University Challenge 2017-18: Play-Off Quarter-Final 2: Newcastle vs Fitzwilliam

Evening all. In a week when I've made a preliminary decision about the future of this blog, which I will hold back on revealing until a later date as it's not set in stone yet. I would, however, like an apology from the continuity lady for mistakenly announcing another program at the start, leaving me panickingly checking to make sure the show was actually on! It was, and whoever won would take the final place in the semi-finals.

Newcastle started slowly against Sheffield Hallam in the first round, but then comfortably defeated Southampton in the second and Bristol in the preliminaries, only to narrowly lose out to St John's in the qualifiers. Playing for a first semi-final placing under Paxo at least were the unchanged foursome of:
Jack Reynard, from Leeds, studying Medicine  
Molly Nielsen, from London, studying Medicine  
Captain: Jonathan Noble, from Newcastle, studying for a PGCE  
Adam Lowery, from Sunderland, studying Chemistry

Fitzwilliam College Cambridge scored 200 in their first two matches against Leicester and Magdalen of Oxford, then were undone by Merton in the preliminaries, recovering nicely with a close win over Emmanuel in the eliminators. Also vying for a first semi-final placing of the BBC era were the also unchanged quartet of:
Theo Tindall, from Backwell near Bristol, studying Russian and Arabic
Theo Howe, from Forest Hill in Oxfordshire, studying Japanese Studies
Captain: Hugh Oxlade, from South Woodford in London, studying History
Jack Maloney, from Harpenden in Hertfordshire, studying Medicine

Off we set again then, and Mr Noble set the ball rolling for the night identifying Paxo's description of various golfing terms; bonuses on chairs gave the Tynesiders two correct answers to start with. An unfortunate penalty saw Fitzwilliam lose five, but Newcastle failed to pick it up. Another starter was dropped, before Mr Reynard took a second for his side, and a full bonus set on early Tory prime ministers, including the old chestnut of the only assassinated PM Spencer Percival, went their way too. Five of those points were then lost to a penalty, allowing Mr Tindall to move Fitzwilliam back into positive integers, and they too took two bonuses, on mathematical curves. The first picture round, on electrocardiograph traces, went to Newcastle, with one of their resident medics Ms Nielsen doing the honours, but only one of the bonuses could go with it. Nonetheless, they still led healthily 55-15.

That lead was lessened somewhat by another slip-up, but Fitzwilliam were unable to take advantage. A good shout from Mr Noble recouped the losses though, and poetry about battles gave them two correct answers. Mr Maloney pulled one back for Fitzwilliam with a good prompt piece of arithmetic, and his side took a full bonus set, a good old school UC set on pairs of place names where the final letters of the first begin the second. Ms Nielsen then killed off any momentum they may have gained from it by taking 'vestigial' as the next starter, but nothing came from the bonuses.

The music round, on recordings by Dame Myra Hess, went to Newcastle, who took two correct answers this time, which increased their lead to 100-40. That lead increased when Ms Nielsen appeared to take an educated guess of 'Renoir' on the next starter; bonuses on dinosaur fossils followed, giving them just the one correct answer. The points for it were then lost to a slip-up, allowing Fitzwilliam to take possession; their reward was a tricky bonus set requiring any year a given Chinese emperor was in power, of which they did well to take one. Back came Newcastle with Mr Noble providing 'Jung', and a pair of bonuses went with it, putting them in command heading into the final third.

The second picture round, on portraits of assassins, went to Fitzwilliam, who took two correct answers, including a second mention of Spencer Percival, reducing their arrears to 130-75. But when the Cambridge side lost five on the next starter, and Mr Noble took it for Newcastle, and two bonuses went with it, that was most likely game over.

As if to make sure, Mr Noble provided 'Richard III' for the next starter, and another good bonus set, on words that begin and end with the same letters, gave the Tynesiders ten further points. Their lead was now 100 points, and getting bigger as Ms Nielsen won the buzzer race to say 'antibiotics' for the next starter; just one bonus followed, but it didn't really matter by now, just a question of how much both sides could score. Mr Maloney did the right thing and took a flyer on the next starter, but was beaten by a swerve, losing five, and handing Mr Lowery the honours; two bonuses, including a frankly brilliant arithmetical shout that was deservedly applauded, took them past 200. No time for the next starter to be answered; at the gong, Newcastle won 205-65.

Another good match despite, again, being one-sided, but as Dave C. said recently, even the weaker UC matches are better than average episodes of other quizzes. Unlucky Fitzwilliam, who were simply outbuzzed tonight, but no shame in going out here after a fine series of performances, thanks for giving us them! Very well done to Newcastle though, and very very best of luck in the semis!

The stats: Mr Noble was the best buzzer of the night with six to his name, while Mr Maloney was best for Fitzwilliam with two, ending their run their best buzzer with 18 overall. On the bonuses, Newcastle converted a respectable 20 out of 36, while Fitzwilliam managed an also decent 8 out of 12, with both sides incurred three penalties.

Next week's match: the first semi-final! Between St John's vs Edinburgh, followed by Merton vs Newcastle. A preview coming up in the coming days.

As, hopefully, is my review of tonight's Only Connect, the first play-off QF. And watch out for Paxo hosting HIGNFY on Friday night! Yep, he's finally agreed to do it it would seem!