University Challenge 2022-23: Preliminary Quarter-Final 1: Southampton vs Durham

Good evening again my friends, and welcome to the quarter-finals of this year's UC! As someone said in the comments of my preview last week, there are no obvious favourites for this year's tournament (yet), it's a pretty even field of teams. Tonight proved this, with two teams who've proven excellent so far on the buzzer, facing off; the winners would only need one more win to go through, while the runners-up would need two and couldn't afford another loss.

Southampton won both their matches so far pretty comfortably, beating Balliol of Oxford 210-115 in the first round, and Christ's of Cambridge 175-90 in the second just two weeks ago. They were unchanged from those two previous wins: 

Ethan Lyon, from Northampton, studying Film

Magda Steele, from Poland, studying Ecology

Captain: Dom Belcher, from Worcestershire, studying Machine Learning 

Elliot Miles, from the Wirral, studying Marine Biology

Durham were narrow winners over fellow quarter-finalists Bristol in the first round, winning 195-185 on the final question of the game, but had no trouble in the second as they thumped Bangor 240-35 just last week. They were also the same four as before: 

Harry Scully, from Welwyn Garden City, studying Physics and Chemistry

Chloe Margaux, from Haringey in London, studying Sociology

Captain: Alex Radcliffe, from Edinburgh, studying Maths

Bea Bennett, from Icomb in Gloucestershire, studying English

 

So, off we set for the first time this round, and Mr Scully picked up where he left off last week as he took the first starter of the game, which asked after a building material and became pretty obvious when 'Aberdeen' was mentioned; Durham set a marker down with a full bonus set on fruits in the titles of books. A penalty set Southampton off the mark the wrong way, but Mr Belcher quickly made up for it by taking the third starter of the game; the Saints took a pair of bonuses on national parks. Mr Scully reincreased Durham's lead with a second starter, with just one bonus on tea going to the Wearsiders with it. The first picture round, on the Segre chart of Isotopes (no, me neither; suspect my Dad might've got something out of it though), went to Southampton; one bonus reduced the gap to 40-30.

A second starter to Mr Lyon then put them on level terms, and a full bonus set on video games put them into the lead. They increased it with another starter, and a sole bonus on astronomy, before Durham bit back with a starter and sole bonus of their own. The music round, on electronic adaptations of classical pieces, went to Southampton; another sole bonus took their lead back up to 85-55.

Back came Durham through Mr Radcliffe; just one bonus followed again, and a penalty then lost them those five points. But an atonement from Mr Scully and a full bonus set, an old fashioned UC set of three distinct questions linked by 'Mistral', took the Wearsiders back into the lead. A second starter and full house in a row took them into three figures first and put them in pole position going into the final stretch. The second picture round, on paintings by artists whose work the Nazis considered 'degenerate', brought Southampton back into the game; no bonuses followed though, leaving them trailing 115-95.

But a second starter in a row to Mr Lyon, and two bonuses on Holy Roman Emperors, meant the Saints were level again! Neither side took the next starter, but the next starter, a now out-of-date one about the line of succession, was taken by Mr Belcher, and a pretty straight forward bonus set on capital cities was quickly dispatched. But back came Durham, Mr Radcliffe doing the honours, and two bonuses on Goddesses in the Aeneid put them five behind! Next starter might win it; Mr Belcher buzzed first... but was wrong and lost five! Mr Scully swooped, was correct, and that plus two bonuses won the game for Durham. There was time for one final starter, which Mr Scully also took, but no time for any bonuses. At the gong, Durham won a fine game 165-135.

An excellent contest between two pretty well matched teams, very well played both! Well done to Durham, and very best of luck in the qualifiers! Hard lines to Southampton, but still a good performance that stands you well for the eliminators; best of luck in them!

The stats: Mr Scully was, just, the best buzzer of the game, with six starters to Mr Lyon's five. On the bonuses, Southampton managed 13 out of 24 (with two penalties) and Durham 16 out of 24 (with one penalty), so it was indeed a pretty close contest; well played again both teams!

Next week's match: don't know yet, I would guess Jesus vs UCL, but will let you know on Twitter when we know for sure.

Only Connect reached its second semi-final, a rematch between the Scrummagers and the Crustaceans. The latter led 6-0 after the first round, and 14-0 after the second, with their opponents, to be fair, getting either unluckily close but not right or getting really hard questions. A slightly better wall increased the Crustacean’s advantage to 24-7 going into Missing Vowels, and their final margin of victory after that was 29-11. They go on to meet the Strigiformes in, what looks like, a very good final; the Scrummagers return to face the Morporkians in the third place play-off next week.

 

Mastermind was fairly comfortably won by Mark Rogers, whose 24 points saw him five ahead of second placed Catherine Sparks. George Pope and Rebecca Messina completed the line-up with 16 and 18 respectively.

 

Counterpoint’s penultimate heat was a closely fought contest, but it was Kathryn Johnson who triumphed to join the semi-final line-up. One more heat next week, and then the semis begin.

University Challenge 2022-23: Second Round Review and Look Foward to the Quarter-Finals

OK, so, at last, we've arrived at the quarter-finals of this year's contest, and its a pretty solid line-up we have for it as well. None of the teams who made are teams I'd have been that surprised about if you'd told me they'd be quarter-finalists at the start of the round and if you'd showed me the fixtures. It's a good bunch of teams all round.

Our quarter-final line-up are, in order of qualification, and alongside their overall and average scores:

• Royal Holloway London (295 over two matches, 147.5)
• Robert Gordon (390 over two matches, 195)
• Newnham College Cambridge (475 over three matches, 158.33)
• Bristol (575 over three matches, 191.67)
• Jesus College Cambridge (385 over two matches, 192.5)
• U.C.L. (350 over two matches, 175)
• Southampton (385 over two matches, 192.5)
• Durham (435 over two matches, 217.5)

So, that's the raw stats, but, as ever, there's a lot more to them than that. So, what lot more is there to them?

Well, you'd have to say that Durham look like the pretty obvious favourites, with the largest two game aggregate, and the fact they defeated the very strong Bristol team who went on to also reach this stage in their first match. So, they'd have to start the round as the most likely team to progress.

Then you have Jesus and Southampton, both of whom have the same number of points so far and, in fact, pretty similar pairs of performances so far: a strong first round performance and win over a decent looking opposition, before a less impressive but still pretty decent and comfortable second round win, with their bonus rates noticeably lower than before. If both can regain their first round form, both would be heavily fancied to progress.

And it's the same for Robert Gordon, who haven't been seriously troubled in either match so far and have won both decently and comfortably, but their bonus rate was rather low both times. If, however, they can improve it and maintain their good buzzer form, they'll definitely be one to watch.

As for the two repechage survivors, Bristol looked very good in defeat to Durham, and have looked strong in both their subsequent victories, so definitely must have an eye kept on them too. Newnham also looked strong in defeat and good in both their subsequent wins, though maybe not so much as Bristol, especially in the second round when they needed a tie-breaker to win. As Dave C. said in his review the other day, though, they are pretty good on the buzzer, which could prove handy in another close contest.

And finally, we have the two London teams. U.C.L. may have only won their two matches so far on a tie-breaker and by ten points respectively, but have looked very strong on both occasions, and have actually been a lot more consistant on both the buzzer and the bonuses than quite a few other teams in the line-up. As for Royal Holloway, they probably look like the odd ones out in this line-up, both their wins so far being low scoring contests and, in the second round respectively, rather reliant on Ms Brown's (very good it must be said) showings on the buzzer, so would probably start as outsiders.

Them aside, though, this is, as I said before, a pretty well matched line-up, and no outcome would be totally surprising, but you'd probably say Royal Holloway would be the least likely semi-finalists, while Durham and U.C.L. would probably be the two most likely.

A quick visit to the BBC website reveals that the first quarter-final this coming Monday will be Southampton vs Durham, which looks like a very good contest on paper. I would therefore guess Jesus vs U.C.L. for the week after, and the other four would then play in the remaining two matches.

As for my annual diversity (of the institutions) check, well, the big standout story is that, for the second series in a row, Oxford has no teams in the QF line-up, which has never happened before. It's happened with Cambridge at least once before in the BBC era, but not with Oxford before. Cambridge has two teams in the line-up, and London two as well.

So, in short, as ever when it comes to UC, nothing is certain, except that, hopefully, the teams will give their all and give us a good round of matches, and hopefully that will be the case again this year. It is, as I said, a very well matched line-up.

Best of luck as usual then to all eight teams competing; here's hoping for a good round all round!

Back on Monday with my usual write-up; see you then then...

University Challenge 2022-23: Round 2: Match 8: Durham vs Bangor

Good evening again friends, and welcome back to Quizzy Mondays! Which, now that I have a holiday booked for the week after UC is currently on track to finish, I'm really hoping doesn't take any weeks off between now and then! For now, though, its business as usual, as we arrive at the final match of the second round and, rather neatly, the two institutions competing tonight competed in the last second round match of the first UC series I covered on this blog ten years ago! Winners would take the last place in an already high quality quarter-final line-up.

Durham won the very first match of the series way back in August, as they narrowly triumphed 195-185 over a Bristol team good enough to return in the play-offs and reach the QFs. Hoping to join them were the unchanged foursome of: 

Harry Scully, from Welwyn Garden City, studying Physics and Chemistry

Chloe Margaux, from Haringey in London, studying Sociology

Captain: Alex Radcliffe, from Edinburgh, studying Maths

Bea Bennett, from Icomb in Gloucestershire, studying English

 

Bangor beat Nottingham by the same margin in a lower scoring match, the last of the show's brief exile on Tuesdays back in Nottingham, 135-125 the final scores there. So, like ten years ago, they were the underdogs, and we all know what happened in that match. Hoping to repeat history were the also unchanged quartet of: 

Gus Bastiani, from Dorset, studying History and Archaeology 

Ethan Silcocks, from Overton in Cumbria, studying Molecular Medicine

Captain: Laura Lloyd-Williams, from North Wales, studying Medical Sciences

Roy Pounder, from Reading, studying Medieval and Early Modern History

 

So, off we set once again then, and a race for the buzzer ensured immediately as the words 'shape of warning signs on British roads' came out of Paxo's mouth; Ms Lloyd-Williams won it, and Bangor took one bonus on fictional clubs, namely Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club. An equally quick buzz from Ms Bennett set Durham off the mark quickly too, and they started with a full set on Hilbert's problems. Mr Silcocks quickly gave Bangor back the lead though, and, again, they took a single bonus on plantain. The first picture round, on locations of model villages, went to Durham; two bonuses gave them the lead back, 45-30.

A second starter in a row from Mr Scully, who was only just getting started for the night, gave the Wearsiders a bonus set on Mary Queen of Scots (providing this week's UC and OC crossover), of which they took another two. And Durham were now building up a head of steam on the buzzer, as Ms Bennett took the next starter, Mr Scully the next, and Mr Radcliffe the one after that; but, in contrast to their initially strong bonus form, they only took one of the nine that came with these starters. The music starter was missed by both sides, with Bangor losing five on the replacement starter; Durham took the points, and got the music bonuses, on classical pieces involving two sets of timpani, but, again, they drew a blank on the bonuses. Nonetheless, they now led 110-25.

And the lead was just getting bigger as Mr Radcliffe took the next starter, but bonuses on Werner Herzog saw them drop a fourth full set in a row. Finally, after Ms Bennett took the next starter, bonuses on John Major's premiership, gave them a single correct answer (I had a full set). Mr Pounder finally gave Bangor some more points on the board, but a bonus set on chloroform didn't give them any further points. The second picture round, on paintings prominantly featuring yellow houses, went to Durham; two bonuses took their lead to 155-35.

Another starter from Mr Scully, who had quietly built up an impressive tally, pretty much ended the game as a contest, meaning it was now just a question of how high both teams could get; Durham took a single bonus from this set. Ms Bennett looked like she was guessing 'crosses' for the next starter, but was correct; just one bonus on 'Fort' place names followed again, but it didn't matter now. Chess notation proved more to their liking, a full bonus set on that taking them past 200. Ms Lloyd-Williams did the right thing and took a punt on the next starter, but was wrong, allowing Mr Scully to tap into an empty net and Durham to take two bonuses on astronomy. That man Mr Scully took the last starter of the game, but there was only time for Durham to get the first bonus wrong. At the gong, Durham won 240-35.

A one-sided contest, but still an enjoyable half-hour's quizzing. Very well done to Durham, another superb performance despite the slight dip in their bonus form in the middle third, and very best of luck to them in the QFs! Hard lines to Bangor, who were simply outplayed all round, but we know from their first match they're capable of better things; thanks to them for playing!

The stats: Mr Scully was easily the best buzzer of the night with EIGHT(!) starters, while Ms Lloyd-Williams and Messrs Silcocks and Pounder all got one each for Bangor. On the bonuses, Durham managed 18 out of 43 and Bangor 2 out of 9 (with the night's one penalty).

Next week's match: the first quarter-final! Will let you know who's playing in it as soon as I find out; hopefully we'll know in time for my preview on Thursday. If I remember to do it.

Only Connect reached its first semi-final, between the Strigiformes and the Morporkians. The former led 4-2 after the first round, but the latter levelled it up at 8-each after the second. A better wall allowed the Strigiformes to take back the lead 13-10 going into Missing Vowels, and, after a very tight round, they just about edged it to win 16-15! They go through to the final, the Morporkians to the third place play-off.

 

Mastermind was a very close contest indeed, with Stephen Finn (WWTBAM alumnus) triumphing with 18 points, 1 ahead of Rema Wilkins in second place and 2 ahead of Ronan McKenna in third (the three were even tighter, just one between them at the end of the first round); Shaun Cairns completed the line-up with 11.

 

Counterpoint was a very high scoring contest indeed; Charles Dusting won the game to take the seventh of nine semi-final places.

University Challenge 2022-23: Round 2: Match 7: Christ's vs Southampton

Good evening again friends, and welcome back! Tonight, the penultimate second round match, between two teams making their first Monday night appearance on the show, both their first round matches having come during the show's brief move to Tuesdays last Autumn. Both had very different victories in the first round, so seeing how they fared against proven opponents would be most interesting.

Christ's College Cambridge trailed Oriel of Oxford for most of their first match, before an impressive late sprint saw them edge ahead of their opponents to win 150-130. They were unchanged from that first appearance: 

Isaac Jackson, from Oxford, studying English

Holly Wright, from Swansea, studying Intellectual History

Captain: Chris Talbot, from Blackburn, studying Metallurgy

Abhimanyu Gowda, from Warwick, studying Natural Sciences

 

Southampton met another Oxford team, Balliol, in the first round, and after a close first period, ran away with it and ultimately won easily 210-115, one of the highest scores of the round. They were also the same quartet as before: 

Ethan Lyon, from Northampton, studying Film

Magda Steele, from Poland, studying Ecology

Captain: Dom Belcher, from Worcestershire, studying Machine Learning 

Elliot Miles, from the Wirral, studying Marine Biology 

 

So, off we set once again then, and Southampton pounced on an immediate error from their opponents, and rubbed it in by taking a full set of bonuses on winners of the Berlin Film Festival's Teddy award. Christ's responded well by taking the next starter to get back into three figures, but they could only follow it up with one bonus. Mr Belcher gave Southampton a second starter, but, in a reversal of fortune, bonuses on Cumbria gave them no further points. The first picture round, on islands that contain their country's highest mountain, went to Christ's; another sole bonus took their deficit to 35-25.

 

Mr Belcher immediately enlarged it again by taking the next starter though; the Saints took two bonuses, before Ms Steele gave them a second starter in a row, which was followed by a single bonus. Mr Belcher zigged with cricket balls and lost five on the next starter; if he'd waited, 'yellow' would've probably allowed him to zag with 'tennis balls, as Mr Gowda subsequently did. The Cambridge side duly took two bonuses on pairs of letters. Southampton quickly got their points back with another starter and single bonus though. The music starter was then dropped; the bonuses, on classical pieces that are their composer's only (completed) work of its genre, went to Christ's, who took just one again, which increased their lead to 95-45.

 

A quick buzz from Mr Talbot brought his side back into the game, and a bonus set on Indian cricket grounds gave them two correct answers. Southampton matched it as Mr Belcher took another starter, but they only managed just one bonus again, though Paxo was perhaps a bit generous to accept 'liberalism' when he wanted 'libertarianism'. And when Ms Wright took the next correct starter, and the Cambridge side took a full bonus set on chemical elements, they were just twenty behind and it was either team's game. Southampton's impressive captain kept his nerve to take the next starter though, but, again, the bonuses didn't fall for them. The Saints did take the second picture round though, on parents and children who both seperately won Nobel Prizes; no bonuses followed again, but they had at least increased their lead a bit more, 130-90.

 

But when Mr Belcher took yet another starter, and they finally got a bonus set to their liking, a full set on Chinese dynasties, that was game over. Another starter to the impressive Saints captain made doubly sure of it, and they capped it with two bonuses on marine biology. Neither side got the final starter of the game, and that was the gong; Southampton won 175-90.

 

A pretty decent contest, reasonably close until the very final minutes. Well done to Southampton, another decent performance despite a slow bonus rate (though, like Jesus two weeks ago, we know they're capable of better), and best of luck in the quarter-finals! Hard lines to Christ's, but they did pretty well for themselves as well, thanks very much for playing!

The stats: Mr Belcher was easily the best buzzer of the night with NINE(!) starters (the most for a single player so far this series I think), while Ms Wright and Mr Talbot were joint best for Christ's with two each. On the bonuses, Christ's managed 9 out of 15 and Southampton 14 out of 33, and both sides incurred one penalty each.

Next week's match: Durham vs Bangor in the last second round match (ten years since that last happened...)

Only Connect concluded its quarter-finals with the Cunning Planners vs the Crustaceans. The teams were tied on 4-each after the first round, before the latter opened a narrow lead of 7-6 after the second.  Two perfect walls meant it was as you were, 17-16 going into Missing Vowels, and the Crustaceans just about kept their noses in front to win 22-20.

 

Mastermind was won by James Beeby, who survived a mid-GK round wobble to edge the game with 21 points, two clear of second place Hannah Loxton. Matt Carther and Wendy Knipe completed the closely fought contest with 17 and 18 respectively.

 

Counterpoint’s semi-final line-up is now two thirds complete after today’s show; Sally Wilson became the sixth player to join it, winning an all-female line-up to do so.