OK, on with Only Connect, and the first play-off to decide who joins the four qualifier winners in the quarter-finals. A good series so far, great questions and high quality play, and hopefully the remainder of the series will keep this up.
Playing on Monday night were the Motorheads, Brian Shaw, Thomas De Bock and captain Stanley Wang, who narrowly lost to the Times Ladies but narrowly beat the Cartoonists, and the LARPers, Martel Reynolds, Kiwi Tokoeka and captain Ronny Jackson, who defeated the Durhamites but were defeated by the Poptimists.
Round 1. The Motorheads opened the contest with Twisted Flax: 'The Ambassadors (Hans Holbein the Younger)', then 'Alexander McQueen scarf', then 'Poisonous substance'; they suggested 'skulls' as the link, and collected two points to be started with. The LARPers began their night with 'Horn-ed' Viper: 'The Alamo (1836)', then 'Liverpool Football Club (1998)', then 'England, Scotland and Ireland (1689-1694)', and finally 'UK Green Party (2016-?)'. The last one gave it to them: they all had joint leaders between those dates. The Motorheads chose Water next, and got the music set: we heard the Stylistics with 'Sing Baby Sing', then 'Run Baby Run' by the Newbeats, then 'Burn Baby Burn' by Ash, and finally 'Come Baby Come' by K7. Neither side spotted the connection there. The LARPers chose Eye of Horus next, and got the picture set: we saw some cookies, then a bookmark, and that was enough for them to suggest 'Internet browser terms' for the three points. The Motorheads chose Two Reeds next: 'Thundera: Sword of Plun-Darr', then 'Gallifrey: The Moment (apparently)', then 'Krypton: nearby supernova or unstable radioactive core'; they came in here and suggested 'how planets were formed', not correct. Their opponents saw 'Alderaan: Death Star 1', and suggested the exact opposite, 'how planets were destroyed', for the bonus. Left with Lion for their own question, the LARPers saw 'Signal port', then 'Blessing gods', then 'Attach app', and finally 'Myth leg'. In the nick of time, they spotted it: attaching 'end' to the second letter gives a synonym of the first word. At the end of the first round, the LARPers led 6-2.
Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Motorheads started the round with Lion: 'Hebridean Island', then 'Electrically charged atom'; they saw them to be 'Iona' and 'Ion', so came in and offered 'The first person singular', as in 'I', for the three points. The LARPers chose Two Reeds next, and got the pictures again: we saw Jack Charlton, then Stan Laurel (and Oliver Hardy), and then Roy Orbison. They didn't get it, neither did their opponents: they are names mentioned in the lyrics of '50 Ways to Leave Your Lover', so someone called Gus, such as the tragic astronaunt Gus Grissom, would suffice. The Motorheads chose Eye of Horus next: 'All the milk', then 'All the orange juice', and then 'All Daddy's beer'. They guessed 'All the water', and were correct enough for the points; 'All the water in the tap' was the precise answer, the sequence being what 'The Tiger Who Come to Tea' is said to have drunk. The LARPers chose Twisted Flax next: 'A, B, C', then 'B, C, E', and then 'C, E, H'; they saw it to be the Fibonacci sequence using letters, and offered 'E, H, M' for the two points. For their final choice, the Motorheads chose Horned Viper: 'Alan Williams', then 'Peter Tapsell', and then 'Gerald Kaufman'. They didn't get this, nor did their opponents: they are Fathers of the House of Commons, so 'Ken Clarke' would complete the sequence. Left with Water, the LARPers saw '4th Junior police officer', then '3rd Educator', and then '2nd Healthcare professional'. They didn't get it, their opponents did with '1st Soldier', though they didn't know the sequence, the first four Carry On films. At the end of the second round, the teams were tied on 8-each. (I do believe that may be the first time the first round scores have been exactly flipped in the second)
On to the Walls. The LARPers went first, and chose the Water wall. They quickly isolated 'Fellow', 'Bursar', 'Reader' and 'Porter', which are jobs at a university, followed fairly soon afterwards by 'Plump', 'Fubsy', 'Portly' and 'Corpulent', which are synonyms of each other. The final clues didn't take long to sort out after that: 'Stout', 'Bock', 'Bitter' and 'Mild' are types of beer, while 'Meade', 'Grant', 'Sherman' and 'Beauregard' are US Civil War generals, their suggestion of 'American generals' close enough there. A full ten.
The Motorheads thus set to work on the Lion wall. They also had a set done pretty quickly: 'Kilt', 'Dhoti', 'Fustanella' and 'Sarong' are skirt like garments. They got a bit stuck after that though; eventually, with time running out, they had a second set: 'Meadow', 'Rump', 'Ginger' and 'Porterhouse' all start with the names of alcoholic drinks. They quickly tried to solve what was left, but couldn't in their three goes, and thus had to go for bonuses: 'Sirloin', 'Skirt', 'T Bone' and 'Picanha' are types of steak, which they got, while 'Algy', 'Tug', 'Bertie' and 'Angus' are characters from the Biggles stories, which they didn't get. Five there, which meant the LARPers now led 18-13 going into the final round.
So, still just about all the play for in Missing Vowels. 'Phrases with Christmas replaced by Easter', such as 'EASTER CRACKER' and the double bluff of 'EASTER ISLAND', went to the Motorheads 3-1. 'Words which roughly mean "tirelessness"', such as 'PERSISTENCE' and 'DETERMINATION', was a clean 4-0 to the LARPers. 'Things that appear on a $1 bill' went to the LARPers 2-1. 'Artists and their art form' gave one clue to the Motorheads, and the second was timed out. The LARPers won 25-18.
Another fine contest, well played by both teams. Unlucky Motorheads, but a respectable series of performances, thanks very much indeed for playing! Well done LARPers though, and very best of luck in the quarter-finals!
Next week's match: the Durhamites vs the Pyromaniacs (or 'the match from the Radio Times' as I know it)
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