University Challenge 2023-24: Round 2: Match 3: Emmanuel vs Christ Church

Good evening my friends, and welcome back to JOW! Another packed Monday of quizzing today, the antepenultimate we have a full line-up including Brain of Britain for. Starting, as usual, with UC though, and tonight we welcomed back two teams who won successive first round matches back in August, one comfortably, one a tad more narrowly, but against a team who survived to the repechage.

Emmanuel College Cambridge beat Jesus College Oxford in their first match, pulling away after a closely fought start and ultimately running out easy winners 240-60. They were the same foursome as before:

Jerry Chen, from Glasgow, studying Medicine

Alex Sutton, from Reading, studying Biological Anthropology

Captain: Jaya Alagar, from Pennsylvania, studying Population Health Sciences

Alexander Harrison, from Cardiff, studying Chemical Engineering

 

Christ Church Oxford had a closer win over Southampton, trailing at first, before pulling level and eventually into the lead, before a late sprint from their opponents wasn't quite enough, as they won 180-155. 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 Emmanuel scored first as Ms Alagar took a captain's innings, and followed it up with two bonuses on French artists; Christ Church responded in kind with a starter and pair of bonuses, only to then lose five to an interruption. Emmanuel took the points, but no bonuses, allowing their opponents to quickly pull level again, and then the lead with the first picture round, on flags featuring horses, after which the Oxonians led 55-30. Back came Emmanuel with three starters in a row, including two from Mr Harrison, their MVP of the first round, but just three bonuses from nine kept Christ Church in touch, as proven when they then took a starter and two bonuses to pull level. The music round, on pop songs whose music videos were directed by Tanu Muino, gave the Oxonians the lead back 95-75.

Back came Emmanuel again as Mr Harrison took a starter that is now out of date (Forest Green are no longer in League One); just one bonus followed, but, as Christ Church lost another five on the next starter, it was enough to pull them level again. The Oxonians quickly pulled ahead again with the next starter though, but they failed to score with their bonuses. For the next starter, 'Mayor of Aldeburgh' was enough for me to declare 'Elizabeth Garrett Anderson', but neither side took this old chestnut. Mr Wotton took the next starter to increase his side's lead, followed up by two bonuses. The second picture round, on paintings of giants, went to Emmanuel though, as did two bonuses of their own, which cut the gap to 120-110. A penalty handed Christ Church the initiative back though, with two starters putting them within sight of victory; the bonuses were a struggle though, none of the six, kept the door open. Emmanuel went for it with a starter and a quick full bonus set, but when Mr Harrison zigged with 'geometry', allowing Ms Dean to zag with 'triganometry', that was game over. At the gong, Christ Church won 155-130.

 

A close contest, despite the low scores, both sides rather struggling with the bonuses I thought. Well done to Christ Church nonetheless, and best of luck in the QFs! Hard lines to Emmanuel, a decent team who can consider themselves unfortunate to go out now, but a fair showing to go out on, thanks for playing!

 

The stats: Messrs Harrison and Wotton and Ms Dean were joint best buzzers of the night with five each for their respective teams. On the bonuses, Emmanuel managed 11 out of 24 (with one penalty) and Christ Church 13 out of 30 (with two penalties), so both teams did OK on the buzzer, but did indeed have difficulty with the bonuses.

Next week's match: Hertford vs U.C.L.

Only Connect’s penultimate play-off was another avoidable rematch, with the Solomons Family and the Video Nasties playing again. The latter led 7-3 after the first round, and 12-10 after the second. A better wall saw the Solomonses close the gap to 18-17 going into Missing Vowels, but the Nasties just hung on in that to win 25-24!

 

Mastermind was also very tight and, indeed, went right to the wire, with Oli Hanson and Scott Dalgleish finishing tied on 21 each! The former won the resulting tie-break 4-3 to scrape through to the next round! Tom de Salis finished just behind them both with 20, with Angela Hawke completing the line-up with 14.

 

Brain of Britain’s third semi-final was also another very close one, ending, for the second week in a row, on a tie-breaker! (Albeit between just two players this time!) Eleanor Ayres and Sue Brearley both ended up on 12, with twelve each, and it was the former who took the tie-breaker and, with it, the penultimate place in the final! (Slapped wrists to TPTB for publishing the line-up for the final on the BBC website! Thankfully, I stopped scrolling before I could have the result of next week’s show spoiled.) Jason Butler and John Esling also competed, finishing with 8 and 9 respectively.

University Challenge 2023-24: Round 2: Match 2: Open vs UEA

Good evening again my friends, and welcome back to JOW for another Quizzy Mondays! Just four weeks left of the full set, as Brain of Britain is nearly over for the year now. Still plenty to go for the other quizzes though, UC especially, and, given the very high standard this series, there's going to be plenty more drama to come; drama to make Chelsea's last two games look calm! (OK, maybe not, but you get the idea!) Tonight, the second repechage survivors met one of the infamous 'five' that I made a right mess of assessing in my second round preview...

Open lost their first match to Hertford and only just made it into the play-offs, but really made the most of their second chance as they soundly thumped the favoured Oxford Brookes side 255-155. They were unchanged from those previous matches:

Ellie Romans, from Henley-on-Thames, studying Nursing

Mike Holt, from Wilmslow in Cheshire, studying towards the Open degree

Captain: Ann Gavaghan, from London, studying Art and Architectural History

James Davidson, from Fraserburgh, studying English Literature

UEA were comfortable winners over Strathclyde in their first round match, one week before Open's first, winning 235-125, but it wasn't that one-sided until the final minutes. They were also the same quartet were:

Melissa Shiress, from London, studying Pacific Collections in National Museums Scotland

Bryony Yates, from Wolverhampton, studying Plant Biology

Captain: Owen Tobin, from Nottingham, studying Medicine

Matthew Jennings, from King's Lynn, studying Philosophy

So, off we set once again then, and Mr Davidson shot off the mark to take the first starter, which Open followed up with two bonuses on blue plaques. A second starter to Mr Davidson provided them with a very quickly taken full bonus set; he didn't make it a hat-trick with the third starter, which UEA lost five on, but did with the fourth, followed by two bonuses. UEA did finally get a word in with two starters in a row, including the first picture round, on postal districts and chemical elements (been a while since that came up on this show); two correct bonuses from both took the scores to 60-35. But a penalty allowed Mr Davidson in once again, increasing Open's lead further. UEA were at least picking up points now, but Open were matching (and bettering) them. After the music round, on five movement symphonies, Open led 140-55.

Mr Tobin did ensue all four UEA players had a starter to their name, and they quickly fired out two correct bonuses; but Mr Davidson was, again, in like a shot with the next, which may have been only followed by just one bonus, but their lead was sufficiently strong that it didn't matter, for now at least. UEA took another starter, but no bonuses followed, and on the next, Ms Shiress buzzed, but the answer agonisingly escaped her just after she'd done so; Open duly swooped, and then went on to ensure yet another match where all eight players had a correct starter under their belts. After the second picture round, on paintings discussed by John Berger in his Ways of Seeing series, Open led 205-80. UEA did take another starter, and quickly banged out three bonuses deservedly to reach three figures, but another quick buzz from that man Mr Davidson and a full house of Open's own officially ended the game as a contest. A couple more starters pushed UEA to a good final total, but a late run from Open meant they had accrued their highest score of the series so far. At the gong, Open won 265-130.

Another excellent and high quality contest despite its one-sidedness. Very well done Open, another superb performance, which certainly stands them in strong stead heading into, what looks already to be, a high quality second round; best of luck there! Hard lines to UEA, who did very well indeed to get that score against such strong opponents; thanks for playing!

The stats: Mr Davidson was, by far and away, the best buzzer of the night with NINE(!) starters, while Mr Jennings was best for UEA with four. On the bonuses, Open managed 26 out of 42 (with one penalty) and UEA 11 out of 27 (with three penalties) and, for, I think, the fourth time this series, all eight players answered at least one starter correctly. (Incidentally, as pointed out by someone on LAM over the weekend, last week's show saw all eight players get at least TWO starters right, a superb, and ultra rare, feat that I missed completely; well done to them again!)

Next week's match: Christ Church vs Emmanuel

Only Connect continued the play-off round with one of its classic avoidable rematches, with the Roadies and the Stitchers meeting again. The teams were level on 4-each after the first round (I claim three on the Track and Field question) before the former took a narrow lead 6-5 after a tough second round. A better wall gave the Stitchers the lead 15-13 going into Missing Vowels, and they just about maintained that lead there to win 19-17.

 

Mastermind was won by Caryn Ellis, whose 21 points saw her finish three ahead of Seb Dwyer and Anne McElhinney (also on the current series of Brain of Britain) in joint second on 18, with Jonathan Paxton (formerly of OC last series) completing the line-up with 16.

 

Brain of Britain’s second semi-final was a very good contest indeed, with Dan Adler leading with 12 points going into the final round, only for both Jude Cole and, spectacularly via a 5IARAABM, Dave Cowan to both draw level in the final round and force a three-way tie! Mr Adler won that to take the second place in the final. Mickie Wynn-Davies completed the line-up with 5.

University Challenge 2023-24: Round 2: Match 1: Warwick vs Trinity

Good evening again friends, and welcome back to JOW! We've arrived at my least favourite round of UC, the sudden death second round when we lose good teams for good after a win and a single loss. Though, to be fair, given the very high quality of this year's second round line-up, we'll likely be doing that every week this series, so maybe not so much this time around. Oh yeah, and a slight correction from before: in my second round preview, I stated that at least one of the five teams that scored between 220 and 240 would be going out; this, of course, would only be the case assuming the four highest scorers all made it through, which they might not. Apologies for that slight error; thanks to Andrew B. for pointing it out. Anyway, one of those afore-mentioned four would be kicking off the round tonight...

Warwick beat Wolfson of Cambridge in a match of four quarters, three of which they dominated, eventually winning 265-140. They were the same foursome as before:

James Coe, from Coventry (originally Buckinghamshire), studying Chemistry

Luke Beresford, from Chesterfield, studying Maths

Captain: Matthew Bliss, from Solihull, studying British Urban History

Abby Akarapongpisakdi, from Bangkok, studying Film Studies

Trinity College Cambridge came through the repechage, losing the first game of the series to Manchester on a 175-each tie-breaker, but easily beat Southampton 245-120 in their play-off just two weeks ago. 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 Coe who opened the round with 'the Fischer-Tropsch process' (no, me neither); Warwick took two bonuses on robots. Mr Jaksina (who X pointed out to be wearing nearly the same outfit as Mr Coe!) took the next two starters, but Trinity only took one bonus from both resulting sets. No-one knew the first picture starter; the bonuses, on flags featuring a sunburst, also went to the Cambridge side though; two bonuses took their lead to 50-20. Two further starters plus bonuses increased this lead, prompting AR to give Warwick his customary 'plenty of time'; this time it worked, as Mr Bliss duly reawoke them, with another two bonuses following his correct starter. The music round, on classical works based on poems by symbollist writers, went to Trinity though (with AR berating them for not interrupting a piece with an answer, saying "This is a quiz, not a concert!"); they also took two correct answers, which took their lead to 115-40.

And the lead increased further as Mr Kang took the next starter, though just one bonus followed. Back came Warwick now though, as the Midlanders took two starters in a row for the first time, and allowed them to take 35 points out of the lead. Only for Trinity to duly take another starter and a full bonus set on former names of chemical elements. Warwick had found their range now though, and duly took another two starters, including the second picture round, on paintings depicting bears, after which they had cut the gap to 155-115. A starter and full bonus set gave Trinity more room to breathe, as did a forgivable penalty to Warwick, and meant the Midlanders would have to go flat out to stand a chance. And go flat out they did, as two starters and pair of bonuses cut the gap back down to 30. Back came Trinity with Ms Henderson quickly doing the honours, but just one bonus on monarchs who died after horsing accidents left the door ajar for Warwick. And Warwick went straight for it, taking two starters in a row, which along with bonuses meant they were just ten behind! A one-starter shoot-out: Ms Akarapongpisadki blinked first, but was wrong! Mr Kang swooped, and was right! And that was the gong! Trinity won 205-185!

What a fine contest that was; bravo, once again, to both teams for clapping each other at the end, well deserved! Well done to Trinity, and best of luck in the quarter-finals! Hard lines to Warwick, who would've been worthy winners too (third time in this blog's lifetime they've narrowly lost to a repechage survivor in the second round); a fine performance, thanks for playing!

The stats: Ms Henderson was the best buzzer of the night with four, while Messrs Coe and Bliss were best for Warwick with three each. On the bonuses, Warwick managed 18 out of 30 (with the night's one penalty) and Trinity 19 out of 31, and, for the second time in three games, all eight players answered at least one starter correct, which we always like seeing.

Next week's match: UEA vs Open

Only Connect began its play-off round with the Antiphons playing the Suncatchers. The latter led 5-3 after the first round (I claim two on the taxis question) and 11-6 after the second. Two perfect walls meant it was as you were, 21-16 going into Missing Vowels, and the Suncatchers increased their advantage there to win 31-19. (Congrats too to VCM and DM on the birth of their second child BTW)

 

Mastermind was very close indeed, with Tom Flowerdew and Paul Halliwell both finishing on 18 points, but Mr Flowerdew just edging it with one pass to Mr Halliwell’s two. Vicki Hingley and Gillian McLean also took part, scoring 11 and 14 respectively.

 

Brain of Britain began its semi-finals, with Mr Davies clearing up the highest scoring runners-up places by revealing the four tied for the last three places had taken part in an off-air play-off to decide who missed out. Colin Kidd took the first place in the final, a sprint in the final two rounds seeing him finish with 13, six ahead of second placed John Robinson. Gill Hollis and Ian Fennell, also competed, finishing with 6 and 4 respectively.