Good evening once again friends, and welcome back to JOW! We're into the final straight for this year's UC now, only four more matches left after tonight, and five of Mastermind. Once this series is over, however, I've got something a little extra planned, which means my UC coverage for the year won't be totally over once this series is; all will be revealed in due course. In the meantime, on with tonight...
King's College London came straight through the first two rounds with wins over Glasgow and Hertford of Oxford, before stumbling against Imperial, then recovering with a good win over Birmingham. They were unchanged from those previous games:
Ananth Sathyanath, from Titchfield in Hampshire, studying Medicine
Rachel Bedwin, from South East London, studying Developmental Biology
Captain: Atyab Rahid, from Daventry, graduated in Philosophy
Oliver Beard, from South East London, graduated in the History of War
Emmanuel College Cambridge lost to St Andrews in the first round, but recovered with wins over RNCM, St Catharine's of Cambridge and St John's, but lost a very good close second QF against Edinburgh. They were also unchanged from those games:
Nicole Pullinger, from Hong Kong, studying English
Nicholas Thatte, from Oxford (originally Greece), studying Physics
Captain: Kara Malcolm, from Guildford (originally Capetown), studying Engineering
James Wrathall, from Mistley in Essex, studying Arabic and Hindi
So off we set once again, and Emmanuel got off to the better start with Mr Wrathall identifying a list of names beginning with a double A; they didn't get anything from a resulting bonus set on Italy however. King's, in contrast, got off the mark quickly with Mr Beard, and they took two bonuses on words differing in an extra T, and were unlucky not to get the third. Mr Beard then took a second starter in a row, but it was then their turn to draw a blank on the bonuses, none on marsupials. A starter and single bonus for Emmanuel pulled them back within five ahead of the first picture round, a classic UC one requiring a national flag to be made up from the colours of three other displayed; the starter was missed, King's took the bonuses, but couldn't get any of them. Nonetheless, they led 40-25.
A penalty to Emmanuel then gave King's a second starter in a row, and they took one bonus from a tough set on science. Ms Malcolm then recouped Emmanuel's lost points as she took the next starter, giving her side a bonus set on the British Black Arts movement; again, though, they failed to add to their score. The music starter was missed by both teams; two dropped starters later, the bonuses, on classical pieces that damaged their composers' reputations, went to Emmanuel. Their struggles continued however; none taken, which left them trailing 55-40.
The next starter looked to be missed by both sides until Mr Sathyanath took an educated guess and was correct; this gave his side a bonus set on Scottish places beginning 'Inver', which they took two correct. A penalty then lost them five of those points however, though Emmanuel couldn't capitalise; Ms Malcolm did take 'Alberquerque' for the next starter however, and the bonuses finally fell for them, a full set on chemical elements that took them within five points. The second picture starter was then dropped; the bonuses, on stills from films of the kitchen sink genre, went to King's, but they failed to take to any of them, though they did offer a good joke guess for the last one! Nonetheless, they still led 80-65 with probably not long left.
Emmanuel took the next starter however, to pull them back within five points; this gave them a bonus set on the language Pahlevi, which they took two of to give them the lead. Paxo began another starter, but just before King's could buzz on it, the gong went; Emmanuel won 85-80.
A low scoring match, there's no hiding that, with the questions, the first picture round especially, maybe pitched a bit too difficult for the teams; I can confirm that that is indeed the lowest (student series) winning score of the BBC era, probably of all time, though not the lowest aggregate score, that would be this match from two series ago. Still, well played both teams nonetheless. Congrats to Emmanuel and best of luck in the semis! Hard lines to King's, but they have a decent series of performances to their credit, thanks for playing!
The stats: Ms Malcolm was the best buzzer of the night with three, while Messrs Sathyanath and Beard and Ms Bedwin taking two each for King's, though Mr Rashid was their best for the series as a whole with 16. On the bonuses, King's managed 5 out of 18 and Emmanuel 6 out of 18, with one penalty each, so it really was all won on that final bonus.
Next week's match: Reading vs St John's, for the final place in the semis.
Mastermind’s second semi-final was
a real cracker, with Patrick Wilson and Alice Walker both finishing on 24
points and no passes! A tie-breaker round was needed, and Alice just edged it
with three correct answers to Patrick’s two. Will Vince and Paul Risebury-Crisp
also took part, finishing with 18 and 20 respectively.
Counterpoint’s second semi-final
featured an all-female line-up and mainly questions about female music personalities
in honour of International Women’s Day. Isabelle Heward won the match
comfortably to take the second place in an already strong final line-up; final
semi next Monday.
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