Quizzy Mondays 2024-25 Week 15: University Challenge Repechage Play-Off 1, Only Connect Qualification Match 3, Mastermind Heat 13

Good evening again my friends, and welcome back to another Quizzy Monday! Coming up tonight, another hotly anticipated OC match-up, Mastermind enters the third fifth of its first round, and Brain of Britain concludes its heats. Firstly, though, UC, and apologies for those who were waiting for a first round review; I'm not doing one this year, as I'd probably just be repeating what I've said many times before now. If you want one, I recommend the latest Weaver's Week. On the plus side, I've decided to carry on with full line-up from now on, for old time's sake. Anyway, on with the show, and the first repechage play-off.

U.C.L. rejoin us as the highest scoring first round runners-up, having narrowly lost a very good match against Open 190-175 on the final starter of the game. They were unchanged from that contest:

Calum Jack, from Sutton in Surrey, studying Science Communication

Josh Mandel, from North London, studying US History and Politics

Captain: Olivia Holtermann Entwistle, from London, studying Human Geography

Sanjay Prabhakar, from London, studying Science Education

St Andrews were last with us more recently, losing 200-145 to Cardiff, a match that, as the chairman rightly pointed out, was closer than that score suggests. They were also the same four as before:

Diane Buffet-Mogel, from Princeton, New Jersey, studying Classics and Philosophy

George Capell, from Broughton Hackett in Worcestershire, studying Economics

Captain: Freddie Skerrett, from Chislehurst in Kent, studying History

Tom Rosas, from Richmond-upon-Thames (originally Recife in Brazil), studying Physics

The sides were well matched at first, sharing the first starters and faring pretty similarly on the bonuses too. After the first picture round, St Andrews led 45-40. Kudos to AR, by the way, who was clearly unwell, but carried on well regardless; much like when William G Stewart hosted nearly two weeks' worth of Fifteen-to-One with a bad throat. U.C.L. pulled away a bit, but St Andrews kept themselves in the game with a starter and full house. After the music round, U.C.L. led 110-60.

U.C.L. hit their form in the third phase, however, getting a run of starters and a solid haul of bonuses and, all of a sudden, they'd pulled into a three figure lead. After the second picture round, they led 185-75. Another starter and pair of bonuses took the Londoners past 200 and the game was now well and truly over. St Andrews did manage a late rally to deservedly reach three figures, but had been well beaten this time. At the gong, U.C.L. won 215-105.

A good contest that, despite ultimately finishing in a walkover. Well done U.C.L., an impressive performance that stands them in good stead for the second round; best of luck in it! Hard lines to St Andrews, but they definitely didn't disgrace themselves, a good effort; thanks for playing!

The stats: Mr Mandel was, again, the best buzzer of the night with EIGHT(!) starters, while Ms Buffet-Mogel and Mr Skerrett were joint best for St Andrews with two each. On the bonuses, U.C.L. managed an impressive 21 out of 31 and St Andrews an also very good 13 out of 18 (with four penalties).

Next week's match: Durham vs SOAS in the second play-off

Only Connect continued its qualification matches with a hotly anticipated match-up between Too Many Cookes, who defeated the very good Pipe-Dreamers in their first match, and the Bloomsbury Group, who, of course, won that utterly bonkers contest against the Tea-Totallers.

 

My Dad and I only claim one point in the first round, on the ‘parents of Maggies’ question; the Bloomers led 3-2 at the end of that round. The second round gave us the first music sequence of the series, which the Cookes scored two on; later in the round, VCM was probably just about right to accept a borderline answer of ‘3: Britain’ for a sequence of islands with ascending numbers of nations on them. I got the model answer of ‘3: Borneo’ on that one for two points. After that, the teams were tied on 7-all.

 

The Cookes went first on the Walls, and very quickly pulled out a perfect round for a full ten. The Bloomers took a bit longer, but did so as well, so as you were, 17-17 going into Missing Vowels. It was a close round, with VCM atoning for her leniency earlier by letting the Bloomers off with a slight pause during answering, and, indeed, the teams again still couldn’t be separated; a second 21-each tie-breaker in a row! Ms Sheriff won the tie-breaker to send her team through; well done them, and best of luck to the Cookes in their next match!

 

Next week’s match: Introverts vs Crunchers

 

Mastermind was opened by Sam Petherby, answering on the Two Ronnies TV series; sadly, the questions, many of which were about specific details of specific sketches, didn’t fall for her, and she ended the round with only 3 points. Ian Grieve was next into the chair, answering on Richard Feynman; he, in contrast, got all his questions right, finishing with a very strong 11 points.

 

Dimitri Sameresinghe was next up, answering on the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team; he went nearly down the middle of the two previous scores, with a respectable round of 8. Finally, Richard Kimber, part of the Oxford Brookes team on UC a few series back, answered on the rather broad subject of badgers; despite there, sadly, being no mention of the mashed potato loving badger of the classic 90s kids show, he produced another top round, and went one better than Ian with 12, going into the lead.

 

Sam thus returned to the chair first already pretty much out of the running; she gave it a go, but, again, just couldn’t get a run of questions together. Her final total was 9. Dimitri was next, and his GK round was a slow burner, starting a bit slowly, then he got a good run going towards the end, and finished with a very decent total of 20. As we’ve seen before, that’s not insurmountable, though you suspected at least one of Ian and Richard would probably beat it.

 

Indeed, Ian did so in very short order, and went on to produce one of the best performances of the series so far; a superb 17 gave him a fantastic final total of 28, and definitely left Richard with his work cut out to beat him. He gave it a good go, but a few early wrong answers left him a bit too off the pace, and two subsequent passes pretty much ended his challenge. He still scored a decent 10 points, giving him a good final score of 22, but that left Ian the clear winner! Well done him, and thanks to the other for taking part.

 

Brain of Britain’s final heat was won by Tim Hall, captain of the Detectives from Series 13 of OC, who led throughout and ended up comfortable enough winner with 15 points, five ahead of second placed Richard Edwards (unsure if same Richard Edwards as the son of David, formerly of UC, OC and WWTBAM) with 10. Adam Vernone and Catherine McManus also competed, finishing with 6 and 5 respectively.

 

So, we now have our 12 definite semi-finalists, and we already knew that Caroline Latham, Helen Lippell and Andrew Fisher would be three of the four highest scoring non-winners. We end with a three-way tie for the fourth and final place between Andrew Fanko, Diane Hallagan and Alan Eeles; Russell D subsequently revealed at the end of the show that, as I theorised, the three would take part in an off-screen play-off to decide who went through. If you don’t want to know who won that play-off, my advice is don’t look at next week’s show’s page on the BBC website!

 

And that's it for another week! Thanks, as ever, for reading this new blog series, which, I must say, I am actually enjoying writing a bit more than my old UC focussed blogs, and which will continue again next week, same time same place; so, see you then.

Quizzy Mondays 2024-25 Week 14: University Challenge R1M14, Only Connect Qualification Match 2, Mastermind Heat 12

Good evening again my friends, and welcome back to Quizzy Mondays once again! Coming up, the second OC qualification match, the Mastermind heats reach the two fifths mark and the penultimate Brain of Britain heat. And, unlike the last two weeks, I have no major reason to mention Paul Sinha's Perfect Pub Quiz in my intro; just to say it's a good series that you should definitely check out if you have access to BBC Sounds. Anyway, on with the night's main quiz action, beginning with the final first round match of this year's UC, with both teams knowing 130 or more would bring them back win or lose...

 

The School of Oriental and African Studies, SOAS from here on in, appeared five teams in the BBC era, usually putting up a good show in each of then, most successfully reaching the semis in 2013-14; its last team, in 2018-19, were unlucky to draw and lose to the Darwin Cambridge team of the imperious Jason Golfinos in the first round. Playing for them this series were:

Janet Delves, from London (originally Oxenhope in Yorkshire), studying the History of Art and Archaeology

Ella Dorn, from Hertfordshire, studying Chinese and Linguistics

Captain: Tom Hasler, from Taunton, studying Development Economics

Cameron Lambert, from Treflach in Shropshire, studying Global Development

St Edmund Hall Oxford also made its last appearance in that 2018-19, faring somewhat better, making it all the way to the final, beating Mr Golfinos' team in the process, before narrowly losing said final to Edinburgh. It's two other Paxo era showings were second and first round exits respectively. The final team we met this series comprised of:

Jeffrey Liu, from Cambridge, Massachusetts, studying Politics

Robert Elkington, from Newton Abbot, studying Russian and Linguistics

Captain: Sophia Bursey, from Stroud, studying English

Daisy Pendergast, from Jersey, studying Biochemistry

The teams were very evenly matched at first, sharing the first starters of the game between them and getting the same number of bonuses. The first picture round went to SOAS, with AR harsh but fair to disallow Mr Hasler's answer of 'St Kittis and Nevis'; nonetheless, after the first picture round, the teams were tied on 35-each. To be fair, he was similarly harsh but fair with St Edmund Hall on their subsequent bonus set. The Oxonians pulled ahead with that starter and the next, but SOAS recovered well with the next two and took the lead. They also took the music round, after which they now led 90-75.

St Edmund Hall retook the lead by taking the next two starters, only for SOAS to take the next to pull the teams level again, leaving both teams within touching distance of the magic score. St Edmund Hall reached it first and, after the second picture round, had run into a 145-120 lead. SOAS reached it too with the next starter, so both teams were coming back, but who would go where? St Edmund Hall pulled away again with the next starter, but SOAS closed the gap back to five with the next! The Oxonians took the next though; no bonuses followed, but, when they took the next as well, that was game over. At the gong, St Edmund Hall won 195-155.

An excellent contest to end the round, two decent and watchable teams and I'm pleased both of them are coming back. Well done St Edmund Hall and best of luck in the second round, and best of luck to SOAS in the play-offs!

The stats: Mr Liu was the best buzzer of the night with five starters, while Ms Dorn and Mr Hasler were joint best for SOAS with four each. On the bonuses, SOAS managed 13 out of 27 and St Edmund Hall 17 out of 33.

Next week's match: the first play-off, between two of U.C.L., Durham, SOAS and St Andrews. I would guess U.C.L. vs St Andrews next week, followed by Durham vs SOAS the week after, but we shall see.

Only Connect continued with its second qualification match and the returns of the Four Opinions, who beat the Bean Farmers in their first match, and the Cat Cows, who came from behind in Missing Vowels to defeat the Harmonics in theirs.

 

My Dad claims three points on the Stonewall question in the first round, and we jointly claim two points on the picture question; the Opinions led 3-2 at the end of it. I claim FIVE POINTS on the Top Gear Reasonably Priced Cars question in the second round, and the same two as the Opinions on the Hawaii question; they led 8-7 at the end of that round.

 

The Cows went first on the Walls, and took almost all of the time, but did get all four groups, only three connections, so seven points. A near identical performance and the same score from the Opinions meant it was as you were, 15-14 going into Missing Vowels. The Cows literally just edged that by one point; the final score, a 21-each tie-breaker! And it was Mr Dover who took the tie-breaker to send the Opinions through to the QFs! Well done then, and best of luck to the Cows in the play-offs.

 

Next week’s match: Too Many Cookes vs the Bloomsbury Group

 

Mastermind’s next heat was opened by Olivia Woolley, who I namechecked on this blog a few months ago as the captain of the U.C.L. team who were unlucky to draw and lose to Alex Guttenplan’s Emmanuel team in the second round of that series of UC; her round on New Order was a very good one, with only one mistake all round, 11 a good final score. Alex Thomas, captain of the Corkscrews from S16 of OC, was next up, answering on the West Indies men’s cricket team from 1974 to present; he didn’t fare as well, but 7 was still not a bad total in the context of the rest of this series.

 

Alan Marlow was next up, answering on Ian Fleming’s original James Bond novels; he was unlucky early on to have a slight mispronunciation of ‘the Audubon Society’ disallowed, but recovered well, and ended up going straight down the middle of Olivia and Alex’s scores, 9 his total. Joyce Fullbrook completed the round, answering on Amy Johnson the aviator; she too split the difference between two other contenders’ scores, 8 her total.

 

Alex thus returned for GK first needing a very good round to keep himself realistically in the game; he gave it a good go, but his score of 9, giving him a respectable total of 16, was probably not going to be enough, especially with two passes as well. Joyce returned next, and started well, but hit an unlucky run of questions in the middle of her round which derailed her somewhat; she recovered a bit late on, but ended up falling just short of Alex’s score, 15 her total.

 

Alan came next, and passed both previous totals with ease; a solid round of 12 gave him an excellent total of 21, leaving Olivia needed 11 to win. She started a bit hit and miss, with a pass meaning she really did need to better Alan’s total, but then hit a good run of questions and ended up with the best score of the round; 13 gave her a total of 24 and the win! Well done her, and thanks to the rest for taking part.

 

Brain of Britain’s penultimate heat was won by Farrar Hornby, who eked into a three-point lead in the third round and maintained it all the way to the end; 13 his final winning score, with Suzanne Bosman second on 10. Joan Dell and Ryan Lewendon completed the line-up with 4 and 5 respectively.

 

So, with just one heat left, Caroline Latham with 16 and Helen Lippell and Andrew Fisher with 13 are definitely through to the SFs as the three highest scoring non-winners, while Alan Eeles, Diane Hallagan and Andrew Fisher remain joint fourth on 12; if none of next week’s non-winners beat that score, then I’m guessing there’ll either be an off-screen play-off like on original Fifteen-to-One or they too have some system for deciding who goes through that we don’t know of. Hopefully, all will become clear soon enough.

 

And that's it for this week! Next week, we start seeing teams again on UC, and I'm in two minds whether to carry on with the full team line-ups that have been a staple of this blog since its inception or to just list the team members normally; probably won't decide until I get down to writing next week's blog. So, see you then...

Quizzy Mondays 2024-25 Week 13: University Challenge R1M13, Only Connect Qualification Match 1, Mastermind Heat 11

Good evening again my friends, and welcome back to another Quizzy Monday! Coming up, the qualifier round begins on Only Connect, and the eleventh and tenth heats of Mastermind and Brain of Britain respectively. But first, Paul Sinha's Perfect Pub Quiz is getting a mention for the second week in a row; not for any tenuous connection to tonight's UC, but for the most welcome mention of Robot Wars champion Panic Attack! Sadly, no such mention on any of the quizzes tonight, but off we go with them anyway!

 

Beginning, as ever, with UC. The London School of Economics firstly, whose best performance of the Paxo era was in only its second series, where they reached the first of two all-London finals, losing, like U.C.L. last series, to Imperial. Its best performance this century was in the Gail Trimble series of 08-09, where they reached the QFs, losing to eventual (default) champs Manchester; its last appearance was a first round exit two series ago. Playing for them this year were:

Albert Nyang Ying Zhi, from Singapore, studying Maths and Economics

Grant Dalton, from Richmond in Yorkshire, studying Economic Policy for International Development

Captain: Sebastian Bramley, from Esher in Surrey, studying History

Christina Jiang, from Liverpool, studying Philosophy and Economics

Leicester University won the very first series of UC way back in 1963; its best showing of the BBC era thus far has been a QF appearance in 1998-99, the first UC series I ever saw! Its last appearance was also a first round exit, back in the 2020-21 series. They were represented this year by:

Noah Lister, from Southend-on-Sea, studying Economics

Greg Beeden, from Bedford, studying Physics

Captain: George Gowland, from Derby, studying for a PGCE

Edward Owen-Shah, from Leicester, studying History

Mr Dalton gave L.S.E. the best possible start, taking the first two starters, both of which led to a full set of bonuses. A penalty allowed Leicester into the game though, and they took two starters in a row, including the first picture starter; after the first picture round, they'd cut the gap to 45-35. A third starter in a row and a single bonus then gave the Foxes the lead, but L.S.E. quickly took it back, and a run of three further starters saw them pull away into three figures. Leicester did take the music round, but drew a blank on the bonuses, leaving them trailing 110-65.

The two sides swapped starters in the third phase, but Leicester couldn't take any bonuses from either of their resulting sets. L.S.E., on the other hand, picked up points from theirs steadily. They also took the second picture round, after which they led 170-80. It looked game over; just a question of how high a score both teams could get. L.S.E. continued taking starters and accompanying bonuses, very quietly giving us a very solid performance. Leicester just about made it to three figures by taking the final starter of the game, which they definitely deserved. At the gong, L.S.E. won 235-100.

A somewhat one-sided contest, but another enjoyable one; two more very pleasant teams. Well done L.S.E.; as I said, a quietly impressive performance and, with a kind second round draw, they could definitely have a run in this series. Best of luck to them there! Hard lines to Leicester, a decent enough team on the buzzer, but who really struggled with the bonuses; a respectable effort though, thanks for playing!

The stats: Mr Nyang was the best buzzer of the night with five starters, while Mr Lister was best for Leicester with four. On the bonuses, L.S.E. managed an impressive 24 out of 36 (with one penalty) and Leicester just 6 out of 21 (with two penalties).

Next week's match: SOAS vs St Edmund Hall Oxford in the first first round match

Only Connect began its qualifier matches with the returns of the Al Frescans, who comfortably beat the Midlanders in their first match, and the Sprouters, who did similarly well against the Hopsters in theirs.

 

I claim a rare two points on the Rio music question in the first round, and one on the Body picture question; the Sprouters led 7-2 at the end of that. I also claim the same three points as them on the 2010 Labour leadership question in the second round; at the end of that, they’d increased their lead to 13-4.

 

The Frescans thus needed a good performance on the Walls, and they got one; a well worked out full ten. The Sprouters did likewise though, so, as you were, they led 23-14 going into Missing Vowels. The Frescans actually did a bit better in that, but it wasn’t enough to catch up; the Sprouters won 27-19 to take the first place in the QFs! Well done them, and best of luck next time Frescans!

 

Mastermind was opened by Kaushik Bhattacharya, answering on Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories; 7 was his score, about average for the series so far. Rachel Clapp followed him into the chair, answering on Rachmaninoff, and fared better, scoring 9.

 

Next up, Laura Rutherford was answering on the TV series The West Wing, and she went better than both, 11 her very good score. Finally, however, John Harden went and topped it with a perfect round on Red Rum; 13 his impressive total. Even more impressively, the SS scores increasing by two with each contender!

 

Kaushik was probably out of it already at half time, and so it sadly proved as he struggled with his GK round, never gaining much momentum, and so he sadly failed to even beat John’s score, 12 his final total. Rachel was next, but also had a bit of a struggle, with a run of questions in the middle of the round proven costly; she ultimately scored 7 for a respectable final score of 16, but that didn’t look like it’d be a winning score.

 

Laura came next and fared considerably better, doubling her score with another 11; 22 was certainly going to give John something challenging to aim for. He scored steadily, but also picked up some passes, meaning he’d need to score 10 to win outright; it was tight, but he just about made it, another 11 giving him a winning score of 24! Well done him, and thanks to the others, Laura especially who’d have won most of the other heats this series, for an enjoyable contest!

 

Brain of Britain was won easily by Jack Bennett, alumnus of UC, OC and many others; three-way tied with two others at half-time, he ran away with the game in the second half, a lot of his points coming from pickups from others. He finished with 17 points, nine ahead of second placed Jamie Mair with 8. Diane Balne and Charmian Griffiths completed the line-up with 2 and 4 respectively.

 

And that's it for another week. Some very impressive performance this week, by both teams and individuals; well done all, keep it up! Hopefully more of the same next week; see you then, same time same place.