OK, forget what I said on Monday about next week's Only Connect being on Tuesday in Scotland; it is actually on Monday, just at the later time of 9:30, after the Cold Firm derby. Hope that's cleared that up. Anyway, on with this Monday's show and the final qualification match. Apologies for any errors, as I'm watching a(nother) football match at the same time I'm writing this.
Playing were the Ancient Alumni, Lindsay McBryan, Ailsa Watson and captain Dave McBryan, husband of Lindsay, who very easily defeated the Three Peaks in their first match, and the Westenders, Tom Chisholm, Abbas Panjwani and captain Megan Stodel, who won a closer first round match against the Dragons.
Round 1. The Alumni opened the show with Two Reeds: 'White -> Orange', then 'Orange -> Blonde'; they quickly saw them to be who shoots whom in Reservoir Dogs, and collected three points to start the ground running. The Westenders started their match with Water: 'Infant', then '100m hurdles', then ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', and finally 'Great Pyramid of Giza'. They spotted them to be the first of a series of seven things, and picked up a point. The Alumni chose Lion next, and got the picture set: we saw a black horse, then a lion roaring, then a pair of taps, and finally a firework explosion. They didn't see it, neither did their opponents: they are songs by Katy Perry. ('Dark Horse', 'Roar', 'Hot N Cold' and 'Firework') The Westenders chose Twisted Flax next, and got the music question: we heard Bing Crosby with 'I Kiss Your Hand Madam', then 'Che Gelida Manina' from La Boheme, then Reef's 'Place Your Hands', and finally Max Bygraves with 'You Need Hands'. They didn't see the link, their opponents did for the bonus. For their own question, the Alumni chose Eye of Horus: 'Alexander Gardens, Moscow', then 'Arc de Triomph, Paris'; they saw them to be locations of tombs of 'Unkown Soldiers', and collected another three points. Left with Horned Viper, the Westenders saw 'Ingredients raw when assembled', then 'Minimum 12.5% meat and 25% vegetable', then 'Savoury pastry', and finally 'Crimped towards one side'. They saw them to be requirements of proper Cornish pasties, and picked up another sole point. At the end of the first round, the Alumni led 7-2.
Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Alumni started with Two Reeds again: '60', then '60-10', and then '4-20s'. They didn't get it, their opponents did: they are literal translations of the French words for 60, 70 and 80, so '40-20-10' for 90 would be fourth. For their own question, the Westenders chose Lion: 'Greb-Tunney', then 'Pacquiao-Marquez', and then 'Ali-Frazier'. Neither team got this: they are pairs of boxers who fought each other five, four and three times professionally, so 'Eubank-Benn' would be an acceptable fourth answer. The Alumni chose Eye of Horus next: '1. Christian, 2. (blank), 3. (blank), 4. (blank)' (with one clue in each corner)', then '1. Christian, 2. Muslim, 3. (blank), 4. (blank)'. They suggested '1. Christian, 2. Muslim, 3. Hindu, 4. Buddhist', but were not correct. Their opponents saw '1. Christian, 2. Muslim, 3. Armenian, 4. (blank)', but were none the wiser. The clues being in corners was the clue: they are the four quarters of Old Jerusalem, so '1. Christian, 2. Muslim, 3. Armenian, 4. Jewish', would be the answer. The Westenders chose Twisted Flax next, and got the picture set: we saw a Granny Smith apple, then a weather vane depicting Father Time, and then the band Sister Sledge. They didn't get it, their opponents did, and offered serial killer David Berkowitz, or 'Son of Sam', for the bonus. For their own final choice, the Alumni chose Water: 'H....', then 'S...'; they instantly saw it to be morse code, and offered 'E.' for the three points. Left with Horned Viper, the Westenders saw 'Derek Jameson', then 'Brian Hayes', and then 'Terry Wogan'. They didn't get it, their opponents did: they are hosts of the Radio 2 Breakfast Show, so 'Chris Evans' would be fourth. At the end of a somewhat one-sided second round, the Alumni led 12-3.
On to the Walls. The Westenders went first, needing a good score, and chose the Water wall. They fairly quickly isolated 'Varnish', 'Kenny', 'Froome' and 'Cavendish', which are surnames of British cyclists, followed by 'Buffer', 'Pumice', 'Emery Board' and 'Orange Stick', which are manicure equipment, which they didn't quite get. After taking their time with the final clues, they had the final sets sorted: 'Cosy', 'Dance', 'Clipper' and 'Break' can all follow 'Tea', which they knew, while 'Street', 'Chard', 'Wellington' and 'Cheddar' are places in Somerset, which they didn't. Six there then.
The Alumni could thus put the game beyond realistic reach with a similar or better score on the Lion wall. They almost immediately had two sets in the bag: 'Agile', 'Deft', 'Nimble' and 'Brisk' are synonyms of 'fleet', while 'Bow', 'Coventry', 'Oxford' and 'Vine' are streets in Monopoly. They got a bit stuck with what was left though, and failed to resolve them in their three goes. They thus had to go for bonuses: 'Hook', 'Basingstoke', 'Alton' and 'Fleet' are places in Hampshire, which they got, while 'Fish', 'Manager', 'Fleming' and 'Winchester' are characters in 'The Fast Show', which they didn't get. Five there, which slightly cut their lead to 17-9 going into the final round.
So, Missing Vowels to finish with, with the Westenders needing a shutout to stand a chance. 'Things associated with caves', such as 'STALACTITES' and 'CAPTAIN CAVEMAN', was split 2-each. 'Re-arranged titles from Shakespeare', such as 'THE VERONA OF TWO GENTLEMEN' and 'NOTHING ADO ABOUT MUCH', was a clean sweep to the Westenders, 4-0. 'Idioms describing health', such as 'FIT AS A FIDDLE' was another 2-each split. 'Mountain ranges' had one to the Westenders before being timed out. The Alumni won 21-18.
Another good game, well played by both sides there. Unlucky Westenders, best of luck in the play-offs. Well done Alumni though, and best of luck in the quarter-finals!
Next week's match: the first play off between the Motorheads and the LARPers. Remember, 9:30 in Scotland.
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