Quizzy Mondays 2024-25 Week 35: University Challenge Semi-Final 1, Mastermind Semi-Final 5

Good evening again my friends, and welcome to the antepenultimate Quizzy Monday of the season! Later this week, we'll know for sure whether, as I've been speculating for probably the last two months, we'll have to wait two weeks after next week for the finals of both shows due to snooker on Mayday. For now though, lets focus on the quizzing at hand. Mastermind coming up, but first, the first semi-final of UC, between a team you'd have probably expected to reach the semis going into the QFs and one who were dark horses who more than proved themselves.

 

Christ's College Cambridge defeated Exeter College and St Edmund Hall of Oxford in the first two round, then Imperial thanks to a great late sprint in their first QF and then survived one from their opponents Warwick in their second to make it here unbeaten. They were the same unchanged foursome as all those previous games:

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

 

Bristol soundly defeated Gonville & Caius of Cambridge and Exeter University in the first two rounds, then Open in their first QF, before narrowly losing to Darwin in their second, bouncing back last week as they beat Queen's in their third to make it here tonight. They were also the same quartet as those five prior occasions:

Ted Warner, from Wiltshire, studying Biology

Bridie Rogers, from Brighton, studying Medicine

Captain: Kevin Flanagan, from Dublin, studying AI

Olivia Watts, from York, studying Organic Chemistry

A penalty allowed Bristol to take the first starter, but no bonuses went with it; Christ's made up for it by taking the next two starters and two bonuses from both sets, to give them the lead. They also took the first picture round, after which they led 55-10. Bristol took a second starter, and two bonuses, but Christ's were dominating on the buzzer, taking a further three starters in a row, but just one bonus from each set meant they didn't pull away as much as they could've. After the music round, they had increased their lead to 115-30.

 

And the lead was just increasing as another starter and a full set of bonuses took the Cambridge side's lead into three figures. Messrs Bethlehem and Despard were their two leading buzzers, but, oddly, they struggled with the bonuses from Mr Despard's starters, but were almost always perfect on those from Mr Bethlehem's. Bristol finally got back into the game with the second picture round, and took one bonus, which took the scores to 180-45. It was long over as a contest; just a question now of how high both teams could get. Another starter, and two bonuses, took Christ's to 200, but a penalty didn't help Bristol's chances of avoiding the Sub-50 club. Thankfully, they did take the final starter of the game to, just about, avoid undeservedly joining that club. At the gong, Christ's won 220-50.

 

Another one-sided contest made watchable by two pleasant teams. Very well done Christ's, a superb performance, on the buzzer especially; whoever wins next week will have to be really good on that front to beat them on that form. Very best of luck to them in the final! Hard lines to Bristol, who didn't deserve to lose as heavily as that after the great run they've had this series; thanks very much to them for playing!

 

The stats: Mr Bethlehem was, once again, the best buzzer of the night, with seven starters, while Mr Flanagan was best for Bristol with two, though Mr Warner was their best for the series overall with a final total of 31 over six games. On the bonuses, Christ's managed 21 out of 36 (with the night's one penalty) and Bristol 3 out of 10.

 

Next week's match: Darwin vs Warwick in the second semi-final!

 

Mastermind’s penultimate semi-final was opened by Nancy Braithwaite, who was answering on Caravaggio; a strong round marred only by a very unfortunate near miss, she scored 12 points. She was followed into the chair by Krish Hook, who was answering on Premier League Darts; there were a few answers he clearly knew but got wrong, which seemed to throw him a bit, but he nonetheless scored 6. Next up, James Barrow was answering on Inside No 9 (a show I’ve never seen but I think my parents might watch it); a steady round, he answered well and scored 10. Finally, Gary Austin was answering on mathematician Grace Hopper; after starting well, he hit a bad run of questions which also saw him pause quite a few times, but he rallied at the end and scored 8.

 

Krish was probably out of the running going into GK and so it proved as he again struggled, though he did well to answer every question and not pass, which is always a good tactic; he scored 4 for a total of 10. Gary needed a good round to stay in the game, but his task became harder when he passed twice quite early on; he scored well enough afterwards and scored 9 for a respectable total of 17, but this would almost certainly not be enough to win.

 

James was next, but he too struggled for momentum; he did just about enough to take the lead, scoring 7 for another total of 17, with no passes, but you fancied Nancy would probably be able to beat it. And beat it she did, and pretty comfortably too despite a few wobbles; she scored 11 for a total of 23 to make it through to the final! Well done her, and best of luck there! And thanks to the others for playing.

 

And that's it for another week! Just two more to come over, hopefully, the next two weeks; we'll find out for sure this week, as I said earlier, if my earlier worries about the snooker are founded or not, and I will be sure to post/repost on the site formerly known as Twitter as soon as is known. We'll definitely be back next week though, so, thanks once again for reading and see yous then...