University Challenge 2022-23: Elimination Quarter-Final 2: Newnham vs Jesus

Good evening again friends, and welcome back to JOW! Now, next week, it's the Mastermind final; that's at 8pm as usual and runs for an hour. So, next week, UC will be at the later than usual time of 9pm; that's too late for me, so next week's blog will be on Tuesday night instead. Now that that bit of advanced notice is out of the way, on with tonight's show, as two Cambridge teams competed to stay in the contest and play Southampton in two matches time.

Newnham College lost to Courtauld in the first round, recovered well with wins over Sheffield and Cardiff, but lost to Bristol 205-110 in their preliminary match. They were unchanged from those previous games:

Bethan Holloway-Strong, from Surrey and Australia, studying English

Hannah Bowen, from Gateshead, studying German, Russian and Polish

Captain: Roma Ellis, from Nottingham, studying Philosophy 

Chén Zhiyu, from Suzhou in China, studying the History of Science

 

Jesus College beat two Oxford teams, St Catharine's and University College, to reach the QFs unbeaten, but that run ended at the hands of U.C.L. 185-115 in the preliminaries. They were also the same quartet as before:

Josh Kaye, from North West London, studying Maths

Juliet Tindall, from Birmingham, studying Spanish and Portuguese

Captain: Hamish MacGregor, from Cambridge, studying Cancer Genetic Epidemiology

Sumit Aggarwal, from London, studying Engineering

 

So, off we set once again then, and Ms Ellis quickly got the scoring going for the night by identifying 'Adams' as the surname needed just moments after I did; the first bonuses, on Copenhagen, gave Newnham two correct answers. Mr Aggarwal quickly set Jesus off as well, but they managed just one bonus from their first set. Newnham, in contrast, took a second starter and followed it up with a full bonus set on Japan. The first picture round, on flags of minor members of the Nordic Council, also went to Newnham; another full bonus took their lead to 70-15.

Neither team identified the FA Vase for the next starter (I did), but another starter to Newnham's impressive captain furthered Newnham's lead, though just one bonus followed this time. Mr Aggarwal gave Jesus a second starter of the game, and they followed it up with a full bonus set on philosophy. But another starter to Ms Ellis and a full bonus set, a classic UC one on pairs of words differing only in an initial A becoming an E, furthered their advantage. The music round, on platinum award winning musicals, also went to Newnham; another full bonus set increased their lead to 135-40.

And it kept getting bigger, as Ms Bowen took the next starter, which was followed by two bonuses, one of which looked like a flat out guess (just goes to show it's always worth saying something). Finally, Jesus got some more points on the board via Ms Tindall, which they followed by one bonus on popes. But another quick buzz from the impressive Newnham captain quickly put her side back in the ascendancy; just one bonus followed, but their lead was surely impregnable now. A penalty to Jesus seemed to confirm this; Mr Aggarwal did quickly recoup the points though, and one bonus followed. The second picture round, on stills from concert films, went to Newnham; one bonus took the scores to 185-65.

All over bar the shouting, but could Jesus at least reach the respectability of three figures? Mr MacGregor put them closer by taking the next starter, which was followed by a single bonus on chemical reactions. But Newnham were going for 200, and another starter from Ms Ellis and a single bonus saw them achieve that goal. Another starter and single bonus only served to push them further past that score. Jesus did go out on a flourish as Mr Aggarwal took the final two starters of the game, with three bonuses taking them into three figures. At the gong, Newnham won 215-115.

A fun game, despite its one sidedness; it's a testament to the team this series that the numerous one-sided games have still been enjoyable. Well done to Newnham, their best performance yet, and, if they can maintain that form, they'll be in the semis no problem; best of luck to them next time! Hard lines to Jesus, who were simply outplayed, but they went out on a respectable effort after a good showing all series; thanks for playing!

The stats: Ms Ellis was easily the best buzzer of the night with EIGHT(!) starters, while Mr Aggarwal was best for Jesus with an also good five, meaning he ends the series their best buzzer with 15 starters over four games. On the bonuses, Newnham managed a very good 21 out of 33 and Jesus 10 out of 21 (with the night's one penalty).

Next week's match: Durham vs U.C.L.. Remember, 9pm next week; blog of it will be on Tuesday (the 25th)

Mastermind’s final semi-final was won by Ben Spicer, who led by one point after the SS round, and two after GK to win with 23 points, with Ann Mayner second, Joe Andrew third with 20 and Alex Shilton competing the line-up with 16.