Only Connect Series 11: Round 1: Match 1: Cluesmiths vs Operational Researchers

OK people, given that our friend Dave Clark hasn't posted for a couple of months, I may as well keep things going on the review front for the foreseeable future. In that spirit, here is a review of Monday's Only Connect, the first of the show's eleventh series.

Playing the first match of the series were the Cluesmiths, Mick Hodgkin, Richard Heald and John Tozer, and the Operational Researchers, Paul Allen, Clare Lynch and Alex Hill.

So, off we began with the first round. The Cluesmiths went first, and chose the Horned Viper: we saw 'Quintuple troth', 'Distress signal', '1963 Lincoln Memorial speech' and '1815 Belgian battle'. They guessed stations, which was wrong; the Researchers suggested ABBA songs, which was correct, the clues representing 'I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do', 'SOS', 'I Have a Dream' and 'Waterloo' respectively. Great question to start the series. The Researchers chose Lion for themselves: 'Derbyshire = Nottingham', then 'Northamptonshire = Wantage', 'Worcestershire = New' and finally 'Leicestershire = Grace'. They didn't know. The Cluesmiths spotted a cricket connections, but offered captains; it is actually county cricket grounds: Derbyshire's is at Nottingham Road, Northamptonshie at Wantage Road, and so on. The Cluesmiths chose Water next, and got the music question (the notes denoting the clues having been replaced by gramophone sets): after two clues they didn't recognise, they identified the third as Kelly Watch the Stars by Air; they offered 'stars', which was correct for two points, the other tracks being Stars from Les Mis and E luceven le stelle from Tosca. The Researchers chose the Eye of Horus next: '(e.g.) Dairy Milk (chocolate)', then 'Pringles (potato crisps)', then 'Ketchup' (vegetable) and finally 'Jaffa Cakes (cakes)'. The last clue was the giveaway: these are all foodstuffs that are the subject of disputes about whether they really are what was in the brackets. The Researchers knew it, for a point. The Cluesmiths chose the Two Reeds: 'Iago', then 'Francesco e Caterina', then 'Dewi', and at this point, they offered 'patron saints in the language of their country'. Correct, for two points. The Researchers were left with the Twisted Flax, and the picture round: we saw a full English breakfast, then a portrait of someone, then a bush of red flowers, and finally a golfing green. They didn't know, nor did their opponents. The man in the portrait was prime minister Earl Gray, so the answer was 'types of tea', English Breakfast, Earl Gray, Redbush and Green. No points there, so at the end of the round, the Cluesmiths led 4-2.

Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Cluesmiths kicked off with Lion, and the picture set: we saw a white horse drawn into a landscape, then a paining, which they recognised as the White Hart; they spotted that these might be the commonest British pub names, and offered 'Red Lion'; correct, for three points. The Researchers chose the 'Horn-ed' Viper: 'Madonna', then 'Chris Cornell', then 'Jack White and Alicia Keys'. They offered Adele, which was correct; they are the singers who performed the title songs of the last four Bond films. The Cluesmiths chose Water: 'Teeth' (with a score through it), then 'Eyes' (likewise); at this point, they spotted the link to be 'All the World's a Stage', the famous speech from Shakespeare's As You Like It, and offered 'Everything' (crossed out). Correct, for another three points. The Researchers chose the Eye of Horus: 'excel', then 'el', then 'em'; they offered 'es', which was acceptable. The link is clothes sizes (XL, L, M, S). Excellent question, and well deduced for two points. For their final choice, the Cluesmiths chose Twisted Flax: 'Versus', then 'Kiss'; again, they tried for three, and offered 'Celcius', which was accepted. They are Roman numeral numbers in ascending order, so anything representing C would have done. Left with the Two Reeds, the Researchers saw '4: Abu Dhabi', then '3: Bilbao', then '2: Venice'. They offered '1: New York'; correct, they are the Guggenheim museums in descending order of establishment. At the end of a strong second round, the Cluesmiths led 13-8.

On to the Connecting Walls, where VCM appeared to be rather cleverly trying to hide her pregnancy with a podium, replacing her answer cards. (She is quite clearly pregnant if you pause on the reverse shot) The Researchers chose to tackle the Lion wall. They spotted several links straight away, and had a few unsuccessful gos at isolating a few. Eventually, they isolated 'Tito', 'Dover', 'Goosen' and 'Crown', all birds with an extra letter on the end. The second set followed swiftly: 'Pschent', 'Diadem', 'Tiara' and 'Coronet', which are all types of royal headgear. After some deliberation, they slotted in the final groups: 'Pie', 'Sniper', 'Hustle' and 'Beauty', which all follow 'American' to give the names of films, and 'Player', 'Frost', 'Sabbatini' and 'Locke', all South African golfers, a connections they didn't spot. Just one mistake, so seven points.

The Cluesmiths were left with the Water wall. After some wrong guesses, they isolated their first group: 'Sham', 'East', 'Haircut' and 'Shed', all of which precede numbers to give pop groups. Their second group followed a short while later: 'Thiamine', 'Riboflavin', 'Ascorbic acid' and 'Retinol', which are all vitamins. They took a while examining what was left. After two lives went, they ran out of time. They were left to collect group points: 'MDMA', 'Spain', 'Tocopherol' and 'Earth' are all represented by an E, which they got, while 'Shanzhai', 'Ersatz', 'Mock' and 'Faux' all mean fake, which they also got. Six points there. Going into the final round, the Cluesmiths led 19-15.

So, it was still a tight enough gap going into Missing Vowels. 'Excuses given by train companies' went to the Cluesmiths 3-1. 'Nicknames for newspapers' was split 2-all. 'Known by the initials AA' was another 2-all draw. 'Works of Handel' managed two clues, one of which was taken by the Cluesmiths, and the other was timed out. At the end of the show, the Cluesmiths won 27-20.

A good match to start the new series. Unlucky Researchers, well done Cluesmiths. We will, of course, see both teams again in their respect second round phases.

Next week's match: Polyglots vs Yorkers (and the return of some familiar faces)