University Challenge 2018-19: Series Highlights

OK, time to conclude my coverage of this year's University Challenge with my usual end of series highlights. It's been another fine series, that, unlike last year's series, where the first round was a tad unbalanced, was pretty consistent throughout.

So, lets get started with my usual selection of the best match of every round:

• First Round + Play-Offs: Plenty to chose from, but Emmanuel vs Glasgow just about takes it, with Mr Golfinos' 13 starter game against SOAS just behind.
• Second Round: Definitely Edinburgh vs U.C.L..
• Quarter-Finals: Bristol's narrow defeats to the two eventual grand finalists were both great, with Darwin's win in between them not far off.
• The Final Three: All three were great matches, so this is near impossible to chose. Probably the best trio of semis and final I've seen since I've been doing this blog.

As I say, a pretty consistent and enjoyable series throughout. Apart from the second round where there was one pretty obvious standout game, these were all tough choices.

So now to institution diversity. For the fourth year in a row, Cambridge sent more teams than Oxford, six to five. Celtic representation was down a bit on last year, with, for the third year running, three Scots teams and one from Northern Ireland, but no Welsh entrants this year. Five London entrants, plus ULIP, this year the most for some years; East London, the only non-University of London entrant, also the only ex polytechnic this series.

Highest score of the year by the length of the Severn Channel was Durham's 360 in their first round match against Strathclyde, the highest score this decade since our friend Cromarty(IV)'s Southampton side five series ago, in a match which broke all sorts of other decade records. Second highest was Darwin's 260 two weeks earlier. Pembroke take the unfortunate accolade of the lowest score of the series, 50, with Strathclyde and ULIP just behind on 55. Highest joint score of the series was 380 from Hertford's 215-165 play-off win over Exeter.

And so to the highlights reel. And not just humourous highlights this series, individual and team performances as well:

• Mr Golfinos' 13 starter game, the highest since Alex Guttenplan nine series ago!
• Clare's last second win over Hertford.
• Durham's record breaking win over Strathclyde gets the award for team performance of the series.
• Neither St Edmund Hall or York being able to spell Stephenie Meyer's name. Also, Mr Leo not answering 'Germany'.
• Mr Booth beating Mr Ojha to "Rogan Josh".
• Mr Breen saying 'Voltaire' instead of 'Volta'.
• ULIP vs Goldsmiths win the award for best comedy game of the series!
• "Truro's not in Yorkshire!"
• U.C.L.'s lack of knowledge of X Ray Spex!
• Mr Gurr's classic joke guess of "Deborah Meaden"!
• The five starter long tie-break!
• "The Bugles?" "No, it was the Buggles! Shame on you!" (Still think that was a harsh disallowance)
• Mr Hanson's "Philip Glass!"
• Mr Campbell Hewson's winning guess of "1984".
• And his other winning answer of "54" in the final.

If anyone else has any more, do let me know in the comments below.

So, that's it for another series. There's nothing else I really have to say right now, except my usual objections to pedantic interruptions remain. If I think of anything else to say, I will say it next week once Only Connect is done with too. For now, all you really need to know is that I'll be back blogging UC again for the next series.

Be back some time next week with my blog of the OC final, so see you then, whenever that is.

University Challenge 2018-19: Best Buzzer Per Team

OK, so another series of University Challenge is over, so time to look back at it. Coming up tomorrow, my usual highlights reel and thoughts on the series going forwards. Now, though, my annual round-up of the buzzer stats for every quarter-finalist team. Firstly, here is the best player for all eight:

Jason Golfinos (Darwin) - 50 over six matches
Freddie Leo (St Edmund Hall) - 44 over six matches
Max Fitz-James (Edinburgh) - 30 over seven matches
Owen Iredale (Bristol) - 24 over five matches
Alex Antao (Manchester) and Matthew Toynbee (Durham) -  19 each over five matches
James Hampson (Glasgow) - 16 over four matches
Connor MacDonald and Vedanth Nair (Emmanuel) - 13 each over five matches

And honourable mentions to:

Cameron Yule (Durham) - 17 over five matches
Robbie Campbell Hewson (Edinburgh) - 16 over seven matches
Ben Murray (Durham) - 15 over five matches
James Ross (Manchester) - 11 over five matches
Matt Booth (Edinburgh) - 10 over seven matches
Pushan Basu (Bristol), Dani Cugini & Ben Harris (Emmanuel) and Joe Hanson (Manchester) - 9 each over five matches

So that's a quick selection; I have full stats for all eight teams, if anyone is interested, let me know either below or on Twitter.

Back tomorrow with my usual highlights.

Only Connect Series 14: Third Place Play-Off: Poptimists vs Ancient Alumni

OK, the penultimate Only Connect of the series, and the return of the third place play-off! Glad it's back, especially this series, where all four semi-finalists definitely deserved one more game whether they reached the final or not, even more so as both semi-finals were very close.

Anyway, playing were the Poptimists, Oliver Levy, Bob De Caux and captain Matt Loxham, who defeated the Hotpots, the LARPers and the Durhamites, but were defeated by the Time Ladies in their semi, and the Ancient Alumni, Lindsay McBryan, Ailsa Watson and captain Dave McBryan, who overcame the Three Peaks, the Westenders and the Brews, but lost their semi to the Dicers on a tie-break.

Round 1. The Alumni opened the show with Two Reeds: 'Louise: Reality Bites', then 'Older Allie Calhoun: The Notebook', then 'Tommy's mother: GoodFellas', and finally 'Older woman in cafe: When Harry met Sally'. They suggested them to be their actors' only screen credit; not right. Their opponents correctly offered them to have been played by the director's mother, for a bonus. For their own first question, the Poptimists chose Eye of Horus: 'Strawberry', then 'East Riding of Yorkshire'; they immediately saw them to be linked by 'Hull', and collected three points. The Alumni chose Twisted Flax next: 'Gromit', then 'Salamanders on the Discworld', then 'Dilbert (usually)', and finally 'Hello Kitty'. They saw them to be characters with no mouth, and collected their first point of the night. The Poptimists chose 'Horn-ed' Viper next, and got the music set: we heard Public Enemy with 'By the Time I Get to Arizona', then Nina Simone with 'Why (The King of Love is Dead)', then U2 with 'Pride (In the Name of Love)', and finally Stevie Wonder with 'Happy Birthday'. They saw them to be songs about Martin Luther King, and collected another sole point. The Alumni chose Lion next: 'Messi in OG v Wales', then 'I'm issuing a view, also', then 'Moss in agave weals', and finally 'Amassing avowals'. Neither time saw this nice cryptic one: they are phrases where the consonants are in the same order as 'Missing Vowels', and thus would be permissable answers for the Missing Vowels clue 'MSS N GVW LS'. Left with Water, and the picture set, the Poptimists saw Eva Green, then Angela Eagle, then actress Natalie Wood (who they didn't recognise), and finally Carey Mulligan. They spotted that their surnames are golf terms, and collected the point. At the end of the first round, the Poptimists led 6-1.

Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Alumni started it with Two Reeds: 'Launch of Cultural Revolution', then 'Red Rum's third Grand National win'; they saw them to be events of 1966 and 1977, so suggested 'A certain Prince song is played a lot on the eve of Millennium', which was allowed for a 1999 event for the three points. ('Manchester United beating Bayern Munich in the Champions League final' would've been my answer there) The Poptimists chose Eye of Horus next, and got the picture set again: we saw a £50 note with James Watt circled, then Elijah Wood, and then John Travolta as Jesus Quantana in 'The Big Lobowski'. They didn't see it, and their opponents weren't quite there either: they are 'Watt', 'Wood' and 'Jesus', so a word representing 'Do' would be fourth. The Alumni chose Lion next: '123 Mock The Week', then '456 Toronto Fire Services', and then '712 Satisfiability Modulo Theories'. They didn't get it, their opponents did: they are phrases beginning with the letters of those days of the week, so their offer of '345 What The Flip' was acceptable! ('345 World Taekwondo Federation' was the model answer) For their own question, the Poptimists chose 'Horn-ed' Viper: 'Campari', then 'Aperol', and then 'Advocaat'. They didn't get it, neither did their opponents: they are drinks usually coloured red, orange and yellow, so 'Green Chartreuse' would be an acceptable fourth answer. For their final choice, the Alumni chose Water: '_ 4 _, then '_ 8 9 10 _'; they saw them to be numbers in between every second prime number, with the primes blanked out, and correctly offered '_ 20 21 22 _' for the three points. Left with Twisted Flax, the Poptimists saw 'Are you saying Mr Lewis is lying?', then 'So you are saying that Mr Lewis lied?'; at this point, they (and I) saw it to be Paxo's infamous interview with Michael Howard, so offered 'Did you threaten to overrule him?' for the three points! At the end of the second round, the Poptimists led 10-7.

On to the Walls, the Poptimists went first, and chose the Water wall. They spotted numerous possible links, and eventually isolated two sets in short order: 'Chunk', 'Mouth', 'Sloth' and 'Mikey' are characters from 'The Goonies', while 'Lust', 'Wrath', 'Envy' and 'Pride' are deadly sins. The final sets eventually slotted in after that: 'Gluttony', 'Earmark', 'Crackerjack', and 'Trumpeter' all end with boys' names, while 'Greed', 'Chuck-a-Luck', 'Beetle' and 'Craps' are dice games. A full ten there.

The Alumni thus set to work on the Lion wall. They immediately isolated 'Hastings', 'Redpath', 'Sole' and 'Laidlaw', which are surnames of Scottish rugby union captains. A second set, 'Mullet', 'Sturgeon', 'Dab' and 'Tarpon', which are fish, followed, and it didn't take them long to sort out the remainders: 'Menai', 'Cook', 'Davis' and 'Bass' are straits, while 'Skate', 'Truth', 'Mozzarella' and 'Primary' all end with girls' names. Another full ten, so as you were, the Poptimists led 19-16 going into the final round.

So, Missing Vowels would decide the game. 'Things that loosely rhyme with 'crazy'', such as 'PATRICK SWAYZEE' and 'FRANCO BARESI', was split 2-each. 'National capitals and an anagram of them', such as 'ROME AND MORE', went to the Poptimists 3-1, their guess of 'TEHRAN AND NATHER' being accepted in lieu of 'TEHRAN AND ANTHER'. 'Three members of musical families' was split 1-each, and that was time. The Poptimists won 26-21.

Good game, a pleasant interlude ahead of the final next week. Well played both teams, two fine series of performances, thanks very much indeed for playing!

Next week's match: the final! The Time Ladies vs the Dicers for the title!

University Challenge 2018-19: Grand Final: Edinburgh vs St Edmund Hall

Evening all. Not been a good day for quizzing this has. Firstly, on this morning's Popmaster, someone suggested that Stuck in the Middle with You was by 'Steeleye Dan'. Then, on Brain of Britain, none of the four contenders recognised the theme to Camberwick Green. That left Quizzy Mondays with the job of saving face for the day. And what better way to do that than with the University Challenge Grand Final! Two teams who had fought hard and played well to get this far; whoever won would be very worthy winners.

Edinburgh got here by beating Sidney Sussex of Cambridge, U.C.L., Manchester, Bristol and, in a close semi-final, Durham, who they also lost to en route. Hoping to win their first UC title and be the first Scots winners of the BBC era were: 
Matt Booth, from Bristol, studying Maths    
Marco Malusa, from Italy, studying Economics and Politics    
Captain: Max Fitz-James, from Burgundy, studying Cell Biology    
Robbie Campbell Hewson, from Edinburgh, studying Maths

St Edmund Hall Oxford arrived at this match by beating York, Clare of Cambridge, Emmanuel of Cambridge, Bristol also and, in an even closer semi-final, Darwin of Cambridge. Also hoping to win their first UC title were: 
Agastya Pisharody, from India and Basel, studying Material Science   
Marceline Bresson, from the Netherlands, studying Economics and Management   
Captain: Freddie Leo, from Berlin, studying History   
Lizzie Fry, from Worcestershire, studying Geography

Off we set again then, and the final didn't get off to the best start, with a penalty from Edinburgh; Ms Fry took the points for St Edmund Hall, and a single bonus on paperclips accompanied it. Mr Leo, so impressive prior to tonight, took his first starter of the night, and his side duly hammered home a full bonus set on literature. Mr Malusa got Edinburgh going in the right direction as he took their first starter of the game; a classic UC bonus set on the Periodic Table in Chinese provided the Scots side with a full house. The first picture round, on Venn diagrams of Shakespeare plays with a shared character name missing, went to Edinburgh, who took two bonuses this time, drawing the teams level on 40-all.

Mr Leo shot in like he has many times this year to identify 'Lagrange', and a second full set of bonuses took his side back into the lead. Ms Fry then took a second in a row for the Oxonians, but just the one bonus was taken this time. Mr Pisharody was unlucky on the next starter, buzzing to offer one Greek letter, then realising he'd been asked for two, and not having one. Five points off there, and Mr Campbell Hewson duly swooped with both for the points; bonuses on Iron Maiden saw Edinburgh restore the Twittersphere's faith when it comes to pop music on UC, as they took a full set.

The music starter was three pieces of pop music, all with a colour in their name, which come together top to bottom to form a national flag. Neither team got this classic UC question. The music bonuses eventually went to Edinburgh, with Mr Leo dropping another five on the replacement starter; they managed one of the colours and flags music bonuses, and now led 80-70. And it increased when Mr Fitz-James correctly, though he didn't think it, offered 'Agrippina' for the next starter; two bonuses followed, and they unluckily picked the wrong of two options for the other. And when Mr Malusa took the next starter, and a full set of bonuses on artist Elizabeth Catlett followed, they had a potentially match winning lead. But a penalty gave St Edmund Hall a chance to get back into the game, which Ms Fry duly took, and a much needed full bonus set kept the Oxonians in the game.

The second picture round, on artistic couples, went to Edinburgh, who took two and a half bonuses, which took their lead to 140-95. Another penalty gave St Edmund Hall another chance to close the gap though, which they duly took thanks to what looked like an educated guess from Mr Pisharody. Another classic UC bonus set on pairs of place names where the last three letters of the first and first three of the second are the same followed, of which they took just the one.

But Mr Leo then shot in with 'Gypsum', and two bonuses on computer science followed, putting them within five points. And then Ms Bresson put them on level pegging with a very quick buzz of her own on the next starter, but the Oxonians only managed one bonus, which was none the less sufficient to put them back in front. Next starter would surely win it: the teams were asked which number is represented by the Roman numerals that were also the first three letters of the city where Wayne Rooney and others were born. Both knew it was Liverpool, but Mr Campbell Hewson was first in with the right answer of 54. Bonuses on the Empress Theodora followed; Edinbugh took the first two... and that was the gong! Edinburgh won 155-140!

And so, to present the trophy to the winners, out came writer and UC alumnus Sebastian Faulks, who claimed he thought the questions 'staggeringly difficult', before doing the honours. And as the credits rolled, we had the usual grand final handshakes.

A great final, a fine end to another superb series, played well by both teams, bravo both for applauding each other at the gong as well! Unlucky St Edmund Hall, but no shame in a series of performances like that, they can go home with their heads held high, well done! Very very very well done Edinburgh though; most worthy champions!

The stats: Mr Fitz-James was the best buzzer of the final, with four, taking his final series total to 30. Mr Leo and Ms Fry, meanwhile, were best for St Edmund Hall with three each, Mr Leo ending the series with 44 starters, second only to Mr Golfinos' 50. On the bonuses, Edinburgh converted a great 18 out of 23 (with three penalties), while St Edmund Hall managed 14 out of 24 (with two penalties), so, as I sort of predicted, it was the bonuses wot won it. But well done both teams; a top end to the series!

And that's it! We're done for another year! Thanks to all who took part, plus Messrs Paxman and Tilling for another great series, here's to the next one! My usual buzzer stats and end of series review coming up later this week.

And, of course, we still have Only Connect to finish off as well; review of tonight's third place play-off coming up on Wednesday I hope.

University Challenge 2018-19: Grand Final Preview

Well, here we are again: another University Challenge grand final. After another excellent series played in great spirit throughout, and some some of the best team and individual performances of the decade thus far, we have our two finalists; they are:
Edinburgh: Matt Booth, Marco Malusa, Max Fitz-James and Robbie Campbell Hewson.
and
St Edmund Hall Oxford: Agastya Pisharody, Marceline Bresson, Freddie Leo and Lizzie Fry.

So, the main headline here is that a non-Oxbridge team has reached the final for the first time since 2012-13. How, then, did we end up with this final fixture?

Edinburgh comfortably defeated Sidney Sussex of Cambridge in the first round, then won a great second round contest against U.C.L. on the last starter of the game. They started the group stage with a win over Manchester, before losing their qualifier to Durham. They recovered with a narrow win over Bristol in the play-offs, and then faced Durham again in the semis, and this time it was they that emerged triumphant.

St Edmund Hall also started off with a comfortable first round victory, over York, then gave a near identical performance against Clare of Cambridge in the second round. Come the group stage, they defeated Emmanuel of Cambridge only slightly less imperiously than before, before recovering from a shaky start to beat Bristol in their qualifier. A titanic tussle against Darwin in the semis followed, ultimately securing the win and the final place on the last question of the game.

So, that's how they made it? Now lets have a look at their stats.

Edinburgh have played one game more to get this far, and have thus far acquired a total of 1,005 points, an average of 167.5 per match. St Edmund Hall, meanwhile, have 990 for an average of 198 per match. So, already, the raw stats are in their favour, considering them to have twice broken 200 comfortably in the first and second rounds, while Edinburgh have only done so once, in the first.

St Edmund Hall have also conceded slightly fewer points on average, 107 per match, to Edinburgh's 126.67 per match; even bearing in mind they have one fewer game going into that total, that still suggests a strong advantage.

When we come to the overall bonus rate, however, things fall back into Edinburgh's favour somewhat: despite having played one game fewer, St Edmund Hall have faced the exact same number of bonuses as Edinburgh, 160, and have only (I say only) answered 90 correctly, compared to Edinburgh's 103. This suggests that, should a close contest on the buzzer ensure, Edinburgh may just sneak it if that trend continues.

Speaking of which, again, despite the extra game, Edinburgh have actually answered one starter fewer than their opponents. But then, given Mr Leo's impressive buzzer form throughout, this is maybe not that surprising. Thus far, he has 41, the second highest behind Mr Golfinos' 50, while his colleagues have combined for 15. Edinburgh's stats are a bit more spread; Mr Fitz-James is actually the third best buzzer of the series thus far with 26, while his colleagues have all contributed strongly too.

This may prove key should Mr Leo have an off-day; his colleagues are certainly capable of picking up the slack, but could they do it enough should the starters fall better for Edinburgh as a whole?

The smart money, however, would likely be on St Edmund Hall to triumph. Like last year, I've set up a poll on Twitter that closes around the same time the final starts on Monday; at present, 61 have voted, and St Edmund Hall lead 69% to 31%.

Let's not underestimate Edinburgh though; as demonstrated when they defeated Durham having lost to them previously, they are more than capable of upsetting the odds. Who's to say they couldn't do it again?

Whatever happens on Monday, all we can hope for is a good contest to end the series. It's been another good one, full of twists and turns, with, as I said earlier, some superb performances both by individual players and by teams as a whole. Like the last two series, it's been a series that deserves a good close final, and hopefully, like those last two, we'll get one. Best of (retrospective) luck both teams!

Back on Monday with my write-up of the final; remember its back to 8:30, with OC back at 8. See you then, I guess.

Only Connect Series 14: Semi-Final 2: Dicers vs Ancient Alumni

OK, the second Only Connect semi-final, and the ante-penultimate episode of the show I'm reviewing in full on this blog. For now at least. A recent discussion on Twitter has made me curious about previous episodes again, and it may be worth going back to revisit some of the older series, like I tried to do with Series 1 many years ago.

Anyway, playing to meet the Time Ladies in the final were the Dicers, George Corfield, Joey Goldman and captain Hugh Binnie, who have defeated the Birdwatchers (twice) and the Brews to get this far, and the Ancient Alumni, Lindsay McBryan, Ailsa Watson and captain Dave McBryan, whose run to this semi has seen them beat the Three Peaks, the Westenders and the Brews also.

Round 1. The Dicers opened the show with Eye of Horus, and the picture set: we saw a cardboard box, then a lady on a bicycle, then a silhouette of Satan with an arrow pointing at his right foot, and finally six statues of Napoleon. Their offer of 'wrestling moves' was not correct, and their opponents had nothing to offer: they all follow 'The Adventure of the' to give Sherlock Holmes stories (solitary cyclist, Devil's foot and six Napoleons being the cryptic clues). The Alumni started their night with Two Reeds: 'Johnny Muridae', then 'Tom Felidae', then 'Peter Leporidae', and finally 'Jemima Anatidae'. The last one gave it to them: they are Beatrix Potter characters with their common names replaced by that of their order/family. The Dicers chose Lion next: 'sluggish, cold, and gloomy', then 'lively, quick-witted, or volatile', then 'characterised by hearty mirth'; they came in here and tried 'characteristics associated with children born on different days of the week', as in the old rhyme, but were not correct. Their opponents saw 'war-like', but had no answer: they are synonyms for frames of mind whose names are shared by those of the planets (saturnine, mercurial, jovial and martial). The Alumni chose Water next, and got the music question: we heard Borodin's 'Prince Igor', then the Prince singing in 'Snow White', then Prince Andrew singing Happy Birthday to Princess Eugenie, and finally Prince with 'Purple Rain'. Neither team spotted the link. The Dicers chose Horned Viper next: 'Birth of Hannibal', then 'Acres in a hectare (2dp)', then '4/94', and finally 'Every hour of every day'. That gave it to them: they are the things involving the number 2, 4 and 7. Left with Twisted Flax, the Alumni saw 'Zevk = Delight', then 'Moed = Courage', then 'Bagvaerk = Pastry'; they saw the first words to be translations of the second word into languages they are usually associated with, eg, 'pastry' in Danish is 'bagvaerk', and collected two points. At the end of the first round, the Alumni led 3-1.

Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Dicers started with Eye of Horus again: '4th largest: Rushmore', then '3rd largest: The Blues Brothers', and then '2nd largest: Blade Runner'. They saw them to be films set in the fourth, third and second largest cities in the USA, so offered 'Largest: Manhattan' for the two points. The Alumni chose Two Reeds next: we saw an outline of the Isle of Man with an arrow pointing upwards and an S above it, then the same outline with a right pointing arrow and an E to its right, and then the outline with a downwards arrow and a W beneath it. They didn't get it, nor did their opponents: they are the home nations that you reach if you head in those directions from it, so a left pointing arrow and NI to its left would complete the set. The Dicers chose Lion next: we saw an odd constellation style outline with an A at one of the dots, then a similar one with an H at one; they saw the lines to be linking consecutive letters of the alphabet, separated by the lyrics in the Alphabet song, and offered the correct outline for W-Z for the three points. Good question. The Alumni chose Water next: '1815 Alliance to counter Napoleon', then 'Beethoven's Concerto for Violin, Cello, Piano'; they saw them to be the Quadruple Alliance and the Triple Concerto, so suggested 'Beyonce song about ladies' for something 'Single' for the three points. For their final choice, the Dicers chose Horned Viper: 'Prop', then 'But'; they instantly saw it to be chemical prefixes for hydrocarbons in order of how many carbon atoms, so 'Hex' completes the set for another three points. Left with Twisted Flax, the Alumni got a music question: we heard the Tom Robinson band's classic '2 4 6 8 Motorway', then Manfred Mann with '5 4 3 2 1', and then '1 2 3 4' by Feist. Both sides knew it was something to do with the numbers in the songs, but neither quite saw what: the numbers in the titles add up to 20, 15 and 10, so a song with '5' in its title would suffice. (Cue a very bizarre rendition of Rex Harrison style 'Five Green Bottles') At the end of the second round, the Dicers led 9-6.

On to the Walls. The Alumni went first, and chose the Lion wall. They had a first set reasonably quickly: 'Rave', 'Beano', 'Bash' and 'Symposium' are words for parties. A second set, 'Chinnery', 'Lipp', 'Briss' and 'McQueen', which are surnames of League of Gentlemen characters, followed, and the final clues slotted in nicely after that: 'Handsome', 'Hipster', 'Shindig' and 'Chesterfield' all start with parts of the body, while 'Gorgias', 'Republic', 'Apology' and 'Crito' are works by Plato. A full ten there.

The Dicers thus set to work on the Water wall. They had two sets in the bag almost instantly: 'Haffner', 'Prague', 'Jupiter' and 'Linz' are nicknames of Mozart symphonies, while 'Priam', 'Aeneas', 'Paris' and 'Cassandra' are Trojan figures. After taking their time to work out the remaining links, they had the sets sorted: 'Browbeat', 'Hector', 'Badger' and 'Hound' are words meaning 'to hassle', while 'Sea Rat', 'Portly', 'Ratty' and 'Mole' are characters in 'Wind in the Willows'. Another full ten, so as you were, the Dicers led 19-16 going into the crucial final round.

So, Missing Vowels would decide who played which final match. 'Countries and their national animal' went to the Dicers 4-0. 'Things from Denmark', such as 'CARLSBERG' and 'SANDI TOKSVIG', went to the Alumni 3-(-1). 'Musicians who share or shared a birthday', such as 'ELVIS PRESLEY AND DAVID BOWIE' went to the Alumni 3-0, and that was time. 22-each! Another tie!

So, Mr Binnie and Mr McBryan against each other to decide the place in the final: YW NSM YLS SM'. Mr Binnie was in first with 'YOU WIN SOME, YOU LOSE SOME': RIIIIIIIIIIGHT!

A great match, bordering on all-time classic status I'd say, well done both teams. Unlucky Alumni, best of luck in the play-off. Very well done Dicers though, and very very very best of luck in the final!

Next week's match: the triumphant return of the third place play-off, the Poptimists vs the Ancient Alumni. Glad we've bought this back; if any group of semi-finalists deserved a third place match, it's this one.

University Challenge 2018-19: Semi-Final 2: St Edmund Hall vs Darwin

Evening all. So, the second semi-final, and the most hotly anticipated UC match in a long long time, between the two highest profile teams of the series, captained by the two highest profile players of the series, who were pictured having a good humoured tussle on Twitter beforehand, with the winner going through to the grand final. Hmm, feel like we've had a semi-final like this before...

St Edmund Hall Oxford ran riot through the knockout rounds beating York and Clare of Cambridge, then saw off Emmanuel of Cambridge in the preliminaries, before a somewhat off key showing against Bristol saw them only win by 20 points of the last starter of the game. Hoping to make the final and avenge the loss in the Boat Race last weekend were: 
Agastya Pisharody, from India and Basel, studying Material Science  
Marceline Bresson, from the Netherlands, studying Economics and Management  
Captain: Freddie Leo, from Berlin, studying History  
Lizzie Fry, from Worcestershire, studying Geography

Darwin College Cambridge also had a fairly straight forward run to the group stage, beating SOAS of London and Downing of Cambridge, but were also somewhat off the pace against Bristol, losing on a tie-breaker, before recovering with wins over Emmanuel and Manchester. Hoping to reach the final in their first ever UC series were: 
Stuart MacPherson, from Bothwell in South Lanarkshire, studying Physics  
Chris Davis, from London (originally California), studying Plant Sciences  
Captain: Jason Golfinos, from New York City, studying Asian and Middle Eastern Studies 
Guy Mulley, from Loughton in Essex, studying Law 

Off we set again then, and Ms Bresson showed that she had no intention of letting this be the clash of the captains that many foresaw by taking the first starter of the game; bonuses on the operas of Richard Wagner gave the Oxford side two bonuses to start with. Mr Golfinos opened his side's scoring with 'mercy', and his side also took two bonuses from their first set, on Hamlet's 'to be or not to be' speech. A second starter to the Darwin captain gave his side the lead, and, again, two of the resulting bonuses followed. The first picture round, on structures discovered by Dorothy Hodgkin, went to St Edmund Hall, Mr Leo opening his account for the night; once again, two bonuses followed, tying the scores at 40-each.

St Edmund Hall then took the lead with Mr Leo taking a second in a row; the bonus sequence was broken as just one from a set on punch cards followed. The Oxford captain had the bit firmly in his teeth, as he took a third in a row, and a full bonus set followed. Their advantage then pushed further ahead as Darwin lost five, and Ms Bresson picked up the drop; French departements cropped up as a bonus topic once again, and one bonus was taken. Mr Mulley finally reawoke Darwin on the next starter, but his side got nothing from a complicated bonus set on months and chemical symbols.

The music round, on 20th century secular cantatas, went to St Edmund Hall, who took two bonuses, which increased their lead to 115-45. Mr Golfinos gave Paxo a good laugh when he buzzed on the next starter, but then realised he didn't have an answer to give! Mr Leo had one, but it was wrong. Mr Golfinos did have the right answer to the next starter though, and bonuses on Sofia Coppola (another regular bonus subject this series) gave Darwin one correct answers. Back came Mr Leo, and a full set of bonuses put them into a potentially match winning lead. But Mr Golfinos kept his side in it by taking the next starter, and two bonuses went with it, unluckily narrowly missing the third.

The second picture round, on authors who have won the Benson medal, went to Darwin, who took one correct bonus, and gave us a classic line of "I don't look at pictures of them, I just read their books!"! The now trailed 140-95, but Mr Golfinos took the next starter to take them into triple figures; no bonuses followed though.

And when Mr Pisharody took the next starter, with one bonus following, you suspected that might be game over. Or maybe not, as Mr Golfinos very quickly took the next starter, and the side quickly ran out a full set of bonuses on football clubs with classical names. There was life in the game yet, as Mr Golfinos took the next starter and one bonus put them just ten behind. Next starter would surely win it; Mr MacPherson did the right thing and took an early guess, but was wrong and dropped five. Mr Leo took the points, and that was game over. At the gong, St Edmund Hall won 165-140.

A great contest, well played both teams, both of whom would've been worthy finalists. Unlucky Darwin, but a fine performance to go out on after a superb series of performances, no shame in going out after a game like that, thanks very much indeed for playing. Very very well done St Edmund Hall though, and very very very best of luck in the final next week!

The stats: Mr Golfinos was, once again, the best buzzer of the night with eight, ending the series with 50 (surely the best haul ever from a member of a non-winning team), leaving Mr Leo, best for his side once again with six, needing ten next week to beat him to the title of best buzzer of the series. On the bonuses, St Edmund Hall converted 15 out of 25, while Darwin managed 12 out of 27 (with two penalties); that's how close it was, but well done both sides, a top game!

Next week's match: the final! Edinburgh vs St Edmund Hall. Hopefully a great end to a fine series!

Only Connect's second semi-final tonight was arguably even more tense than that! Review on Wednesday I hope.

Only Connect Series 14: Semi-Final 1: Poptimists vs Time Ladies

OK, into the home straight with Only Connect as well now; only three more episodes that will be reviewed in full on this blog after this one. Yep, they've brought back the third place play-off! So, we'll have that in two weeks time on the same day as the UC final, and then the OC final on its own the following week. Well timed that.

Anyway, playing for the first place in the final on Monday were the Poptimists, Oliver Levy, Bob De Caux and captain Matt Loxham, who got here via wins over the Hotpots, the LARPers and the Durhamites, and the Time Ladies, Charlotte Jackson, Emma Harris and captain Rebecca Shaw, who arrived here after beating the Motorheads, the Pyromaniacs and the LARPers.

Round 1. The Time Ladies opened the semis with Eye of Horus: 'OBE', then 'Woolworth Building, NYC', then 'MOT Test', and finally Middlesex County Cricket Club. They didn't get this, neither did their opponents: their names refer to entities that no longer exist, eg, Middlesex the county doesn't technically exist anymore. (On a point of pedantry though, 'MCC' is actually Marylebone Cricket Club rather than Middlesex County Cricket Club, as implied here) The Poptimists opened their account with Two Reeds, and the picture set: we saw a comma butterfly, then a large intestine; they made the connection between 'comma' and 'colon', and offered 'punctuation marks' for the three points. The Ladies chose Water next: 'Aptostichus bonoi', then 'Funktriplogynium iagobadius', then 'Aleiodes gaga'; they saw them to be scientific names of animals named after musicians, and collected two points. The Poptimists chose 'Horn-ed' Viper next: 'King Aun', then 'Stannis Baratheon', then 'Agamemnon', and finally 'Abraham'. They offered 'they were killed by their wives', not right; their opponents suggested 'they were going to sacrifice their children', and collected a bonus. For their own question, the Ladies chose Twisted Flax: 'Horrid', then 'Survive', then 'Wicked', and finally 'Face covering'. Neither team spotted this excellent cryptic connection: they are synonyms of words that are anagrams of each other ('Vile', 'Live', 'Evil' and 'Veil') Left with Lion, and the music question, the Poptimists heard 'For Your Eyes Only' by Blondie, then 'You Only Live Twice' by Lorraine Chandler, then , then 'Spectre' by Radiohead, and finally 'Thunderball' by Johnny Cash. They knew them to be rejected theme tunes to James Bond films, and collected the point. (Mention too of Sam Smith's 'Writing on the Wall', which I'm pretty sure has been on another quiz recently, Brain of Britain perhaps?) At the end of the first round, the Poptimists led 4-3.

Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Ladies started the round with Twisted Flax: '0: Gulf of Guinea', then '30: Egypt', and then '60: Russia'. They didn't get it, and their opponents weren't quite there either: they are where the lines of latitude and longitude meet at the same number of degrees, so '90: North Pole' would be fourth. The Poptimists chose Eye of Horus next: 'Crew of the Ark', then ''Absurd Person Singular' dramatis personae', and then 'ABBA ('78 - '79)'. They didn't quite get there, their opponents did: they are things that contain four, three and two married couples, so 'Founders of the Gates foundation', ie Bill and Melinda, for the bonus. For their own question, the Ladies chose Water, and got the picture set: we saw Placido Domingo, then TV personality Heidi Montag, and then the Mardi Gras celebrations. They didn't see it, their opponents did: their names mean Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and so they offered 'Wednesday Addams' for the bonus. For their own question, the Poptimists chose Lion: 'Gules' (near the top of the box), then 'Gules Tenne' (with the former in the same place and the latter underneath), and finally 'Vert' (right at the bottom). Neither team saw this: its the traffic light sequence in heraldic terms, so 'Tenne' on its own but in the same place completes the set. For their final choice, the Ladies chose Two Reeds: '25: Emma M', then '24: Fran H', and then '23: Nico S'. Again, neither team saw it: they are presidents of France, so '22: Jacq C' would be fourth. Left with Horned Viper, the Poptimists got a music question, and heard Eddy Grant's classic 'Electric Avenue', then The Clash with 'Guns of Brixton', and then 'The Lambeth Walk'. Both teams knew it to be something to do with areas of London, but neither quite got there: Electric Avenue is in Brixton, which is in Lambeth, which is in London, so a song with London in its name would satisfy. (Cue a singalong of 'London Bridge'! I'd have preferred 'London Calling' or 'Werewolves of London' myself) At the end of a tough second round, the Poptimists led 5-4.

On to the Walls. The Poptimists went first, and chose the Water wall. It proved most difficult; despite spotting several possible links, they couldn't make anything stick. They were eventually timed out, so had to try for bonuses: 'Amin', 'Trotsky', 'Dalai Lama' and 'Ovid' are people who were exiled, which they didn't get, 'Napoleon', 'Electra', 'Superman' and 'God' are complexes, which they did get, 'Loo', 'Hero', 'Bitter' and 'Rave' are birds names with the 'N' on the end missing, which they also spotted, while 'Strauss', 'Motion', 'Adonis' and 'Garfield' are surnames of famous men called Andrew, which they also got. Three points there.

The Times Ladies thus had a chance to take the lead with a better result on the Lion wall. Their wall also proved somewhat hard though. After many wrong attempts, they did eventually had two sets in quick succession: 'Magpie', 'Jackdaw', 'Chough' and 'Raven' are birds of the corvid order, while 'Bluster', 'Swank', 'Crow' and 'Gloat' are words meaning 'to brag'. With not much time left, they quickly tried to solve what was left, but couldn't in their three goes. They too had to try for bonuses then: 'Boast', 'Lob', 'Drive' and 'Volley' are squash shots, which they didn't get, while 'Trigger', 'Pooch', 'Rook' and 'Jowl' are Winnie the Pooh characters with an extra letter added, which they also failed to spot. Four points there, which tied the game of 8-each going into the final round.

So, Missing Vowels would decide who played in what final match. 'Invaders of the British Isles' went to the Poptimists 3-1. 'Things with coloured squares' went to the Time Ladies 2-1. 'Parts of the anatomy named after people' went to the Time Ladies 3-1. 'Winners of the Best Picture Oscar with the sex changed', such as 'THE GODMOTHER' went to the Time Ladies 2-0, and that was time. The Time Ladies won 16-13.

A very tough game indeed, well played both teams in the circumstances. Unlucky Poptimists, but best of luck in the third place play-off. Well done Time Ladies though, and very very best of luck in the final match!

Next week's match: the Ancient Alumni vs the Dicers

University Challenge 2018-19: Semi-Final 1: Durham vs Edinburgh

Evening all. So, we're at the business end of the series, the first of the semi-finals. It's an instant rematch, as I said in my preview on Monday night, and a rematch that most would probably have expected to go the same way as the first one. There haven't been that many rematches in the Paxo era; of the ones I can think of, only a few went exactly the same as they did before. Would tonight be any different? Whatever the case, whoever won would be the first non-Oxbridge team in a UC final for seven years!

Durham breezed through the first two rounds via a record breaking win over Strathclyde in the first round, and then Keble of Oxford in the second. Their quarter-final campaign saw them comfortably beat Glasgow in their prelim, and then their opponents tonight in their qualifier. Aiming to reach their first grand final since the Millennium series were: 
Sian Round, from the Wirral, studying English   
Cameron Yule, from Harrow in London, studying English   
Captain: Matthew Toynbee, from South Derbyshire, studying Maths   
Ben Murray, from Davenham in Cheshire, studying Chemistry

Edinburgh reached the group stage via a comfortable win over Sidney Sussex of Cambridge and a narrow win over U.C.L.. They then beat Manchester in their prelim, and recovered from that loss in their qualifier with a win over Bristol in their play-off. Hoping to reach their first final since the 80s and be the first Scots finalists of the BBC era were: 
Matt Booth, from Bristol, studying Maths   
Marco Malusa, from Italy, studying Economics and Politics   
Captain: Max Fitz-James, from Burgundy, studying Cell Biology   
Robbie Campbell Hewson, from Edinburgh, studying Maths

Off we set again then, and an immediate slip-up from Edinburgh handed Durham the first starter of the night, and the Wearsiders took two bonuses on UNESCO's Kalinga Prize. The Scots team were quickly back into positive equity though, with Mr Fitz-James making up for his earlier error; bonuses on the work of archaeologist Marija Gimbutas gave them, also, two correct answers. They then took the lead thanks to Mr Booth, and another pair of bonuses accompanied. The first picture round, on graphs of the US S&P 500 index, went to Durham, who took, yep, two correct bonuses, which gave them back the lead, 40-35.

Another penalty from Edinburgh increased that lead, and more so when Mr Toynbee took the next starter; the sequence was then broken as Durham drew a blank on the resulting bonuses, on Chinese name elements. A second starter in a row went to the Durham captain, and bonuses on chair design proved a tad more to their liking, one correct there. Mr Campbell Hewson reawoke his side on the next starter, and a bonus set on swans gave us the comedy moment of the night with a remark of "geese aren't swans!"; two correct answers came.

The music round, on classical works that quote the melody of another, went to Edinburgh, who took yet another pair, which gave them the lead, 70-65. It increased when Durham slipped up on the next starter; Mr Campbell Hewson then pushed them further ahead when he took the next correct answer, and Edinburgh pushed their advantage firmly home with a full house. Mr Murray took his side back into the game with 'Ethiopia', and the Wearsiders bought themselves right back into the game with a full set of their own. Back came Edinburgh with Mr Campbell Hewson again doing the honours, and two bonuses on Welsh orthography put the Scots side into triple figures first.

Neither side identified the former Philippines president Corozan Aquino for the second picture round; the bonuses, on world leaders whose children were later elected to the same office, went to Durham, who took just one bonus, reducing the gap to 115-100. Still either team's game going into the home straight; Mr Fitz-James blinked first, identifying 'Moses' as the name linking various given clues; bonuses on writings about slavery gave Edinburgh, once again, two correct, putting them in the driving seat for the final minutes.

Back came Durham, Mr Yule offering 'Mahler', but the side quickly passed on all three bonuses (a wise tactic with time running short). Mr Fitz-James, though, then put one of his side's collective feet in the final with 'Incipit', and another two correct bonuses accompanied. And when Mr Campbell Hewson correctly offered 'Dunfermline' on the next correctly answered starter, that was game over; a full house confirmed this. The last two starters were dropped by both teams; at the gong, Edinburgh won 180-110.

A good semi-final, well played by both sides. Unlucky Durham, but no shame in going out now, especially after such a strong series of performances, thanks very much indeed for playing this series! Very very well done Edinburgh though, and very very very best of luck in the Grand Final match!

The stats: Messrs Fitz-James and Campbell Hewson were the joint best buzzers of the night with four each, while Messrs Yule and Toynbee were best for Durham with three each, Mr Toynbee ending the series their best buzzer with 19 over five games. On the bonuses, Durham converted 9 out of 21 (with one penalty), while Edinburgh managed 20 out of 27 (with two penalties), so it was a game won on both the buzzer and the bonuses there.

Next week's match: St Edmund Hall vs Darwin, with the winner playing Edinburgh in the final on Easter Monday!

Only Connect's final will be a week later, however, as, much to my delight, they are bringing back the third place play-off this series! Review of tonight's first semi-final on Wednesday I hope.

University Challenge 2018-19: Semi-Finals Preview

OK, so we've arrived, once again, at the University Challenge semi-finals. And our four semi-finalist teams are:

• Durham (Sian Round, Cameron Yule, Matthew Toynbee and Ben Murray) Ran up the highest UC score and win of the decade thus far in their 360-55 first round win over Strathclyde, before seeing off Keble of Oxford only slightly less dominantly, 200-100. Came through the group stage via a 170-110 win over Glasgow, and then beat Edinburgh 165-110. Strong on the buzzers, with all four players contributing well, while their bonus rate was strong in the first round, not quite as strong in the next three matches, but still very decent.
• St Edmund Hall Oxford (Agastya Pisharody, Marceline Bresson, Freddie Leo and Lizzie Fry) Reached the group stage via two near identical victories, firstly 240-105 over York, then 245-105 over Clare of Cambridge. Come the group stage, they defeated Emmanuel 190-55, and then recovered from a highly shaky start to beat Bristol 150-130. Rather reliant on captain Mr Leo's buzzer form, 35 so far over the four games, though his colleagues have contributed as well, and their bonus rate has been respectable throughout.
• Edinburgh (Matt Booth, Marco Malusa, Max Fitz-James and Robbie Campbell Hewson) Comfortably saw off Sidney Sussex of Cambridge 210-75, then won a great second round contest against U.C.L. 180-160 on the last starter of the game. Started the group stage well with a 170-130 win over Manchester, then recovered from that 165-110 loss to Durham by beating Bristol 155-120 in the play-off. All four players have done their bit on the buzzer, steady on the bonuses throughout.
• Darwin College Cambridge (Stuart MacPherson, Chris Davis, Jason Golfinos and Guy Mulley) Easily defeated SOAS of London 260-90 in the first round, and then Downing of Cambridge 205-120 in the second. After a narrow loss to Bristol on a tie-break after drawing 105-each in their preliminary, they recovered by beating Emmanuel 225-130, and then Manchester 195-120. Captain Mr Golfinos has been their MVP so far, leading the buzzer runnings for the series thus far with 42, though his colleagues have assisted when necessary; their bonus rate has, apart from the loss, been pretty strong throughout too.

A balanced line-up then, with two Oxbridge teams and two non-Oxbridge. And, a balanced draw as well.

On Monday night in the first semi, Durham and Edinburgh will be playing each other again. This will be followed by what many are already calling the match of the series the following week, St Edmund Hall vs Darwin, or Leo vs Golfinos as most are saying! This draw also means that we will be guaranteed a non-Oxbridge team in the final for the first time since 2012-13! And I wonder if that was what persuaded TPTB to draw Durham vs Edinburgh against each other again immediately, rather than my predicted draw of Durham vs Darwin and St Edmund Hall vs Edinburgh.

So, what of these two contests? Well, Durham have already beaten Edinburgh once before, and that was a reasonably comfortable win on the buzzers on Durham's part. Same thing again then? Well, not for sure, no. We've had rematches before, and, while some, such as Trinity vs Manchester in 2014, have gone more or less as before second time around, not all have. Of the six grand finals I've covered on here before, four have been rematches: two saw the runners-up first time around win, the others saw the same team win by a considerably bigger margin than before. Now, Edinburgh are certainly more than capable of winning this one on the buzzer, but the smart money would probably be on Durham to triumph again.

As for St Edmund Hall vs Darwin, most are expecting it will largely come down to Mr Leo vs Mr Golfinos on the buzzer, and, again, I'd find it hard to disagree. Darwin do probably have the momentum behind them, having won their last two games comfortably on the buzzer, and been strong on the bonuses, while St Edmund Hall looked a tad ropy in their QF against Bristol, only really recovering in the later stages of the game. On that kind of form, Darwin would probably be light favourites, but, as I say, it will be a game won on the buzzer I suspect, and who knows how the starters will fall for either team.

So, point a gun at me and demand a prediction, I'll go for a Durham vs Darwin final, but I really would not be surprised if either match went the other way. These are four genuinely good and deserving semi-finalist teams, and any one of them would be worthy winners. It's been another good series to cover on here, and we can only hope that we get a strong end to it!

As for Only Connect, I have pretty much decided now that I will stop doing full reviews of it after this series; they're becoming increasingly harder for me to find the time to write with my increasingly busy schedule. Unlike UC, where I set everything to one side to cover hot off the press on Monday night, I don't have any day specially designated for reviewing OC, and thus it can sometimes take days to get a free day to do it. Plus, I have my other blog to deal with now, so I need to free up some time to do more for it, as opposed to the sporadic posts I've managed on it so far.

The draw for its semi-finals, according to ThePQG in a comment on my latest review, pits the Time Ladies vs the Poptimists and the Ancient Alumni vs the Dicers. I'd probably predict a Poptimists vs Ancient Alumni final if that is the case, but, again, it wouldn't surprise me if I'm wrong about either.

Best of luck all eight semi-finalists; here's to a strong end to this Quizzy Mondays season!

Only Connect Series 14: Quarter-Final 4: Dicers vs Birdwatchers

OK, here we go with this week's Only Connect, and the 300th show! Commemorated by a donkey pinata which was lowered down alongside Victoria throughout the show, and which, after pretending to not know what to do, she destroyed during the credits. The show itself was a rematch, seemingly avoidable, but, according to a comment last week, the result of unfortunate circumstances in the filming schedule. May I recommend they film it the same way they do UC next series to avoid this happening again?

Playing were the Dicers, George Corfield, Joey Goldman and captain Hugh Binnie, who defeated their opponents tonight in the first round and the Brews in the second, and the Birdwatchers, Chris Grandison, Keli Richards and captain Lauren Hamer, who, after losing that first match, also beat the Brews and then the Westenders to make it here tonight.

Round 1. The Dicers opened the show with Eye of Horus, and the picture round: we saw cricketer Zaheer Abbas, then Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, then the Cerne Abbas giant, and finally four pictures of ABBA. They saw the link, and collected the first point of the game. The Birdwatchers opened their account with Twisted Flax: 'Archery: 10', then 'Ten-pin bowling: 25', then 'Snooker: 4.0833...', and finally 'Darts: 55.6666...'. They saw them to be the best average scores possible in those games, and also collected a sole point to start with. The Dicers chose Lion next: 'House of Commons, 1939', then 'Isle of Lewis ferry, 2009', then 'Jonathan Edwards, 1993', and finally 'The Sun, 2012'. They didn't get it, their opponents did: they are the years when they did what they do on Sundays for the first time. For their own question, the Birdwatchers chose Water, and got the music question: we heard Billy Preston and Syreeta Wright with 'With You I'm Born Again', then Mahler's Symphony No. 2 'The Resurrection', then Evanescence with 'Bring Me to Life', and finally the Stone Roses with 'I Am the Resurrection'. They saw the link, and collected another single point. The Dicers chose Horned Viper next: 'Twelve Oaks', then 'Miss Maudie Atkinson's house', then 'Thornfield Hall', and finally 'Manderley'. They didn't quite get it, nor did their opponents: they are fictional houses that burnt down. Left with Two Reeds, the Birdwatchers saw 'Wimbledon champions: SAMPRAS HEWITT', then 'Letters in NATO phonetic alphabet: QUEBEC HOTEL', then 'Oscar winning films: AVATAR GOODFELLAS', and finally 'Countries: PANAMA LIBYA'. Neither team spotted this classic fiendish OC question: there is a third one of those hidden among the two ('samprASHEwitt', 'quebECHOtel', 'avatARGOodfellas', and 'panaMALIbya'). At the end of the first round, the Birdwatchers led 3-1.

Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Dicers started the round with Eye of Horus again: 'A JK, then 'E BCDGPTV'; they saw it to be consonants that rhyme with those vowels, so offered 'O' on its own for the three points. The Birdwatchers chose Horned Viper next: 'Uranus', then 'Cronus', and then 'Zeus'. They didn't get it, their opponents did: 'Heracles' would complete the set, the sequence being that each clue fathered the next. For their own question, the Dicers chose Lion, and got the picture set: we saw Marilyn Monroe alongside '/1000', then Carey Mulligan alongside '/100', and then Madonna alongside '1'. Neither side quite got this: they are units of measurement and celebs with those initials, so Kylie Minogue alongside 'x1000' would complete the set acceptably. The Birdwatchers chose Two Reeds next: 'Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher', then 'Marie Dressler as Min Divot', and then 'Katharine Hepburn as Ethel Thayer'. They didn't get it, nor did their opponents: they are the oldest winners of the Best Actress Oscar, so 'Jessica Tandy as Daisy Werthan' completes the set. For their final choice, the Dicers chose Water: 'Thick oozy mud', then 'A big dark forest', and then 'A swirling whirling snowstorm'. They though it might be something to do with the Circles of Hell, and suggested 'Satan frozen in ice'; not right. Their opponents knew it to be what is encountered in the book/film 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt', but their offer of 'A river' wasn't right either. 'A narrow gloomy cave' complete the set. Left with Twisted Flax, the Birdwatchers saw '72 Sarthe', then '73 Savoie', and then '74 Haute-Savoie'. They suggested '75 Paris', and were correct, the sequence being French departements. At the end of the second round, the teams were tied on 5-each.

On to the Walls. The Birdwatchers went first, and chose the Water wall. They quickly isolated 'Drive', 'The Great Beyond', 'Stand' and 'Man on the Moon', which are songs by REM, followed shortly afterwards by 'McManus', 'Cooper', 'Duminy' and 'Morgan', which are surnames of men known by the initials JP. The final clues didn't take long for them to deal with either: 'Pew', 'Hike', 'Bow' and 'Break' can all follow 'Take a', while 'Lotus', 'McLaren', 'Ginetta' and 'Caterham' are British sports car manufacturers. A full ten there.

The Dicers thus set to work on the Lion wall. They also had two sets done in very short order: 'Meir', 'Ardern', 'Sirleaf' and 'Bhutto' are surnames of female world leaders, while 'Blue', 'So(l)', 'Catherine Howard' and 'May' are the fifth things in a sequence. After taking their time to work out the final two links, they had the clues sorted: 'Bardo', 'Bodies', 'Pi' and 'Lac' are the final words of the titles of Booker Prize winner novels, while 'Electro Velvet', 'Michael Ball', 'Imaani' and 'Jemini' are UK Eurovision entrants. Another full ten, so as you were, the teams were tied 15-each going into the final round.

So, Missing Vowels would decide the final place in the semis. 'Things that are 300', such as 'CCC IN ROMAN NUMERALS' and 'THIS EPISODE OF ONLY CONNECT', went to the Birdwatchers 3-1. 'People with two or more blue plaques in London' was a clean sweep to the Dicers, 4-0. 'Countries of seven syllables' was a 1-1 tie. 'Pranksters' gave one to the Dicers, and that was time. The Dicers won 22-19.

Another fine contest, one of the best of the series so far, some good questions and quizzing from both teams. Unlucky Birdwatchers, but a fine series of performances and a good one to go out on; thanks for playing! Very well done Dicers though, and very best of luck in the semis!

Next week's match: the first semi-final! Don't know the fixture yet, will look out for it.

Back tomorrow/Saturday with my usual UC semi-final preview.

University Challenge 2018-19: Play-Off Quarter-Final 2: Manchester vs Darwin

Evening all. So, here we are at the last quarter-final of the series. After tonight, we'd know the four semi-finalists; the first three already make for a strong line-up, and whoever won tonight would only add to it. And after ten years of usage, we'd never yet seen a team reach the semis having lost their preliminary match while the team that beat them didn't (saw it once on Only Connect though); would that change tonight though?

Manchester reached the QFs for the first time in a few years via wins over East London in Round 1 and Hertford of Oxford in Round 2, but were defeated by Edinburgh in the Tuesday match; they then recovered with a win over Glasgow in the eliminator. They were the same four as those four prior occasions: 
Alexander Antao, from Chingford in London, studying Maths
Georgia Lynott, from Burnley, studying Applied Maths   
Captain: James Ross, from Coventry, studying Classics and Ancient History   
Joe Hanson, from Gravesend, studying Data Intensive Science

Darwin College Cambridge comfortably saw of SOAS of London and Downing of Cambridge in the knockout rounds, but lost their prelim to Bristol on a tie-break; they more than made up for that though with a thorough win over Emmanuel last time around. They too were unchanged from those previous games: 
Stuart MacPherson, from Bothwell in South Lanarkshire, studying Physics  
Chris Davis, from London (originally California), studying Plant Sciences  
Captain: Jason Golfinos, from New York City, studying Asian and Middle Eastern Studies 
Guy Mulley, from Loughton in Essex, studying Law

Off we set again then, and Mr Golfinos very quickly shot off the mark with the first starter of the night; his side took two of the opening bonuses on French history. The Darwin captain did a repeat performance on the game's second starter, and his side did a repeat performance on the bonuses, taking another pair. Manchester had the chance to get going on the next starter, but only dropped themselves into three figures; Darwin couldn't capitalise. Mr Golfinos once again was in first on the next starter though, and went one better this time with a full bonus set. The first picture round, on maps showing distributions of animals in the cat family, went to Darwin, despite them dropping five on a replacement starter; two further bonuses gave them a lead of 80-(-5).

Manchester finally got off the mark on the next starter thanks to Mr Hanson, and duly took a full house on parties in literature. Five of those points were then lost to a pedantic penalty though, allowing Mr Mulley to reawake his side, who took the two bonuses they needed to move into three figures. And they weren't stopping, Mr Golfinos taking already his fifth starter of the game, and a full set of bonuses put them well in command as we reached the halfway point.

The music round, on classical pieces with only the left handed notes being played, who took another full house, which cut their gap to 125-40. Back came Darwin though, with Mr Davis doing the honours this time; bonuses on writer Ali Smith gave them another pair of correct answers. Paxo was then most cruel with Mr Hanson, who nervously offered an answer, then muttered that it was wrong, at which point this host chipped in "No, you're right...", but before he could add, as he has before, "you ARE wrong!", the audience started applauding the apparent right answer! Five points gone there, but Darwin couldn't capitalise. Mr Golfinos took his latest starter next though, and a full bonus set put them within sight of victory. Mr Hanson made up for his error by taking the next starter though, and bonuses on cycle racing gave them two correct answers.

The second picture round, on portraits of the artist's sister, went to Manchester, who took another pair of bonuses, reducing the gap to 170-75. Five points were then lost to another pedantic interruption (the third of the night), but Ms Lynott made up for that by taking the next correct starter; two bonuses on astronomy were taken.

Mr Davis pretty much sealed his side's win when he took the next starter, and a full set of bonuses on Danish royalty confirmed it for good. Mr Ross deservedly took his side into three figures by taking the next starter though, and the Mancunians quickly rattled through the bonuses, of which they managed two. The Manchester captain took the last starter of the game, but the gong cut them off during the bonuses. Darwin won 195-120.

Another solid match well played by both sides, a good end to the quarter-finals. Unlucky Manchester, but a good performance to go out on, and a good series performance, thanks very much for playing! Very well played Darwin though (the first team to reach the semis after losing their prelim while the team that beat them didn't), and very very best of luck in the semis!

The stats: Mr Golfinos was, once again, the best buzzer of the night, with six starters, taking his series total to 42, while Messrs Antao, Ross and Hanson were joint best for Manchester with two each, Mr Antao ending their campaign their best buzzer with 19. On the bonuses, Manchester converted a very good 14 out of 20 (with four penalties), while Darwin managed an also impressive 22 out of 27 (with one penalty).

Next week's match: the first semi-final! A rematch between Durham and Edinburgh, followed by St Edmund Hall vs Darwin (or, as some may wish to call it, Leo vs Golfinos!) the week after.

Only Connect nearly done too, its last quarter-final contest tonight too, and its 300th episode too! Review coming up on Wednesday or Thursday.