OK, we're back! After a few weeks' break for football coverage, Only Connect is back and kicking! We're back for two more weeks after this before we break for Christmas, which means we'll wrap up the second round and get the first play-off round underway too before Christmas. Anyway, lets get on with this...
Playing on Friday night were the Dandies, UC legend Oscar Powell, Lewis Barn and captain, and blog reader, Jack Bennett, who comfortably defeated the Gaffers in their first match, and the Beaks, Rob Cromarty, Aidan Sproat-Clements and captain Dan Sproat-Clements, husband of Aidan, who came from behind to beat the Disparates first time around.
Round 1. The Beaks went first, and restarted the series with Two Reeds: 'Hidden Agenda - oac', then 'Heaven Can Wait - ubitsc', then 'Secrets & Lies - eig', and finally 'Mulholland Drive - ync'. They didn't see it, their opponents did: they are films directed by men whose surnames begin with L and end in h (Loach, Lubitsc, Leigh and Lynch) For their own first question, the Dandies chose Water, and got the picture set: we saw the band Toto, then racing driver Christian 'Toto' Wolff, then footballer Salvatore 'Toto' Schillaci, and finally the cast of the Wizard of Oz with an arrow at Toto the dog. That gave them the link, and the point. The Beaks chose 'Horn-ed' Viper next: ''Something's Got To Give'', then ''The Athenaeum Portrait'', then ''The Last Tycoon'', and finally 'Schubert's Symphony No. 8'. That gave it to them: they are all unfinished works. The Dandies chose Twisted Flax next: 'Harlem, New York', then 'Quarter, Naples', then 'City, Whitley Bay'; they saw that the latter are all known as 'the Spanish (former)', and collected two points. The Beaks chose Lion next: 'Faroe Islands (1907-92)', then 'Bournville, Birmingham (1895-2015)'; they offered that they have no pubs, and collected three good points from it. (The unseen clues were 'USA (1920-33)' and 'Saudi Arabia (1952-present)') Left with Eye of Horus, and the music set, the Dandies heard Tom Waits with 'Time', then 'Life' by Des'ree, then 'People' from the musical Funny Girl, and finally Madonna with 'Vogue'. They spotted the titles to be those of magazines, and collected the point. At the end of the first round, the Dandies led 5-4.
Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Beaks opened the round with Two Reeds: '4th: Making Up', then '3rd: Save Me', and then '2nd: Boom Bang'. They didn't quite see it, their opponents did: they are the first and last words of the UK's four Eurovision winning entries, so '1st: Puppet String' would complete the set. For their own question, the Dandies chose 'Horn-ed' Viper, and got the picture set: we saw a red and yellow striped jacket, then the singers P!nk and Professor Green, and then two chocolates with purple and oranges wrappers. Neither side got it quite right: they are the colours of the rainbow as in the song 'I Can Sing A Rainbow', so something representing just 'blue', such as the eponymous band, would satisfy. The Beaks chose Twisted Flax next: 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?', then 'Art', and then 'The Dumb Waiter'; they saw it to be plays with 4, 3, 2 and 1 characters, so offered 'Underneath the Lintel' for the two points. The Dandies chose Lion next: '2005 Jo Swinson', '2009 Chloe Smith' (I had it at this), and then '2010 Pamela Nash'. They saw it to be the youngest MP in parliament, or 'Baby of the House', so '2015 Mhairi Black' (or 'Mary' Black as Victoria called her) would complete the set. For their final choice, the Beaks chose Water: '5 on 19', then '3 on 17', and then '5 on 12'. They didn't get it, nor did their opponents: they are starting positions in backgammon, so '2 on 1' would complete the sequence. Left with Eye of Horus again, the Dandies saw 'La Suisse: quatre', then 'Le Belgique: trois'; they identified it as countries where French is an official languages, and how many official langauges that country has, so 'La France: une' would come fourth there. At the end of the second round, the Dandies led 11-6.
On to the Walls. The Dandies went first, and chose to tackle the Water wall. They spotted some connections, but had little luck getting group slotted in. With just seconds to go, they finally isolated 'Strange', 'No', 'Faustus' and 'Legg', which are fictional doctors. They couldn't get anyway, and had to collect bonuses: 'Pepper', 'Capri', 'Pop' and 'Uni' can all precede 'corn', which they didn't see, 'Aedile', 'Censor', 'Tribune' and 'Quaestor' are Roman officials, which they did get, while 'Prefect', 'Anglia', 'Zephyr' and 'Consul' are old Ford cars, which they also saw. Four points there.
The Beaks thus could put themselves well back in the hunt with a good result on the Lion wall. They, in contrast, had two groups sorted out pretty quickly: 'Claret', 'Measuring', 'Puzzle' and 'Milk' are types of jug, while 'Aled', 'Toby', 'January' and 'Inigo' are famous Joneses. They couldn't quite get the final sets sorted out though, failing to get it in their three tries. They too thus had to collect bonus points: 'Boston', 'Nantucket', 'Quincy' and 'Springfield' are places in Massachusetts, which they spotted, while 'Lakeland', 'Kerry Blue', 'Border' and 'Yorkshire' are terrier dogs, which they also got. Six points there, which meant they trailed 15-12 going into the final round.
So, still all to play for going into Missing Vowels. 'Shakespeare plays and the character who speaks the first line' went to the Beaks 3-1, so just one in it now. 'Symbols of early Christianity' was another 3-1 to the Beaks, giving them the lead. 'Pairs of words and expressions for lavatory' went to the Beaks, 2-(-1), and that was time. The Beaks had come from behind, again, to win 20-16.
Another good match, well played by both teams. Unlucky Dandies, but best of luck in the play-off round. Well done Beaks though, and best of luck in the group stage!
Next week's match: the Detectives vs the Arrowheads in the final second round match, followed by the Meeples vs the Parishioners in the first play-off the week after, then we break for Christmas.
No UC tomorrow night, so see you next Sunday, I guess.
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