University Challenge 2023-24: Round 1: Match 11: Warwick vs Wolfson

Good evening again friends, and welcome back to Quizzy Mondays once again! As AR said in his intro, we're into the business end of the first round now, and what a first round it's been! For tonight's two teams, any winning score would do, but a runners-up score above 205 would give them a definite place in the repechage, while one of 160 or more would be sufficient for a place on the board for the time being.

Warwick appeared 19 times under the old BBC regime, winning twice, in 2006-07 and 2020-21, and reaching the semis once and the QFs three times, but falling in the second round a whopping nine times. This year's foursome were:

James Coe, from Coventry (originally Buckinghamshire), studying Chemistry

Luke Beresford, from Chesterfield, studying Maths

Captain: Matthew Bliss, from Solihull, studying British Urban History

Abby Akarapongpisakbi, from Bangkok, studying Film Studies

Wolfson College Cambridge, in contrast, only appeared four times in the Paxo era, and the only one of those teams not to go out in the first round was, of course, that of Eric Monkman in the 2016-17 series. This year's quartet were:

Scott Wilson, from Welwyn Garden City, studying Neuroscience

Grace An, from New York, studying the Conservation of Easel Paintings

Captain: Rob Steel-Browne, from Grantham, studying Law

Patrick Pan, from Houston, studying Philosophy

So, off we set again then, and, for the third show in a row, we started with a penalty, this time to Wolfson; Warwick immediately capitalised with a pick-up and full bonus set. A second penalty dropped the Cambridge side back further, and Warwick otherwise dominated on the buzzer after that; after the first picture round, on cold deserts, the Coventry side led 80-(-10). A third penalty dropped Wolfson back to -15, I believe only the third time (at least) that's happened in the BBC era. After that, though, the Cambridge side recovered very well, with a solid run of starters and a good haul of bonuses, including a full set on the Simpsons that I got all the answers to before the questions had finished! They also took the music round, on classical pieces written to be performed by two pianists, after which, they had suddenly tied the scores at 80-each!

Back into the lead went Warwick with the next starter and a pair of bonuses though, and, while Wolfson did take the next starter, no bonuses followed, and Warwick then went on a buzzer run of their own that pulled them back out into a steady lead. After the second picture round, on paintings depicting poisonings, Warwick led 150-90. Still plenty to play for in the game, but another starter and a full bonus set to Warwick meant Wolfson would have to go for it to stand a chance. And go for it they did taking a full house of their own; but another starter to Warwick made their task harder still. Another full house to Wolfson put them within sight of a play-off place at least, but that was as far as they could go, as Warwick ran away with it and ran up yet another 250+ score, again, the third in as many weeks. At the gong, Warwick won 265-140.

Another fine contest that really wasn't as one-sided as the score suggests until the very end. Well done Warwick, an excellent first performance, another team worth watching out for in the second round; best of luck there! Hard lines to Wolfson, who did very well to recover so well from that start they had, and who, again, could well have beaten another team; a good effort though, thanks for playing!

The stats: Mr Beresford was the best buzzer of the night with six, while Mr Pan was Wolfson's best with four. On the bonuses, Warwick managed 25 out of 41 and Wolfson 15 out of 24 (with three penalties).

Next week's match: Bangor vs Edinburgh

Only Connect continued the eliminators with the returns of the Academicals and the Gardners. The latter led 4-1 after the first round, but the former recovered well and took the lead 10-7 after the second. A better wall gave the Gardners the lead back 17-15 going into Missing Vowels, and they maintained that after a final round where both lost points to win 21-16.

 

Mastermind was very close indeed, with Ben Jones (formerly of UC) winning with 20 points, one ahead of second place Hannah Mitchell with 19, two ahead of third place Simon Pinnell with 18, and three ahead of fourth place Michael Thompson with 17!

 

Brain of Britain was won narrowly by Jude Cole, for whom a good run in the final round saw her finish with 13 points, one ahead of John Robinson (formerly of UC, OC and WWTBAM), whose 12 points currently sees him joint second (with two others) on the HSNW board. Julie Byres and Haydn Thompson (twice a Fifteen-to-One finalist in the mid 90s) completed the line-up, both scoring 9.