Hello again my friends, and welcome back to Quizzy Mondays! Yep, back to business as usual this week after our late outing last week, as we really do enter the home straight now; only five more editions of both UC and Mastermind to come after tonight. Let's get on with things then, beginning with UC, and a match-up that, a couple of rounds ago, you'd say would be a bit of a mis-match, but now, maybe not so much; winners stay on, runners-up go home...
Darwin College Cambridge defeated two Oxford teams, Green Templeton and Magdalen, in the first two rounds, but came unstuck against Sheffield in their first QF despite a decent late recovery, ultimately being defeated 155-115. They were the same unchanged foursome as those prior occasions:
Lewis Strachan, from North Lanarkshire, studying Parasite Biology
Ruth Ni Mhuircheartaigh, from Cork, studying Education
Captain: Louis Cameron, from London, studying English
Jonathan White, from Buckinghamshire, studying Geography
Warwick defeated fellow quarter-finalists Sheffield in the first round and Bristol in the second, but, in their first QF, it was their opponents Imperial who had the late rally as Warwick were defeated 190-105. They were also the same quartet as those three previous games:
Josh Howarth, from St Albans, studying History
Antoni Kluzowski, from Chingford in London, studying English and History
Captain: Chris Levesley, from Derby, studying Maths
Lucy Dennett, from South West London, studying Politics and International Studies
Darwin's captain Mr Cameron, their top scorer in the earlier matches, took the first starter of the game, and his side took two of the resulting bonuses. Warwick had a bit of a false start with a penalty, but responded with a starter and bonus pair of their own. Darwin took the next two starters though, including the first picture starter; after the first picture round, they led 60-15. The two sides swapped starters in the second phase, with Warwick faring a bit better on the bonuses, so closing the gap a bit. They also took the music round, but got nothing from the resulting bonuses, thus meaning they trailed 95-65.
The Darwin captain duly took two starters in a row, and half the resulting bonuses, which took them into triple figures. A third starter gave them no bonuses, before Warwick got going again with a starter and two bonuses. The Cambridge side took the second picture round; one bonus took their lead to 150-80. Warwick were still in the game though, especially when Darwin lost five on the next starter and they picked up; just one bonus followed though, and when Mr White took the next starter and two bonuses followed, Darwin had one foot over the line. Warwick kept themselves in the game just about with the next starter, but, again, just one bonus went with it, and when Mr Strachan was next to answer correctly, that was game over. There was time for Warwick to go out on a flourish with the last starter of the game. At the gong, Darwin won 175-125.
Another good contest between two pretty good and well matched teams, but Darwin were a bit better on the buzzer and were worthy winners in the end. Well done them, and best of luck in the play-offs! Hard lines to Warwick, but they bow out after an excellent series of performances; thanks to them for playing!
The stats: Messrs Cameron and Levesley were joint best buzzers of the night, with four each for their respective teams, Mr Levesley thus ending the series his team's best buzzer with 13 over four games. On the bonuses, Darwin managed 14 out of 33 (with one penalty) and Warwick 11 out of 23 (with two penalties).
Next week's match: the first play-off; don't know who's playing, but the favoured fixtures for them would probably be Manchester vs Sheffield and Merton vs Darwin.
Mastermind’s second semi-final was
opened by Diane Howe, who was answering on the late Jeff Buckley; a few passes
marred her round, but she otherwise knew her stuff, scoring 9 points. She was
followed into the chair by Max Bougeard, who was answering on the managerial career
of Rafa Benitez; a good solid round, he edged into the lead with 10.
Next up was Matthew Patenall, who was
answering on Andy Warhol; he got all bar the last one (I think) and equalled
Max’s score of 10. Finally, David Slater was answering on the classic
Routemaster bus; he didn’t fare as well, though was unfortunate with a couple
of questions where his answer wasn’t precise enough and he couldn’t be more so,
and so he finished with 5 points.
David thus returned for GK first
already all but out of contention; he posted a solid 10 for a respectable total
of 15, but that wasn’t really going to be enough to trouble the others you
suspected. Diane returned next and, given she’d already passed three times, you
fancied she really did need to put a very good total on the board to give Max
and Matthew something to think about; she did indeed have a good round, scoring 11 for a fine total of 20,
but another two passes, leaving her with five overall, left the door open for
the other two.
Max was next; he started well, but
then hit a bad run of questions and ran out of steam, scoring 7 to finish with
a still respectable total of 17. Which meant Matthew needed 11 to win, though
10 would be enough if he didn’t pass too much; his round, however, was almost
the opposite of Max’s, starting off poorly, then gathered a bit of momentum
late on, but it wasn’t going to be enough, and he scored 6 for a still fine
total of 16. Which meant Diane was through to the final! Well done her, and
best of luck there, and thanks to the others for playing.
And that's it for another week; thanks as ever for reading. Incidentally, I haven't given up on the idea of writing about other, non-quiz related, things on this blog at some point in the not-too-distant future; keep watching this space in case such pieces ever materialise, I would let you know if they were about to. Anyway, back same time same place next week with my usual write-up, so, see yous then I guess...
