Quizzy Mondays 2026-27 Week 14: University Challenge R1M14, Only Connect Qualification Match 2, Mastermind Heat 12

Hello my friends, and welcome to another Quizzy Monday! You find me in a bit of a quandary at the moment, partly over a series of online purchases, but mainly because I'm considering scaling back my weekly blogs so I have more time to focus on the afore-mentioned project I've started. In short, don't be surprised if Mastermind suddenly vanishes from these summaries at some point in the coming weeks. Business as usual tonight though, so let's begin with UC, and the last first round match, with both teams knowing 165 or more will bring them back win or lose.

 

The School of Oriental and African Studies, or SOAS as it is now universally known (even on Wikipedia), has appeared in seven previous BBC series, reaching the QFs in 05-06 and the semis in 13-14; its last two appearances, in the last two series, have both seen it bow out in the repechage. This year's foursome consisted of:

Josephine Newcombe, from Wells, studying Korean Studies

Seb Lawson, from Guildford (originally New Zealand), studying Arabic

Captain: Lola Finch, from Redhill in Surrey, studying Liberal Arts

Aidan Langston, from New York City, studying Linguistics 

 

Edinburgh has appeared in 24 previous BBC series, only Durham has had more, winning the 18-19 series and coming second to Manchester last series, plus a further five semi-final appearances, but has also bowed out unluckily early on several occasions. This year's quartet, the last team to introduce themselves this series, were:

Daniel Bloom, from Golders Green, studying Linguistics

Caitlin Tambini, from Oxford, studying History and Politics

Captain: Fred Whibley, from Warwickshire, studying Linguistics

Siddhant Kumar, from India, studying Maths  

 

SOAS took the first two starters of the night, including Mr Lawson, with the first of many tonight, getting 'Wimbledon' as soon as '1988 FA Cup' was mentioned! (Don't be so shocked Mr Chairman, anyone with a half-decent knowledge of British football knows they won that!) Edinburgh kicked off with the third, but then lost five of the acquired points. After the first picture round, SOAS led 60-10. And onwards and upwards the Londoners went as the starters kept falling for them and they generally took at least two bonuses of each set, a record which finally fell when they took just one of their sixth set. Edinburgh did the right thing in keeping on buzzing in, but only managed to reduce their score back to 0. They finally got some more points on the board with the music round, after which they trailed 135-15.

 

The Scots side took a couple more starters to pull out of the Sub-50 Club, but a further penalty dropped them back in and allowed SOAS to ensure they'd be back win or lose. Edinburgh did take the second picture round, after which the scores stood at 175-60. Long over as a contest, just a question of how high both teams could get. Edinburgh took a few more starters to pull within sight of three figures, but further penalties dropped them back. SOAS in contrast broke 200, with Mr Langston producing possibly the best buzz of the round to boot, and just about managed to hit the second highest score of the round. At the gong, SOAS won 240-80.

 

A good end to the round despite once again before pretty one sided. Well done SOAS, Mr Lawson especially, a top performance; best of luck in the second round! Hard lines to Edinburgh, who, as the chairman said, are a better team than that and had an utter nightmare on the buzzers; thanks to them for playing!

 

The stats: Seb Lawson was the best buzzer of the night with NINE(!) starters, while Daniel Bloom was best for Edinburgh with four. On the bonuses, SOAS managed a pretty good 22 out of 39 and Edinburgh 9 out of 21 (with SEVEN penalties).

 

Next week's match: the first play-off, featuring two of Queen's Belfast, St John's Cambridge, Bristol and L.S.E..

 

Only Connect’s second qualification match saw the returns of the Frenemies, who defeated the Marvins in the first round, and the Sinistrals, who won against the Merseyside Eyes first time out.

 

My Mum claims two points on the musicals question in the first round; the teams were tied on 4-each at the end of that. I claim FIVE POINTS(!) on the Best Animated Picture Oscar question in the second round, and the same two points as the Frenemies on the Canadian PMs question; the Sinistrals led 12-6 after that.

 

On to the Walls, and the Frenemies got two groups very quickly, then took their time and worked the last two out for a full ten. The Sinistrals also worked out one group quite quickly, but then got a bit bogged down before finally getting a second and weren’t able to get the last two in time; they did get three connections, so five points, which meant their lead had been cut to 17-16 going into Missing Vowels. They fared better on that though and won 27-20. Well done them, and best of luck in the QFs, and best of luck to the Frenemies in the play-offs!

 

Mastermind was a very high scoring and close match indeed, and finished with Kieran James and Lydia Dias tied on 24 and one pass each! Kieran won the resulting tie-break 4-3 to go through to the semis! Mark Hamid (the forgotten member of Gail Trimble’s Corpus Christi team on UC) and Joe Gellman completed the line-up with 17 and 19 respectively.

 

Yesterday’s final Brain of Britain first round heat was won by Sean Drury, who won it in the second round, taking five in a row and a bonus point on his own Spotlight round and picking up all three of his opponent’s dropped answers. He finished with 25 points, way ahead of second placed Zack Rosen with 9; Alex Pills and Gemma Miller completed the line-up with 8 and 3 respectively.

 

Which means the line-up for the semi-finals is complete, and Chris Ducklin has indeed hung on to take the final highest scoring non-winners place, along with Ailsa Watson, Ellie Mackin and Paddy Moore. We’ll be hearing them and the twelve heat winners again over the coming weeks.

 

And that's it for another week! Thanks as ever for reading; now to sort out the various quandaries I find myself in at the moment. Watch this space to see if I do indeed decide to streamline my blog in future weeks. Don't worry though, I will still be posting every Monday, just maybe not covering all three(/four) shows in future; we shall see. Back next Monday as usual with however many shows, so, see yous then... 

Quizzy Mondays 2026-27 Week 13: University Challenge R1M13, Only Connect Qualification Match 1, Mastermind Heat 11

Good evening friends, and welcome to another Quizzy Monday! In which, I can assure you, any present pachyderms shall remain incognito, if you know what I mean. Coming up, OC begins its next phase, and the eleventh heats of Mastermind and Brain of Britain. But first, UC as ever, with tonight's teams knowing they needed to win or lose with 165 or more to come back.

 

Glasgow is appearing in its thirteenth BBC series; on only one of those previous outings did they make it beyond the second round, in 2018-19, where they reached the QFs before coming unstuck, and they thus remain the only 'ancient' Scottish uni not to have reached the semis (in the BBC era at least). Playing for them this year were:

Sam McDermott, from East Kilbride, studying History and Economics

Grace Sedgwick, from West Linn, Oregon, studying Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies

Captain: Harry Braid, from Croftamie in Stirlingshire, studying Law

Taylor Reece, from Newcastle, studying Aeronautical Engineering 

 

Goldsmiths is appearing for a fourth time in the BBC era; two of those previous series saw them exit in the first round, while the other, in 18-19, saw them reach the second round before narrowly losing a very bizarre match to, coincidentally, that same Glasgow team as discussed earlier. Their quartet consisted of:

Mila Appleby, from Leeds, studying English Literature and Creative Writing

Frances Robinson, from Sydenham in London, studying Creative Writing

Captain: Jessica Peng, from Reading, studying Creative Writing

Catalia Pliskova, from Hammersmith, studying Computing  

 

Goldsmiths took the first starter of the night, and one of the resulting bonuses, unluckily missing the other. Glasgow took the second, all three bonuses, and never really looked back. The Scots side took the next two starters as well, including the first picture round, after which they led 55-15. And that lead just kept getting bigger and bigger in the second phase, as the starters fell for them, while Goldsmiths did the right thing in keeping on going for it but only managed to lose points. After the music round, Glasgow led 150-5.

 

Goldsmiths finally got some more points on the board, only to immediately lose a further five points, allowing Glasgow to resume their dominance. After the second picture round, they led 215-15. It was now just a question of how high both teams could get; another starter to the Scots side plus two bonuses meant they now had the second highest score of the series so far. Goldsmiths finally got back into the game, and actually managed a very good late run that saw them deservedly rack up a respectable score and only just fall short of three figures. At the gong, Glasgow won 235-90.

 

Another enjoyable contest despite being one way traffic for most of it, two more pleasant teams. Well done Glasgow, a very good first showing; best of luck to them in the second round! Hard lines to Goldsmiths, who are definitely a better team than most of the match suggested; thanks to them for playing!

 

The stats: Harry Braid was the best buzzer of the night with six starters, while Jessica Peng was best for Goldsmiths with three. On the bonuses, Glasgow managed 21 out of 39 and Goldsmiths 9 out of 18 (with three penalties), and, for the first time in a few weeks, all eight players contributed at least one correct starter.

 

Next week's match: SOAS vs Edinburgh in the final first round match

Only Connect began its (first) qualification round with the returns of the Two Hearts, who narrowly defeated Ad Astra in their first match, and the Makeweights, who defeated the Culture Club a week earlier in the opening match of the series.

 

My Dad claims two points on the ‘pass to the left’ question in the first round; the Hearts led 7-3 after that. I claim the same two points as the Hearts with the same guess as them on the Commonwealth question in the second round, plus two on the assassinated presidents picture question and at least two on the estates question (thank you Drederick Tatum!); the Hearts led 10-3 after that round.

 

On to the Walls, and the Hearts got one group pretty quickly, but couldn’t work any of the others out; they did get two connections, so three points. The Makeweights thus had a chance to catch up, but they failed to get any groups of another pretty tough wall; they did get two connections, so two points, which meant they trailed 13-5 going into Missing Vowels. They did recover well there, but the Hearts maintained their advantage and won 18-12. Well done them, and best of luck in the QFs, and best of luck Makeweights in the play-offs!

 

Next week’s match: the Frenemies vs the Sinistrals

 

Mastermind was won by Rob Hayman, whose 23 points saw him win out fairly comfortably ahead of Sarah Knapper and Jag Bhogal with 18 each; Polly Allen completed the line-up with 11. (Interesting to see a question about Celtic winning last season’s Prem, suggests this series was filmed a lot later in the year than I’d have thought)

 

Yesterday’s Brain of Britain was won by Ben Spicer (a Mastermind finalist), who led from the off and ultimately came home comfortably with a winning score of 23, nine ahead of second placed Beth Webster (the former Egghead) and Alison Rawlinson with 14 each, both falling agonisingly short of a possible high scoring non-winner place. Lorenzo Barber completed the line-up with 3.

 

Final heat next week and, unless at least one of the non-winners scores more than 15, Chris Ducklin will hold on to the final high scoring non-winner place.

 

And that's it for another week! Thanks as ever for reading; as I've mentioned before, my blogs may get a bit samey and repetitive (not that they've ever been anything but that!) for the foreseeable while I focus on my afore-mentioned project for another site, watch this space in case anyone expresses interest. Anyway, back as usual same time same place next week, so, see yous then...

Quizzy Mondays 2026-27 Week 12: University Challenge R1M12, Only Connect Elimination Match 4, Mastermind Heat 10

Good evening friends, and welcome to another Quizzy Monday! Coming up, what might be a personal best for myself on OC, a high scoring Mastermind and Brain of Britain continues as well. But we begin, as ever, with UC, and a classic Oxford vs Cambridge match-up; with only three matches left including tonight's, both teams knew that a score of 175 or more would bring them back win or lose.

 

Emmanuel College Cambridge has appeared in eight previous BBC series, winning the 2009-10 series under the captaincy of Alex Guttenplan, and reaching the semis a further two times, one of them with our old friend Bobby Seagull leading them into battle. Its run of good runs in the competition was ended in its last appearance three series ago though, when they were narrowly beaten in the second round. Playing for them this series were:

Olga Devine, from Southwest London, studying History

Sam Palmer, from Norwich, studying Maths

Captain: Fin Brickman, from Oxford, studying Maths

Antana Bhattacharya, from Mumbai, studying Human Inspired AI

 

Somerville College Oxford has, in contrast, only appeared in four previous BBC series, but two of those teams reached the final; the first, in 2001-02 won after probably the best final of the revival, while the second were defeated by the Trinity Cambridge team of Messrs Morley and Drnovzek Zorko in the 2013-14 series, which was also their last appearance on the show before tonight. Playing for them were:

Milton Lee, from Serangoon, Singapore, studying Physics

Zoe McGuire, from Penryn in Cornwall, studying Maths and Computer Science

Captain: Rohan George, from Northwest London, studying Chemistry

Elijah Scheinson, from Charlotte, North Carolina, studying Late Antique and Byzantine Studies  

 

Emmanuel got off to the much better start, taking the first three correct starters of the game while their opponents were restricted to two penalties. They also took the first picture round, the starter of which was a nice throwback to a famous incident from the Paxo era! After that, they led 60-(-10). Somerville finally got some proper points on the board, and took a full set of bonuses to boot. Emmanuel continued to pull away though, though their hit and miss bonus rate meant they weren't pulling away as much as they could've. The music round went to Somerville, after which they trailed 90-30.

 

The Oxonians finally had their feet in the game though, and made an excellent surge in this third quarter, meaning they were soon back within fifteen points. The second picture round went to Emmanuel though; no bonuses came though, but they did still lead 100-75. Another starter took Somerville within five points, but that was as close as they came as Emmanuel rediscovered their buzzing form and started to pull away again. Their run was halted when they buzzed but no answer came; Somerville swooped, but just one bonus followed, and when they lost five on the next starter, that was game over. Emmanuel ran the game out comfortably in the end; at the gong, they won 190-105.

 

A good contest, but Emmanuel's stronger start and finish gave them a worthy victory in the end. Well done them, and best of luck in the second round! Hard lines to Somerville, a capable team who were a bit unlucky on the buzzers on several occasions, but they gave a fair account of themselves; thanks for playing!

 

The stats: Adrija Bhattacharya was the best buzzer of the night with five starters, while Elijah Scheinson was best for Somerville with three. On the bonuses, Emmanuel managed 17 out of 36 (with three penalties) and Somerville 11 out of 21 (with four penalties).

 

Next week's match: Glasgow vs Goldsmiths London

 

Only Connect concluded its (first) elimination round with the returns of the Six Sevens, who were defeated by Meat & Two Veg in their first match, and the Risk Takers, who lost to the Creepy Crawleys the following week.

 

I claim the same point as the Sevens on the fire music question in the first round and a point each on the newspapers picture question and the maths operations question, while my Dad claims the same point as the Takers on the currencies question; the Takers led 4-2 after that. I claim the same three points as the Sevens on the Jack and Jill question in the second round and the same two points as them on the Murrays picture question, plus two points on the ‘missing vowels’ and Bond film titles questions; the Sevens were 8-7 ahead at the end of that round.

 

On to the Walls, and the Takers got one set fairly early, then got the others quite quickly later on; they only got two of the connections, so six points. The Sevens struggled with theirs, eventually getting one group, but none of the others; they got three connections, so four points, meaning the Takers led 13-12 going into Missing Vowels. The Sevens just about had the better of a very close round to just about win 19-18! Well done them, and best of luck next time, and thanks to the Takers for, er, taking part!

 

Next week’s match: the (first) qualification round begins with the Two Hearts vs the Makeweights

 

Mastermind was won by Eileen Thatcher, whose 22 points saw her win a high scoring contest ahead of Gareth Peel with 19 and Kate Peck and Justin Uzomba with 18 each.

 

Yesterday’s Brain of Britain was won by Anthony Smith, who took a lead in the first round and maintained it for the rest of the contest; he won with 17 points, comfortably ahead of second placed Lillian Crawford (UC alumnus) with 10. Francoise Rogers and Ryan Hayes completed the line-up with 7 and 9 respectively.

 

And that's it for another week! Thanks as ever for reading; no other real news to cover this week. Only two first round matches left with UC, so time to savour them while we can before my least favourite round kicks off soon. Anyway, back same time same place next Monday, so, see yous then... 

Quizzy Mondays 2026-27 Week 11: University Challenge R1M11, Only Connect Elimination Match 3, Mastermind Heat 9

Hello my friends, and welcome to another Quizzy Monday! Coming up, the usual suspects from this evening, plus Brain of Britain from yesterday. But first, some good news: two of the Radio 4 quiz pilots from the summer, Bookmarks and Your Number's Up, have been picked up for full series! Great to hear as they were probably the best two of the four. Applications for the latter open now; go to QI's pages on social media for details. Anyway, on with the established quizzes, beginning with UC...

 

Southampton have appeared in twelve previous BBC series, of which only twice have they made it past the second round; first to do so was the team of our old friend Richard Evans who reached the QFs in 2013-14, second was the team of 22-23 who went one better and reached the semis. Last year's team were unlucky to go out in the second round by just ten points IIRC. This year's foursome were:

James Carrick-Lawson, from Orpington in London, studying Computer Science

Zosia Mikałajczuk, from Cambridge, studying History

Captain: JB Cassidy, from Southampton, studying for a PGCE

Michael Wu, from St Louis, Missouri, studying Electrical and Electronic Engineering 

 

Queen's University Belfast won a series in the early 80s; of its thirteen previous BBC era appearances, the furthest it's gotten is four runs to the QFs. Its last team, two series ago, were one of those teams, defying expectations to do so, notably beating series favourites Imperial on a tie-breaker, before finally being knocked out by Bristol. This year's quartet were:

Owen Carter, from Concord, Massachusetts, studying Public History

Thomas Dean, from Banbridge in County Down, studying Physics

Captain: Isa Arellano, from Fort Worth, Texas, studying English

Noah Calhoun, from Louisville, Kentucky, studying Maths 

 

Queen's kicked off with a starter and full bonus set, but then immediately lost five. Two starters in a row thus allowed Southampton to take the lead, but Queen's fought back with the first picture round, after which they led 40-35. Back came Southampton immediately though, and they had the better of the second quarter, just falling short of reaching 100. Queen's got back into the game with the music round, after which they trailed 95-65.

 

Two starters in a row to Queen's, all but one of the bonuses, and they'd suddenly taken the lead. Only for Southampton to take two of their own and, with it, the lead back. They also took the second picture round, after which they led 135-110. A penalty to Queen's, a pickup and two bonuses to Southampton put them in pole position, but the Northern Irish side responded with a perfect 25 to keep themselves in the game. Back ahead Southampton pulled, back behind Queen's pulled again in a superb final sprint! By now, both teams had done more than enough to come back win or lose. A starter and two bonuses put Queen's in front by five! Southampton immediately retook it... and that was the gong! Southampton won 200-195!

 

A fantastic match, played brilliantly by both teams, very well done both! Well done Southampton, and best of luck in the second round! Hard lines to Queen's, but they will indeed be back in the repechage; best of luck to them in that!

 

The stats: Thomas Dean was the best buzzer of the night with six starters, while JB Cassidy and Michael Wu were joint best for Southampton with four each. On the bonuses, Southampton managed 16 out of 34 and Queen's 21 out of 30 (with two penalties).

 

Next week's match: Emmanuel Cambridge vs Somerville Oxford

 

Only Connect’s third elimination match saw the returns of the Double Features, who were beaten by the Colonial Geese in their first match, and Accrual World, who lost out to the Knitwits first time around.

 

I claim the same point as the Features on the Spice question in the first round (my Dad also worked out the picture sequence to all be ‘Mr something’, but not that they were all foodstuffs, not sure if he’d have gotten the points for that); AW led 5-2 at the end of that. I claim at least two points on the John McEnroe question in the second round and the same two points as AW on the ‘HOUR’ and onomatopoeia questions; they led 12-4 after that.

 

On to the Walls, and AW worked out two groups pretty quickly, then took their time to get the other two; they got three of the connections, so seven points. The Features also took their time and they worked everything out for a full ten, which reduced the gap to 19-14 going into Missing Vowels. AW maintained and increased their advantage in that though and won 25-17. Well done them, and best of luck next time, and thanks to the Features for taking part, a fun team!

 

Next week’s match: Six Sevens vs Risk Takers

 

Mastermind was won by Alex Spacey, whose 24 points saw him easily win ahead of Beth Goodliff and Freddie Mitchell, who both finished with 19; Lotte Verheijen completed the line-up with 16.

 

Yesterday’s Brain of Britain was won by Tom Mead (formerly of OC), who led from the off and never looked like being caught, and finished with 20 points. David Edwards, the former Millionaire of course, who was a heat winner in the previous series but had to pull out of the semis, finished second with 12; Sue Boardley and Joanne Ragstone-Joggin completed the line-up with 4 and 1 respectively.

 

And that's it for another week! Thanks as ever for reading; advanced warning though, I'm just starting work on a project for another site that will likely be taking up most of my creative attention for some time to come. It shouldn't impact on this blog too much, but just in case, just making yous aware. Anyway, for now, business as usual; back same time same place next week, so, see yous then...