pattern: The little boy'; they suggested at this point that they all ended with 'ño', but weren't quite right. Their opponents saw 'Drink: Strained pineapple', and offered simple that the all contain 'ñ' for the bonus. At the end of the first round, the Inquisitors led 3-2.
Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Inquisitors opened the round with Lion, and the picture set: we saw the pi symbol and the QI logo, then a pink ball and a bull, and then a lamb chop and a chip on a fork. They didn't quite see it, nor did their opponents: they are pairs where one letter is replaced by a Q, a U and an I, so a pair where one letter becomes a Z, such as the example answer of a pound coin (a quid) and the Chasers (a quiz) would be fourth. The Elves chose Two Reeds next: 'D' (in yellow), then 'M' (in green), and then 'Y' (in brown). They knew it to be something to do with snooker balls, but didn't see the sequence. Nor did their opponents. They are letters worth the same in Scrabble as those balls are in snooker, so a blue 'K' would be fourth. The Inquisitors chose Twisted Flax next: 'US purchase of Alaska', then 'Battle of Passchendaele', and then ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' released'. They saw them to be events of 1867, 1917 and 1967, so offered 'The Queen's 91st birthday', an acceptable event of 2017 for the points. The Elves chose Horned Viper next: we saw an illustrated street with '4th: Paris' underneath it, then the same with '3rd: Glasgow', and then '2nd: Budapest' underneath. They suggested '1st: London', and were correct for the points, the sequence being the locations of Europe's four oldest underground railways. For their final choice, the Inquisitors chose Water, and got a music question: we heard the Spanish song 'Llorando' (or 'Crying' as known in English), then 'MMMBop' by Hanson, and then 'N-N-Nineteen Not Out' by the Commentators. They saw the link, and suggested 'Ooh La La', which, after they provided a singalong of Kool and the Gang's similarly named song, was accepted for the points! Left with Eye of Horus, the Elves saw 'Brain of Britain questions', then 'Second team member's Big Money Game on Family Fortunes', and then 'Countdown Conundrum'. They didn't quite get the sequence, their opponents did: they are things with time limits of 10, 20 and 30 seconds, so something with a 40 second time limit, such as 'Only Connect Round 2 questions' would be fourth. At the end of the second round, the Inquisitors led 8-4.
On to the Walls. The Elves went first, and chose to tackle the Lion wall. After a slight false start, two sets came relatively easily: 'Dee', 'Wye', 'Exe' and 'Tees' are British rivers, while 'Bone', 'Phillips', 'Thiel' and 'Kay' are surnames of famous men called Peter. The final sets didn't prove that troubling: 'Flea', 'Tea', 'Nose' and 'Gas' can all precede 'bag', while 'Bee', 'You', 'Queue' and 'Are' are homophones of letters. A full ten there.
The Inquisitors thus set to work on the Water wall. Their first set came reasonably quickly: 'Y', 'Die', 'El' and 'La' all mean 'The' in different languages. They got a bit stuck after that, but eventually had a second set sorted: 'Tea', 'Pea', 'Sea' and 'Mint' are shades of green. The final sets came easily after that: 'Milk', 'False', 'Eye' and 'Wisdom' can all precede 'teeth', while 'Why', 'Ewe', 'Be' and 'Jay' are, again, homophones of letters. Another full ten there, so as you were, the Inquisitors led 18-14 going into the final round.
So, Missing Vowels would decide the game. 'Common pub quiz team names', such as 'QUIZ AKABUSI' and 'UNIVERSALLY CHALLENGED' went to the Elves 2-0. 'Beatles song with the first letter changed', such as 'PAXMAN' and 'MELLOW SUBMARINE', was a clean sweep to the Elves, 4-0. 'Lines of poetry' was split 2-each, and that was time. The Elves won 22-20.
A good episode to end the specials on, well played both teams, thanks for coming back. Enjoyed these, hope we see some more next year; some more Champion of Champions game would be most welcome.
Next regular match: the Birdwatchers vs the Brews, on Tuesday 1st at the usual time, 8pm.
Back on Sunday with a summary of the first week's play of Christmas UC; see yous then.
No comments:
Post a Comment