Quizzy Mondays 2024-25 Week 26: University Challenge Preliminary Quarter-Final 2, Only Connect Semi-Final 2, Mastermind Heat 20

Good evening again my friends, and welcome to the antepenultimate Quizzy Monday with a full line-up this season! Yes, just two more (new, as there may be repeats like last year) Only Connects after tonight. UC and Mastermind still have a bit to go yet though and, according to blog reader Paul Gilbert, are both currently due to end on the Mayday Bank Holiday. Except, I belive that particular day is always reserved on BBC2 for the final of the World Snooker Championship, so it'll be a week later on May the 12th if his calculations are correct. For now, though, on with the present, beginning with this week's UC...

 

Queen's University Belfast were comfortable winners in their first two matches, beating the decent Liverpool and Cardiff teams (who, as TheUCReview pointed out, were also the two League Cup finalist in 2012!) by decent margins. They were unchanged from those two games:

Sarah Carlisle, from Ballynahinch in County Down, studying English with Creative Writing

Jason McKillen, from Belfast, studying Artifical Intelligence

Captain: Daniel Rankin, from County Down, studying PPE

Sam Thompson, from Limavady, studying Physics

 

Warwick haven't beaten any cup finalists en route to this stage, but were still pretty impressive in their wins over UEA in the first round and Oriel of Oxford in the second. They were also the same quartet as those previous times:

Ananya Govindarajan, from Edgware in London, studying Engineering

Thomas Hart, from Miskin in South Wales, studying Maths

Captain: Oscar Siddle, from Islington, studying Maths

Benjamin Watson, from Amersham, studying PPE

 

Warwick carried on where they left off two weeks ago as Messrs Hart and Watson took the first two starters and two bonuses from both sets. Queen's responded with two of their own to pull within ten, but Warwick increased their lead with the first picture round, after which they led 55-30. Queen's took the next starter, but no bonuses; Warwick fared only marginally better on the next set, but then took a full set on the next. They also took the music round, after which they now led 105-40.

 

Warwick now had the bit between their teeth, pulling away on the buzzer into a three figure lead, but, in contrast to their previous games, weren't faring that well on the bonuses, averaging about one per set. Queen's finally got going again with the second picture round, after which they trailed 165-55. Warwick confirmed their win as Mr Hart took the next starter and the bonuses finally went for them, a full set. Queen's pulled back to respectability in the final minutes, Mr Rankin getting a late run on the buzzer tht saw them just about eke into three figures, only for a penalty on the final starter to drop them back out of it; there was no time for Warwick to buzz. At the gong, Warwick won 215-95.

 

Another enjoyable enough contest despite being rather one-sided. Well done Warwick, another strong performance and against solid opponents as well; best of luck in the qualifying round! Hard lines to Queen's, but that's still a not bad performance all things considered; best of luck to them in the eliminators!

 

The stats: Mr Hart was the best buzzer of the night with NINE(!) correct starters, while Mr Rankin was very much best for Queen's with ALL SEVEN(!) of their starters. On the bonuses, Queen's managed 7 out of 21 (with two penalties) and Warwick 18 out of 39 (with one penalty for a 'just an' interruption).

 

Next week's match: I am informed it is U.C.L. vs Darwin, followed by Open vs Bristol the following week.

 

Only Connect’s second semi-final was contested by the Tea Totallers, who lost a very high quality first round match to the Bloomsbury Group, but have since beaten the Pipe-Dreamers, Too Many Cookes and the Introverts, and the Crunchers, who have lost to the afore-mentioned Introverts, but have beaten the Uisge Beathas twice and the afore-mentioned Bloomsbury Group.

 

No points for my Dad and me in the first round; a good one for the teams though, the Totallers led 5-4 at the end of it. I claim two points on the Bake-Off hosts and Macbeth questions in the second round; the teams were tied on 9-each after that.

 

The Crunchers went first on the Walls, and worked out the four groups reasonably quickly, but didn’t quite get one of the connections, so seven points. The Totallers took a similar amount of time to get all the groups and they did get all the connections, so ten points, meaning they led 19-16 going into Missing Vowels. A couple of very nasty topics, one of which was mercifully cut short by the full time, resulted in a rather low scoring round, and the Totallers held on to win 21-18. Well done them, and best of luck in the final! And best of luck Crunchers in the third place play-off next week!

 

Mastermind was opened by Tamara Hon, who was answering on George Washington; sadly, her round never gathered any real momentum, she eventually finished on 5 points. She was followed by Aine McMenamin, who I’m pretty sure was on UC many years ago, who was answering on Taylor Swift; her round, in contrast, was pretty free flowing with only a couple of mistakes, and she finished with double Tamara’s score, 10 points.

 

Next up was Arvind Ramakrishnan, answering on a most intriguing subject, the naming of chemical elements; after a decent start, his round sadly went off the rails as well, and he finished on just 2 points. Finally, Dan Payne offered up my personal favourite subject of the night, I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue; a decent round with a couple of wrong answers due to very specific knowledge of certain episodes being needed (near impossible given how many episodes of the show there are), he scored 9 points.

 

Once again, it looked like a two-horse race already going into SS. Arvind returned for GK first and, to his credit, have a very respectable account of himself, scoring 8 to give him a final score of 10. Tamara couldn’t match the total, her round, again, never really kicking off, and she only scored 4 for a total of 9.

 

Dan returned next and quickly took the lead, but he too then fell into a bit of a wrong answer spiral and ended up falling just short of his SS score, equalling Arvind’s 8 for a total of 17, and two passes. Which left Aine needing 7 to win provided she didn’t pass; another rather stop-start round, but she did it comfortably enough in the end, scoring 9 for a final total of 19 and going through to the semis! Well done her, and thanks to the others for playing.

 

And that's this week done! Next week, the highlight of every series of OC, the third place play-off! And, of course, the final is the week after; whether they'll show repeats after that like they did last year, who knows? We'll wait and see. If so, lets hope for some more older ones from the BBC4/early BBC2 days rather than just recent Christmas specials. Anyway, thanks once again for reading, and see yous again same time same place next week...

Quizzy Mondays 2024-25 Week 25: University Challenge Preliminary Quarter-Final 1, Only Connect Semi-Final 1, Mastermind Heat 19

Good evening again my friends, and welcome back to another Quizzy Monday! It's time to get serious now with OC beginning its semi-finals while UC begins its QF stage. I didn't do that blog on Oxford teams in the end, but I did have a quick look at the Oxford University Quiz Society page, which I hadn't for a while, and I notice that inter-college quiz competitions haven't been such a big thing since the pandemic, which may go some way to explain why only one Oxford team has reached the QFs in the four series since that. Anyway, on with tonight's first UC QF...

 

Imperial, the defending champions, got here via two very easy and high scoring victories, over Manchester in the first round and Wadham of Oxford in the second. They were unchanged from those two previous games:

Charlotte Stokes, from Chester, studying Applied Genomics

Mattia Elkouby, from South London, studying Chemistry

Captain: Matthew Spry, from Gateshead, studying Electrochemistry

Jaime Salamanca Camacho, from Madrid, studying Quantum Fields and Fundamental Forces

 

Christ's College Cambridge won two Oxbridge derbies to get here, beating Exeter in the first round and St Edmund Hall in the second, both close matches until they ran away late on. They too were the same quartet as those previous times:

Anniko Firman, from The Hague, studying Classics

Brendan Bethlehem, from North London, studying Linguistics

Captain: Oscar Despard, from Dublin, studying Biochemistry

Linus Luu, from Orpington, studying Maths

 

Christ's defied the pre-match expectations by taking the first two starters and all but one of the bonuses, but a penalty allowed Imperial off the mark and they took two starters in a row of their own, including the first picture round, after which they trailed 40-35. A bit of a back and forth between the two teams followed in the second phase, before Imperial managed to sprint away a bit with two starters in a row. Christ's reeled them back by taking the music round, after which they'd cut the gap to 95-75.

 

Two starters in a row to Mr Spry pulled Imperial away into three figures, but Christ's responded in kind to keep well in touch. Imperial pushed further ahead with the second picture round, after which they now led 145-110. Still either team's game, but when Imperial took the next starter, Christ's were going to have to flat out go for it. And flat out go for it they did, taking two starters to close back up to 20 points. A third then put them just ten behind, and two bonuses meant it was level pegging! Mr Despard completed the comeback by taking the next starter, another two bonuses, and that was the gong! Christ's won 180-160!

 

An excellent contest to start the QFs on. Very well done Christ's, an excellent performance and a worthy victory; best of luck in the qualifiers! Bad luck to Imperial, but they can certainly bounce back in the eliminators; best of luck to them there!

 

The stats: Messrs Spry and Bethelehem were joint best buzzers of the night with five starters each for their respective teams. On the bonuses, Imperial managed 14 out of 27 and Christ's 18 out of 30 (with two penalties).

 

Next week's match: don't know yet, but I would guess Queen's vs Warwick

 

Only Connect arrived at its first semi-final, a rematch between the Four Opinions, who got here undefeated by beating the Bean Farmers, their opponents tonight and the Al Frescans, and the Cat Cows, who have defeated the Harmonics twice and the Sprouters, but also lost to their opponents tonight en route.

 

My Dad claims the same two points as the Opinions on the Titanic question, and we sort of came close to getting the train times question; the Opinions led 4-2 at the end of that. I claim the same three points as the Cat Cows on wives of King Louises in the second round, and my Dad the same three as the Opinions on the rivers question; the Cows had turned it around to lead 8-7 at the end of that round.

 

The Cows went first on the Walls, but had a bit of a tough one, failing to find any groups, but getting three connections, so three points. The Opinions, in contrast, got a fairly quick full house, so they now led 17-11 going into Missing Vowels. The Cows recovered well there, but the Opinions held on to win 20-18 and go through to the final! Well done them and best of luck there, and best of luck to the Cows in the third place play-off!

 

Mastermind’s second heat of the year was opened by Krish Hook, who was answering on the Masters Snooker tournament; a good round with just two incorrect answers earned him a solid score of 9. He was followed by Laura Knightly, who was answering on Emmeline Pankhurst; a couple of wrong answers, but she kept in touch with Krish, scoring a decent 7.

 

Next was Flora Playle, answering on the David Tennant-led series of Doctor Who; after a strong start, she fell off the pace and finished with 5 points. Finally, Anthony Thomas was answering on Henry VII; he too started OK before falling away a bit, with a pass in the equation as well, and he too finished with 5 points.

 

So, Flora returned first for GK, a round which featured a question about the Travelling Wilburys near identical to one on this morning’s Ten to the Top! A respectable 9 gave her a total of 14, an OK score, but not enough you fancied. A similar round to Flora’s, he just fell short of her score, 8 gave him an also OK total of 13.

 

You’d say it was now between Laura and Krish to decide who went through. Laura went first, but she too had a bit of a stop-start round; she did do enough to take the lead, also scoring 8, giving her a decent total of 15. Krish now needed 7 to win the game; his round was also a bit sluggish, but he did more than enough in the end, doubling his score with another 9 giving him a winning total of 18! Well done him, and thanks to the others for playing.

 

And that's another week done! A pretty good quality night of shows as well. Thanks as ever for reading; we'll be back same time same place next week with the antepenultimate OC, and thus full line-up, of the current season; so, see yous then...

Quizzy Mondays 2024-25 Week 24: University Challenge R2M8, Only Connect Quarter-Final 4, Mastermind Heat 18

Good evening again my friends and welcome back to Quizzy Mondays! And, for the first time this year, we have a full line-up again as regular Mastermind is finally back! It won't be for long though, as OC only has four shows left after tonight, though, they may decide to show specials for the rest of UC's run at least like they did last year. Or maybe not, for reasons I'll deal with nearer the time. Anyway, on with tonight's festivities, beginning, as usual, with UC, and the last second round match...

 

Warwick were convincing winners over UEA in their first match, though didn't lead totally comfortably until they ran away in the final quarter, 275-125 the final score. They were unchanged from that game:

Ananya Govindarajan, from Edgware in London, studying Engineering

Thomas Hart, from Miskin in South Wales, studying Maths

Captain: Oscar Siddle, from Islington, studying Maths

Benjamin Watson, from Amersham, studying PPE

 

Oriel College Oxford were much closer winners over Durham in a very good match indeed, probably the second best of the round, 200-165 the scores there. They too were the same quartet as before:

Samin Taseen, from East London, studying Biomedical Science

Theo Sharkey, from Wargrave in Berkshire, studying History

Captain: Danann Kilburn, from South Oxfordshire, studying English

Tom Armstrong, from the Wirral, studying History and Politics

Warwick picked up where they left off last time, taking the first three starters, though it took them until the third bonus set to get more than one correct; in fact they got all three. Oriel got off the mark with the first picture round, after which they trailed 55-10. Warwick quickly regrouped though and, two starters later, had already reached three figures. Oriel did just about keep their score ticking over though, and also took the music round, after which the scores stood at 120-40.

Another starter ensured the Oxonians wouldn't be joining the Sub-50 Club, but Warwick reawoke and took two starters and full bonus houses, one of which must be must be surely the best interrupted answering of a bonus ever! Oriel did take the second picture round, but now trailed 195-75 and the game was pretty much done as a contest. Oriel did take a few more starters to deservedly reach three figures, but Warwick, despite their bonus rate drying up a bit, ticked over past 200. At the gong, Warwick won 215-110.

Another enjoyable contest, despite again being one-sided. Well done Warwick, another good showing as they complete a very strong QF line-up; best of luck to them there! Hard lines to Oriel, who I suspect could've beaten another opponent, but they did respectably well; thanks for playing!

The stats: Mr Hart was the best buzzer of the night with six, while Messrs Sharkey and Armstrong were joint best for Oriel with three each. On the bonuses, Warwick managed a pretty good 23 out of 33 (with two penalties) and Oriel 9 out of 22 (with three penalties).

Next week's match: the first quarter-final! Don't know who's playing yet, but I would guess two of the four teams from the latter four second round matches.

Only Connect concluded its QFs with the returns of the Introverts, who got here undefeated by beating the Third Agers and the Crunchers, and the Tea Totallers, who were defeated by the Bloomsbury Group in their first match, but themselves defeated the Pipe-Dreamers and Too Many Cookes to make it through (and one of whom, Eleanor Ayres, appeared on, and convincingly won, yesterday's Counterpoint).

 

I claim the same point as the Totallers on the music question in the first round; the teams were tied on 3-each at the end of it. My Dad claims (a generous) two points on the Beatles question in the second round; the Introverts failed to score here (albeit unluckily, they came very close twice), allowing the Totallers to pull away into a 10-3 lead.

 

The Totallers went first on the Walls, and got all four groups, but only three connections, so seven points. The Introverts thus had a chance to catch up, but struggled badly and failed to find any groups; they did get two connection points though, so two points, leaving the scores at 17-5 going into Missing Vowels. As we saw last week, that can be recovered, and they did indeed recover to respectability, but the Totallers maintained their advantage to win 24-11. Well done them, and best of luck in the semis, and thanks to the Introverts for playing!

 

Next week's match: the first semi-final! Again, don't know who's playing yet, but precedence of the last few series suggests it'll be the Cat Cows vs the Four Opinions again, followed by the Crunchers vs the Totallers in two weeks' time.

 

Mastermind’s first regular heat of 2025 was opened by Fergus Navaratnam-Blair, formerly of OC, who was answering on Harold Pinter, and gave us a very good round indeed, just one wrong answer (that I noticed) and 10 points. Rosie Fletcher followed him into the chair, answering on the music of Rufus Wainwright; after a good start, a pass derailed her somewhat, but she recovered to a decent 8, which kept her in contention thus far.

 

Next up was Ivan Milatovic, who was answering on the artist Velazquez; he bettered both his opponents thus far, a perfect round and a fab score of 12 points! Finally, Mickie Wynne-Davies, who I’m pretty sure was on Brain of Britain in the recent past, was answering on the Savoy operas of Gilbert and Sullivan; again, she started well, but then a run of wrong answers put her off the pace and she never really recovered; 5 her score.

 

You fancied it was probably a two-horse race going into GK. Mickie went straight back to the chair, probably playing for pride, but gave us a very decent round, scoring 12 for a respectable score of 17; you fancied it’d be bettered at least once, but a fine recovery nonetheless. Rosie was next, but couldn’t match Mickie’s performance; nonetheless, she matched her SS score and doubled her total to a solid 16.

 

Fergus was next, but his round sadly never got going for him; maybe just an unlucky set of questions, but, whatever the case, he could only score 3, for a total of 13, and looked pretty disappointed with himself when he returned to his seat. Bad luck to him; I’m sure he would’ve done better with different questions. It did leave Ivan needing just six points to win the show, and he passed it fairly quickly; he did slow down a bit having done so, but it mattered not, 10 for a total of 22 made him the winner! Well done him, and thanks to the others for playing!

 

And that's it for another week! Good to finally have the full line-up back, and, again, we should enjoy it while we can as it won't be for much longer. I may be back before next week's usual blog to expand a bit more on UC and how Oxford has now been wiped out in the second round for the third time in four series; we'll see if I find the time. Otherwise, see yous again same time same place next week...