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.
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