Tuesday 22 December 2015

Only Connect Series 11: Quarter-Final 3: Cluesmiths vs Railwaymen

OK, time to see if going straight from watching and recording stats for Christmas UC to writing up Only Connect is a good idea. I'm running the risk of ending up with a massive RSI here! Playing yesterday night were the Cluesmiths, Mick Hodgkin, Richard Heald and John Tozer, who defeated the Operational Researchers then lost to the Yorkers then beat the Mixologists, and the Railwaymen, David Smith, Bob Thompson and Sree Kanthamneni, who came straight through with wins over the Collectors and the Spaghetti Westerners.

Round 1. The Railwaymen went first, chose Two Reeds and instantly got the picture set: we saw a tree, then King Louie from the Jungle Book, then a drawing of the eye with an arrow pointing to some part of it, and finally a queue. Neither team got it: they are all words with four consecutive vowels, the tree being a sequoia and the part of the eye being the aqueous humour. The Cluesmiths began their match with Water, and got the music set: the only one of the three we heard that I knew was Bang Bang by Jessie J; recognising this, and knowing the second was Bang Bang by BA Robertson, offered that they were all called 'Bang Bang'. Good call for two points. The Railwaymen chose Eye of Horus next: 'Siemens (infrastructure)', then 'Volkswagen (savings scheme)', then 'Bertelsmann (propaganda)'; at this point, they offered that they are companies and the role they played in Nazi Germany. Correct, for two points. The Cluesmiths chose Horned Viper next: 'Sandra Bullock', then 'Nigel Farage', then 'Ernest Hemingway (twice in one day)', and finally 'Chelsey Burnett 'Sully' Sullenberger, III'. They correctly offered that they all survived plane crashes. (Farage famously crashed on the day of the 2010 election) The Railwaymen chose Lion next: 'ADN', then 'TVA', then 'SIDA' and finally 'OTAN'. They didn't quite get it, their opponents did: they are French acronyms that are anagrams of their English equivalents. Unlucky miss. Left with Twisted Flax for their own question, the Cluesmiths saw '1993 IAAF World Athletics Championships', then '2013 Africa Cup of Nations', then '2002 Ryder Cup', and finally '1994 Winter Olympics'. They didn't get it, the opposition did: they are the years when that tournament's cycle changed (the Winter Games used to be the same as the Summer, but it was changed in 1994). At the end of the first round, the Cluesmiths led 4-3.

Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Railwaymen went first again, and, again, kicked off with Two Reeds: 'MCMXCVI Germania', then 'MM Gallia', and then 'MMIV Graecia'; they got the wrong connection, and thus didn't get it. Nor did their opponents. It's the year and winners of the Euros changed into Roman and Latin, so 'MMVIII Hispania' completes the set. The Cluesmiths chose Lion next, and got the picture set: we saw Sir Sean Connery, then a young Daniel Radcliffe in the first(?) Potter film, and then David Beckham with an arrow pointing to his right foot. They offer anything, nor did their opponents. 'David Beckham's left foot' completes the set, it's Hugh Grant's prime ministerial speech from Love Actually. (Never seen it, don't intend too, especially after Will Self compared it to Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will!) The Railwaymen chose Twisted Flax next: 'Wireless interception', then 'Propaganda and 'press liason'', and then 'Overseas intelligence'; they offered 'Internal intelligence', which was acceptable. They are the responsibilities of MI8, MI7, MI6 and MI5. The Cluesmiths chose Horned Viper next: we saw 'UT' in the top left corner, then 'CO' in the top right corner. They offered 'NM' in the bottom right; not right. When passed over, that came next! Their opponents didn't get it. It's the 'Four Corners' states, so 'AZ' in the bottom left comes next. For their final choice, the Railwaymen chose Water: 'W (winter seawater)', then 'S (summer seawater)', and then 'T (tropical seawater); they didn't get it, their opponents did. 'F (freshwater) completes the set; it's the plimsoll line on the side of a ship going upwards. Left with Eye of Horus, the Cluesmiths saw for their own final question '4.40 p.m.', then '1.40 a.m.', and then '12.10 a.m.'; neither team knew it, and I'm not surprised. This was horrible: they are 1,000, 100, 10 and 1 minutes after midnight, so '12.01 a.m.' comes fourth. Too hard, even for the QFs! At the end of the second round, the teams were tied at 5-each.

On to the Walls then. The Cluesmiths went first, and chose the Lion wall to tackle. They quickly isolated 'Wertmuller', 'Coppola', 'Campion' and 'Bigelow', which are surnames of female film directors, and then 'Sunset', 'Hollywood', 'Ventura' and 'Wilshire', which are Los Angeles boulevards. They took their time looking over what was left, and soon worked it out: 'Umbrella', 'Geodesic', 'Gonbad' and 'Onion' are domes, while 'Allinson', 'Farriner', 'Poilane' and 'The Little Red Hen' are, not brands of bread, like they said, but bakers. So, just one mistake was good going considering how tough that was, so seven points.

The Railwaymen were left with the Water wall to try and assemble. They spotted some links, but had trouble working them out. Eventually, they isolated 'Gala', 'Twelfth', 'Bonfire' and 'Hen', which can all precede 'night'. They couldn't work anything else out in the allotted time, so were left to collect bonuses: 'Orlov', 'Churchill', 'Digby' and 'Tony' are animals in adverts, which they knew, 'Burns', 'Marx', 'Clarke' and 'Bender' are cigar smokers, which they didn't get, while 'Canal Street', 'Castro', 'Chelsea' and 'Darlinghurst' are gay 'villages', which they also didn't get. Just three points there, which meant the Cluesmiths led 12-8 going into the final round.

Still a closeable gap going into Missing Vowels. 'Things that can follow 'spare'' went to the Cluesmiths 2-1. 'Nicknames of French kings' went to the Cluesmiths 1-0, with the Railwaymen getting two right, but two wrong. 'They might use a needle' went to the Cluesmiths 2-0, and that was time. The Cluesmiths won the match 17-9.

Very tricky match, as you'd expect at this stage. Unlucky Railwaymen, but well played over the series. Well done Cluesmiths though, and very best of luck in the SFs!

Next week's match: a rematch between the Wayfarers and the Bookworms

I suspect I'll be reviewing next week's match in two week's time, as I'm going away next week. And, yes, I'll consider finishing Series 1 once this series is over. I'll be back sometime in the coming days with a mid-series summary of Christmas UC.

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