Good evening again my friends, and welcome back to Quizzy Mondays! As we venture towards the end of the first series of UC of the Amol Rajan era, which has been a very good first one IMO, not least because there are quite a few teams left I could see winning the title in the right circumstances. Tonight, we'd have our first AR era semi-finalists, as two teams, both hoping to be the first five-time UC winners, met in the first qualifier match of the QFs...
Manchester beat fellow quarter-finalists Trinity on a tie-breaker in the first round, then the very good Edinburgh team in the second round, and in their first QF, they beat Birkbeck 160-95. They were the same foursome as those previous outings:
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
Imperial defeated two very good Oxford teams, Balliol and Lincoln, very comfortably in the first two rounds, but their first QF was much closer as they narrowly overcame Sheffield . They were also unchanged from all those previous matches:
Justin Lee, from Hong Kong and Canada, studying Chemistry
Adam Jones, from Hong Kong, studying Computer Science
Captain: Suraya Haddad, from Manchester, studying Medicine
Sourajit Debnath, from Calcutta, studying Applied Computational Science and Engineering
So, off we set once again then, and it was Mr Lee who showed first as Imperial took the first starter of the game; just one bonus followed, and Manchester duly overtook them as they took their first starter and all three bonuses from the first set. A penalty to Imperial increased this lead further, as did a second starter to Manchester, but AR was most annoyed when they only took one bonus on the late great Shane Warne! A second penalty added to Imperial's problems, but a starter and two bonuses was a decent recovery. The first picture round, on the starting line-ups of men's World Cup finals, went to Manchester; two correct bonuses (I got the starter and the one they didn't get) gave them a lead of 60-25. Two starters allowed pulled Imperial back; no bonuses came from the first set, but all of the second put them on level pegging. Only for Manchester to quickly retake the lead again with a starter and sole bonus. The music round, on 21st century spoken word tracks, went to Imperial; no bonuses meant they trailed 75-70.
The gap increased when the Londoners lost another five on the next starter, but Manchester didn't capitalise, and a starter to Mr Jones plus two bonuses put Imperial in front again. Only for Manchester, again, to immediately retake it and reach three figures with a starter and all three bonuses. Mr Kullman was unlucky on the next starter, asking which European country's vertical tricolour flag could be made with the colours of the flag of Madagascar; he offered Bulgaria, which has the right colours, but is horizontal stripes, not vertical. Mr Lee zagged with Italy, and this, in hindsight, was a turning point, as Imperial took the lead with a full bonus set of their own and followed it up with a second starter in a row. They also took the second picture round, on leaders of anti-Soviet campaigns; one bonus meant they now led 140-100. And they now had the bit between their teeth, as a further two starters to Mr Lee plus half the resulting bonuses meant they now led by 75. And when Ms Haddad identified Prince William's Earthshot prize for the next starter, that was game over. Mr Grady did take another starter and pair of bonuses for Manchester, but they'd lost the game in the final third. At the gong, Imperial won 205-120.
A good contest, close for the first two thirds until Imperial ran away in the last one. Very well done them, worthy semi-finalists; best of luck there! Hard lines to Manchester, but a good performance too which stands them in good stead for the play-offs; best of luck to them in those!
The stats: Mr Lee was easily the best buzzer of the night with seven starters, while Messrs Senehedheera and Grady were joint best for Manchester with two each. On the bonuses, Manchester managed 12 out of 18 and Imperial 18 out of 37 (with three penalties), and, once again, all eight players contributed at least one correct starter to the game.
Next week's match: Birkbeck vs Sheffield
Mastermind’s final heat was
certainly a memorable one, as all four contenders, Emily Frank, Richard Brooks
(UC winner with Imperial in 2019-20), Jake Denney and Chris Ducklin (UC and OC
alumnus and host of the short-lived Quizzy Mondays podcast), all finished with
the same score, 20 points each! (Surely a first for the show!) However, Emily and Jake also had one pass,
whereas Richard and Chris both had none, so it was just them who went to the
resulting tie-breaker! It was Richard who won that 3-1 to take the final place
in the semis, which start next week.
Another old Only Connect special
was shown tonight too, this time the ‘Love’ special from 2022. More
interestingly, last time I checked, next week’s repeat is to be the first Champion
of Champions special from 2009! An episode so old that the questions are still
indicated by Greek letters! Should be fun observing the X reaction at least!
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