Good evening friends, and welcome back to the penultimate week of the season when we have a full three part line-up for Quizzy Mondays! Only Connect ends next week; haven't decided yet whether I'm going to do a full blog or not this year. In the meantime, we carry on with UC, and our second preliminary quarter-final, a London derby and a rematch from last series.
King's College London reached the quarter-finals for a second series running via a low scoring 115-100 first round win over Glasgow and an improved 175-115 second round victory over Hertford of Oxford that ended that university's interest in this series. They were unchanged from those two wins:
Ananth Sathyanath, from Southampton, studying Medicine
Rachel Bedwin, from South East London, studying Developmental Biology
Captain: Atyab Rahid, from Daventry, studying Philosophy
Oliver Beard, from South East London, studying the History of War
Imperial College London had two higher scoring victories to reach a third successive group stage, firstly beating fellow QFers St John's 210-155 in the first round, and then just two weeks ago, they beat Exeter 205-70 in the second round. They were also the same foursome as before:
Max Zeng, from Singapore, studying Biochemistry
Fatima Sheriff, from Hitchin in Hertforshire, studying Science Communication
Captain: Michael Mays, from Montrose, studying Computational Fluid Dynamics
Gilbert Jackson, from Bury St Edmunds, studying Chemistry
So off we set for the second time in this longest of long rounds, and for the second week in a row, five points were lost on the first starter; Imperial took advantage of their opponents' mistake as Ms Sheriff took the points and two bonuses were taken. Mr Zeng confirmed his geography expertise hadn't vanished between recordings as he quickly took yet another on the next starter; Imperial consistantly took another two bonuses, before Mr Rashid took King's off the mark, and they went one better taking a full set on their first bonus set. The first picture round, on Indian state capitals and their states, went to Imperial, or rather to Mr Zeng, who single handedly took the starter and all three bonuses to take his side's lead to 65-20.
Both sides then lost five on successive starters, before Mr Zeng got the scoring going the right way again; bonuses on art though saw them get just one starter, and then those five points were lost to yet another penalty. Ms Sheriff identified the origins of the phrase 'tenterhooks' for the next starter, but they got nothing from a bonus set on fungi. Mr Zeng looked to have been beaten by a swerve on the next starter, but quickly adjusted his answer to collect the points; bonuses on the band They Might Be Giants gave Imperial a full set, though, to my astonishment, Malcolm in the Middle wasn't an answer! The music round, on mothers singing to their children in opera, also went to Imperial, but their fortunes on the bonuses swung right back the other way again with none taken; still, they led 120-15.
And when Mr Zeng quickly took the next starter, and all three bonuses on bank notes were taken, the match already looked good as over. At which point, Mr Sathyanath reawoke King's by identifying Chievo and Hellas as the two main football teams in Verona; one bonus was taken. Mr Sathyanath did the right thing and buzzed quickly again on the next starter, but no answer came; Ms Sheriff took the points and two points were taken. Mr Zeng then predictably took yet another geography starter very quickly, and Paxo brought out the old favourite "sorry it's so easy!" when Imperial took the first bonus; they took one of the other two as well. The second picture round, on long serving non-royal world leaders, went to King's, who took another sole bonus to take the scores to 185-40.
Mr Rashid took a second starter in a row to deservedly lift his side out of the Sub-50 Club, and another sole bonus on anatomy was taken with it. The King's captain went for the hattrick, but this time was wrong, allowing Mr Zeng to take the points; no bonuses were taken, but Mr Mays took the next starter and a full set on US geography was once again duly swept up by that man Mr Zeng. He took the next starter too; just one bonus followed, but it mattered not. At the gong, Imperial won 235-50.
Another one sided but enjoyable contest. Very well done to Imperial, Mr Zeng in particular, on another superfluous performance which marks them down as a team to beat; very best of luck in the qualifier matches! Hard lines to King's, who were simply outplayed and did the right thing in keeping on going for it early; best of luck to them in the eliminator rounds!
The stats: Mr Zeng was easily the best buzzer of the night with EIGHT(!) starters (taking his running total to 19), while Mr Rashid was best for King's with three. On the bonuses, King's managed 6 out of 12 (with four penalties) and Imperial a decent 23 out of 39 (with two penalties).
Next week's match: don't know yet, except that it'll be two of St John's, Emmanuel, Edinburgh and Trinity; if I find anything for definite, I'll say so on Twitter.
Only Connect paused before next
week’s final with the third place play-off, between the Ramblers and the Animal
Lovers, a line-up composed almost entirely of recent UC alumni. The Ramblers
led 6-4 after the first round, before a shutout second round saw that lad
increase to 18-4 (I claim two points on the Charles Ingram question, natch, and
the horizontal numbers). A better wall saw them increase their advantage to
28-9, which meant Missing Vowels was just a formality, the final score 30-13.
Mastermind would be won by Tom Lea
with 22 points, with Louisa Radice finishing second with 18, and third and
fourth place Shanine Salmon and John Ball finishing just behind with 16 and 14
respectively.
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