OK, before I review this week's Only Connect, I wonder if any of you saw a behind the scenes feature on the show in a recent Radio Times. Good feature, even if the picture used was of a non-first round fixture, thus giving away that one of this week's teams will play one of next week's teams somewhere along the line!
Anyway, playing on Monday were the Durhamites, Adam Robertson, James France and captain George Twigg, and the LARPers, Martel Reynolds, Kiwi Tokoeka and captain Ronny Jackson. You may remember the Durhamites represented the university on UC way back in 2011-12, where they were most unfortunate to lose in the second round.
Round 1. The Durhamites opened the night with Water: '1: Rugby Union', then '19: a cribbage hand', then '23: a dart'; they offered 'number of points you can't score in these games', which was close enough, they are the lowest impossible scores in the games. The LARPers kicked themselves off with Eye of Horus, and the music set: we heard the theme tune to 'Toast of London', then 'The Village Green Presentation Society' as sung by Kate Rusby in the theme to 'Jam and Jerusalem', then the intro to 'Bread', and finally the spoken word intro to 'Porridge'. Neither team spotted the connection there. The Durhamites chose Two Reeds next: 'tv', then 'i', then 'watch', and finally 'mac'. They didn't quite get it, nor did their opponents: they are Apple operating systems. The LARPers chose Lion next: 'Claudius', then 'Michael Corleone', then 'Romulus', and finally 'Cain'. They spotted that they all murdered their brothers for the point, 'Claudius' referring to Hamlet's uncle rather than the Roman. The Durhamites chose 'Horn-ed' Viper next: 'Eve Babitz's chess game vs Marcel Duchamp', then 'Spencer Tunick's photo shoots', then 'Stephen Gough's GB walk', and finally 'Ancient Greek wrestling'; the last one gave it to them, they are things that were done naked. Left with Twisted Flax, and the picture set, the LARPers saw a gentleman pointing at his rather large nose, then some chicken schnitzel, then Schnorbitz the dog with Bernie Winters; they saw the link here, and collected two points. (The first clue representing 'schnozzle'; a still from the classic Frasier episode 'Roz and the Schnoz' would've been better in my book!) At the end of the first round, the teams were tied on 3-each.
Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Durhamites began with Water: 'Early May', then 'Spring', and then 'Summer'. They didn't quite see it, their opponents (and I) did: they are Bank holidays in England and Wales, so 'Christmas Day' completes the set. For their own question, the LARPers chose Eye of Horus: 'Bath', then 'Bangor', and then 'Armagh'. They correctly offered 'Aberdeen' for the two points, albeit for the wrong reason: they are UK cities alphabetically going backwards. The Durhamites chose Two Reeds next, and got the picture set; we saw a leopard seal, then an E-type jaguar, and then a Lion chocolate bar (one of which VCM proceded to eat while explaining the answer); they saw the sequence, and offered 'a tiger moth' for the points. The LARPers chose Lion next: 'Tesla's solution (not Edison's)', then 'Westernmost province of Canada'; they saw them to be 'AC' and 'BC', so offered 'Edison's solution (not Tesla's)' as 'DC' for the three points. For their final choice, the Durhamites chose Twisted Flax: 'Amateurishly fiddle with', then 'Adapt for a particular purpose', then 'Carry on doggedly'. Neither side got this one: the words underlined (or in green on the show itself) can be replaced with 'Tinker', 'Tailor' and 'Solider', so a sentence where 'Spy' could replace a word, such as 'Spot with your little eye' would be fourth. Left with Horned Viper, the LARPers saw '1 1 2', then '2 2 0', and then '3 3 9'. They saw the sequence, equations with the symbols missing, so offered '4 4 1', as in '4/4+1' for the points. At the end of the round, the LARPers led 11-5.
On to the Walls. The LARPers went first, and chose to tackle the Lion wall. They quickly isolated their first set: 'Blue', 'Blair', 'Bart' and 'Shriver' are surnames of famous people called Lionel. They then identified a connection of nicknames of London football teams in the singular, and isolated 'Lion', 'O', 'Gunner' and 'Hoop'. They got stuck trying to solve what was left though, failing to solve in their three tries, so had to go for bonuses: 'Eon', 'Rank', 'DNA' and 'Hammer' are British film companies, which they didn't see, while 'Repulsive', 'Flagrant', '144' and 'Pre-tax' can all also mean 'Gross'. Five points there.
The Durhamites thus could catch up somewhat if they could better that on the Water wall. Their first set also came reasonably quickly: 'Row', 'Scrap', 'Spat' and 'Ding-song' are words that can mean a fight. A second set, 'Curl', 'Extension', 'Plank' and 'Squat', which are strength training exercises, followed afterwards. After studying the remnants, they solved it on their second try: 'Line', 'Dog', 'Tightrope' and 'Walk' are things one can walk, which they spotted, while 'Tiff', 'Zip', 'Jar' and 'Doc' are file extensions, which they didn't get. Seven there then, which reduced their gap to 16-12 going into the final round.
So, all to play for with Missing Vowels. 'Quotes from British politics' was split 2-each. 'Things that are not soldiers', such as 'GENERAL ELECTION' and 'MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER', went to the LARPers 3-0. 'Pejorative terms for books', such as 'POTBOILER' and 'BONKBUSTER', was another 2-all split. 'Animals and the island where the exist' saw the Durhamites get the only clue wrong and the LARPers right. At the end of the show, the LARPers won 24-15.
Another good match, plenty of good questions and quizzing to be had. Unlucky Durhamites, well done LARPers, best of luck to both of yous in your next matches!
Next week's match: Pyromaniacs vs Cartoonists
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