Hello my friends, and welcome to the antepenultimate Quizzy Monday of the season! Only two more editions of the two remaining quizzes left after tonight; both will come to their dramatic (we hope) conclusions in two weeks' time, as it stands; we'll find that out for sure later this week. Coming up, Mastermind and the return of a slightly different Round Britain Quiz. But first, the first UC semi-final...
Edinburgh have gone under the radar a bit this series, competently beating Newcastle and Trinity of Cambridge in the first two rounds and Manchester in their first QF, before emerging on top of the incredibly tough and low-scoring second against Merton, winning 105-85. They were the same unchanged foursome as all those previous matches:
Parthav Easwar, from Portland, Oregon, studying Sustainable Lands and Cities
Johnny Richards, from Los Angeles, studying Ancient DNA
Captain: Alice Leonard, from Portsmouth, studying Environment, Culture and Society
Rayhana Amjad, from Dublin and Glasgow, studying Computer Science
Darwin College Cambridge defeated two Oxford teams, Green Templeton and Magdalen, in Rounds 1 and 2, then lost their first QF to Sheffield, but recovered by beating Warwick in their second and, just last week, they too defeated Merton, this time 175-130, to secure the last place in the semis. They too were the same quartet as all those previous occasions:
Lewis Strachan, from North Lanarkshire, studying Parasite Biology
Ruth Ni Mhuircheartaigh, from Cork, studying Education
Captain: Louis Cameron, from London, studying English
Jonathan White, from Buckinghamshire, studying Geography
Darwin took the first starter, and all three of a fairly routine first set of bonuses; Edinburgh, in contrast, only got one from their first set. The Cambridge side took the next two starters, including the first picture starter; after the first picture round, they led 55-15. I was pleased with myself for getting 'Bayer' for the next starter even before the chairman gave the giveaway clue of 'Leverkusen'; Darwin went too early, allowing Edinburgh the points and a single bonus followed. Another starter put Edinburgh within five points, and a couple more penalties for their opponents gave them the lead, which they extended with a starter and pair of bonuses. I thought the chairman was a bit hasty to give the answer to the (dropped) music starter before the full clip had played; after the music bonuses (one of which, Blondie's Heart of Glass, was played on Radio 2 this very morning!), Edinburgh led 80-40.
A further two penalties, one of which was very unlucky to be fair, dropped Darwin back further; Edinburgh didn't take either, but Ms Amjad took the next two, a full bonus set on the second of which helped the Scots side into three figures. Darwin finally got going again with the second picture starter; after the second picture bonuses, they'd cut the gap to 115-50. They'd have to go for it if they were to have a chance, and they duly took the next two starters and all of the second set of bonuses, which was most deserved as they had to spell the answers to them. This brought them back within sight, but another penalty handed Edinburgh an extensionto their lead and two bonuses put them within sight of victory. Darwin did give it a good go though, taking another two starters, but only half the resulting bonuses followed, and, when Ms Amjad took the next starter, that was game over. At the gong, Edinburgh won 155-110.
A good, pleasant first semi-final, that was ultimately decided on the buzzer. Very well done Edinburgh, worthy finalists; very best of luck to them in that final! Hard lines to Darwin, who were undone by some forgivable errors on the buzzer, but they've had a terrific run; thanks very much to them for playing!
The stats: Ms Amjad was the best buzzer of the night with six, while Mr Cameron was, again, best for Darwin with four, ending their run their best buzzer of the series with a total of 28 starters over six matches. On the bonuses, Edinburgh managed 14 out of 27 (with one penalty) and Darwin 12 out of 24 (with an ultimately costly six penalties).
Next week's match: Imperial vs Manchester in the second semi-final!
Mastermind’s penultimate
semi-final was opened by Paul Smith, who was answering on Yellowstone National
Park; he started well, slipped a bit, then recovered well and finished with 8
points. He was followed into the chair by Milena Malcharek, who was answering
on JRR Tolkein’s Silmarillion; a pretty flawless round, she took the early lead
with 11 points.
Next up was David Ford, who was
answering on Grace O’Malley; like Paul, he made a few mistakes, but answered
steadily and constantly and finished with 9 points. Finally, another Paul, Paul
Richardson, was answering on England at the (men’s football) World Cup; he started
well before falling foul of some questions requiring more specified knowledge
and, while he did recover to finish with 7 points, you probably fancied he
wouldn’t be winning today.
Nonetheless, Paul R came straight
back for GK; needing a good score, he put up a perfectly fine 9 for a
respectable enough total of 16, but you fancied it would be beaten. Paul S went
next and did indeed beat his namesake’s score; 10 gave him a total of 18, but
two passes meant it too felt like it might not be enough.
David was next, and he too scored
10 points, giving him a total of 19; he too incurred a pass though, which left
Milena needing eight provided she didn’t pass, nine if she did. She started
slowly, then picked up the pace and it looked like she was going to make it;
alas, she missed the last question and so fell agonisingly short, scoring 7 for
a still perfectly good total of 18.
Which means, much to his own surprise,
David was though to the final! Well done him, and thanks to the others for
playing.
Also, Round Britain Quiz returned
yesterday, with a couple of slight changes to its format. Firstly, there are just
four teams now, one of each UK nation, with the Midlands, North and South of
England teams merged into a single England team, with last series’ winners the
North, Stuart Maconie and Jenny Ryan, comprising the team. Secondly, it appears
there is going to be some sort of tournament structure instead of the teams
playing each other multiple times and a big table at the end; there will
actually be a ‘Grand Final’ this time. Quite how this will work remains clear;
watch this space. At the end of the day though, the format of a single episode,
the teams try to answer four questions each, hasn’t changed, so no real complaints
from me. Yet, anyway.
And that's it for another week! Thanks as ever for reading; just two weeks to go now, and then that's us done for the season. Earlier today, I had an idea for something I might do to keep the blog ticking over until next season, but I haven't made any firm plans yet; anything I do decide will be announced in due course. If any. Anyway, back same time same place next week with the penultimate write-up of the season, so, see yous then...
