Good evening folks, and welcome back! After a week when I found and downloaded Settlers II, an old game my household thoroughly enjoyed playing twenty years ago! And we're currently being reminded how addictive, and frustrating, it can be! On with UC, and tonight we concluded the second phase of the QFs with the second eliminator...
Birkbeck soundly defeated Reading in the first round and then Open in the second, but came unstuck in a high quality preliminary to Magdalene 240-140. They were the same four as before:
Jonathan Taylor, from London, studying Environment and Sustainability
Nicky Clarke, from Leicestershire, studying Early Modern History
Captain: Jonathan Williams, from London, graduated in Classics
Joshua Mutio, from St Helens, graduated in PPE
Strathclyde defeated fellow quarter-finalists Imperial in the first round, and then Manchester in the second, but their preliminary against Durham 155-115. They too were unchanged from before:
Cameron Welsh, from Glasgow, graduated in Applied Statistics
David Curran, from Glasgow, studying Civil Engineering
Captain: James Whittle, from Glasgow, studying Power Systems Engineering
Tom Starr-Marshall, from Colindale in London, studying Speech and Language Therapy
So off we set once more, and it was Mr Williams who opened the night's scoring with 'Paradise' (poorly timed, given that Death in Paradise came off air over a week ago!); the London side took a full set of bonuses on the French revolution. But an unlucky penalty allowed Strathclyde to follow off the mark, and they tied the scores with two bonuses from a complicated set on works ending and beginning with the same letters. Mr Welsh then gave the Scots side the lead with two successive starters; the first bonus set were all dropped, but the second, another complicated one about capital cities, gave them two correct. The first picture round, on the records of noted tennis players, went to Strathclyde too; another two correct gave them a lead of 70-20.
Five were then lost to a pedantic penalty, but Birkbeck couldn't venture an answer. Mr Taylor then got the Londoners going again though, and an excellent bonus set on the Stranglers classic 'No More Heroes' gave them a second full house. A second starter in a row to Birkbeck and two correct answers tied the scores up, but Mr Welsh duly reclaimed the lead for Strathclyde; two bonuses on Tracey Emin were taken. Neither team recognised Neneh Cherry for the music starter; the bonuses, on tracks from the Red Hot + Blue charity album, went to Strathclyde, and saw Jimmy Somerville get mistaken for a woman for the second series running! They got the other two right though, taking their lead to 105-65.
Two successive penalties, one of them pedantic, dropped the Scots side back into double figures, but Birkbeck couldn't capitalise on either. Mr Whittle eventually recouped the lost points, and ensured all four Strathclyde players had a starter to their name; one bonus followed. The second picture round, on members of the Detection writers club, went to Birkbeck; a full set of bonuses took the scores to 110-90.
Still either team's game, and a very quick buzz from Mr Williams took Birkbeck into three figures; just one bonus on winners of the Abel maths prize was taken, leaving them five adrift with not much time left. Back came Strathclyde with Mr Welsh once again doing the honours; bonuses on Areas of Outstanding National Beauty didn't give them any more points, but when Mr Curran took the next starter, that was game over. One bonus was taken, and the gong prevented them taking another; Strathclyde won 135-105.
A low scoring but enjoyable contest between two pleasant teams, well done both, and well done on clapping each other at the end, always good to see! Well done to Strathclyde, and best of luck in the play-offs! Hard lines to Birkbeck, but a very good series of performances earlier on, and no shame in going out now, thanks very much for playing!
The stats: Messrs Williams and Welsh were joint best buzzers of the night with four each; Mr Williams ends the series his side's best buzzer with thirteen starters over four matches. On the bonuses, Birkbeck managed an impressive 12 out of 15 (with one penalty) and Strathclyde 12 out of 27 (with three penalties); equal on the bonuses then, so those four extra starters won the game.
Next week's match: either Imperial vs Durham or Magdalene vs Strathclyde (I am reliably informed these are the correct fixtures)
Only Connect concluded the quarter-finals
with the Severns vs the Apres Skiers. The teams were tied on 2-all after the
first round, before the Skiers pulled into an 11-2 lead after the second. A
better wall helped the Severns pull it back to 15-9 going into Missing Vowels,
but the Skiers pulled back away on that and won 21-11.
Mastermind was won comfortably by
Tom Gibson, whose highly impressive performance of 14 on General Knowledge gave
him a winning score of 21, five clear of the second placed contender.
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