University Challenge 2023-24: Semi-Final 1: Imperial vs Trinity

Good evening again my friends, and welcome back to JOW for the ante-penultimate Quizzy Monday of the season! We're nearly there now; Mastermind concludes next week, UC in two weeks' time. Yep, this first series of the AR era really has flown by very nicely, and we're now at the semi-finals! It really has been a fine series, an excellent one for me to conclude my full UC coverage on. So, here we go with my ante-penultimate full UC write-up...

Imperial got here unbeaten, looking very strong in their first two wins over Balliol and Lincoln of Oxford, then showing a slight vulnerability in the QFs against Sheffield and Manchester, but coming through to win both in the end. They were the same unchanged four as those previous games:

Justin Lee, from Hong Kong and Canada, studying Chemistry

Adam Jones, from Hong Kong, studying Computer Science

Captain: Suraiya Haddad, from Manchester, studying Medicine

Sourajit Debnath, from Calcutta, studying Applied Computational Science and Engineering

Trinity College Cambridge lost the first match of the series to Manchester, recovered by beating Southampton, Warwick and Open, then lost again to U.C.L. in their second QF, but bounced back by beating Birkbeck in their third last week. They were also the same four as before:

Sarah Henderson, from North London, studying Japanese

Agnijo Banerjee, from Dundee, studying Maths

Captain: Ryan Joonsuk Kang, form Seoul, studying Organic Chemistry

Jeremi Jaksina, from Bialystok, Poland, studying Genetics

So, off we set once again then, and it was Mr Banerjee who quickly took the first starter of the night; the bonus set on monarchs nicknamed 'the Conqueror' gave them one correct answer, while another brought the exchange '"Sancho?" "No, it's James"', to which the question could easily be "Who is the best British winger Manchester United have signed in the last five years?"! Imperial got off to a false start with a penalty, but Mr Lee atoned by taking the next two starters; just one bonus came from the resulting six, but they did now have the lead. They also took the first picture round, on flags of indiginous movements of the Pacific; a full house took their lead to 50-15. A fourth starter in a row to Mr Lee followed, and a fifth, as did three bonuses from six, before the run was finally broken by Mr Jones; two bonuses from that took the Londoners past 100. And further as Mr Lee reawoke to take the next starter, and two bonuses meant their lead was now three figures too, and prompted AR to give Trinity a 'plenty of time'; Mr Banerjee duly brought them back into the game, but no bonuses on famous Mariannes (Fairthorne sadly not one of them) were taken. The Cambridge side also took the music round, on composers whose work is protected by UNESCO's Memory of the World register; one correct bonuses cut the gap to 125-40.

Up it went again though as Mr Debnath took the next starter; just one bonus followed though, and a penalty allowed Trinity to close it down again. No bonuses were taken though. Imperial, in contrast, took a starter and a full bonus set on syncretic religions. Trinity did take the second picture round, on paintings of factories; the bonuses weren't to their liking again though, meaning they trailed 160-60. Another starter to Mr Lee, two bonuses, and Imperial were virtually home free. Mr Banerjee just about kept Trinity in the game with another starter, but, once again, the bonuses just didn't fall for them, and that was game over. Another starter to Mr Lee, and a full set of bonuses took Imperial past 200. Trinity did take two further starters to deservedly reach three figures, but Imperial were home and dry, confirming their superiority with a starter and full bonus set. At the gong, Imperial won 240-110.

A very good, if one-sided, contest, two very decent teams, kudos to them for, again, going to shake hands at the end. Very well done to Imperial, a very strong performance, from Mr Lee especially, but they all did their bit, and next week's two teams will have to really pull it out the hat to beat them on that form in the final; very very best of luck to them there! Hard lines to Trinity, who actually had a quietly good night on the buzzer, Mr Banerjee especially, but the bonuses just didn't fall their way; they've had a fine run that they can be most pleased with though, thanks very much for playing!

The stats: Mr Lee was the best buzzer of the night with eight starters, while Mr Banerjee was best for Trinity with six, which sees him end the series as their best buzzer with 29 over seven games. On the bonuses, Imperial managed 25 out of 39 (with three penalties) and Trinity just 5 out of 25 (with one penalty).

Next week's match: U.C.L. vs Manchester for the right to meet Imperial

Mastermind’s final semi-final was won by Ruth Hart, who looked rather emotional when she was announced to have won on passes, with 20 and 2 to the 20 and 4 of Caryn Ellis. Neatly, the other two contenders, Tom Flowerdew and Tom Moody, both finished with 19. The final next week of course, hour long as usual, and at the earlier time of 7pm, not 7:30; as William G. Stewart used to say, “If you tune in at 7:30, you’ll have probably missed Round 1!”! And it promises to be a good one; best of (retrospective) luck to all involved!

 

We also had the penultimate (I think) Only Connect Champion of Champions special, this time from the 2021 Christmas specials, between the 007s and the Puzzle Hunters. The last one, from the 2022 specials, next week; no idea yet if they’ll be showing an old ep before the UC final in two weeks’ time.

 

Round Britain Quiz continued this afternoon as well, but I only caught the second half of it due to being on the phone to my car insurers for the first half, and even then, the questions weren’t on the website again, making it hard to play along when I could listen. And then, after the show came the bombshell that the Monday afternoon quiz slot is moving to 4:30 on Sundays from next week, and the late-night Saturday repeat to 11:30 to boot. Not to mention the Sunday repeat of the Monday 6:30 comedy moving to 12:30. Wreaks havoc with my listening routine that; think I’ll have to do what I did when Channel 4 changed The Simpsons’ slot and overrule the change via BBC Sounds...

University Challenge 2023-24: Semi-Finals Preview, and an announcement about this blog's future

OK my friends, here we are again: the University Challenge semi-finals. The first of the new era, and a very strong line-up we have for it as well. So, let's look at all four of them:

• Imperial (Justin Lee, Adam Jones, Suraiya Haddad and Sourajit Debnath) Defeated two very good Oxford teams, Balliol and Lincoln, 285-145 and 250-120 respectively. A  narrower win over Sheffield, 195-160, in the first quarter-final was followed by a win over Manchester, 205-120, achieved largely through a sprint in the home straight. Very dominant on the buzzers and the bonuses in the first two rounds; more evenly matched in the quarter-finals, but coming through both matches against strong opponents shows their strong quality.
  
• U.C.L. (James Hall, Ali Izzatdust, Tayana Sawh and Jacob Finlay) Won a low scoring first round game over King's of Cambridge 190-145, before impressively beating the fancied Hertford of Oxford team 225-140 in the second round. A similarly comfortable win over Christ Church 200-130 in their first QF was followed by a spectacular come-from-behind win over Trinity in the second as they won 165-150. Pretty decent on the buzzers throughout, with their bonus rate a tad over 50% generally.
  
• Manchester (Bluma de los Reyes-White, Ilya Kullmann, Hiru Senehedheera and Dan Grady) Beat Trinity on a 175-each tie-break in the first round, before dispatching the fancied Edinburgh 215-105 in the second. Beat Birkbeck 160-95 in a low scoring first QF, then lost to Imperial as mentioned above, but narrowly won a close play-off against Christ Church 145-130. Reasonably good on the bonuses in all their games, but a bit prone to penalties on the buzzers.
  
• Trinity College Cambridge (Sarah Henderson, Agnijo Banerjee, Ryan Kang and Jeremi Jaksina) After losing to Manchester, survived through the play-offs by beating Southampton 245-120 and Warwick 200-185 in a great second round match. Beat Open 190-170 in a close first QF, then made up for that defeat to U.C.L. with a 165-100 win over Birkbeck last week. Pretty good on the buzzers, and on the bonuses in all their games except the Open win.

A very good line-up, with, for the second time in three series, just one Oxbridge team in the line-up after years of the semi line-ups often being dominated by them. Any of them would be worthy semi-finalists, but only two of them can be? Which two will it be?

Well, the draw pits, as we'd probably have expected, Imperial against Trinity tomorrow, followed by U.C.L. vs Manchester on Easter Monday.

For the first game, Imperial would probably start as favourites given they have probably been the most consistantly impressive team so far, but they did show a vulnerability to themselves in the QFs, albeit they did recover well to win both teams. And Trinity have always managed to keep themselves in games, and have come through to win in the face of adversity times before too. They have lost, twice, from decent positions too though, and Imperial are certainly not a team you want to be giving an opportunity like that. Either time could, reasonably, win this game, but I'd probably go for Imperial.

For the second, it's also a pretty close game. U.C.L.'s record is quietly pretty good, with that slow start maybe unfairly clouding my view of them for the rest of the series a bit; after all, many teams have had slow starts before going on to do very well in the series. That slow start against Trinity shows their vulnerability, but the spectacular recovery shows their strength. Manchester, meanwhile, have arguably only had one convincing performance, in their win over Edinburgh. Every other game they've shown a vulnerability to themselves in one form or another, though, to be fair, they were pretty good against Imperial until their opponents ran away late on. This one is, again, pretty close to call; if either team is at their best, they could win. At a push, I'd maybe go for U.C.L..

So, yeah, I've said the same thing most series, but I'll say it again: no final two would surprise me at all. All I can hope for is that this excellent series gets the ending it deserves so that I can finish my full UC coverage on a high.

Oh yeah, that announcement. You've probably been suspecting it already, but here it is: this is the final series, for now at least, I'm covering in this much detail on my blog.

I'm sorry, but I really have had enough. The blogs have been becoming increasingly hard to write without repeating myself too much over the past few years, as you can probably tell given how I usually end up using the same stock phrases most weeks. And so, after 12 years, and having overseen the transition to the new chairman, I really think there's nothing new for me to say and write about the show, so, with regret, it's time to finally retire my regular UC write-ups.

Not the blog itself; I do intend to carry it on in one form or another. Probably some kind of Quizzy Mondays digest where I do potted reviews of the show and the other constituents of the line-up. Like I was intending to do four years ago before I found myself rather enjoying my new setup and decided to run with it. Who knows, maybe after a year off, I'll find myself wanting to give it a fresh go next time around.

But, for now, yeah, I'm finishing my regular UC reviews. Thank you very much to everyone who's read and commented on them over the years; your support has been most appreciated.

 

Back tomorrow with my usual write-up; see you then I guess.

University Challenge 2023-24: Play-Off Quarter-Final 2: Birkbeck vs Trinity

Good evening again my friends, and welcome back to Quizzy Mondays once again! Just four more weeks of this season to go, with Mastermind wrapping up in a fortnight's time, and UC the week after. Tonight, two teams who've proven very popular this series, for varying reasons, met for the last place in the semis; whoever won would complete a very strong line-up indeed, and one fitting for, what has been, an excellent first series of the new era IMO.

 

Birkbeck reached the QFs via narrow wins over Oxford Brookes in R1 and York in R2, lost their first QF to Manchester, but bounced back by beating Sheffield 200-160 in their second. They were the same foursome as before:

Danny McMillan, from Belfast, studying Modern Irish History

Olivia Mariner, from London, studying Maths

Captain: Samir Chadha, from Ealing, studying Creative and Critical Writing

Margherita Huntley, from South London, studying Law and Political Economy

 

Trinity College Cambridge also lost to Manchester, on a tie-break in the first round, recovered with wins over Southampton in the play-offs, Warwick in R2 and Open in their first QF, but were narrowly beaten by U.C.L. in a great second QF. They were also the same quartet as before:

Sarah Henderson, from North London, studying Japanese

Agnijo Banerjee, from Dundee, studying Maths

Captain: Ryan Joonsuk Kang, form Seoul, studying Organic Chemistry

Jeremi Jaksina, from Bialystok, Poland, studying Genetics

 

So, off we set once again then, and it was Mr McMillan, Birkbeck's MVP so far, who opened the scoring for the night with Matisse; just one bonus on Jason and the Argonauts was taken, and none came from their second set, following their second starter. Trinity, in contrast, took two from their first set following their first starter, and then took the lead with their second. The first picture round, on opening lines of medieval works, went to Birkbeck; a full bonus set gave them the lead back 50-35. Two further starters went to Mr McMillan, but the Londoners took just one bonus from both sets. Trinity, once again in contrast, took a full set from their next starter. The Cambridge side also took the music round, on composers considered influential of a certain form of composition, and took a full house on those bonuses too, which levelled the scores at 80-each.

Birkbeck retook the lead through Mr Chadha, and, again, took just the one bonus; Trinity did likewise, and the teams were level again. The next starter was dropped, but the one after was a key moment as Birkbeck buzzed too early and lost five, Trinity picked it up and took all three bonuses again. The Londoners did take the second picture round, on subjects of works by Diana Souhami; another sole bonus took the scores to 120-105. Up went the lead again as Mr Kang ensured all four Trinity players have contributed a correct starter to the game; just one bonus followed from, what looked like, an educated guess, but when Birkbeck lost another five on the next starter, and the Cambridge captain took it again, his side had one foot in the semi-finals. Mr Kang completed his hat-trick, and that was game over, despite a second full bonus set in a row going begging. At the gong, Trinity won 165-100.

A good contest that was either team's game until the final minutes, well played both teams and kudos to both for going to shake hands over the credits, wish that'd happen more often. Very well done Trinity, and very best of luck in the semis! Hard lines to Birkbeck, but they've had a fine series and can go home happy with their performances; thanks for playing!

The stats: Mr McMillan was, again, the best buzzer of the night with six starters, giving him a final series total of 28 over five games, while Ms Henderson and Messrs Banerjee and Kang all got three each for Trinity. On the bonuses, Birkbeck managed 8 out of 21 (with two penalties) and Trinity 14 out of 27 (with one penalty).

Next week's match: the first semi-final! A fuller preview coming later in the week if I remember along with a big announcement about this blog's future...

Mastermind’s penultimate semi-final was won by Helen Lippell, who trailed by one point after the specialist round, but fared best on GK to win with 24 points, two ahead of Paul Judge with 22, four ahead of Peter Wilson with 20 and six ahead of Ben Jones with 18.

 

We also had another Only Connect Champion of Champions show, this time from the 2019 Christmas specials, between the winners of the two longest, and strangest, series of the show, the Verbivores of Series 12 and the Escapologists of Series 13. I also suspect this might have been the final episode recorded before the arrival of you-know-what and, thus, the last with the players sitting so close together!

 

Round Britain Quiz continued as well this afternoon, but I struggled into it due to, A, the off-putting new theme tune still being there, and B, the questions not being on the show’s BBC page like they usually are for some reason. Hopefully they’ll be there for next week’s show.

University Challenge 2023-24: Play-Off Quarter-Final 1: Manchester vs Christ Church

Good evening again my friends, and welcome back to another Quizzy Monday! Well, the first UC series of the Amol Rajan era is nearly over, and what a fine series it's been, very much enjoyed covering it! That said, I have reached a decision on the future of my UC blogs, which I'll be announcing next week in my semi-final preview post. For now, though, on with business as usual, with the penultimate place in the semis up for grabs...

Manchester beat fellow quarter-finalists Trinity in the first round, Edinburgh in the second and Birkbeck in their first QF, but were beaten 205-120 by Imperial in their second. They were the same foursome as before:

Bluma De Los Reyes-White, from Franklin, Massachusetts, studying Genetics

Ilya Kullmann, from London, studying Medicine

Captain: Hiru Senehedheera, from Letchworth Garden City, studying Materials

Dan Grady, from Burton-on-Trent, studying Maths

 

Christ Church beat Southampton in their first round match and Emmanuel of Cambridge in their second; they then lost their first QF to U.C.L., but comfortably beat Open 179-75 in their second only last week. They were also the same quartet as before:

Eliza Dean, from Edinburgh, studying Classics and French

Melika Gorgianeh, from Leeds, studying Astrophysics

Captain: Arthur Wotton, from Cardiff, studying Spanish

Elliot Lowe, from Thames Ditton in Surrey, studying Classics

 

So, off we set once again then, and a penalty to Manchester allowed Christ Church to pick up where they left off last week and take the first starter of the game; two bonuses gave them an early lead, but Manchester quickly wiped it out with a starter and full house, and then took the lead with a further two starters plus bonuses, with another penalty not getting picked up by their opponents. The Oxonians did take the first picture round, on Japanese place names with shared name elements; one correct bonus cut the gap to 55-35. Another starter gave Manchester a most tricky bonus set that even Only Connect would've probably considered too hard; they did well to get one. Another penalty pegged them back though, and two starters to Christ Church saw them close the gap down to five points. The music round, on pas de deux from ballets, gave the Oxonians the lead; no bonuses followed, but they now led 70-65.

 

Manchester duly retook the lead with the next starter, and took a full bonus set on blue plaques in Staffordshire. Only for Christ Church to respond in kind with Mr Wotton once again doing the honours and a full house of their own gave them the lead back again! Another starter to the Oxford captain plus two bonuses put them in the driving seat going into the final third; they also took the second picture round, on paintings of Aeneas, after which they led 125-90. But two starters in a row to Manchester, which ensured all four Mancunians had contributed a correct starter, closed the gap back down, and a timely full house on the second set gave them the lead back! A penalty to both sides, neither of which was picked up by their opponents, only added to the tension, but a starter to Mr Senehedheera put his side within sight of victory. No bonuses meant they'd probably need another to make, though another penalty to their opponents helped somewhat. Only for Mr Wotton to keep his side in the game with the next starter; one bonus meant there was just five in it and set up a one-starter shoot-out! The starter in question turned out to be one of those that suddenly becomes obvious when a certain line was read out; "at the Sorbonne with Jean-Paul Sartre" meant it could only be Simone de Beauvour, and Mr Grady won the race to say it! And that was the gong! Manchester won 145-130!

A gripping and enthralling, if slightly low scoring, contest between two pretty evenly matched teams, well played both of them! Very well done Manchester, and very best of luck in the SFs! Hard lines to Christ Church, but they can go out with their heads held high; thanks very much for playing!

The stats: Mr Wotton was, once again, the best buzzer of the night with seven starters, giving him an impressive final total of 32 over five matches, while Mr Senehedheera was best for Manchester with four. On the bonuses, Manchester managed 15 out of 24 (with four penalties) and Christ Church 10 out of 27 (with two penalties).

Next week's match: Birkbeck vs Trinity in the final QF

Mastermind’s fourth semi-final was won very easily by Thomas Nelson, a high scoring runner-up who, in true Denmark at Euro 92 style, was on his honeymoon when he got the call to replace unavailable winner Scott Torrance! And he made perfect use of his second chance, as his 26 points saw him comfortably finish ahead of Sadie de Sousa with 19, Elliot Hooson with 17 and Sharon Chambers with 16.

 

We also had another Only Connect Champion of Champions show, this time the one from the 2018 Christmas specials between Series 9 winners the Europhiles and Series 11 winners the String Section. Makes me wonder why the Series 7, 8 and 10 winners haven’t (yet) been invited back for any CoC games; in fact, now I think about it, after 2012, the show didn’t do any specials with previous teams of any sort until these Christmas shows became a thing in 2018. One wonders whether this repeat run will see those become a thing…

 

We also also had the welcome return of Round Britain Quiz on Radio 4 this afternoon, though, not so welcomingly, the theme tune has been changed to a very jaunty piano number that will take a lot of getting used to (assuming it’s here to stay and not a one-off). Comedian Cariad Lloyd made her debut on the show for the Wales team, replacing WWTBAM jackpot winner David Edwards who has departed the show after fourteen years; it was teammate Myfanwy Alexander who did most of the heavy lifting, however, as the new pairing made a winning start to the series with a narrow win over Marcus Berkmann and Paul Sinha of the South of England.