OK, here we go again with the first of this week's matches. The third quarter-final match between the Bankers, Rosemary Redhead, David Churchill and Michael Jack, and the IT Supporters, Robin Baker, David Harper and Morag Traynor. Note that the Supporters have slightly adjusted their name from the heat.
So, we started as usual with Round 1. The Supporters went first, and chose Epsilon: 'Kaisen Wilhelm II', then 'City of Paris', then 'Britannic' and finally 'Queen Mary'; they tried 'ships that won the Blue Riband', which was correct for a point. The Banker chose Gamma: 'Julio Iglesias', then 'Luciano Pavarotti', and at this point, they had a guess at 'former goalkeepers'; correct, for three good points. The Supporters chose Alpha, and got the music: the final track was the Lark Ascending by Vaughan Williams, but this wasn't enough to give either side that the other three tracks, which they didn't appear to recognise, all involved larks as well. The Bankers chose Delta next: 'Austria's F1 circuit', then 'top condition for ships', then '594 x 841mm'; they tried 'all prefixed by A', which was not precise enough. The Supporters saw the final clue 'London to Edinburgh', and this gave them 'A1' for a bonus point. They chose Zeta for themselves: 'Last royal house of Italy', then 'Gilbert and Sullivan', and they tried 'Savoy'; another good shout and another good earning of three points. Left with Beta, the Banker got the picture round; we saw a walkie talkie, then a hurdy gurdy, and both they and I spotted they were items with two word rhyming names. Another good three points earned. At the end of the round, the Bankers led 6-5.
So, on to Round 2. The Supporters chose Epsilon first: 'Kurt', then 'Louisa', and 'Friedrich' to finish; they spotted that these are the children in the Sound of Music in order of age, but mispronounced 'Liesl' as 'Lisa', and this conceded a bonus to their opponents. The Bankers chose Zeta for themselves: 'Trenton', then 'New York', and then 'Philadelphia'; they had a guess, as did their opponents, but they were both wrong. It was 'Washington DC', as it is the current capital of the USA, and the other three were capital beforehand. Fair enough; I recall the Philadelphia assembly being subject of a controversial UC question a few years back. The Supporters chose Alpha: 'Black', then 'Black Special', and finally 'Amber'; they didn't get it, but their opponents did, albeit for the wrong reason. It's 'Red', as these are BIKINI alert states for the MoD. The Banker chose Delta for their own question: 'Elfriede Jelinek', then 'Harold Pinter', and then 'Orhan Pamuk'; again, they didn't get it right, nor did their opponents. They are winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and 'Doris Lessing' would complete the set. For their final choice, the Supporters chose Gamma, and got the picture set: a newt eye, and I immediately thought this could be the Witches' spell in Macbeth; I was right, as we saw a frog's toe and a bat ('wool of bat') for the remaining clues, but none of us could get the right answer, 'tongue of dog'. The Bankers were left with Beta: 'Regardless of History', 'Monument', and 'Alison Lapper Pregnant'; they ran out of time before they could guess, and the Supporters guessed wrongly. The link is artworks on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, and fourth would be 'Model for a Hotel 2007'. At the end of the second round, the Bankers led 8-5.
So, time for the Walls. The Banker went first, and chose the Alpha wall. 'Bourbon', 'Garibaldi', 'Lincoln' and 'Abernethy' slotted in quickly as biscuits. They tried several times to find another group, but had no luck, and eventually were timed out. The groups were resolved. 'Angus', 'Costa', 'Orwell' and 'Orange' are literary awards, which they didn't get. 'Belgium', 'Grimaldi', 'Windsor' and 'Bernadotte' are European royal house, which they did get. 'Glamis', 'Urquhart', 'Balmoral' and 'Inverary' are Scottish castles, as both they are I got. So, four points there.
The Supporters tackled the Beta wall. After some unsuccessful attempts, they isolated 'Chekov', 'Kirk', 'McCoy' and 'Scott', all members of the Star Trek crew. 'Ross', 'Shackleton', 'Weddell' and 'Fuchs', all Antarctic explorers, followed. They tried to resolve the remaining groups, and managed to solve the remaining groups with literally a second left! They didn't know the Connections of the final groups though: 'Sulu', 'Yellow', Bismarck' and 'Solomon' are seas in the Pacific, while 'Dean', 'Walker', 'Baltic' and 'Whitworth' are UK art galleries. Going into Missing Vowels, the Bankers led 12-11.
So, it would all be decided by Missing Vowels. 'People who were beheaded' went to the Supporters 2-1, leveling the score. 'John Donne quotations' only had three questions, and finished in a 0-0 draw. 'Glacial geography' terms also finished 0-0, with the Bankers getting one right and one wrong. At the end of the round, and the quiz, it was a tie, 13-all!
So, the third tie-breaker of the series! (Amazing how, after there were three in the first series, there were no more until Series 6!) Messrs Churchill and Harper faced off over the clue 'VNV DVC'; Mr Churchill offered 'VENI, VIDI, VICI'; correct! So, the Bankers progressed to the semis; well done them! Unlucky Supporters, but a good effort nonetheless.
I'll be back tomorrow with the fourth and final QF.
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