OK, so, final match for a few weeks when a team will be eliminated. Playing for the right to stay on were the Road Trippers, Chris Pendleton, his son Ned and Nick Patterson, who narrowly lost to the Athenians first time out, and the Builders, Robin Whelan, Ian Orriss and Max Espensen, who were comfortably beaten by the Scientists.
Round 1. The Builders went first, and kicked off the match with Two Reeds: 'Approximately 10m x Pi', then '( (365 x 3) + 366 ) x 21.600', then 365.25 x 86,400'; at this point they ventured with the time Halley's Comet takes to complete a circulation', which was not right. The Trippers saw the final clue, '365.25 x 24 x 60 x 60', and simply offered 'a year'. Not right. It's the number of seconds in a year, expressed mathematically in four different ways. The Trippers opened their account with Lion: 'Seven consonants', then 'two vowels', then 'three syllables', and finally 'seven letters'. They didn't get it, nor did their opponents. They are all self-descriptive, 'consonants' contained seven consonants, and so on. Excellent, but maybe a bit too tricky. The Builders opted for Twisted Flax, and got the music question: didn't recognise the first or fourth, the second sounded familiar but didn't know it, and I did recognise the third but didn't know what it was. They spotted a connection with 'Hair', which was correct. The Trippers chose Water, and got the picture set: we saw Gordon Banks the goalie, then some chap I didn't recognise, then Britney Spears, and finally Jeremy Irons. Of the three they knew, they spotted that their surnames all have an S on the end. VCM let them have it: their surnames are all verbs: 'Gordon banks', 'Britney spears', 'Jeremy irons', and Tom Waits ('Tom waits') was the one we didn't know. The Builders chose Horned Viper next: 'Club sandwich', then 'iPod', then 'Billy bookcase' and finally 'Big Mac'. They didn't get it, nor did their opponents. They are financial indexes, or things that are used to compare currencies. Left with Eye of Horus, the Trippers saw 'Rut', then 'Loam', then 'Barset', and finally 'Borset'. The final clue gave it to them: you add 'shire' to them to get fictional counties. After a tricky first round, the Trippers led 2-1.
Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Builders began with Two Reeds again: 'Endangered' on a yellow background, then 'Critically endangered' on a red background, and then 'Extinct in the wild' in white on a blue background. They offered 'Extinict' (in white) on a black background, which was correct for two points, the link being the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The Trippers chose Twisted Flax: 'Act of Settlement', then 'first GB census', then 'death of Queen Victoria'; they offered 'Goran Ivanisovic wins Wimbledon', the link being events of 1701, 1801, 1901 and 2001 respectively. Correct, for two points. The Builders chose Eye of Horus next, and got the picture set: now, I can't quite accurately describe what we saw here, but the link was ballet positions, 4th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st position. 1st position of feet facing away from each other with heels together comes fourth, but neither side saw it. The Trippers chose Water next: 'Death Valley', then 'Laguna del Carbon', and then 'Lake Assal'. They didn't get it, their opponents did: 'Dead Sea'. They are the lowest continental points. For their final choice, the Builders chose Lion: 'Conforms to EU safety standards', then 'compare'; at this point, they offered 'Switzerland'. Correct, for three points. The first clue relates to 'CE', the second 'cf', so 'CH' would complete the set. Left with Horned Viper, the Trippers saw '2002: Cafu', then '2006: Cannavaro'; they spotted the link to be World Cup winning captains, and took a chance on '2014: Neuer'. Not right. The Builders saw '2010: Casillas', and offered '2014: Lahm', which was correct for a bonus. At the end of a less tricky second round, the Builders led 8-4.
On to the Walls. The Trippers went first, and chose the Lion wall to tackle. After spotting some links, and trying to work out a few more, they isolated 'Skunk', 'Zebra', 'Giant Panda' and 'Orca', which are black and white animals. After some more wrong guesses, a second group fell in: 'Badger', 'Monster', 'Bun' and 'Trap' can all follow 'Honey'. After studying what was left, taking their time, they worked out the remaining two groups: 'Brother', 'Remington', 'Olympia' and 'Adler' are makers of typewriters, while 'Bee', 'Mandvi' 'Colbert' and 'Oliver' are correspondents for 'the Daily Show'. A well worked out full house, so ten points.
Left to try the Water wall, the Builders saw some groups immediately, and tried to untangle them; eventually, they slotted in 'Stiletto', 'Agent 57', 'Penfold' and 'Baron Greenback', which are characters in the recently revived Danger Mouse. (Odd that this episode aired on the same day the revived series began) They soon had a second group solved: 'Solti', 'Rattle', 'Toscanini' and 'Beecham' are all conductors (and one, of course, is an old friend of this blog!). They soon worked out what was left, and had fully solved the wall: 'Kitten', 'Cuban', 'Wedge' and 'Cone' are types of heel, while 'Hybrid', 'Iron', 'Putter' and 'Wood' are golf clubs. Another full house meant they led 18-14 going into the final round.
Once again, the match would be decided by Missing Vowels. 'Charity singles' was split 2-each. 'Classical musicians and their instruments' went to the Builders 4-0, while 'Payslip components' went to them 3-1. 'Buildings on the 'Heritage at Risk' register' only managed two questions, which were split 1-each. At the end of the match, the Builders won 28-18.
Another good match. Unlucky Road Trippers, but well done on two reasonable performances. Very well done to the Builders though; a much better showing than before, and best of luck in your next match!
Next week's match: the Cluesmiths vs the Yorkers
(Insert comment about Series 1 here)
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