OK guys, on to the next match of the first series of Only Connect. If I do two shows a week for the foreseeable future, then I should finish around the time UC starts again.
Playing Match 4 of the series were the Science Writers, Arran Frood, Chrissie Giles and Peter Wrobel, and the Travel Writers, Dan Hayes, Simon Heptinstall and Anna Melville-Jones. I notice that, for the first two series, teams tended to be paired together in the first round by an opposite name element, but this was abandoned for Series 3.
The Travel Writers went first and chose Alpha for their first question: 'Socrates', 'Snow White', 'Emma Bovary' and 'Alexander Litvinenko'; the final clue gave them their answer that they were all poisoned for one point. Science chose Delta first, and got the picture question: a Jack of Hearts, then Lady Isabel Barnet from 'What's My Line', then Richard Madeley and then Goldilocks (as in the Three Bears); they were all acused of stealing food, which neither side knew. Travel picked Beta next: 'Peter Quint', 'Elvira Condomine', 'King Hamlet' and 'Sir Simon de Canterville'; after much discussion, they finally dragged up that they all come back as ghosts. Epsilon for Science: 'Looter', 'Drawer', 'Desserts' and 'Lamina'; they couldn't think of anything again, nor did Travel. This was a great question: the words all spell different words when written backwards. Classic OC lateral question. For their final choice of the round, Travel chose Gamma, and got the music question: we heard Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini first, and finished with Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody', which gave them the answer of 'rhapsodies'. Left with Zeta, Science saw: 'Wentworth', 'Mercalli', 'Scoville' and latched on to scales; they took the final clue of 'mohs' just to be sure. At the end of the round, Travel led 3-1.
On to Round 2, What Comes Fourth? Travel chose Alpha first: 'Lhotse', then 'Kangchenjunga', and they latched on to the World's tallest mountains; they took the third clue of 'K2', and this was enough for them to offer 'Everest' as the World's tallest mountain (from sea level; thanks QI) for two points. Science chose Gamma, and got the picture round: the first was an illustration, the second was a singer neither of us recognised, but the third was Peter Phillips and his wife Autumn Kelly. Science barked up the wrong tree, and went for the Queen. I guessed something related to winter, as the singer must be Donna Summer and the illustration must be Spring in some way. Travel thought the same way for a bonus point. For their own question, they chose Beta: 'Sudra', 'Vaishya', 'Kshatriya'; they didn't know, nor did Science. The answer is 'Brahman', as they are the largest Hindu castes, apparently. Science chose Zeta: 'Quartz', then 'Topaz', and they began to speculate: 'Corundrum' suggested hardness, and they tried to think what would be fourth. They guessed 'Diamond', as did I, and we were both right for two points! Travel chose Delta as their final pick: 'Y', then '51', and then '02', and they were left completely lost. Science had a guess, but didn't know; it's '52', as these are car license plate identifiers, apparently. Left with Epsilon, Science saw 'Plexicushion', then 'Clay, and then 'Grass', and latched on to tennis court materials; they guessed 'Hard court', and were right for two points, these being the surfaces of Grand slam tennis courts. At the end of Round 2, Travel led 6-5.
On to the Connecting Walls. Science went first, and chose the Alpha wall. They immediately spotted a group of Wombles, and immediately isolated 'Alderney', 'Bulgaria', 'Tobermory' and 'Orinoco'. They then immediately isolated 'Jersey', 'York', 'Hampshire' and 'Mexico' as US locations beginning with 'New'. Almost straight away, and much to VCM's amazement, they isolated the remaining groups: 'Glandular', 'Scarlet', 'Trench' and 'Yellow' are all types of fever, and 'Tea', 'Wellington', 'Jerky' and 'Stronganoff' can all be preceded by 'beef'. Just thirty seconds to solve, and ten very well earned points there.
Travel were left with the Beta wall. They immediately latched on to Tube lines, and isolated 'Northern', 'District', 'Circle' and 'Jubilee'. Next up, they spotted 'Western', 'English', 'Bareback' and 'Jumping' as styles of horse riding. After spending some time studying the remaining clues, they spotted a connection and quickly isolated it: 'Southern', 'Maltese', 'Victoria' and 'Red' can all precede 'cross'. This left 'Eastern', 'Central', 'Mountain' and 'Specific', and floated around time zones; they offered 'railways' instead, only to be told they were all American time zones! Mercifully, VCM claimed she wouldn't have accepted just 'time zones', which would've been a bit harsh IMO. After that, Science led 15-13.
So, it would all be decided by Missing Vowels. Remember, no penalties for wrong answers. 'Famous TV newsreaders' went to Travel 2-1 after a slight mispronunciation from Science was disallowed. 'Beethoven piano sonatas' went to Science 4-0, and 'varieties of potato' went to them 2-0. 'Mike Leigh films' was split 2-all; 'Major rivers of the World', rather surprisingly, went to Science 2-0. And that was it: Science won 25-18.
Another good match. Unlucky Travel Writers, but a valiant effort. Well played Science Writers, and we'll see you again when we get to the QFs!
I'll be back with the next match tomorrow. I hope.
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