OK, so if you've been following me online ever since I first started on it, you'll be aware that, aside from Quizzy Mondays and TV of the 80s, 90s and early to mid '00s, my other main interest is Robot Wars. At the moment, on the Robot Wars Wikia site, we're killing the rather a lot of free time we all have right now with a series of RW themed Only Connect questions, including two fully designed connecting walls. It's good fun, and I do hope the user in charge decides to do another run of them at some point.
Anyway, on with my review of the 15th Only Connect grand final, from Monday night; playing were the 007s, Frankie Fanko, blog reader Andrew Beasley and captain Andrew Fanko, who got here undefeated by beating the Eggchasers, the Endeavours, the Junipers and the Turophiles, and the Suits, Kyle Lam, Isi Bogod and captain Toby Nonnenmacher, who got here by beating the Darksiders, the Electrophiles, the Lexplorers (who they also narrowly lost to) and the Forrests.
Round 1. The 007s started the final with Two Reeds, and the music question: we heard Stevie Wonder with 'You Haven't Got Nothin'', then 'I Ain't Got Nobody' by Fats Waller, then 'Don't Come Around Here No More' by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and finally Bill Withers with 'Ain't No Sunshine'. They didn't get the link, their opponents did, double negatives, for the bonus point. For their own first question, the Suits chose 'Horn-ed' Viper: 'Bengt Holstrom winning a Nobel prize', then 'Lady Gaga's Super Bowl entrance' (I guessed the right answer at this clue), then 'Calculation of the mass of the Higgs boson' (I knew it for sure here), and finally 'Donald Trump becoming US president'. Neither team got this: they are things that were foreshadowed on the Simpsons! (And there are many others I could tell you about too!) The 007s chose Eye of Horus next: 'Group prepared film series', then 'Make perfect replica mannequin', then 'Ban pub except counter', and finally 'Ignite trivial match fair'. Again, they didn't get it, their opponents did: they are quartets of words that have the same definition (the third clue, for example, are all words that can mean 'bar') For their own question, the Suits chose Lion next: 'Take On Me', then 'Super Mario 64', then 'Voyage of the Dawn Treader', and finally 'Mary Poppins'. This time, they didn't get it, their opponents did: they contain a mixture of real life and animated sequences. For their own question, the 007s chose Twisted Flax, and got the pictures: we saw Lance Armstrong, then Gore Vidal, then Spike Lee, and finally Pierce Brosnan. The last one gave it to them: their forenames all mean to perforate. Left with Water, the Suits saw: 'Venn Diagrams', then 'Avogadro's Constant', then 'Halley's Comet', and finally 'Stigler's Law'. They didn't get it, nor did the opposition: they are named after people who did not invent them. At the end of the first round, the teams were tied on 2-each.
Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The 007s started the round with Lion: 'Two as in bicameral', then 'Three as in piano, viola, clarinet, trumpet'; they saw it to be words/phrases with two and three letter As in them, so offered 'Five as in audio, visual, digital, catmedia', which was good enough for the points. ('players on a handball team' was the model answer) The Suits chose 'Horn-ed' Viper again next: '1: Uffizi', then '2: Museum of London', and then '3: Louvre'. Neither team quite worked it out: they are museums with one, two and three sites respectively, so '4: Tate' would be fourth. The 007s chose Two Reeds next: 'Gloria Steinem autobiography', then 'David Brent film', and then 'Jack Kerouac novel'. They saw them to be 'My Life on the Road', 'Life on the Road' and 'On the Road' respectively, so offered 'Cormac McCarthy novel' as 'The Road' for the two points. The Suits chose Eye of Horus next, and got the picture set: we saw a single white calculator dash, then five of them making up an E, and finally two mirroring each other; they saw them to be how numbers would appear on a calculator, but with the relevant bits not lit up, so two on the left would be fourth. For their final choice, the 007s chose Water: 'Double Your Money', then 'Tipping Point', and then 'The £100K Drop'. They didn't get it, nor did their opponents, though their guess of 'Only Connect' made Victoria laugh a lot! I did get it: they are shows with top prize money of £1,000, £10,000 and £100,000, so 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' would be fourth. Left with Twisted Flax, the Suits saw 'Miss Griffin in 'Kinvig', then 'The Mekon and the Treens in 'Dan Dare'', and then 'Loch Ness monster'. They didn't quite get it, and nor did the opposition: they are 'fictional' residents of Mercury, Venus and Earth, so someone from Mars, such as 'Marvin the Martian' would be fourth. At the end of the second round, the 007s led 7-4.
On to the Walls. The Suits went first, and chose the Lion wall. As you'd expect for the final, it proved a most tricky wall, and they were unable to solve anything in the time. So, they had to try for bonuses: 'Axa', 'Chubb', 'Aviva' and 'AIG' are insurance companies, which they got, '192.168.612.91', 'Anna', 'DPD' and 'Boob' are palindrones, which they didn't see, 'Bob', 'Throm', 'Ro' and 'Ca' can all have 'bin' added to them, which they also didn't get, while 'Bobo', 'Oso', 'Bungle' and 'Boo Boo' are fictional bears, which they also missed. Just one point there then.
The 007s could thus put one hand of the trophy is they could do better on the Water wall. A similarly difficult war, but they did get a set quite quickly: 'Nan', 'Bro', 'Sis' and 'Mom' are abbreviations for family members. A second set, 'Pop', 'Pup', 'Strum' and 'Whip', which can all have 'pet' added to them, followed, but they couldn't fully solve it in their three tries. So they too had to try for points: 'Marathi', 'Malayalam', 'Telugu' and 'Odia' are Indian languages, which they saw, while 'Pep', 'TNT', 'Nauruan' and '192.168.612.91' are, again, palindromes, which they too did not see. Five points there then, which gave them a lead of 12-5 going into the final round.
So, Missing Vowels to finish with, with the Suits needing a shut out to stand a chance. 'Dickens novels minus one consonant', such as 'BARNABY RUDE' and 'OLIVER TWIT', was split 2-each. 'Items of food and their approximate shape, such as 'EGG AND OVOID', went to the Suits 3-1. 'Idioms that mention two body parts', such as 'HAND ON HEART', went to the 007s 2-(-1), and that was time. The 007s won the show, and the series, 17-9.
A good enjoyable final to end a good enjoyable series, well done both teams! Unlucky Suits, but a fine series of performances, nothing to be ashamed of, well done and thanks very much. Very well done 007s, worthy champions, and the first series winning team to have two people with the same surname! Well done indeed!
So, that's it for Only Connect this series, another very good series, thanks very much indeed to all involved, thoroughly enjoyed it! Now to watch it all again, as I intend to do over the coming weeks!
Back tomorrow or Friday with a preview of the UC semi-finals.
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