OK, here's Only Connect. And is it me, or is Victoria's intros becoming more and more similar to those on I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue? Another this week that could feasibly have come straight out of Jack Dee's script?
Anyway, playing were the Brews, Andy Christley, James Buchanan and captain Daniel Foskett, and the Forrests, Jenny Forrest, Belinda Weir and captain Oliver Forrest, son of Belinda and brother of Jenny, who may or may not have appeared on UC back in the 2012/13 series.
Round 1. The Forrests kicked the match off with Twisted Flax, and the picture set: we saw musician 'T-Bone' Burnett, then Sir Ian Botham, aka Beefy, then Ram John Holder as Porkpie from Desmond's, and finally the singer Meat Loaf. They spotted the link, and collected a point. The Brews opened their account with Two Reeds: 'Cheap', then '9', then 'Gimme'; they saw them to be words that repeated three times give the name of TV shows, and picked up two there. ('Location' would, naturally, have been the last one) The Forrests chose Horned Viper next: '1958: Broke the record of Chu Chin Chow', then '1974: Moved to St Martin's', then '2002: 50th anniversary', and finally '2012: 25000th performance'. They didn't get it, their opponents did: they are notable milestones of the play 'The Mousetrap'. For their own question, the Brews chose Eye of Horus, and got the music set: we heard the theme from 'Inspector Wexford', then Status Quo with 'Down Down', then the theme to 'Dr Kildare', and finally Ed Sheeren singing 'Galway Girl'. Neither side spotted the link, they are Irish counties. The Forrests chose Water next: 'Isn't it in French', then 'Won Premier League with Leicester and Chelsea', then 'Seven Seconds singer', and finally 'Capital of Chad'. They only knew the second as 'N'Golo Kanta', and suggested that they all end 'olo'; not right. Their opponents swooped and offered that they all start with 'N'', correct for the bonus. Left with Lion for their own question, the Brews saw 'Obscured preservation process', then 'Cloaked tree'; that was enough for them to gamble, offering that the first words have, hidden within them, a word corresponding to the subsequent definition ('obsCURE', and 'clOAKed', while the remaining clues would've been 'Concealed alcoholic beverage' or 'conceALEd', and 'Hidden division of the psyche' or 'hIDden'), and they received three points for that. At the end of the first round, the Brews led 7-1.
Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Forrests began with Twisted Flax, and the picture set again: we saw Mick Jagger, then a sewing gather, and then Dr No. Neither side spotted it: they are 'A Rolling Stone', 'Gathers', and 'No', so, for example, Kate Moss or Moss from The IT Crowd, would complete the set. The Brews chose Horned Viper next: '4th RFV', then '3rd EDC', and then '2nd WSX'. Again, neither side saw what was happening: they are the fourth, third and second letters on the three rows of a typewriter/keyboard, so '1st QAZ' would come fourth. The Forrests chose Lion next: 'Monkeys', then 'Lives', and then 'Degrees of Separation'. They offered 'Blind Mice', reasoning that they could be preceded by multiples of three going down. Close enough for the points, the actual sequence in mind was film titles, so 'Amigos' would've been a more suitable solution. The Brews chose Two Reeds next: 'Tent group', then 'Century', and then 'Cohort'. They saw it to be Roman regiments, and guessed that they were increasing in size, offering 'Legion'; correct for the points. For their final choice, the Forrests chose Water: '(e.g.) Nanny Ogg', then 'A flat disc', and then 'Four elephants'. They saw it to be the structure of the Universe in the Discworld series, so offered 'A turtle' for the two points. Left with Eye of Horus, the Brews saw 'Adriaan Paulen (middle-distance runner)', then 'Primo Nebiolo (long jumper)', and then 'Lamine Diack (long jumper)'. They didn't get it, nor did their opponents: they are presidents of the IAAF, so 'Sebastian Coe (middle-distance runner)' would be fourth. At the end of the second round, the Brews led 9-5.
On to the Walls. The Brews took their turn to go first, and chose the Water wall. A tough wall it proved. After numerous wrong guesses, they eventually had a set: 'Catalonia', 'New Mexico', 'Vietnam' and 'Soviet Union' are all bearers of red and yellow/gold flags. That was all they could find though, so bonuses to be had: 'Kon-Tiki', 'Cique du Soleil', 'Sunday' and 'Helium' are all named after the Sun, which they didn't get, 'Inside Job', 'Amy', 'When We Were Kings' and 'Man On Wire' are winners of the Best Documentary Oscar, which they did get, while 'China', 'Goodnight', 'Island' and 'Barbie' can all precede 'Girl' to give song titles. A tough wall, just three points there.
The Forrests thus had a chance to catch up/pull ahead as they set to work on the Lion wall. Their wall proved about as hard, but they did make progress with it. After much studying, they had a set: 'Bing', 'Frank', 'Bigwig' and 'Bugs' are fictional rabbits. A second set eventually came too: 'Wing', 'Whale', 'Guard' and 'Honourable' can all follow 'Right'. With not much time left, they quickly tried to solve, and had it on their final go: 'Goth', 'Vandal', 'Lombard' and 'Angle' are ancient or medieval tribes, while 'Rascal', 'Ferdinand', 'Dynamite' and 'Harvey' are the last words in the names of Mercury Prize winning acts. A very hard but well earned full ten there, which gave them a lead of 15-12 going into the last round.
So, Missing Vowels to finish as usual and decide who went which way in the series. 'Online security questions' went to the Forrests 3-1. 'Things that are sticky', such as 'TREACLE' and '(A) STICK', was another 3-1 to the Forrests. 'Things from the Great British Bake-Off' went to the Brews 3-1. 'Brothers Grimm fairy tales' went to the Forrests 2-(-1), and that was time. The Forrests won 24-16.
Another good game, decided on that very tricky wall round, but well played by both sides nonetheless. Unlucky Brews, well done Forrests, best of luck in your respective next games!
Next week's match: Ancient Alumni vs Three Peaks
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