University Challenge 2023-24: Round 1: Match 13: Lincoln vs King's

Good evening once again friends, and welcome back to Quizzy Mondays! Only two first round matches left in this series of UC, with the task for the remaining teams to either win, or lose with a score above 155, which, despite a few close misses in the past few weeks, remains the target for the repechage, as AR seems to have embraced calling it after Paxo simply settled for 'play-offs for highest scoring losers', or words to that extent, for years. After so many near misses, would we get a runners-up score above that tonight?

Lincoln College Oxford only appeared twice under the old regime, but both were highly memorable; firstly, in 2008-09, they reached the semi-finals before being resoundingly trounced 345-30 by eventual (default) champions Manchester, while the second, in 2012-13, saw them also lose to Manchester, by just five points, in the first round before losing in the play-offs. This year's foursome were:

Ella Warde, from Cambridge, studying Maths and Statistics

Mehmet Tatoglu, from Umraniye, Istanbul, studying History

Captain: Alexander Baker, from Goring-by-Sea in West Sussex, studying Physics 

Anna Drummond Young, from Edinburgh, studying Physical Chemistry

King's College London appeared six times in the Paxo era, but, surprisingly, four of those appearances came in the past six series; the latter two of those appearances saw them reach the QFs, firstly going out in the eliminators to Imperial, the latter narrowly losing the lowest scoring UC of the era to Emmanuel Cambridge. This year's quartet were:

Alex Halliwell, from Manchester, studying Law

Allesandro Bogo, from Italy and Russia, studying Law

Captain: Taiga Clarke, from Japan, studying Pharmacology

Zahra Sultan, from Buckinghamshire, studying Philosophy 

So, off we set once again then, and it was Mr Bogo who opened the scoring for the night, and King's took a full bonus set. Lincoln responded in kind via Mr Tatoglu, with the first of many for the night, pulling level before taking the lead with a second starter in a row. The Oxonians also took the first picture round, on seels of US federal agencies, after which they led 60-25. And that lead was just getting bigger as they kept dominating on the buzzer, and, while their bonus rate wasn't as good as some similarly dominant-on-the-buzzer teams we've had this series, it wasn't mattering for now. AR did give King's his now customary 'plenty of time', but this only resulted in Mr Tatoglu getting the next starter very quickly. After the music round, on classical pieces that premiered in 1962, the same year UC first aired, Lincoln led 135-25.

A penalty gave King's a chance to get back into the game, but they couldn't take it, and Lincoln duly recouped those points on the next starter. The London side did finally buzz in first on the next starter, but forgivably lost five, allowing Lincoln a tap in, which really did finish the game as a contest. King's finally got some more points on the board with the second picture round, on moons of Jupiter; one bonus took the scores to 185-35. Mr Bogo gave King's a second starter in a row, and two bonuses ensured they wouldn't be the first Sub-50 clubbers of the AR era. Another starter to Mr Tatoglu put Lincoln within touching distance of 200; they couldn't get there with the bonuses, but a second in a row, to Ms Warde, got them there. King's did at least manage another starter, which ensured they wouldn't have the lowest score of the series so far. At the gong, Lincoln won 225-65.

Another one-sided contest, and slightly lower scoring than of late, but still a decent enough watch. Well done to Lincoln, another excellent first performance and, if their somewhat low bonus rate improves in the second round, they'll be yet another team to be watched; best of luck in the second round! Hard lines to King's, who did decently enough when they got the chance and would surely have done better against a different opponent; thanks very much for playing!

The stats: Mr Tatoglu was comfortably the best buzzer of the night with EIGHT(!) starters, while Mr Bogo was best for King's with three. On the bonuses, Lincoln managed 18 out of 39 (with one penalty) and King's 7 out of 12 (with two penalties).

Next week's match: York vs Northeastern University London (the first debutants of the AR era!)

Only Connect began its qualifier round with returns of the Stitchers and the Gunners (whose captain Mr Thomas revealed himself to be the son of Nick Thomas who was on the show with the Electrophiles four series ago). The teams were level on 2-each after the first round, before the latter pulled out into a 7-5 lead after the second (I claim 3 points on both the Horrible Histories and the BBC Political Editors). A better wall increased the Gunners’ lead to 17-10 going into Missing Vowels, and, unlike their namesakes(!), they maintained the lead there to win 25-13.

 

Mastermind was won by Paul Judge (formerly of OC), whose 22 points saw him edge out a close contest ahead of Isobel Moseley with 20, Reena Patel on 18 and Robert Hemming on 17.

 

Brain of Britain was won by Mickie Wynne-Davies, who won a contest with very few ‘rallies’, resulting in there being time for an extra round. In the end, her 13 points saw her comfortably beat second place Carolyn Schofield with 10, with Michael Frankl just behind her with 9, and Ray Eaton (who I think might have been on OC many years ago) just behind him on 8.