OK, as EastEnders is on later in Scotland today due to a football match, let's see whether Top Gear and Don't Tell the Bride are more or less distracting while rewatching last night's OC. Once again, we welcomed back two promising sides who lost their first match. The Headliners, Duncan Enright, Paddy Baker and Dave Robinson, lost to the String Section last time, while the Bookworms, Katy Bateman, Dave Knapp and Tristram Cole, lost to the Wayfarers. Such a shame these two sides have to meet at this point IMO.
Round 1. The Headliners went first, chose Two Reeds, and got the music set straight away! Didn't recognise any of the three pieces we heard, but the Headliners did, and informed us, for two points, that they are all by artists who share their names with chess pieces (Stephen Bishop, Beverly Knight, Nat King Cole, and Queen would've been fourth). Good call. The Bookworms kicked off with Lion: 'Starting position in Shogi', then 'The Times crossword grid', then 'flag of Georgia'; they offered 'lines of symmetry', which was not precise enough. Their opponents saw the final clue, 'S', and offered 'rotational symmetry', which was correct for a bonus. For their own question, they chose Eye of Horus: '1965: Opened by Harold Wilson', then '2011: Defunct antennae removed', then '1971: Toppled by a kitten'; at this point, they offered 'things that happned to the BT tower', which was correct for two points. (The last one happening in a famous episode of the Goodies!) The Bookworms chose Horned Viper next: 'The Berlin Wall', then 'celebrity imperfections in Heat', then 'the right-hand side of the Daily Mail website', and finally 'losers leaving 'The Weakest Link''. The final clue gave it to them: they are all the (something) of shame, which was correct for a point. The Headliners chose Twisted Flax next: 'Apostle Matthew', then 'Ben Whishaw as a Peruvian', then 'Kensington blue whale'; they offered 'substitutions', which was correct for another two points. ('Ben Whishaw as a Peruvian' being a reference to his replacing Colin Firth as the voice of Paddington Bear) Left with Water, the Bookworms got the picture set, and saw Steve Jobs, then Marco Polo (who they didn't recognise), then a Volkswagen polo; that gave it to them! The Steve Jobs picture did not represent him, but a polo neck sweater, which he was wearing! Now that's... something. I don't know what! At the end of the first round, the Headliners led 7-3.
Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Headliners kicked off with Water: 'Tigris', then 'Ra II'; they spotted it to be Thor Heyerdahl's boats straight away, and offered 'Kon Tiki' for three points. "You're too good!" exclaimed an impressed VCM. The Bookworms chose Eye of Horus, and, again, got the picture set. Now, bear with me here: we began with small block of brown and a larger block of light blue, then two equal blocks of pink and orange, and then two equal blocks of red and yellow. They offered 'left half green, right half blue', which was not quite right. Their opponents offered 'three quarter green, one quarter blue'; also not there. The answer is '60% green, 40% blue'. It is Monopoly properties, and the precise colour groups down the sides of the board. Excellent question! The Headliners chose Horned Viper next: 'Returns', then 'Forever', and then '& Robin'; they spotted a Batman connection, and tried to work out what would be fourth. They didn't get it; their opponents offered 'Begins', for a bonus. For their own question, the Bookworms chose Two Reeds: '1/2pt lager = 3', then '25ml gin = 2', and then '100ml apple juice = 1'. They offered 'half a glass of water = 0'; any amount of water was fine, as the connection is Weight Watchers ProPoints, so two points there. For their own question, the Headliners chose Lion: '7 = 900', then '6 = 720'; they spotted sums of internal angles of polygons, and thus offered '4 = 360' for another three points. Left with Twisted Flax, the Bookworms saw 'Manchester United (Preston North End)', and immediately spotted the link to be David Beckham, and where he played. They chanced a five-pointer, and offered 'Paris St. Germain (LA Galaxy)'. Not right. The Headliners saw 'Real Madrid (none)' and 'LA Galazy (Milan)', but didn't get it either. It's 'Paris St. Germain (none)'; they are the clubs Mr Beckham played for, with clubs he was loaned to while there in brackets. Very unlucky, and I believe the first incorrect answer after just one clue. At the end of the second round, the Headliners led 13-6.
On to the Walls. The Bookworms went first, and chose to try the Lion wall. As usual, they spotted some links straight off, and tried a few, before eventually isolating 'Winter Gardens', 'Illuminations', 'Tower' and 'Golden Mile', which are all associated Blackpool. They quickly bagged a second: 'South Sandwich', 'Solomon', 'Virgin' and 'Windward', which are island groups. They soon had the final groups pegged down. 'Grand square', 'Do-si-do', 'Allemande left' and 'Promenade' are square dancing moves, but they could only come up with 'country dancing moves', so a dropped point there. They had no such problem with the final group: 'Zavvi', 'Our Price', 'Rough Trade' and 'HMV' are music retailers. So, seven points there.
The Headliners then tackled the Water wall. They spent a bit more time looking out early groups, but couldn't isolate any. Eventually, they locked in 'Crazy in Love', 'Halo', 'If I Were A Boy' and 'Deja Vu', which are songs by Beyonce. A second group followed: 'Time Crisis', 'Quake', 'Deus Ex' and 'Doom' are first person shooting games. (Rainbow Six will always be the best one of those) They spent the rest of the time trying to work out what was left, but eventually ran out of lives. They thus had to pick up group points: 'Sea', 'Grave', 'Fringe' and 'Call of duty' can all follow 'Beyond the', which they didn't get, while 'Hacek', 'Macron', 'Circumflex' and 'Cedilla' are accents put on letters, or 'diacretics'. Five for that, gave them a lead of 18-13 going into the final round.
Still a closeable gap going into Missing Vowels. 'Issues around Scottish Independence' was a clean sweep to the Bookworms 4-0. 'Things you can take' went to the Bookworms 2-1, with the Headliners getting two right, but one wrong. 'Tournament formats' went to the Bookworms 3-1. 'Painters of $100m paintings' was split 1-each, with the Headliners being timed out before they could answer the third. At the end of the match, the Bookworms had come from behind to win 23-21.
Another very good tense match. Very unlucky Headliners, who, like the Bibliophiles last season, led right through til the final round, but well done anyway on a very respectable showing. Very well done though Bookworms; a superb late recovery despite several setbacks, and we'll see you again in the play-off round!
Next week's match: the Road Trippers vs the Builders
And, yes, Series 1, will be sorted out eventually.
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