OK, one day later than I said, but here we go; apologies for the delay, I'd forgotten I'd made plans for yesterday night. Still, at least doing it tonight gives me an excuse not to watch EastEnders! Or at least, turn its sound off. Also, Victoria's intro seemed straight out of the script of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, which I've been listening to a lot lately!
Anyway, playing this week's game were the Motorheads, Brian Shaw, Thomas de Bock (captain of the Oxford Brookes team on last year's UC) and captain Stanley Wang (also on last year's UC with Edinburgh), and the Time Ladies, Charlotte Jackson, Emma Harris and captain Rebecca Shaw.
Round 1. The Ladies kicked the show off with Water, and the music question: we heard a rather odd noisy piece, then Russ Abbott singing 'Atmosphere', then 'Close to You' by Maxi Priest; they saw the link, the clergy, and collected two points (the first piece was by Thelonious Monk, and the last one would've been Deacon Blue). The Motorheads opened their account with Lion: 'Monopoly playing pieces', then 'Spectators as the US Masters', then 'Contestans on 'Mastermind'', and finally 'The rules of cricket'. Neither team got this: they are all incorrect terms (Monopoly has tokens, not playing pieces, US Masters spectators are 'patrons', Mastermind has 'contenders' and cricket has 'laws'). The Ladies chose Eye of Horus next: 'Miss an assignment', then 'On a vegetable', then 'Not an idea', and finally 'Mill a large number'. They ran out of time before they could offer anything; their opponents spotted it: adding 'ion' to the first word gives another words that is subsequently defined. Nice cryptic one that. For their own question, the Motorheads chose Two Reeds: 'Nat King Cole: sang', then 'Bob Hoskins: starred in', then 'Lisa Gherardini: was', and finally 'Leonardo da Vinci: painted'. That gave it to them for sure: Mona Lisa is the link. The Ladies chose Twisted Flax next, and got the picture set: we saw a pizza, then a Garibaldi biscuit, then a Caesar salad. Now, they came in at this point and offered 'named after Italians' (the pizza being 'margarita'); Victoria gave them the points, but the last clue would've been a Beef Wellington. Right or wrong decision? You decide. (Not to mention the Caesar salad is no relation to Julius) Left with Horned Viper, the Motorheads saw 'Snoo', then 'Ghostface Chillah', then 'Budroid', and finally 'Larry the Bird'. They had it from that: they are tech company mascots. At the end of the first round, the Ladies led 4-3.
Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Ladies opened the round with Horned Viper, and got the picture set again: we saw a statue of Augustus, then a violet flower, and then a verruca on a foot. They didn't get it, their opponents did: they are the children in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in order of their comeuppance, so a microphone, or as the show suggested, Mike Oldfield, would be fourth. For their own question, the Motorheads chose Water, and saw 'Room 5, then 'Give it 4%'. Now, they buzzed at this point and offered 'France 2', their reasoning being that adding 96 to those numbers gives a phrase ('Room 101', 'Give it 100%' and 'France 98'). Now, this wasn't the correct answer or sequence, but Victoria accepted that they had offered a viable alternative, so gave them the three points. The real solution was binary misreadings, so 'Turn the volume up to 3' would be third and 'Starter for 2' an acceptable fourth answer. Again, should they have been given the points there? I'm staying well out of that debate, but I have to say, I liked their solution more! Plus, having given the Ladies the Italian question earlier, they kinda had to give the Motorheads that one too to be consistent. Anyway, lets get back to the review. The Ladies chose Lion next: 'Discus & 200m', then 'Pole vault & Long Jump', and then 'Javelin & Javelin'. Neither team worked it out: they are the last four events in the Decathlon and the Heptathlon respectively, so '1500m & 800m' would be right for the points. The Motorheads chose Two Reeds next: 'US-based cable channel', then 'Sixth sense'; they saw them to be 'ESPN' and 'ESP', so offered 'Euler's number' as 'E', which was acceptable for the three points. For their final choice, the Ladies chose Eye of Horus: '4th: ____ Cake', then '3rd: ____ Angus'; they, and I, and my Dad, saw the blanks to represent the largest cities in Scotland, so '1st: ____ Kiss' would be an acceptable fourth answer. Left with Twisted Flax, the Motorheads saw 'Author of 'A Game of Thrones'', then 'Creator of 'Z-Cars'', and then 'Wetherspoons founder'. Neither team saw it: they are George RR Martin, Troy Kennedy Martin and Tim Martin, so someone whose first name is Martin, like 'Director of 'Taxi Driver'' (Martin Scorcese) would be correct for the points. (Though, on a point of pedantry, Tim Martin's full name is Timothy Randall Martin, so its not his second name!) At the end of an eventful second round, the Motorheads led 10-7.
On to the Walls. The Motorheads went first and chose to tackle the Lion wall. After studying the wall and a few wrong tries, they isolated 'Condom', 'Hot water bottle', 'Squash ball' and 'Tyre', which are products made of rubber, followed by 'Match', 'Bullet', 'Boiling' and 'Decimal', which can all precede 'Point'. They had the wall solved on their first go: 'Fountain', 'Ballpoint', 'Marker' and 'Dip' are types of pen, while 'The Godfather', 'Rollerball', 'Eraser' and 'Misery' are films starring James Caan. A full ten there.
The Ladies thus set to work on the Water wall. They had their first set even quicker: 'Retirement', 'Adopter', 'Bird' and 'Riser' can all follow 'Early'. A second set, 'Wanted', 'Hackers', 'Salt' and 'Changeling', which are films starring Angelina Jolie, followed. They too had everything sorted on their first try: 'Cure', 'Can', 'Freeze' and 'Pickle' are ways of preserving food, while 'Police', 'Doors', 'Band' and 'Clash' all follow 'The' to give band names. Another full ten, so as you were, Motorheads led 20-17 going into the final round.
So, Missing Vowels would decide who went which way. 'Novels with fruit in the title' went to the Motorheads 2-1. 'Fictional mask wearers', such as 'THE LONE RANGER', went to the Ladies 3-1. 'Real-life mask wearers', such as 'MEXICAN WRESTLER', went to the Ladies 2-1. 'Christmas carols' only had time for one, which the Ladies took. At the end of the show, the Ladies had 24, the Motorheads had 24!
Tiebreaker time then: 'MRB YLC KTH NJDG MNT'. Ms Shaw buzzed and offered 'MORE BY LUCK THAN JUDGEMENT'; (in Roy Walker voice) riiiiiiiiiight!
An excellent show, some excellent questions and quizzing, and thankfully those earlier adjudications made no difference, the Ladies would've won by one without them. Well done them, unlucky Motorheads, glad you're both getting another game, best of luck in them!
Next week's match: Birdwatchers vs Dicers
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