Good evening again my friends, and welcome to another Quizzy Monday! A shorter one mind, with no Mastermind tonight, but at least the cricket was exciting enough to make it sort of worth it. A very windy day up here of course, but my TV is still working thankfully, unlike my parents whose satellite seems to have been blown out, so they had to use Freeview for our OC watchalong. More on that later; for now, on with UC...
Newcastle have been appeared twelve previous times during the BBC era, with their most successful being when they reached the semis in 2017-18; its last appearance was in the final Paxo-era series of 22-23, where they were unlucky to draw and lose to U.C.L. in the second round. Playing for them this year were:
Anna McCully Stewart, from Forest Hill in North Tyneside, studying English Literature
Alice Groth, from Oxford, studying English Language and Literature
Captain: Laurie Guard, from Rugby, studying Medicine
Dan Hill, from Cambridgeshire, studying Astrophysics
Edinburgh has appeared nearly double the amount of times as their opponents in the BBC era, with 23 prior outings to tonight, of which their best was when they won the series in 2018-19; their last two appearances on the show have both been second round exits, last year to Harrison Whitaker's Darwin Cambridge team. This year's team comprised of:
Parthav Easwar, from Portland, Oregon, studying Sustainable Lands and Cities
Johnny Richards, from Los Angeles, studying Ancient DNA
Captain: Alice Leonard, from Portsmouth, studying Environment, Culture and Society
Rayhana Amjad, from Dublin and Glasgow, studying Computer Science
Newcastle took the first starter, and two bonuses, but then lost five on the second starter; Edinburgh didn't pick it up, but did take the third starter and all three bonuses. Another penalty to the Toon allowed Edinburgh to pull further away and, after the first picture round, they led 70-10. The Scots side took another starter to pull away, but then a penalty of their own brought Newcastle back into the game, and they took a full house of their own. It proved a brief blip as Edinburgh reassumed their dominance and, after the music round, which Newcastle were very unlucky not to get TBF, they led 115-35.
Another starter and single bonus put Edinburgh five away from a three figure lead; AR gave Newcastle his standard 'plenty of time', only for them to lose another five on the very next starter. Edinburgh picked up the points. Newcastle did finally get some more points on the board, and indeed took another full house, which showed they could maybe catch up if they could get a run going. They did take the second picture round, which cut the gap to 155-70. Another starter, and two bonuses, put Newcastle within sight of three figures, but Edinburgh took the next starter and were within sight of victory. Newcastle took the next starter, but just one bonus, and that was game over. Edinburgh cemented their victory and just about made it to 200 before the gong; they won 200-105.
Another most enjoyable contest between two very pleasant teams; well played both. Well done Edinburgh, a worthy victory over worthy opponents; best of luck in the second round! Hard lines to Newcastle, who I think were a bit unlucky there; had a few buzzes gone their way, I think this could've been a lot closer. They acquitted themselves well though; thanks for playing!
The stats: Mr Amjad was the best buzzer of the night with six starters, while Ms Groth and Mr Guard were joint best for Newcastle with two each. On the bonuses, Newcastle managed 12 out of 18 (with three penalties) and Edinburgh 18 out of 33 (with two penalties) and, pleasingly, all eight players got at least one starter correct.
Next week's match: Manchester vs New College Oxford
Only Connect’s third first round
heat pitted the Metrophiles, Matt Rowland, Dimitri Sameresinghe (who was on
Mastermind last series) and captain Damian Evans, against the Grapevines, Pam
Cooke, Joe Gellman and captain Amber Field-Webber.
My Mum claims the same two points
as the Metrophiles on the kite flying question, and I claim the same point as
the Grapevines on the Robbie Williams question; the former led 4-3 at the end
of that round. I’m claiming two points on the Saints days star signs question
for saying “Cetaur for St Andrew” instead of the model answer of Archer; the
Metrophiles led 10-4 after that.
On to the Walls, and the Grapevines
quickly a secured a much needed full house for a full ten. The Metrophiles also
got all four sets pretty quickly, but missed one of the connections; seven
points there, which meant the gap had closed to 17-14 going into Missing
Vowels. They just about maintained that lead there though, and won the game
23-19. Another good game; well done both teams, and best of luck next time.
And that's it for another week! Hopefully next week the weather will be better so my parents and I will be on the same page and them not a touch behind when watching OC. And Mastermind is back too I believe, so a full house of quizzes once again. Whatever happens, I'll be back same time same place with my usual write-ups; so, see yous then...
