OK, so on with the third Only Connect quarter-final. And, as pointed out in last week's comment section, a fixture which means we'll be getting a seemingly avoidable rematch next week. TPTB seem to like those; we've had one every series since the show moved to BBC2. That's then though, this is now: winners take the third place in what's already a very strong SF line-up.
Playing were the Brews, Andy Christley, James Buchanan and captain Daniel Foskett, who lost to the Forrests and the Birdwatchers, got reprieved when their first opponents withdrew, then lost to the Dicers and finally beat the Hotpots to secure a QF berth, and the Ancient Alumni, Lindsay McBryan, Ailsa Watson and captain Dave McBryan, who took a much simpler route, beating the Three Peaks and the Westenders.
Round 1. The Brews opened the show with Horned Viper: 'Richard and Natalie Gillespie', then 'Zeus and Hera' (I suggested 'parents of sons called Hercules' at this point!), then 'Nat and Georgia Simpson' (which gave me the correct answer), and finally 'Jaime and Cersei Lannister'. The last one gave it to them: they are brothers and sisters who committed incest. (Nat and Georgia famously being the siblings from Brookside whose incest storyline was the beginning of the show's end) The Alumni started their show with Two Reeds, and the music set: we heard Blue with 'One Love', then Samanatha Womack (nee Janus) with 'A Message to Your Heart', then David Essex with 'Gonna Make Your a Star'; that gave it to them, their singers later appeared in EastEnders (Lee Ryan being the blue connection there) (I'd probably have put Samantha Womack third in the set if I'd set that question) The Brews chose Lion next, and got the picture set: we saw some Lloyd George, Georges Clemenceau and Woodrow Wilson, then the golfer Ernie Els; they spotted them to be 'The Big Three' and 'The Big Easy', and immediately offered the link for the three points. The Alumni chose Water next: 'Park Guen-hye 2013-17' (in blue)', then 'William Morris 1860-65' (in red), then 'Van Gogh & Gauguin 1888' (in yellow), and finally 'Barack & Michelle Obama 2009-17' (in white). That gave it to them: they lived in houses known by those colours in those years. The Brews chose Twisted Flax next: '3,1416... 1.6180...', then '3 2.71828...', then '1,000,000 1,000,000,000'; they suggested them to be known by the same names in the UK and US, not right. Their opponents saw '7 11', and they offered them to be rhyming numbers for the bonus. Left with Eye of Horus for their own question, the Alumni saw 'Interrupting', then 'Landscaping', then 'Bikini', and finally 'Explaining'. Again, the last one gave it to them: you can replace the initial letters with 'Man' (Mankini, Mansplaining, etc) At the end of the first round, the Alumni led 5-4.
Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Brews started with Horned Viper again: 'Mathematical', then 'Quadratical' (I had it here), and finally 'Lot o'news'; they correctly saw it to be the Modern Major General's song from the Pirates of Penzance, and offered 'Hypotenuse' for the points. (Cue a sing-along!) The Alumni chose Two Reeds next: 'I: William II', then 'II: Henry I'; they saw them to be successors of King Williams, and so offered 'IV: Victoria' for the three points. The Brews chose Lion next: 'Corner 8', then 'Street 11', and then 'Split 17'. Neither they, nor their opponents, got this: they are roulette bets, so 'Straight 35' would be fourth. The Alumni chose Eye of Horus next: 'Austria (and 2 others)', then 'Cyprus (and 9 others)'; they saw them to be joinees of the EU, and offered 'Croatia (and no others)' for another three points. For their final choice, the Brews chose Twisted Flax, and got the picture set: we saw a still from the Japanese Mango show Bonobono, then a bonobo ape, and then Bono from U2; they spotted the sequence, and offered 'Bo Derek' for the two points. Left with Water, the Alumni saw 'Mr Brownlow: 1', then 'Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman: 2'; they saw them to be increasing numbers of adopted children, and so eventually suggested 'Madonna: 4' for the three points. At the end of the second round, the Alumni led 14-8.
On to the Walls. The Alumni went first, and chose the Lion wall. They immediately isolated 'Summer', 'Liberty', 'Joaquin' and 'Rain', which are forenames of the Phoenix siblings. They then spotted a couple of links, and isolated 'Pitt', 'Trudeau', 'Bush' and 'Kim', which are surnames of pairs of father-son world leaders. The final clues easily fell into line after that: 'Governors', 'U Thant', 'Roosevelt' and 'Ellis' are islands of New York, while 'World', 'Food', 'Sperm' and 'River' can all precede 'bank'. A full ten there.
The Brews thus set to work on the Water wall needing to match that to stay in realistic reach. They too isolated a set straight away: 'Hot Spot', 'VAR', 'Hawk-Eye' and 'Cyclops' are sport decision making computers. A second set, 'Caption', 'Motto', 'Rubric' and 'Colophon', which are explanatory words, followed soon after. After taking their time with the remaining clues, they had it on their third try: 'Minotaur', 'Locke', 'Legend' and 'Dunkirk' are films starring Tom Hardy, which they didn't get, while 'Chimera', 'Typhon', 'Hydra' and 'Cerberus' are creatures from Greek myth, which they did get. Seven there, which meant the Alumni led 24-15 going into the final round.
So, Missing Vowels to finish with. 'Educational establishments that don't exist', such as 'THE UNIVERSITY OF LIFE', went to the Alumni 3-0. 'Keepers and what kind of keeper they are', such as 'JONNY BAIRSTOW AND WICKETKEEPER' and 'DAVID SEAMAN AND GOALKEEPER', went to the Brews 3-0. 'Films in which a lead character is called Tommy' was split 1-1, and that was time. The Alumni won 28-19.
Another good contest, plenty of good quizzing and good questions, well done both teams. Unlucky Brews, but a very decent (and most unusual) series of performances, thanks very much for playing. Well done Alumni though, and very best of luck in the semis.
Next week's match: the last quarter-final, the Dicers vs the Birdwatchers
The rematch was a product of unfortunate circumstances. The tournament structure would normally guarantee no rematch could happen before the final/3rd place playoff, but the unplanned withdrawals changed that. Because the two halves of the draw had completely separate filming blocks until semifinal day, by the time the Brews got their unplanned lucky-loser reprieve, the first two quarter finals had already been filmed. That limited room for manoeuvre, but there was still only one possible scenario that would make a rematch inevitable: if the Brews and Birdwatchers both won their playoffs. Sods law, that's exactly what happened, meaning 3 of the 4 teams in the second half QFs (Brews, Dicers & Birdwatchers) had all played each other.
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