OK, here we are at the first quarter-final of what I've pretty much decided will be the last series of Only Connect I cover in this much depth on this blog. These blogs are becoming increasingly harder to write, and with my new blog requiring attention too, I need to prioritise. Don't worry, I will still cover it on here, just not a full review.
Anyway, playing the first quarter-final on Monday were the Time Ladies, Charlotte Jackson, Emma Harris and captain Rebecca Shaw, who came straight through with victories over the Motorheads and the Pyromaniacs, and the LARPers, Martel Reynolds, Kiwi Tokoeka and captain Ronny Jackson, who defeated the Durhamites and, also, the Motorheads en route, but were also beaten by the Poptimists.
Round 1. The Time Ladies opened the show with Eye of Horus, and the music question: we heard Tom Waits with 'Grapefruit Moon', then Prokofiev's 'The Love for Three Oranges', then 'Lemon Tree', and finally 'Oh! My Darling Clementine'. They saw the link from the last two, and collected a point. The LARPers started their show with Lion, and the pictures: we saw an Indycar motor race, then a Madison cycle race, then a girl playing badminton, and finally a rugby union match. They didn't get it, their opponents did: they are sports named after places. For their own question, the Ladies chose Water: 'Outlook', then 'Workhouse', then 'Hangover', and finally 'Overhand'. They didn't quite work it out, their opponents did: they are portmanteau words which form other portmanteau words when the components are switched ('Lookout', 'Housework', 'Overhang' and 'Handover') For their own question, the LARPers chose 'Horn-ed' Viper: 'Germany (1888)', then 'USA (1841)', then 'Vatican City (1978)', and finally 'UK (1936)'. Again, they didn't get it, and their opponents didn't quite get there either: they are years where those states had three rulers. The Ladies chose Two Reeds next: 'Kings Cross', then 'Patpong'; they came in here and tried 'suburbs of Sydney', not correct. Their opponents saw 'De Wallen' and 'Reeperbahn', and correctly offered that they are red light districts of their cities for a bonus. Left with Twisted Flax for their own question, the LARPers saw 'Chinese beer', then '"Northern bastard"', then ''Informer' performer', and finally 'Visual static'. They saw the link to be 'snow', and collected the point. At the end of the first round, the 3-2.
Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Ladies started the round with Twisted Flax: '4: Russia and Rwanda', then '3: Armenia and Albania', and then '2: Slovenia and Slovakia'. They tried '1: Austria and Australia', not correct. Their opponents knew it to be countries whose names differ by 4, 3 and 2 letters, and, despite not being able to think of an example, were allowed the bonus. '1: Iraq and Iran' was the model answer. For their own question, the LARPers chose Water: '1751: 282', then '1752: 355', and then '1753: 365'. They knew it to be something to do with increasing numbers of days in years, but their offer of '1754: 366' was not correct. Their opponents tried '1756: 366', reasoning it to be years with increasing numbers of days. This wasn't quite what TPTB had in mind, the model answer being simply '1754: 365' and the sequence 'sequential years and how many days in them', but Victoria deemed their answer an acceptable alternate sequence, so bonus given. For their own question, the Ladies chose Eye of Horus: '"a lucky one"', then '12:43'; they saw them to be '18 to 1' and '17 to 1', and so offered 'Quiz show hosted by Sandi Toksvig', or '15 to 1', for the three points (the first clue being a reference to Fairytale of New York). The LARPers chose Two Reeds next, and got the picture set: we saw an army tank, then a bluebottle, and then Bruce Springsteen. They didn't get it, their opponents did: they are the lyrics to 'Dub Be Good To Me', 'tank fly boss walk', so offered 'someone going for a stroll' for the bonus. For their own final choice, the Ladies chose Lion: 'Devanagari', then 'Arabic', and then 'Chinese'. Both teams saw it to be something to do with languages, but neither quite got there: they are writing systems and the number of users, so 'Latin' would be fourth. Left with Horned Viper, the LARPers saw 'Cecil', then 'HSBC office guards', and then 'UK No. 1 in June 1996 & 1998'. They didn't see it, their opponents did: they are increasing numbers of lions, so 'Comedy about UK terrorists' would be an acceptable answer. At the end of the second round, the Ladies led 8-4.
On to the Walls. The LARPers went first, and chose the Lion wall. After careful study of the clues, they isolated two sets in reasonably quick succession: 'Chief', 'Bibbit', 'Martini' and 'McMurphy' are characters in 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest', while 'Don't pass', 'Big 8', 'Hardway' and 'Field' are bets in craps. They worked out the remaining connections, but couldn't untangle the sets in their three goes, so had to try for bonuses: 'James', 'Hawkins', 'Phillips' and 'Gunnell' are surnames of famous women called Sally, while 'Robertson', 'Flat head', 'Torque' and 'Ratchet' are types of screwdriver. Six points there.
The Ladies chose thus put daylight between themselves if they could get a clean sweep of the Water wall. Again, they took their time analysing the clues, and eventually had a set in the bag: 'Ansel', 'Patch', 'Oleta' and 'Nicola' are forenames of famous people with the surname Adams. They got a bit stuck after that though, and couldn't get anything else, so had to also go for bonuses: 'Peg out', 'Hoop', 'Bisque' and 'Peel' are croquet terms, which they didn't get, 'Brown Windsor', 'Tom yum', 'Gumbo' and 'Shchi' are soups, which they did get, while 'Onchan', 'Ramsey', 'Douglas' and 'Castletown' are places on the Isle of Man. Four points there, which reduced their lead to 12-10 going into the final round.
So, Missing Vowels would decide the first semi-finalists. 'Exhibits in the British Museum' went to the LARPers 2-1. 'Things with tiers', such as 'WEDDING CAKE' and 'ENGLISH FOOTBALL' was another 2-1 to the LARPers. 'Things that have been famously vandalised', such as 'STATUE OF WINSTON CHURCHILL' and 'ROME' was a 2-2 split. And that was time: a 16-16 tie!
A tie-breaker question thus required again: 'LKB FY YLP'. Ms Shaw was in first: 'LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP'; riiiiiiiiiight!
Another absorbing contest between two very well matched teams, well played both. Unlucky LARPers, but a respectable series of performances, thanks very much for playing. Well done Time Ladies though, and best of luck in the semi finals!
Next week's match: the Durhamites vs the Poptimists
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