University Challenge 2023-24: Round 2: Match 5: Manchester vs Edinburgh

Good evening again friends, and welcome back to Quizzy Mondays! The final full one of the year too, with Brain of Britain ending today; longer than usual summary of that later. For now, though, the penultimate regular UC of the year, and one that on paper looked a bit of a mismatch, until you remember the exact circumstances of both victories.

Manchester won the very first game of the series, on a 175-each tie-breaker, but given that their opponents Trinity have gone on to survive through the repechage to reach the QFs, that is a testament to them being a solid team too. Hoping to follow Trinity into the QFs were the unchanged foursome of:

Bluma De Los Reyes-White, from Franklin, Massachusetts, studying Genetics

Ilya Kullmann, from London, studying Medicine

Captain: Hiru Senehedheera, from Letchworth Garden City, studying Materials

Dan Grady, from Burton-on-Trent, studying Maths

Edinburgh, in contrast, ran riot in the first round and racked up the highest score of the round as they beat a very decent Bangor side 320-105. They were also unchanged from that previous contest:

Matt Stafford, from Ashton-under-Lyne, studying Maths

Frances Hadley, from Lambeth in London, studying Music

Captain: Arun Uttamchandani, from Glasgow, studying Law

Matt McGovern, from Knaresborough in North Yorkshire, studying Mechanical Engineering

 

So, off we set once again then, and Edinburgh appeared to start where they left off as Mr McGovern took the first starter, but they didn't take any of the resulting bonuses on Cyprus. Manchester followed them off the mark with the second starter, and instantly took the lead with two bonuses. A further two bonuses pulled the Mancunians into an early lead, before Edinburgh reawoke with the first picture round, on ethnic groups or polities of the Americas; a full bonus set cut the gap to 55-35. But Manchester pushed on on the buzzer, and had suddenly reached three figures and a near 100-point lead. Mr Hadley did the right thing and took an early buzz, but lost five; Manchester took the points and a full bonus set to boot, which did take their lead to three figures. Edinburgh did take the music round, on British metal bands of the 70s and 80s, and another full house too, but the gap was now 140-55.

And Manchester weren't letting up as Mr Kullmann took the next starter; no bonuses followed, but Mr Senehedheera took the next, which they did better on with one. A third in a row, taken by Mr Kullmann, gave them (and myself) a full bonus set on young England debutants, including 'the one and only' Jude Bellingham, as AR referred to him! The second picture round, on constellations as depicted in the Star Atlas of Pardies, also went to Manchester; no bonuses followed, but they now led 200-55. Edinburgh finally got back into the game, and quickly banged out a full set of bonuses on probability; but any hopes of a spectacular fightback (which you wouldn't have put it past them to pull off given their first round showing) were extinguished as Mr Kullmann took the next starter; just one bonus followed, but it was academical now. Edinburgh did manage a late rally to deservedly reach three figures, but had already been well beaten. At the gong, Manchester won 215-105.

Another good match that was, as AR pointed out, a lot closer than the scoreline suggested; again, what a shame this is a knockout match. Well done to Manchester, an excellent performance that proves them one to watch, as if they weren't already having beaten the very good Trinity team first time out; best of luck to them in the QFs! Hard lines to Edinburgh, who we know are a much more capable team than that, but the starters just didn't fall for them this time; still a fine enough showing though, thanks for playing!

The stats: Mr Senehedheera was the best buzzer of the night with five starters, while Messrs Stafford, Uttamchandani and McGovern all got two each for Manchester. On the bonuses, Manchester managed 19 out of 36 and Edinburgh 11 out of 18 (with two penalties).

Next week's match: York vs Birkbeck in the final regular match of the year. The week after, we break for Christmas UC. (And, yes, I am aware of the off-screen controversy of the past few days; I will reserve comment on that until, what's left of, the Xmas series has actually aired)

Only Connect began its quarter-finals with the Gunners vs the Suncatchers. The former led 4-3 after the first round, and 6-3 after a rather tricky second. A better wall gave the Suncatchers the lead 13-12 going into Missing Vowels, but, after a close round, it ended a 17-each tie! Our first one of those since the first episode of Series 17! And it was Mr Warth who got in first for the Suncatchers to take the win.

 

Mastermind was won by Sharon Chambers, for whom a spectacular GK round saw her add a mighty SIXTEEN(!) points to her SS 8 to win with 24 points, one ahead of second placed Graeme Barton with 23. Matthew Harper and Kimia Etemadi completed the line-up with 20 and 10 respectively.

 

Brain of Britain reached its 70^th Grand Final; our contenders were Dan Adler, Eleanor Ayres, Colin Kidd and George Scratcherd. And, after last week’s first round where all four players scored three, this week, we went one better as all four scored four! In fact, it was a very steady scoring show indeed, with all four scoring pretty well on their own questions, with the result that there was only time for four rounds as opposed to the usual five.

 

In the second round, George got slightly left behind as he had five and the others all had six! Then, he fell even further behind in the third, after which, he still had five, while Eleanor had 8, Colin had 9 and Dan had 10.

 

Dan began, what would be the final round, with four of his own, but missed out on 5IARAABP. However, neither Eleanor or Colin were able to take advantage, though George did recover a bit of lost ground on his round. He ended up finishing with 8 points; Eleanor and Colin both had 11, and Dan was the winner on 15! Congratulations to him; a most worthy winner!

 

I believe he will be returning at the start of the next series to contest the triennial Brain of Brains, where he will meet Karl Whelan and Sarah Trevarthen, and, if they invite back a high scoring runner-up like they’ve done in the last few of these, I’m guessing Marianne Fairthorne would be back too.

 

Anyway, that’s Brain of Britain for this series; thanks to all involved, another most enjoyable series!