Good evening again my friends, and welcome back to another Quizzy Monday! Well, the first UC series of the Amol Rajan era is nearly over, and what a fine series it's been, very much enjoyed covering it! That said, I have reached a decision on the future of my UC blogs, which I'll be announcing next week in my semi-final preview post. For now, though, on with business as usual, with the penultimate place in the semis up for grabs...
Manchester beat fellow quarter-finalists Trinity in the first round, Edinburgh in the second and Birkbeck in their first QF, but were beaten 205-120 by Imperial in their second. They were the same foursome as before:
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
Christ Church beat Southampton in their first round match and Emmanuel of Cambridge in their second; they then lost their first QF to U.C.L., but comfortably beat Open 179-75 in their second only last week. They were also the same quartet as before:
Eliza Dean, from Edinburgh, studying Classics and French
Melika Gorgianeh, from Leeds, studying Astrophysics
Captain: Arthur Wotton, from Cardiff, studying Spanish
Elliot Lowe, from Thames Ditton in Surrey, studying Classics
So, off we set once again then, and a penalty to Manchester allowed Christ Church to pick up where they left off last week and take the first starter of the game; two bonuses gave them an early lead, but Manchester quickly wiped it out with a starter and full house, and then took the lead with a further two starters plus bonuses, with another penalty not getting picked up by their opponents. The Oxonians did take the first picture round, on Japanese place names with shared name elements; one correct bonus cut the gap to 55-35. Another starter gave Manchester a most tricky bonus set that even Only Connect would've probably considered too hard; they did well to get one. Another penalty pegged them back though, and two starters to Christ Church saw them close the gap down to five points. The music round, on pas de deux from ballets, gave the Oxonians the lead; no bonuses followed, but they now led 70-65.
Manchester duly retook the lead with the next starter, and took a full bonus set on blue plaques in Staffordshire. Only for Christ Church to respond in kind with Mr Wotton once again doing the honours and a full house of their own gave them the lead back again! Another starter to the Oxford captain plus two bonuses put them in the driving seat going into the final third; they also took the second picture round, on paintings of Aeneas, after which they led 125-90. But two starters in a row to Manchester, which ensured all four Mancunians had contributed a correct starter, closed the gap back down, and a timely full house on the second set gave them the lead back! A penalty to both sides, neither of which was picked up by their opponents, only added to the tension, but a starter to Mr Senehedheera put his side within sight of victory. No bonuses meant they'd probably need another to make, though another penalty to their opponents helped somewhat. Only for Mr Wotton to keep his side in the game with the next starter; one bonus meant there was just five in it and set up a one-starter shoot-out! The starter in question turned out to be one of those that suddenly becomes obvious when a certain line was read out; "at the Sorbonne with Jean-Paul Sartre" meant it could only be Simone de Beauvour, and Mr Grady won the race to say it! And that was the gong! Manchester won 145-130!
A gripping and enthralling, if slightly low scoring, contest between two pretty evenly matched teams, well played both of them! Very well done Manchester, and very best of luck in the SFs! Hard lines to Christ Church, but they can go out with their heads held high; thanks very much for playing!
The stats: Mr Wotton was, once again, the best buzzer of the night with seven starters, giving him an impressive final total of 32 over five matches, while Mr Senehedheera was best for Manchester with four. On the bonuses, Manchester managed 15 out of 24 (with four penalties) and Christ Church 10 out of 27 (with two penalties).
Next week's match: Birkbeck vs Trinity in the final QF
Mastermind’s fourth semi-final was
won very easily by Thomas Nelson, a high scoring runner-up who, in true Denmark
at Euro 92 style, was on his honeymoon when he got the call to replace unavailable
winner Scott Torrance! And he made perfect use of his second chance, as his 26
points saw him comfortably finish ahead of Sadie de Sousa with 19, Elliot Hooson
with 17 and Sharon Chambers with 16.
We also had another Only Connect
Champion of Champions show, this time the one from the 2018 Christmas specials
between Series 9 winners the Europhiles and Series 11 winners the String
Section. Makes me wonder why the Series 7, 8 and 10 winners haven’t (yet) been
invited back for any CoC games; in fact, now I think about it, after 2012, the
show didn’t do any specials with previous teams of any sort until these Christmas
shows became a thing in 2018. One wonders whether this repeat run will see those
become a thing…
We also also had the welcome return
of Round Britain Quiz on Radio 4 this afternoon, though, not so welcomingly,
the theme tune has been changed to a very jaunty piano number that will take a
lot of getting used to (assuming it’s here to stay and not a one-off). Comedian
Cariad Lloyd made her debut on the show for the Wales team, replacing WWTBAM
jackpot winner David Edwards who has departed the show after fourteen years; it
was teammate Myfanwy Alexander who did most of the heavy lifting, however, as
the new pairing made a winning start to the series with a narrow win over
Marcus Berkmann and Paul Sinha of the South of England.
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