OK, time to have another look at this week's OC. Playing on Monday were the Wayfarers, Barbara Thompson, Gerard Mackay and Matt Beatson, and the Bookworms, Katy Bateman, Dave Knapp and Tristram Cole. Some of yous may remember Mr Cole (aka 'viking o'neil') and Mr Knapp from UC, where they reached the semi-finals of their respective series with Sheffield and Worcester College Oxford respectively. Mr Mackay also won the second series of Fifteen-to-One 2.0 last year, while Ms Thompson is a former champion of original Fifteen-to-One and Brain of Britain. So some serious quizzer pedigree in tonight's show suggested a potentially great match.
So, here we go again. The Bookworms went first, chose Two Reeds, and got the music immediately: didn't recognise any of the pieces myself, but they did, and noticed that they were all linked by reptiles, and promptly received a point. The Wayfarers started with Twisted Flax: 'Ring of integers', then 'Oskar Kokoschka's later paintings', then 'Change-accept button'; they buzzed at this point, and offered 'OK', which was correct for two points. The Bookworms chose Lion next: 'Gluteus Maximus', then 'Superfluous', then 'Marcus Ginatonicus'; they recognised at this point that they are Romans in Asterix, and thus earned two points of their own. (My own memories of Asterix are a guy dressed as a tree tumbling down a hill, but I digress). The Wayfarers chose 'Horn-ed' Viper: 'Song in 'High Society'', 'Whiskas slogan', 'Kenneth Wolstenholme commentary'; they spotted that these are the origins of the names of quiz shows (WWTBAM, 8 out of 10 Cats, They Think It's All Over respectively), and thus it was another two pointer given out. The Bookworms chose Water next, and got the pictures: we saw a snowflake, then a wind sock, and at this point they spotted that they are things that are seen, in different form, on roadsigns; they took a punt, and earned three good points for it. The Wayfarers were left with Eye of Horus, and saw '1877 Arthur Sullivan song', 'Man Booker Prize for 1970 novels'; they too took a three pointer punt, offering 'The Lost...', and were correct. A very good first round, at the end of which, the Wayfarers led 7-6.
Round 2. The Bookworms kicked off with Horned Viper, and the picture round: we saw a clock with question marks in lieu of numbers, then a man chained to a wheel, and then the rotating sign of Scotland Yard. They didn't know it, nor did their opponents. This was brilliant: the clock signifies 'When', Harry Houdini was the man on the wheel, Scotland Yard represents the Metropolitan Police. 'When', 'Harry', 'Met', and so someone called Sally would complete the set! Excellent! The Wayfarers chose Lion next: 'T: Tunis', then 'U: Kampala' and then 'Z: Lusaka'. They were timed out before they could offer anything, and their opponents didn't get it either. The answer is 'Z: Harare', as they are African capitals in alphabetical order of their counties (Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe respectively). The Bookworms chose Twisted Flax: we saw 'Green' in green writing, then 'Blue' in yellow writing and then 'Indigo' in orange writing. They, and I, offered 'Violet' in red writing, and we were both correct for two points. The Wayfarers chose Two Reeds next: '4th: Lucky', then '3rd: Pozzo', and then '2nd: Vladimir'. They spotted a link in characters in Waiting for Godot, and offered '1st: Estragon'; correct, they are the characters in order of their first lines. For their final choice, the Bookworms chose Water: 'T.! T.! b. b.', then 'In the f. of the n.'; they spotted the link was the poem 'Tyger! Tyger!', and tried their answer 'F. thy f. s.?'. Close, but not quite right. The Wayfarers saw the final clue 'What i. h. or e.', and adjusted the answer to 'C. f. thy f. s.?' Correct, for a bonus. Left with Eye of Horus, the Wayfarers saw for their own question 'General Post Office', then 'The Post Office'; they offered 'The Post Office', which was not correct. The Bookworms saw 'Consignia', and offered 'Post Office'. Not right either. 'Royal Mail Group' is correct; they are the names of the Royal Mail in chronological order, as both sides knew. At the end of Round 2, the Wayfarers led 10-8.
On to the Connecting Walls. The Wayfarers chose the Water wall to try, and immediately isolated 'Soul Music', 'Going Postal', 'Mort' and 'Wyrd Sisters', which are books in the Discworld series. The second set followed immediately: 'Habitat', 'Magnate', 'Harveys' and 'DFS', which are furniture stores. After some quick analysis, they had the final groups in place too: 'Dreams', 'Georgia Brown', 'Talkin' Guy' and 'Little Sixteen', which can all follow 'Sweet' to give song titles, and 'Sketch', 'The Fat Duck', 'Hibiscus' and 'Le Gavroche', which are all Michelin starred restaurants. They were maybe a bit lucky to have 'restaurants owned by celebrity chefs' accepted for the final set, but, nonetheless, earned a full ten points.
The Bookworms were left with the Lion wall. They took a bit more time examining potential sets, and trying a few, before eventually isolating 'Sandman', 'Brightside', 'Vain' and 'Bojangles', which can all follow 'Mr' to give song titles. Their second set followed: 'Blue sky', 'Lateral', 'Wishful' and 'Negative', which are types of thinking. They quickly checked what was left, and soon had the final sets untangled: 'Flat white', 'Espresso', 'Irish' and 'Lungo', which are types of coffee, and 'DSLR', 'Focus', 'Filter' and 'Exposure', which are photographical terms. Another full ten there meant, going into the final round, the Wayfarers led 20-18.
So, once again, Missing Vowels would decide the match. 'Italian cheeses' went to the Wayfarers 1-0, with both sides losing a point for a wrong answer. 'British and American equivalents' was split 2-each. 'Bridges' went to the Bookworms 2-1, with the final question ('Wayne Bridge'!) being timed out. At the end of a great show, the Wayfarers won 24-22.
So, that possibly lenient allowance in the Walls won the Wayfarers the match. Not that that matters much given the two game guarantee rules the series operates on. Well done both teams on a great half-hour of quizzing, and I look forward to seeing you both play again.
Next week's match: String Section vs Headliners
Once again, I'll reaffirm my commitment to finish Series 1 at some point.
No comments:
Post a Comment