OK, time to catch up with last week's Only Connect. Playing for the third place in the QFs were the Wayfarers, Barbara Thompson, Gerard Mackay and Matt Beatson, who defeated the Bookworms in their first match, and the String Section, Tessa North, Richard Aubrey and Pete Sorel-Cameron, who emerged on top against the Headliners in their's.
Round 1. The String Section went first, chose Two Reeds, and got the music question: we started with Muddy Waters, then someone I didn't recognise, then Katy Perry's 'California Girls', and finally 'Sweet Home Alabama' by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Neither team knew it; they are all riposts. (Woody Guthrie was the second piece) The Wayfarers kicked off with Twisted Flax: 'George V/A', then 'Heni s to the power of (-1)', then 'Blaise N/m to the power of 2'; at this point, they offered scientists whose names are given to SI units, and their surnames expressed as those units. Two points for that. The String Section chose Lion next: 'Numbat', then 'Echidna', then 'Pangolin' and then 'Aardvark'. They offered 'known as anteater', which was correct for a point. The Wayfarers chose Water next: 'Aardvark'(!), then 'Zagat', then 'Android'; they offered computer systems, which was wrong. The String Section saw 'YouTube', and offered 'things acquired by Google', which was correct for a bonus. For their own question, they chose Horned Viper: 'Walter Cromwell', then 'Gendry', and at this point offered 'illegitimate sons'; not right. The Wayfarers saw 'Joe Gargery' and 'St Dunstan', and offered 'blacksmiths' for a bonus. Left with Eye of Horus, the Wayfarers got the picture set, and saw two fish, then a builder's bum (yes, really!), then a baker's dozen, and finally a pile of apples with a note reading 'Best Apples 110 / kilo'. They didn't get it; their opponents offered 'two word phrases where the first word is a practitioner'. Correct, the fish being 'miller's thumbs'. At the end of the first round, the teams were tied 3-each.
Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The String Section kicked off with Two Reeds again, and got a music set again! Didn't recognise the first track, or the second, the third was 'Ruby' by the Kaiser Chiefs. They offered 'diamond'; not right. Their opponents suggested 'Gold' by Spandau Ballet, which was acceptable. They are wedding anniversaries, the first two songs being 'China in Your Hand' and 'Pearl's a Singer'. Mr Mackay then gave us a superb rendition of 'Gold', much to everyone else's bewilderment! For their own question, the Wayfarers chose 'Horn-ed' Viper, and got the picture set again: I can't really describe the pictures concisely, but the link was DVD region codes, with the regions they represent highlighted on a map of the world (3, 2, 1, 0). They spotted it at the third clue, and thus took two points. The String Section chose Twisted Flax next: 'Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz', then 'Caroline of Brunswick'; they offered 'Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg Gotha', which was correct. The sequence is royal spouses of the final four Hanover monarchs. The Wayfarers chose Eye of Horus: 'Starship Travel' they saw, and instantly spotted the link to be Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, and offered 'The Warlock of Firetop Mountain'. Correct, for FIVE POINTS! Superb stuff. For their final choice, the String Section chose 'Lion': 'The Royal Rascal', then 'The Dueling Cavalier'; they offered 'Singin' in the Rain', which was correct for three points. They are the Don Lockwood films in Singin' in the Rain. Left with Water, the Wayfarers saw 'Signal Iduna Park', then 'Bernabau', and then 'Wembley'; they didn't get it, nor did their opponents. But I did: it's the 'Nou Camp', as they are the largest football stadiums in Europe. At the end of the second round, the Wayfarers led 11-9.
On to the Connecting Walls. The Wayfarers went first, and chose to tackle the Lion wall. After spotting some connections, they isolated 'Weidenfeld', 'Simon', 'Thomas' and 'Chatto', which are the first halves of names of book publishing companies. They spent the rest of the time trying to tie up the rest, with little luck. With just seconds to go, a second group fell in: 'Get Lucky', 'Angel', 'Blurred Lines' and 'Drop It Like It's Hot' are all songs featuring Pharrell Williams. They were thus left to pick up missed group points: 'Hanging', 'Nappy', 'Uncanny' and 'Happy' can all precede 'valley', which they did, while 'Here', 'Mills', 'Divine' and 'Hills' are the final words of lines of 'Jerusalem', which they spotted when pushed. So, six points for that.
The String Section were left to untangle the Water wall. They too resolved their first group quickly: 'Sleuth', 'Tec', 'Gumshoe' and 'Prodnose' are slang terms for a detective. They also spent the rest of the time trying to resolve what was left, with no success, and were timed out. They thus also had to pick up bonuses for missed groups: 'Gene', 'Mel', 'Kenneth' and 'Dick' are the first names of actors in 'The Producers', which they knew, 'Zero', 'Lump', 'Capital' and 'Dim' can all precede 'sum', which they also knew', while 'Dau', 'Pump', 'Tri' and 'Dwy' are Welsh numbers, which they correctly guessed. So, five points there, which meant the Wayfarers led 17-14 going into the final round.
So, as seems to have been the case every week this series, Missing Vowels would decide the winners. 'Basic vocabulary in English and German' went to the String Section 2-0. 'Two TV shows concatenated', such as 'DOCTOR WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE?', saw both sides drop points, and thus the String Section took that 1-0. 'Popular mobile apps' went to the String Section 2-0, and that was that. The String Section won a great match 19-17.
An excellent match. Unlucky Wayfarers, but an excellent performance nonetheless, and best of luck in you play-off! Well done to the String Section though, and we'll see you in the QFs!
Monday's match: the Scientists vs the Athenians
I'll get on to that tomorrow. I'll also be talking about the representation of women in this year's UC at some point this week. Maybe Thursday.
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