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
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