Good evening again my friends, and welcome back to JOW for the ante-penultimate Quizzy Monday of the season! We're nearly there now; Mastermind concludes next week, UC in two weeks' time. Yep, this first series of the AR era really has flown by very nicely, and we're now at the semi-finals! It really has been a fine series, an excellent one for me to conclude my full UC coverage on. So, here we go with my ante-penultimate full UC write-up...
Imperial got here unbeaten, looking very strong in their first two wins over Balliol and Lincoln of Oxford, then showing a slight vulnerability in the QFs against Sheffield and Manchester, but coming through to win both in the end. They were the same unchanged four as those previous games:
Justin Lee, from Hong Kong and Canada, studying Chemistry
Adam Jones, from Hong Kong, studying Computer Science
Captain: Suraiya Haddad, from Manchester, studying Medicine
Sourajit Debnath, from Calcutta, studying Applied Computational Science and Engineering
Trinity College Cambridge lost the first match of the series to Manchester, recovered by beating Southampton, Warwick and Open, then lost again to U.C.L. in their second QF, but bounced back by beating Birkbeck in their third last week. They were also the same four as before:
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
So, off we set once again then, and it was Mr Banerjee who quickly took the first starter of the night; the bonus set on monarchs nicknamed 'the Conqueror' gave them one correct answer, while another brought the exchange '"Sancho?" "No, it's James"', to which the question could easily be "Who is the best British winger Manchester United have signed in the last five years?"! Imperial got off to a false start with a penalty, but Mr Lee atoned by taking the next two starters; just one bonus came from the resulting six, but they did now have the lead. They also took the first picture round, on flags of indiginous movements of the Pacific; a full house took their lead to 50-15. A fourth starter in a row to Mr Lee followed, and a fifth, as did three bonuses from six, before the run was finally broken by Mr Jones; two bonuses from that took the Londoners past 100. And further as Mr Lee reawoke to take the next starter, and two bonuses meant their lead was now three figures too, and prompted AR to give Trinity a 'plenty of time'; Mr Banerjee duly brought them back into the game, but no bonuses on famous Mariannes (Fairthorne sadly not one of them) were taken. The Cambridge side also took the music round, on composers whose work is protected by UNESCO's Memory of the World register; one correct bonuses cut the gap to 125-40.
Up it went again though as Mr Debnath took the next starter; just one bonus followed though, and a penalty allowed Trinity to close it down again. No bonuses were taken though. Imperial, in contrast, took a starter and a full bonus set on syncretic religions. Trinity did take the second picture round, on paintings of factories; the bonuses weren't to their liking again though, meaning they trailed 160-60. Another starter to Mr Lee, two bonuses, and Imperial were virtually home free. Mr Banerjee just about kept Trinity in the game with another starter, but, once again, the bonuses just didn't fall for them, and that was game over. Another starter to Mr Lee, and a full set of bonuses took Imperial past 200. Trinity did take two further starters to deservedly reach three figures, but Imperial were home and dry, confirming their superiority with a starter and full bonus set. At the gong, Imperial won 240-110.
A very good, if one-sided, contest, two very decent teams, kudos to them for, again, going to shake hands at the end. Very well done to Imperial, a very strong performance, from Mr Lee especially, but they all did their bit, and next week's two teams will have to really pull it out the hat to beat them on that form in the final; very very best of luck to them there! Hard lines to Trinity, who actually had a quietly good night on the buzzer, Mr Banerjee especially, but the bonuses just didn't fall their way; they've had a fine run that they can be most pleased with though, thanks very much for playing!
The stats: Mr Lee was the best buzzer of the night with eight starters, while Mr Banerjee was best for Trinity with six, which sees him end the series as their best buzzer with 29 over seven games. On the bonuses, Imperial managed 25 out of 39 (with three penalties) and Trinity just 5 out of 25 (with one penalty).
Next week's match: U.C.L. vs Manchester for the right to meet Imperial
Mastermind’s final semi-final was
won by Ruth Hart, who looked rather emotional when she was announced to have
won on passes, with 20 and 2 to the 20 and 4 of Caryn Ellis. Neatly, the other
two contenders, Tom Flowerdew and Tom Moody, both finished with 19. The final
next week of course, hour long as usual, and at the earlier time of 7pm, not
7:30; as William G. Stewart used to say, “If you tune in at 7:30, you’ll have
probably missed Round 1!”! And it promises to be a good one; best of
(retrospective) luck to all involved!
We also had the penultimate (I
think) Only Connect Champion of Champions special, this time from the 2021
Christmas specials, between the 007s and the Puzzle Hunters. The last one, from
the 2022 specials, next week; no idea yet if they’ll be showing an old ep
before the UC final in two weeks’ time.
Round Britain Quiz continued this
afternoon as well, but I only caught the second half of it due to being on the
phone to my car insurers for the first half, and even then, the questions weren’t
on the website again, making it hard to play along when I could listen. And
then, after the show came the bombshell that the Monday afternoon quiz slot is
moving to 4:30 on Sundays from next week, and the late-night Saturday repeat to
11:30 to boot. Not to mention the Sunday repeat of the Monday 6:30 comedy
moving to 12:30. Wreaks havoc with my listening routine that; think I’ll have
to do what I did when Channel 4 changed The Simpsons’ slot and overrule the
change via BBC Sounds...
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