OK, onto the second QF. Playing this time were the Crossworders, Mark Grant, David Stainer and Ian Bayley, and the Edinburgh Scrabblers, Simon Gillam, Alan Sinclair and Melaine Beaumont. These two teams narrowly won their first matches against the Birkbeck Alumni and the Solent Scrabblers respectively.
Round 1. The Scrabblers went first, and chose Beta: 'Quagmire', 'Bathtub', 'Taxicab' and 'Pussycat' were the clues they saw, but no answer came. These are all words where each half means the whole, apparently. The Crossworders chose Alpha, and got the picture round: some traffic lights, a kettle, an overflowing bath and an apple falling from a tree; I spotted these to be origins of scientific discoveries, which the Crossworders didn't, but the Scrabblers did for a bonus. For their own question, they chose Delta, and got the music round: we heard 'Albatross' by Fleetwood Mac, 'Fly like an Eagle' by the Steve Miller Band, then 'Colonel Bogey', and at this point, the Scrabblers spotted a link in golf terms, for two points. The Crossworders chose Gamma: 'Lord's', then 'St Mary's', then 'British Museum', and at this gave them 'former London underground stations', which was correct for two points. The Scrabblers chose Zeta for their final question: 'Giles Coren', then 'Tom Wolfe' then 'Melvyn Bragg' and finally 'Sebastian Faulks'. The Scrabblers didn't see it, but both the Crossworders and myself spotted that these are all winners of the 'Bad Sex in Fiction' award. Of course, Victoria was quick to defend her brother's work! Left with Epsilon, the Crossworders saw 'Sunset Boulevard', then 'American Beauty', then 'The Lovely Bones'; they tried an answer at this point, but were incorrect. The Scrabblers saw 'Desperate Housewives', and answered that they were all narrated by dead people, for a bonus. At the end of the round, the Scrabblers led 4-3.
Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Scrabblers chose Delta first: 'Mikhail Botvinnik', then 'Tigran Petrosian'; they tried 'Bobby Fischer', the link being World Chess Champions, and were correct for three points. The Crossworders chose Zeta, and got the picture round again: a kilogram weight, then a map of Peru with Lima highlighted, and they went for three points with 'November', the link being the NATO alphabet. Correct, for three points. The Scrabblers chose Beta: 'Thorn', then 'Seat', and then 'Shout'; no answer came from either side. They are anagrams of points of the compass, so 'Stew', or any anagram of 'west' would've done. "Welcome to the quarter-finals", remarked VCM! The Crossworders chose Alpha: '2', then '1.73205...', and they spotted it to be square roots of descending numbers; they buzzed with '1', and were right for three points. The Scrabblers chose Epsilon for their final question: 'Pulmonary embolism', then 'Jack Ruby', and they spotted the connection: JFK (not JR; thank you Pointless!) was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald, who was killed by Jack Ruby, who died of a pulmonary embolism. Great question, and three good points. Left with Gamma, the Crossworders saw: 'Anaheim, California', and spotted the link straight away; they saw 'Lake Buena Vista, Florida' next, and then 'Urayasu, Japan', before finally offering 'Paris', as they are locations of Disney Theme Parks. Correct, for two points. Going into the Walls, the Crossworders led 11-10.
The Crossworders went first, and chose the Beta wall. After some incorrect guesses, 'Hancock', 'Monk', 'Tatum' and 'Waller' slotted in, all jazz pianists. 'Rust', 'Cardinal', 'Burgundy' and 'Venetian' followed, all shades of red. After some careful analysis, they isolated the final two groups: 'Mandarin', 'Eton', 'Butterfly' and 'Windsor', which they thought were knots, but were actually collars, while 'Old Tom', 'London', 'Plymouth' and 'Holland' are types of gin. Just one mistake, so seven points.
The Scrabblers were left to tackle the Alpha wall. They spent a bit of time trying various combos, before finally isolating 'Rogation', 'Trinity', 'Bloody' and 'Palm', which can all precede 'Sunday'. Next up, 'Bounty', 'Beagle', 'Pinta' and 'Victory', all famous ships, slotted in. They studied the remaining clues long and hard, and tried their three attempts, but ran out of lives. The remaining groups: 'Coffee', 'Terrier', 'Yew' and 'Rover', which they didn't know can all be preceded by 'Irish', while 'Boxer', 'Whiskey', 'Mau Mau' and 'Easter' are all rebellions, which they did know. So, five points there. Going into the final round, the Crossworders led 18-15.
So, still fairly close going into Missing Vowels. Remember, penalties for wrong answers from this round onwards. 'Musicals by Stephen Sondheim' went to the Crossworders 3-0. 'Fencing terms', with either English or French being accepted, went to the Scrabblers 1-(-1). 'Geometic figures' went to the Scrabblers 3-1. 'Philanthropists' went to the Crossworders 3-0, and that was time. At the end of the match, the Crossworders won 24-19.
An excellent match, well played by both sides considering the difficulty of the questions. Unlucky Scrabblers, who did very well indeed, but well done Crossworders, and we will, of course, be seeing you again next time.
I'll be back next week with the second two QFs. See you then, I guess.
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