Good evening again my friends, and welcome to the final full run of Quizzy Monday this season! Well, sort of. Only Connect did finish up tonight, of course, but there's a repeat of an old Christmas special in its slot next week, presumably to avoid anyone getting withdrawal symptoms! More on that later, but firstly, on with UC, and two teams we haven't seen for a while after last being seen twice in quick succession...
Trinity College Cambridge came through the repechage after narrowly losing to Manchester in the first round; they then defeated Southampton and won a great contest against Warwick on the final starter of the game to join their conquerors in the QFs. They were unchanged from those previous games:
Sarah Henderson, from North London, studying Japanese
Agnijo Banerjee, from Dundee, studying Maths
Captain: Ryan Joonsuk Kang, form Seoul, studying Organic Chemistry
Jeremi Jaksina, from Bialystok, Poland, studying Genetics
The Open University were also defeated in the first round, by Hertford of Oxford, but would then be very easy winners over, firstly the very good Oxford Brookes team in the play-offs, and then the useful UEA team in the second round. They were also the same quartet as those previous outings:
Ellie Romans, from Oxfordshire, studying Nursing
Mike Holt, from Wilmslow in Cheshire, studying towards the Open degree
Captain: Ann Gavaghan, from London, studying Art and Architectural History
James Davidson, from Fraserburgh, studying English Literature
So, off we set once again then, and it was Ms Gavaghan who took the first starter of the night, and the second as well, and they were followed up by half the resulting bonuses. A penalty to Trinity plus two further starters to Open meant they already led by 75 points and AR gave Trinity a standard early 'plenty of time'. The Cambridge side did get going proper with the first picture round, on maps of UK cities and their green spaces; one bonus cut the gap to 70-10. This sparked a run for Trinity as they would take a further two starters to cut the gap right back down. A fourth took them within five points, but they couldn't get the one bonus to draw level. Open duly increased their lead with a starter and sole bonus; but Trinity bit back and this time did take the lead with a full bonus set on household pests. Neither side got the music starter; the first replacement starter, asking which two countries are part of both the EU and the Commonwealth, saw both teams mistakenly offer the UK as an answer! ("I'm presuming you guys have all forgotten about this thing called Brexit!") The music bonuses, on 21st century jazz Grammy winners, eventually went to Open; none followed, but they had at least retaken the lead 95-90.
Only for Trinity to immediately take it back with the next starter, followed by one bonus. Open reclaimed it back with a starter plus two bonuses, but, again, back came Trinity as Mr Jaksina made AR laugh by getting a starter on his subject of genetics right! No bonuses followed. The second picture round, on photos of fashion designers at work, went to Open; a full house meant they retook the lead 140-115. A quick buzz from Mr Holt and a second full bonus set in a row put them in pole position for the final minutes. A third in a row went to them, but, in a reversal of fortune, no bonuses went their way. That was the cue for Trinity to take two starters in a row of their own, which cut the gap to just 25 points. The next starter required the answer to be spelt out; Mr Holt buzzed first, but no answer came. Minus five, in came Mr Banerjee, and one bonus put Trinity five behind. And then ahead as Mr Banerjee took a second starter in a row; some will probably be annoyed that they took their time with the resulting bonuses, but, to be fair, they did give the one they did know straight away. Ms Henderson took the final starter, and that was game over; no time for any bonuses to be answered. At the gong, Trinity won 190-170.
Another excellent contest between two very well matched teams indeed. Well done Trinity, and best of luck in the qualifying round! Hard lines to Open; best of luck to them in the elimination round!
The stats: Messrs Banerjee and Jaksina were joint best buzzers of the night with five each, while Ms Gavaghan and Mr Davidson were joint best for Open with three each. On the bonuses, Trinity managed 15 out of 34 and Open 15 out of 30, with both sides incurring one penalty each, so it was those two extra starters that won it, and, for the second week in a row, all eight players contributed at least one correct starter.
Next week's match: U.C.L. vs Christ Church
Only Connect’s nineteenth Grand
Final was contested by the Thrifters, Will Chadwick, Jack Karimi and captain
Sam Haywood, and the Also Rans, Harry Heath, Claire Barrow and captain Dan
Afshar. The former led 3-2 after the first round, and 9-5 after the second. A
better wall saw the Also Rans take the lead 15-14 going into Missing Vowels, which
proved very close indeed before, on the very last clue, the
Thrifters won the game and the series 19-18! Very well done to them, and to the
Also Rans, who’d have deserved to win too! And thanks to all involved in
another excellent series! Now for the far too long wait for the next!
Mastermind was won by Stephen
Dodding, formerly of OC and I think Fifteen-to-One as well, whose 29 points, largely
from a superb GK round, saw him win with 29 points, three ahead of second
placed Dan Hudson. Laura Cooney and Omer Hamid also competed, finishing with 23
and 11 respectively.
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