University Challenge 2018-19: Series Highlights

OK, time to conclude my coverage of this year's University Challenge with my usual end of series highlights. It's been another fine series, that, unlike last year's series, where the first round was a tad unbalanced, was pretty consistent throughout.

So, lets get started with my usual selection of the best match of every round:

• First Round + Play-Offs: Plenty to chose from, but Emmanuel vs Glasgow just about takes it, with Mr Golfinos' 13 starter game against SOAS just behind.
• Second Round: Definitely Edinburgh vs U.C.L..
• Quarter-Finals: Bristol's narrow defeats to the two eventual grand finalists were both great, with Darwin's win in between them not far off.
• The Final Three: All three were great matches, so this is near impossible to chose. Probably the best trio of semis and final I've seen since I've been doing this blog.

As I say, a pretty consistent and enjoyable series throughout. Apart from the second round where there was one pretty obvious standout game, these were all tough choices.

So now to institution diversity. For the fourth year in a row, Cambridge sent more teams than Oxford, six to five. Celtic representation was down a bit on last year, with, for the third year running, three Scots teams and one from Northern Ireland, but no Welsh entrants this year. Five London entrants, plus ULIP, this year the most for some years; East London, the only non-University of London entrant, also the only ex polytechnic this series.

Highest score of the year by the length of the Severn Channel was Durham's 360 in their first round match against Strathclyde, the highest score this decade since our friend Cromarty(IV)'s Southampton side five series ago, in a match which broke all sorts of other decade records. Second highest was Darwin's 260 two weeks earlier. Pembroke take the unfortunate accolade of the lowest score of the series, 50, with Strathclyde and ULIP just behind on 55. Highest joint score of the series was 380 from Hertford's 215-165 play-off win over Exeter.

And so to the highlights reel. And not just humourous highlights this series, individual and team performances as well:

• Mr Golfinos' 13 starter game, the highest since Alex Guttenplan nine series ago!
• Clare's last second win over Hertford.
• Durham's record breaking win over Strathclyde gets the award for team performance of the series.
• Neither St Edmund Hall or York being able to spell Stephenie Meyer's name. Also, Mr Leo not answering 'Germany'.
• Mr Booth beating Mr Ojha to "Rogan Josh".
• Mr Breen saying 'Voltaire' instead of 'Volta'.
• ULIP vs Goldsmiths win the award for best comedy game of the series!
• "Truro's not in Yorkshire!"
• U.C.L.'s lack of knowledge of X Ray Spex!
• Mr Gurr's classic joke guess of "Deborah Meaden"!
• The five starter long tie-break!
• "The Bugles?" "No, it was the Buggles! Shame on you!" (Still think that was a harsh disallowance)
• Mr Hanson's "Philip Glass!"
• Mr Campbell Hewson's winning guess of "1984".
• And his other winning answer of "54" in the final.

If anyone else has any more, do let me know in the comments below.

So, that's it for another series. There's nothing else I really have to say right now, except my usual objections to pedantic interruptions remain. If I think of anything else to say, I will say it next week once Only Connect is done with too. For now, all you really need to know is that I'll be back blogging UC again for the next series.

Be back some time next week with my blog of the OC final, so see you then, whenever that is.

University Challenge 2018-19: Best Buzzer Per Team

OK, so another series of University Challenge is over, so time to look back at it. Coming up tomorrow, my usual highlights reel and thoughts on the series going forwards. Now, though, my annual round-up of the buzzer stats for every quarter-finalist team. Firstly, here is the best player for all eight:

Jason Golfinos (Darwin) - 50 over six matches
Freddie Leo (St Edmund Hall) - 44 over six matches
Max Fitz-James (Edinburgh) - 30 over seven matches
Owen Iredale (Bristol) - 24 over five matches
Alex Antao (Manchester) and Matthew Toynbee (Durham) -  19 each over five matches
James Hampson (Glasgow) - 16 over four matches
Connor MacDonald and Vedanth Nair (Emmanuel) - 13 each over five matches

And honourable mentions to:

Cameron Yule (Durham) - 17 over five matches
Robbie Campbell Hewson (Edinburgh) - 16 over seven matches
Ben Murray (Durham) - 15 over five matches
James Ross (Manchester) - 11 over five matches
Matt Booth (Edinburgh) - 10 over seven matches
Pushan Basu (Bristol), Dani Cugini & Ben Harris (Emmanuel) and Joe Hanson (Manchester) - 9 each over five matches

So that's a quick selection; I have full stats for all eight teams, if anyone is interested, let me know either below or on Twitter.

Back tomorrow with my usual highlights.

Only Connect Series 14: Third Place Play-Off: Poptimists vs Ancient Alumni

OK, the penultimate Only Connect of the series, and the return of the third place play-off! Glad it's back, especially this series, where all four semi-finalists definitely deserved one more game whether they reached the final or not, even more so as both semi-finals were very close.

Anyway, playing were the Poptimists, Oliver Levy, Bob De Caux and captain Matt Loxham, who defeated the Hotpots, the LARPers and the Durhamites, but were defeated by the Time Ladies in their semi, and the Ancient Alumni, Lindsay McBryan, Ailsa Watson and captain Dave McBryan, who overcame the Three Peaks, the Westenders and the Brews, but lost their semi to the Dicers on a tie-break.

Round 1. The Alumni opened the show with Two Reeds: 'Louise: Reality Bites', then 'Older Allie Calhoun: The Notebook', then 'Tommy's mother: GoodFellas', and finally 'Older woman in cafe: When Harry met Sally'. They suggested them to be their actors' only screen credit; not right. Their opponents correctly offered them to have been played by the director's mother, for a bonus. For their own first question, the Poptimists chose Eye of Horus: 'Strawberry', then 'East Riding of Yorkshire'; they immediately saw them to be linked by 'Hull', and collected three points. The Alumni chose Twisted Flax next: 'Gromit', then 'Salamanders on the Discworld', then 'Dilbert (usually)', and finally 'Hello Kitty'. They saw them to be characters with no mouth, and collected their first point of the night. The Poptimists chose 'Horn-ed' Viper next, and got the music set: we heard Public Enemy with 'By the Time I Get to Arizona', then Nina Simone with 'Why (The King of Love is Dead)', then U2 with 'Pride (In the Name of Love)', and finally Stevie Wonder with 'Happy Birthday'. They saw them to be songs about Martin Luther King, and collected another sole point. The Alumni chose Lion next: 'Messi in OG v Wales', then 'I'm issuing a view, also', then 'Moss in agave weals', and finally 'Amassing avowals'. Neither time saw this nice cryptic one: they are phrases where the consonants are in the same order as 'Missing Vowels', and thus would be permissable answers for the Missing Vowels clue 'MSS N GVW LS'. Left with Water, and the picture set, the Poptimists saw Eva Green, then Angela Eagle, then actress Natalie Wood (who they didn't recognise), and finally Carey Mulligan. They spotted that their surnames are golf terms, and collected the point. At the end of the first round, the Poptimists led 6-1.

Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Alumni started it with Two Reeds: 'Launch of Cultural Revolution', then 'Red Rum's third Grand National win'; they saw them to be events of 1966 and 1977, so suggested 'A certain Prince song is played a lot on the eve of Millennium', which was allowed for a 1999 event for the three points. ('Manchester United beating Bayern Munich in the Champions League final' would've been my answer there) The Poptimists chose Eye of Horus next, and got the picture set again: we saw a £50 note with James Watt circled, then Elijah Wood, and then John Travolta as Jesus Quantana in 'The Big Lobowski'. They didn't see it, and their opponents weren't quite there either: they are 'Watt', 'Wood' and 'Jesus', so a word representing 'Do' would be fourth. The Alumni chose Lion next: '123 Mock The Week', then '456 Toronto Fire Services', and then '712 Satisfiability Modulo Theories'. They didn't get it, their opponents did: they are phrases beginning with the letters of those days of the week, so their offer of '345 What The Flip' was acceptable! ('345 World Taekwondo Federation' was the model answer) For their own question, the Poptimists chose 'Horn-ed' Viper: 'Campari', then 'Aperol', and then 'Advocaat'. They didn't get it, neither did their opponents: they are drinks usually coloured red, orange and yellow, so 'Green Chartreuse' would be an acceptable fourth answer. For their final choice, the Alumni chose Water: '_ 4 _, then '_ 8 9 10 _'; they saw them to be numbers in between every second prime number, with the primes blanked out, and correctly offered '_ 20 21 22 _' for the three points. Left with Twisted Flax, the Poptimists saw 'Are you saying Mr Lewis is lying?', then 'So you are saying that Mr Lewis lied?'; at this point, they (and I) saw it to be Paxo's infamous interview with Michael Howard, so offered 'Did you threaten to overrule him?' for the three points! At the end of the second round, the Poptimists led 10-7.

On to the Walls, the Poptimists went first, and chose the Water wall. They spotted numerous possible links, and eventually isolated two sets in short order: 'Chunk', 'Mouth', 'Sloth' and 'Mikey' are characters from 'The Goonies', while 'Lust', 'Wrath', 'Envy' and 'Pride' are deadly sins. The final sets eventually slotted in after that: 'Gluttony', 'Earmark', 'Crackerjack', and 'Trumpeter' all end with boys' names, while 'Greed', 'Chuck-a-Luck', 'Beetle' and 'Craps' are dice games. A full ten there.

The Alumni thus set to work on the Lion wall. They immediately isolated 'Hastings', 'Redpath', 'Sole' and 'Laidlaw', which are surnames of Scottish rugby union captains. A second set, 'Mullet', 'Sturgeon', 'Dab' and 'Tarpon', which are fish, followed, and it didn't take them long to sort out the remainders: 'Menai', 'Cook', 'Davis' and 'Bass' are straits, while 'Skate', 'Truth', 'Mozzarella' and 'Primary' all end with girls' names. Another full ten, so as you were, the Poptimists led 19-16 going into the final round.

So, Missing Vowels would decide the game. 'Things that loosely rhyme with 'crazy'', such as 'PATRICK SWAYZEE' and 'FRANCO BARESI', was split 2-each. 'National capitals and an anagram of them', such as 'ROME AND MORE', went to the Poptimists 3-1, their guess of 'TEHRAN AND NATHER' being accepted in lieu of 'TEHRAN AND ANTHER'. 'Three members of musical families' was split 1-each, and that was time. The Poptimists won 26-21.

Good game, a pleasant interlude ahead of the final next week. Well played both teams, two fine series of performances, thanks very much indeed for playing!

Next week's match: the final! The Time Ladies vs the Dicers for the title!

University Challenge 2018-19: Grand Final: Edinburgh vs St Edmund Hall

Evening all. Not been a good day for quizzing this has. Firstly, on this morning's Popmaster, someone suggested that Stuck in the Middle with You was by 'Steeleye Dan'. Then, on Brain of Britain, none of the four contenders recognised the theme to Camberwick Green. That left Quizzy Mondays with the job of saving face for the day. And what better way to do that than with the University Challenge Grand Final! Two teams who had fought hard and played well to get this far; whoever won would be very worthy winners.

Edinburgh got here by beating Sidney Sussex of Cambridge, U.C.L., Manchester, Bristol and, in a close semi-final, Durham, who they also lost to en route. Hoping to win their first UC title and be the first Scots winners of the BBC era were: 
Matt Booth, from Bristol, studying Maths    
Marco Malusa, from Italy, studying Economics and Politics    
Captain: Max Fitz-James, from Burgundy, studying Cell Biology    
Robbie Campbell Hewson, from Edinburgh, studying Maths

St Edmund Hall Oxford arrived at this match by beating York, Clare of Cambridge, Emmanuel of Cambridge, Bristol also and, in an even closer semi-final, Darwin of Cambridge. Also hoping to win their first UC title were: 
Agastya Pisharody, from India and Basel, studying Material Science   
Marceline Bresson, from the Netherlands, studying Economics and Management   
Captain: Freddie Leo, from Berlin, studying History   
Lizzie Fry, from Worcestershire, studying Geography

Off we set again then, and the final didn't get off to the best start, with a penalty from Edinburgh; Ms Fry took the points for St Edmund Hall, and a single bonus on paperclips accompanied it. Mr Leo, so impressive prior to tonight, took his first starter of the night, and his side duly hammered home a full bonus set on literature. Mr Malusa got Edinburgh going in the right direction as he took their first starter of the game; a classic UC bonus set on the Periodic Table in Chinese provided the Scots side with a full house. The first picture round, on Venn diagrams of Shakespeare plays with a shared character name missing, went to Edinburgh, who took two bonuses this time, drawing the teams level on 40-all.

Mr Leo shot in like he has many times this year to identify 'Lagrange', and a second full set of bonuses took his side back into the lead. Ms Fry then took a second in a row for the Oxonians, but just the one bonus was taken this time. Mr Pisharody was unlucky on the next starter, buzzing to offer one Greek letter, then realising he'd been asked for two, and not having one. Five points off there, and Mr Campbell Hewson duly swooped with both for the points; bonuses on Iron Maiden saw Edinburgh restore the Twittersphere's faith when it comes to pop music on UC, as they took a full set.

The music starter was three pieces of pop music, all with a colour in their name, which come together top to bottom to form a national flag. Neither team got this classic UC question. The music bonuses eventually went to Edinburgh, with Mr Leo dropping another five on the replacement starter; they managed one of the colours and flags music bonuses, and now led 80-70. And it increased when Mr Fitz-James correctly, though he didn't think it, offered 'Agrippina' for the next starter; two bonuses followed, and they unluckily picked the wrong of two options for the other. And when Mr Malusa took the next starter, and a full set of bonuses on artist Elizabeth Catlett followed, they had a potentially match winning lead. But a penalty gave St Edmund Hall a chance to get back into the game, which Ms Fry duly took, and a much needed full bonus set kept the Oxonians in the game.

The second picture round, on artistic couples, went to Edinburgh, who took two and a half bonuses, which took their lead to 140-95. Another penalty gave St Edmund Hall another chance to close the gap though, which they duly took thanks to what looked like an educated guess from Mr Pisharody. Another classic UC bonus set on pairs of place names where the last three letters of the first and first three of the second are the same followed, of which they took just the one.

But Mr Leo then shot in with 'Gypsum', and two bonuses on computer science followed, putting them within five points. And then Ms Bresson put them on level pegging with a very quick buzz of her own on the next starter, but the Oxonians only managed one bonus, which was none the less sufficient to put them back in front. Next starter would surely win it: the teams were asked which number is represented by the Roman numerals that were also the first three letters of the city where Wayne Rooney and others were born. Both knew it was Liverpool, but Mr Campbell Hewson was first in with the right answer of 54. Bonuses on the Empress Theodora followed; Edinbugh took the first two... and that was the gong! Edinburgh won 155-140!

And so, to present the trophy to the winners, out came writer and UC alumnus Sebastian Faulks, who claimed he thought the questions 'staggeringly difficult', before doing the honours. And as the credits rolled, we had the usual grand final handshakes.

A great final, a fine end to another superb series, played well by both teams, bravo both for applauding each other at the gong as well! Unlucky St Edmund Hall, but no shame in a series of performances like that, they can go home with their heads held high, well done! Very very very well done Edinburgh though; most worthy champions!

The stats: Mr Fitz-James was the best buzzer of the final, with four, taking his final series total to 30. Mr Leo and Ms Fry, meanwhile, were best for St Edmund Hall with three each, Mr Leo ending the series with 44 starters, second only to Mr Golfinos' 50. On the bonuses, Edinburgh converted a great 18 out of 23 (with three penalties), while St Edmund Hall managed 14 out of 24 (with two penalties), so, as I sort of predicted, it was the bonuses wot won it. But well done both teams; a top end to the series!

And that's it! We're done for another year! Thanks to all who took part, plus Messrs Paxman and Tilling for another great series, here's to the next one! My usual buzzer stats and end of series review coming up later this week.

And, of course, we still have Only Connect to finish off as well; review of tonight's third place play-off coming up on Wednesday I hope.

University Challenge 2018-19: Grand Final Preview

Well, here we are again: another University Challenge grand final. After another excellent series played in great spirit throughout, and some some of the best team and individual performances of the decade thus far, we have our two finalists; they are:
Edinburgh: Matt Booth, Marco Malusa, Max Fitz-James and Robbie Campbell Hewson.
and
St Edmund Hall Oxford: Agastya Pisharody, Marceline Bresson, Freddie Leo and Lizzie Fry.

So, the main headline here is that a non-Oxbridge team has reached the final for the first time since 2012-13. How, then, did we end up with this final fixture?

Edinburgh comfortably defeated Sidney Sussex of Cambridge in the first round, then won a great second round contest against U.C.L. on the last starter of the game. They started the group stage with a win over Manchester, before losing their qualifier to Durham. They recovered with a narrow win over Bristol in the play-offs, and then faced Durham again in the semis, and this time it was they that emerged triumphant.

St Edmund Hall also started off with a comfortable first round victory, over York, then gave a near identical performance against Clare of Cambridge in the second round. Come the group stage, they defeated Emmanuel of Cambridge only slightly less imperiously than before, before recovering from a shaky start to beat Bristol in their qualifier. A titanic tussle against Darwin in the semis followed, ultimately securing the win and the final place on the last question of the game.

So, that's how they made it? Now lets have a look at their stats.

Edinburgh have played one game more to get this far, and have thus far acquired a total of 1,005 points, an average of 167.5 per match. St Edmund Hall, meanwhile, have 990 for an average of 198 per match. So, already, the raw stats are in their favour, considering them to have twice broken 200 comfortably in the first and second rounds, while Edinburgh have only done so once, in the first.

St Edmund Hall have also conceded slightly fewer points on average, 107 per match, to Edinburgh's 126.67 per match; even bearing in mind they have one fewer game going into that total, that still suggests a strong advantage.

When we come to the overall bonus rate, however, things fall back into Edinburgh's favour somewhat: despite having played one game fewer, St Edmund Hall have faced the exact same number of bonuses as Edinburgh, 160, and have only (I say only) answered 90 correctly, compared to Edinburgh's 103. This suggests that, should a close contest on the buzzer ensure, Edinburgh may just sneak it if that trend continues.

Speaking of which, again, despite the extra game, Edinburgh have actually answered one starter fewer than their opponents. But then, given Mr Leo's impressive buzzer form throughout, this is maybe not that surprising. Thus far, he has 41, the second highest behind Mr Golfinos' 50, while his colleagues have combined for 15. Edinburgh's stats are a bit more spread; Mr Fitz-James is actually the third best buzzer of the series thus far with 26, while his colleagues have all contributed strongly too.

This may prove key should Mr Leo have an off-day; his colleagues are certainly capable of picking up the slack, but could they do it enough should the starters fall better for Edinburgh as a whole?

The smart money, however, would likely be on St Edmund Hall to triumph. Like last year, I've set up a poll on Twitter that closes around the same time the final starts on Monday; at present, 61 have voted, and St Edmund Hall lead 69% to 31%.

Let's not underestimate Edinburgh though; as demonstrated when they defeated Durham having lost to them previously, they are more than capable of upsetting the odds. Who's to say they couldn't do it again?

Whatever happens on Monday, all we can hope for is a good contest to end the series. It's been another good one, full of twists and turns, with, as I said earlier, some superb performances both by individual players and by teams as a whole. Like the last two series, it's been a series that deserves a good close final, and hopefully, like those last two, we'll get one. Best of (retrospective) luck both teams!

Back on Monday with my write-up of the final; remember its back to 8:30, with OC back at 8. See you then, I guess.

Only Connect Series 14: Semi-Final 2: Dicers vs Ancient Alumni

OK, the second Only Connect semi-final, and the ante-penultimate episode of the show I'm reviewing in full on this blog. For now at least. A recent discussion on Twitter has made me curious about previous episodes again, and it may be worth going back to revisit some of the older series, like I tried to do with Series 1 many years ago.

Anyway, playing to meet the Time Ladies in the final were the Dicers, George Corfield, Joey Goldman and captain Hugh Binnie, who have defeated the Birdwatchers (twice) and the Brews to get this far, and the Ancient Alumni, Lindsay McBryan, Ailsa Watson and captain Dave McBryan, whose run to this semi has seen them beat the Three Peaks, the Westenders and the Brews also.

Round 1. The Dicers opened the show with Eye of Horus, and the picture set: we saw a cardboard box, then a lady on a bicycle, then a silhouette of Satan with an arrow pointing at his right foot, and finally six statues of Napoleon. Their offer of 'wrestling moves' was not correct, and their opponents had nothing to offer: they all follow 'The Adventure of the' to give Sherlock Holmes stories (solitary cyclist, Devil's foot and six Napoleons being the cryptic clues). The Alumni started their night with Two Reeds: 'Johnny Muridae', then 'Tom Felidae', then 'Peter Leporidae', and finally 'Jemima Anatidae'. The last one gave it to them: they are Beatrix Potter characters with their common names replaced by that of their order/family. The Dicers chose Lion next: 'sluggish, cold, and gloomy', then 'lively, quick-witted, or volatile', then 'characterised by hearty mirth'; they came in here and tried 'characteristics associated with children born on different days of the week', as in the old rhyme, but were not correct. Their opponents saw 'war-like', but had no answer: they are synonyms for frames of mind whose names are shared by those of the planets (saturnine, mercurial, jovial and martial). The Alumni chose Water next, and got the music question: we heard Borodin's 'Prince Igor', then the Prince singing in 'Snow White', then Prince Andrew singing Happy Birthday to Princess Eugenie, and finally Prince with 'Purple Rain'. Neither team spotted the link. The Dicers chose Horned Viper next: 'Birth of Hannibal', then 'Acres in a hectare (2dp)', then '4/94', and finally 'Every hour of every day'. That gave it to them: they are the things involving the number 2, 4 and 7. Left with Twisted Flax, the Alumni saw 'Zevk = Delight', then 'Moed = Courage', then 'Bagvaerk = Pastry'; they saw the first words to be translations of the second word into languages they are usually associated with, eg, 'pastry' in Danish is 'bagvaerk', and collected two points. At the end of the first round, the Alumni led 3-1.

Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Dicers started with Eye of Horus again: '4th largest: Rushmore', then '3rd largest: The Blues Brothers', and then '2nd largest: Blade Runner'. They saw them to be films set in the fourth, third and second largest cities in the USA, so offered 'Largest: Manhattan' for the two points. The Alumni chose Two Reeds next: we saw an outline of the Isle of Man with an arrow pointing upwards and an S above it, then the same outline with a right pointing arrow and an E to its right, and then the outline with a downwards arrow and a W beneath it. They didn't get it, nor did their opponents: they are the home nations that you reach if you head in those directions from it, so a left pointing arrow and NI to its left would complete the set. The Dicers chose Lion next: we saw an odd constellation style outline with an A at one of the dots, then a similar one with an H at one; they saw the lines to be linking consecutive letters of the alphabet, separated by the lyrics in the Alphabet song, and offered the correct outline for W-Z for the three points. Good question. The Alumni chose Water next: '1815 Alliance to counter Napoleon', then 'Beethoven's Concerto for Violin, Cello, Piano'; they saw them to be the Quadruple Alliance and the Triple Concerto, so suggested 'Beyonce song about ladies' for something 'Single' for the three points. For their final choice, the Dicers chose Horned Viper: 'Prop', then 'But'; they instantly saw it to be chemical prefixes for hydrocarbons in order of how many carbon atoms, so 'Hex' completes the set for another three points. Left with Twisted Flax, the Alumni got a music question: we heard the Tom Robinson band's classic '2 4 6 8 Motorway', then Manfred Mann with '5 4 3 2 1', and then '1 2 3 4' by Feist. Both sides knew it was something to do with the numbers in the songs, but neither quite saw what: the numbers in the titles add up to 20, 15 and 10, so a song with '5' in its title would suffice. (Cue a very bizarre rendition of Rex Harrison style 'Five Green Bottles') At the end of the second round, the Dicers led 9-6.

On to the Walls. The Alumni went first, and chose the Lion wall. They had a first set reasonably quickly: 'Rave', 'Beano', 'Bash' and 'Symposium' are words for parties. A second set, 'Chinnery', 'Lipp', 'Briss' and 'McQueen', which are surnames of League of Gentlemen characters, followed, and the final clues slotted in nicely after that: 'Handsome', 'Hipster', 'Shindig' and 'Chesterfield' all start with parts of the body, while 'Gorgias', 'Republic', 'Apology' and 'Crito' are works by Plato. A full ten there.

The Dicers thus set to work on the Water wall. They had two sets in the bag almost instantly: 'Haffner', 'Prague', 'Jupiter' and 'Linz' are nicknames of Mozart symphonies, while 'Priam', 'Aeneas', 'Paris' and 'Cassandra' are Trojan figures. After taking their time to work out the remaining links, they had the sets sorted: 'Browbeat', 'Hector', 'Badger' and 'Hound' are words meaning 'to hassle', while 'Sea Rat', 'Portly', 'Ratty' and 'Mole' are characters in 'Wind in the Willows'. Another full ten, so as you were, the Dicers led 19-16 going into the crucial final round.

So, Missing Vowels would decide who played which final match. 'Countries and their national animal' went to the Dicers 4-0. 'Things from Denmark', such as 'CARLSBERG' and 'SANDI TOKSVIG', went to the Alumni 3-(-1). 'Musicians who share or shared a birthday', such as 'ELVIS PRESLEY AND DAVID BOWIE' went to the Alumni 3-0, and that was time. 22-each! Another tie!

So, Mr Binnie and Mr McBryan against each other to decide the place in the final: YW NSM YLS SM'. Mr Binnie was in first with 'YOU WIN SOME, YOU LOSE SOME': RIIIIIIIIIIGHT!

A great match, bordering on all-time classic status I'd say, well done both teams. Unlucky Alumni, best of luck in the play-off. Very well done Dicers though, and very very very best of luck in the final!

Next week's match: the triumphant return of the third place play-off, the Poptimists vs the Ancient Alumni. Glad we've bought this back; if any group of semi-finalists deserved a third place match, it's this one.

University Challenge 2018-19: Semi-Final 2: St Edmund Hall vs Darwin

Evening all. So, the second semi-final, and the most hotly anticipated UC match in a long long time, between the two highest profile teams of the series, captained by the two highest profile players of the series, who were pictured having a good humoured tussle on Twitter beforehand, with the winner going through to the grand final. Hmm, feel like we've had a semi-final like this before...

St Edmund Hall Oxford ran riot through the knockout rounds beating York and Clare of Cambridge, then saw off Emmanuel of Cambridge in the preliminaries, before a somewhat off key showing against Bristol saw them only win by 20 points of the last starter of the game. Hoping to make the final and avenge the loss in the Boat Race last weekend were: 
Agastya Pisharody, from India and Basel, studying Material Science  
Marceline Bresson, from the Netherlands, studying Economics and Management  
Captain: Freddie Leo, from Berlin, studying History  
Lizzie Fry, from Worcestershire, studying Geography

Darwin College Cambridge also had a fairly straight forward run to the group stage, beating SOAS of London and Downing of Cambridge, but were also somewhat off the pace against Bristol, losing on a tie-breaker, before recovering with wins over Emmanuel and Manchester. Hoping to reach the final in their first ever UC series were: 
Stuart MacPherson, from Bothwell in South Lanarkshire, studying Physics  
Chris Davis, from London (originally California), studying Plant Sciences  
Captain: Jason Golfinos, from New York City, studying Asian and Middle Eastern Studies 
Guy Mulley, from Loughton in Essex, studying Law 

Off we set again then, and Ms Bresson showed that she had no intention of letting this be the clash of the captains that many foresaw by taking the first starter of the game; bonuses on the operas of Richard Wagner gave the Oxford side two bonuses to start with. Mr Golfinos opened his side's scoring with 'mercy', and his side also took two bonuses from their first set, on Hamlet's 'to be or not to be' speech. A second starter to the Darwin captain gave his side the lead, and, again, two of the resulting bonuses followed. The first picture round, on structures discovered by Dorothy Hodgkin, went to St Edmund Hall, Mr Leo opening his account for the night; once again, two bonuses followed, tying the scores at 40-each.

St Edmund Hall then took the lead with Mr Leo taking a second in a row; the bonus sequence was broken as just one from a set on punch cards followed. The Oxford captain had the bit firmly in his teeth, as he took a third in a row, and a full bonus set followed. Their advantage then pushed further ahead as Darwin lost five, and Ms Bresson picked up the drop; French departements cropped up as a bonus topic once again, and one bonus was taken. Mr Mulley finally reawoke Darwin on the next starter, but his side got nothing from a complicated bonus set on months and chemical symbols.

The music round, on 20th century secular cantatas, went to St Edmund Hall, who took two bonuses, which increased their lead to 115-45. Mr Golfinos gave Paxo a good laugh when he buzzed on the next starter, but then realised he didn't have an answer to give! Mr Leo had one, but it was wrong. Mr Golfinos did have the right answer to the next starter though, and bonuses on Sofia Coppola (another regular bonus subject this series) gave Darwin one correct answers. Back came Mr Leo, and a full set of bonuses put them into a potentially match winning lead. But Mr Golfinos kept his side in it by taking the next starter, and two bonuses went with it, unluckily narrowly missing the third.

The second picture round, on authors who have won the Benson medal, went to Darwin, who took one correct bonus, and gave us a classic line of "I don't look at pictures of them, I just read their books!"! The now trailed 140-95, but Mr Golfinos took the next starter to take them into triple figures; no bonuses followed though.

And when Mr Pisharody took the next starter, with one bonus following, you suspected that might be game over. Or maybe not, as Mr Golfinos very quickly took the next starter, and the side quickly ran out a full set of bonuses on football clubs with classical names. There was life in the game yet, as Mr Golfinos took the next starter and one bonus put them just ten behind. Next starter would surely win it; Mr MacPherson did the right thing and took an early guess, but was wrong and dropped five. Mr Leo took the points, and that was game over. At the gong, St Edmund Hall won 165-140.

A great contest, well played both teams, both of whom would've been worthy finalists. Unlucky Darwin, but a fine performance to go out on after a superb series of performances, no shame in going out after a game like that, thanks very much indeed for playing. Very very well done St Edmund Hall though, and very very very best of luck in the final next week!

The stats: Mr Golfinos was, once again, the best buzzer of the night with eight, ending the series with 50 (surely the best haul ever from a member of a non-winning team), leaving Mr Leo, best for his side once again with six, needing ten next week to beat him to the title of best buzzer of the series. On the bonuses, St Edmund Hall converted 15 out of 25, while Darwin managed 12 out of 27 (with two penalties); that's how close it was, but well done both sides, a top game!

Next week's match: the final! Edinburgh vs St Edmund Hall. Hopefully a great end to a fine series!

Only Connect's second semi-final tonight was arguably even more tense than that! Review on Wednesday I hope.