Christmas University Challenge 2022: Matches 1-5 (Monday 19th - Friday 23rd)

Greetings friends! Hope you all had a good Christmas yesterday! I suppose mine was sufficient. Anyway, I meant to do this yesterday, but, mea culpa, I forgot, so, let's do this now. Hopefully, doing this while trying to watch Death in Paradise at the same time won't be too distracting...

Monday 19th: SOAS vs Balliol Oxford

SOAS: Alys Tomlinson, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Emma Dabiri, Sherelle Jacobs

Balliol: Elizabeth Kiss, Andrew Copson, Martin Edwards, Martin O'Neill

The series kicked off with a match that was won on the bonuses; the two teams were pretty well matched on the buzzer, but SOAS only managed 3 of their 18 bonuses, compared to the 17 Balliol managed from their eight sets. The Oxford side thus won 155-75, which was enough to ensure they'd qualified for the semis at the end of the week.

Tuesday 20th: University Oxford vs Glasgow

University: Sophie Solomon, Owen Jones, Paul Gambaccini, Ivo Graham

Glasgow: Helen Smith, Alana Vincent, Chris Brookmyre, Tamara Galloway

University started out stronger, taking the first three correct starters, but then Glasgow dominated the rest of the contest and pulled well away. University did get a couple more starters late on, but the game was done by then. Glasgow won 110-75, a score which sadly won't bring them back later this week.

Wednesday 21st: Durham vs York

Durham: Gillian Foulger, Simon Parson, Chris Terrill, Emma Chapman

York: David Conn, Vanessa Kind, Tom Scott, Sophie Woodward

York dominated this game, Mr Scott and Ms Kind both answering five starters each, and a solid haul of 19 bonuses went with them. Durham weren't bad, just in thr wrong place at the wrong time. York won 200-45, a score which will easily see them back later this week.

Thursday 22nd: Exeter Oxford vs Queen Mary

Exeter: Alexandra Watson, Sanchia Berg, Reeta Chakrabarti, Andy Anson

Queen Mary: Nighat Arif, Lynsey Hansen, Lucy Siegle, George Parker

A comfortable start from Exeter saw them race into an early lead, before their opponents got some points on the board, but not enough to seriously trouble them at any point. Again, a decent team performance from Exeter, with all four players contributing well; they won 150-70, a score which, as confirmed by tonight's game, will bring them back.

Friday 23rd: Hull vs West of England

Hull: Katharine Norbury, James Graham, Sian Reese-Williams, Graeme Hall

West of England: Ita O'Brien, Rebecca Salter, Victoria Gill, Seyi Rhodes

West of England got the first starter of the game, but Hull then pulled away and looked comfortable for the rest of the game as the starters just didn't fall for their opponents. Hull won the game 135-35, and, unless tomorrow's winners beat that score, they'll be back later this week too.

So, York and Balliol were confirmed as being through at the end of the week; Exeter are now confirmed after tonight's game, and, if tomorrow's winners score 130 or less, Hull will be back too. Whatever happens, we await the remaining matches as eagerly as the ones so far.

Back on Sunday, if I remember, with my review of this week's games. Until then, have a safe and Happy New Year, and sayonara...

Quizzy Mondays update 19/12/22

Greetings friends! So, we're into the final two weeks of the year, which means UC is pausing for its usual Christmas series. Only Connect and Mastermind will be continuing this week though, so, here's a quick review of tonight's events.

 

Only Connect began its play-off round with one of those things it loves doing that I hate: an avoidable rematch, between the Strigiformes and the Cryptics. The former led 5-2 after the first round, and 7-3 after the second that saw a sequence about Shrek villains that I’ve been waiting to see for ages! A better wall saw that lead increase to 17-7 going into Missing Vowels, where they survived a valiant fightback by their opponents to win 18-15.

 

Mastermind was won very narrowly by Jonathan Evans (alumnus of UC whose St John’s Cambridge team were beaten in the SFs by Gail Trimble’s Corpus Christi team), whose 22 points just saw him edge out Bhagwan Manku (alumnus of OC with the Jukeboxers last series) with 21. Stewart Holden and Katherine Pathak also competed, finishing with 17 and 19 respectively.

So, that's these two done for next year; both resume their regular series alongside UC on January the 2nd. OC will be having its first Xmas special on Friday, with three more Monday (26th) to Wednesday (28th) (except in Northern Ireland, where the Wednesday show goes out on the Friday).

 

Xmas UC continues all this week and next; review of the first week's play, hopefully, coming up on Xmas Day itself, if I remember to do it.

 

So, until then, have a Happy Christmas, and sayonara...

University Challenge 2022-23: Repechage Play-Off 2: Bristol vs Oriel

Good evening friends, and welcome to the final regular UC of 2022! The second and final play-off tonight, the one that looks like an easy win on paper; but, as ever, nothing is decided on paper. The winning team would take the final place in the second round, which kicks off when the show returns from its Christmas break on January the 2nd! So, let's do this...

Bristol racked up the highest losing score of the first round, 185 against the 195 of Durham, who overtook them literally right at the end. Hoping to rectify that were the unchanged foursome of: 

Sam Kehler, from Wolverhampton, studying Medicine

Jacob McLaughlin, from Gloucester, studying Economics and Maths

Captain: Tess Richardson, from Reading, studying Chemistry

Alejandro Ortega, from Chalfont St Peter, studying Physics and Philosophy

 

Oriel College Oxford led Christ's College Cambridge for much of their first match before their opponents fought back in the final minutes and overtook them to win 150-135. It would appear that they were playing their reserve in that first match, as Paxo referred to Mr Thomson's replacement here as having missed it due to illness. The new look team were: 

Thomas Ford, from Norway (originally the USA), studying for an MBA

Jerric Chong, from Malaysia, studying Physics and Philosophy

Tanmayee Deshprabhu, from South Oxfordshire, studying Engineering  

Katy Marchant, from Leeds, studying Ancient and Modern History

 

So, off we set for the final time this year, and Mr McLaughin came in a bit too quickly on the first starter, losing five; Mr Chong did the honours, and the Oxonians took two bonuses on fallacies. A second penalty sent Bristol back to -10, but Mr Ortega soon got them going properly as he took the next starter, before it was third time lucky for Mr McLaughlin as he finally opened his account after that; two bonuses were taken both times. Neither side took the first picture starter; the bonuses, on locations described as the 'navel of the World', went to Oriel, who took a single bonus to retake the lead, 35-30.

The lead increased when Bristol lost another five, but an unfortunate incident where Mr Ford buzzed but Mr Chong answered (correctly) denied Oriel the points. (A Mr B. Walsh could be heard saying "Wrong person answered!" in everyone's minds!) Bristol retook the lead with a starter and two bonuses, and a second starter in a row and a full set of bonuses meant they suddenly had double their opponents' score. Oriel responded with a perfect 25 of their own to close the gap back to 10 points, but Mr Kehler immediately bit back by taking the next; a single bonus on session musicians was taken, with another unluckily going begging after Ms Richardson misheard her teammate's confer. The music round, on acts who collaborated with director Don Letts, went to Oriel; two bonuses meant they had cut the gap down to 85-80.

And Mr Chong then gave them the lead with the next starter, and Mr Ford took the one after that, which meant they hit three figures first; just the one bonus was taken both times however. Back came Bristol through Mr McLaughlin, who took two starters in a row; two bonuses on BAFTA winning documentaries followed the first of these, and a full set on Greek letters from the second gave them back the lead. But back came Oriel with the second picture round, on pairs of tennis players who contested 'Battle of the Sexes' matches; no bonuses were taken though, as they only recognised one player from each pair, which meant they still narrowly trailed, 125-120.

Mr McLaughlin duly swept home the next starter, with just one bonus following; Mr Ford bit back with the next, and another sole bonus meant they were just five behind again! Mr McLaughlin took what looked like an educated guess on a Chinese dynasty for the next starter, but was correct, and a timely full bonus set on Caribbean flags put the Avonsiders within sight of victory. Another starter to the impressive Mr McLaughlin pretty much wrapped up the game, and a pair of bonuses ensured there'd be no repeat of last time. Mr Ford did take the final starter for Oriel, and was part way through single handedly taking a bonus set on Pennsylvania when they were cut off by the gong; Bristol won 185-150.

A fine contest, close all the way through until Bristol just about run away far enough at the end. Well done them, and best of luck in the second round! Hard lines to Oriel, but they gave a fine account of themselves both times and can go away with their heads held high; well played!

The stats: Mr McLaughlin was the best buzzer of the night with seven, while Mr Ford was best for Oriel with five. On the bonuses, Bristol managed 20 out of 30 (with three penalties) and Oriel 12 out of 26.

And that's it for regular UC this year; the Christmas specials start next Monday, running for the next two weeks afterwards, and we resume the regular series with the first second round match on January the 2nd.

Only Connect concluded its qualifier round with the returns of the Croot Family and the Crustaceans. The latter led 5-2 after the first round, and 11-6 after the second (I claim three points on the Call Me Maybe question!). Even performances on the Walls left their lead at 17-11 going into Missing Vowels, and they maintained it there to win 24-14. It will carry on business as usual next Monday, then break for its annual four Christmas specials, the first on the 23rd, the other three on Boxing Day, the 27th and the 28th, followed by repeats of old ones for the rest of the week (including the weekend!) before also resuming the regular series on the 2nd.

 

Mastermind was won very comfortably by Blake Robinson, whose 22 points saw him comfortably ahead of the rest of the field, with fellow contenders Paddy Pamment, Katie Lane and Suzette Aagaard pretty close together with 12, 15 and 16 respectively. It too will be continuing as usual next week, before taking a week off and coming back on the 2nd.