Good evening again my friends, and welcome back to my new look Quizzy Mondays blog! As I continue to attempt to settle on a new format for my write-ups that isn't too long, but not too concise either, so, again, expect a lot of fine tuning over the coming weeks. Last week worked reasonably well though, and hopefully we can carry things on this way from now on. Anyway, let's get going...
Beginning with UC, where we welcomed back two institutions who were with us last series. The Open University, firstly, who were quarter-finalists last series; this series they were represented by:
Nicky Maving, from Jarrow, studying Natural Sciences
Tom Barber, from Bournemouth, studying Physics
Captain: Karie Westermann, from Glasgow (originally Denmark), studyingArt History
Hector Payne, from Teddington in Middlesex, studying Finance
University College London were, of course, the beaten finalists last series; this year's line-up comprised:
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
Mr Mandel, OC alumnus of many years ago (back when the show was still on BBC4), opened the scoring for the night, but Open took the next three starters afterwards, including the first picture round, after which they led 55-20. The teams were pretty evenly matched in the next phase of play, swapping starters, but Open's slightly better showing on the bonuses allowed them to maintain a steady lead. After the music round, Open led 120-80.
It was more of the same in the next period: the teams swapping starters, but Open faring just a bit better on the bonuses, so keeping their lead. After the second picture round, Open led 180-110 and were within sight of victory. U.C.L., however, suddenly made a late sprint for it on the buzzer, with three starters in a row cutting the gap down to 20 points. AR was then a bit lenient to let Mr Mandel off with a slight pause for answering, but it plus one bonus meant there was just five in it! A one starter shoot-out: Mr Payne was first in, and that was the gong! Open won 190-175!
A great contest between two very good teams, both of whom deserve to return, and U.C.L.'s score will surely be good enough for them to do so; best of luck to them and Open when they come back!
The stats: Mr Mandel was the best buzzer of the night with six starters, while Mr Payne was best for Open with four. On the bonuses, Open managed a good 18 out of 27 and U.C.L. 15 out of 30, so it really was those three extra bonuses that won it, and, for the first time this series, all eight players got at least one starter right.
Next week's match: Gonville & Caius Cambridge vs Bristol
Only Connect’s second instalment
of the series was contested by the Hopsters, Lee Knowles, Gareth Cottiss and
captain Ashwini Kamath, and the Sprouters, Theo Howe (UC alumnus with Fitzwilliam
Cambridge in 2017-18), Oliver Sweetenham (ditto with Peterhouse Cambridge the
previous series) and captain Charlie Bowen.
Got a few trace elements, but no
actual questions right myself in the first two rounds; the teams were tied on 3-each
after the first round, before the Sprouters opened a 9-5 lead after the second.
On to the Walls, and both teams
failed to get two groups, but did get their connections, so scored six points
each. So, as you were, the Sprouters led 15-11 going into Missing Vowels. They
only increased their lead in a very high quality round though, and won the game
easily, 24-14. Well played both teams, and best of luck in your next games!
Next week's match: Four Opinions vs Bean Farmers
Mastermind’s second heat was
opened by Robin Dunford, who scored an impressive 11 on Orchids of the British
Isles. Ramona McKnight was second into the chair, and scored 10 on Schitt’s
Creek, a show I’m aware of, but haven’t watched. I am very much aware of Joseph
Gregg’s subject, the great Tom Lehrer, but didn’t get even close to his score
of 9. Maura Kenny rounded off the round by matching Robin’s 11 on Operation Mincemeat.
Joseph returned for GK first, and
his round sadly never really got going, but he still finished with a
respectable 16. Ramona was next, and did well to recover from a shaky spell mid
round to score a very decent 20. Robin then scored a solid 12 on his round, but
three passes potentially left the door open if Maura could match him. Sadly,
her round was another that just didn’t fall her way; 6 her score giving her a
total of 17. So Robin takes the second place in the semis; congrats to him!
And that's it for tonight. I think that blog went a bit better than last week's, now that I'm used to this new format; hopefully things will continue to improve. As ever, thanks for reading.
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