OK, Tuesday night it is this week. Hopefully same next week. And hopefully on Thursday I'll get round to that extra thing I promised you last week.
Anyway, last night's two competing teams were the Part-Time Poets, Nina Grant, Katie McGettigan and captain Jenny Harris, who narrowly pipped the Oscar Men in their first match, and the Surrealists, Jeremy Partington, Chris James and captain Jonathan Carter, who won a high scoring match against the Genealogists.
Round 1. The Poets went first, and kicked the match off with Eye of Horus: 'Pink Pinky', then 'Orange Clyde', then 'Red Blinky'; that gave it to them, they are the names of the ghosts in Pac-Man! Good call for two points. The Surrealists opened their account with Lion: 'Marsilius of Padua tract: Peace', 'John Terry 2005, 2008 & 2009: Year', then 'Flash Gordon: Earth', and finally 'British monarch: Faith'. They had it at the last one: they have all been or are 'Defender of the...' thing after colon. One for that. The Poets chose Water next: 'Liam Gallagher (guitar): Roll With It', then 'A ventriloquist's dummy (vocals): Lonely This Christmas', then 'John Peel (mandolin): Maggie May'. They suspected it to be something to do with miming, but didn't quite provide a good enough answer. The Surrealists saw 'Nobody (nothing): first 1:20 of Martha's Harbour', and offered that they were all mimed on Top of the Pops for a bonus. For their own choice, the Surrealists chose Twisted Flax, and got the music question: we heard The Hives, then Sting's Fields of Gold, then A Taste of Honey, and finally B. Bumble and the Stingers. They only recognised the second clue, and thus offered 'metals'. Not right. Their opponents saw the 'bees' connection for a bonus. For their own question, the Poets chose Horned Viper: '1 (Gaelic Football)', then '1 and 3 (American Football)', then '1 and 2 (Rugby League)', and finally '2 and 3 (Rugby Union)'. They didn't get it, their opponents did: they are the points you get for kicking the ball between the posts. Left with Two Reeds and the picture set for their own final question, the Surrealists saw some chicken being cooked, then a mathematical equation, then a poster for the film 'The Jerk' with the title removed; that gave it to them, they are all 'jerk', ie jerked chicken and the equation means 'jerk' as well. At the end of the first round, the Surrealists led 5-3.
Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Poets began the round with Twisted Flax: 'Europe: Dykh-Tau', then 'N. America: Logan', and then 'S. America: Ojos del Salado'. They didn't get this, nor did their opponents, and I can't say I'm surprised. They are the second highest peaks on each continent in order of size, so 'Asia: Godwin-Austen', or 'Asia: K2', would be fourth. The Surrealists chose Horned Viper next: '1st: 5p and 10p', then '2nd: 50p', and then '3rd: 1/2p, 1p and 2p'. They saw it to be issues of decimal coins, and so '4th: 20p' for two points. The Poets chose Lion next: 'Nicholas I', then 'Alexander II', and then 'Alexander III'. They saw the sequence to be the final tsars of Russia, so 'Nicholas II' would be fourth, for two points. The Surrealists chose Eye of Horus next: 'support for (e.g.) database management, web development', then 'Fortran, ALGOL, COBOL, etc', and then 'Assembly languages'. They tried 'Compiler languages'; not right. Their opponents didn't know it either. The sequence is 4th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st-generation programming languages, so 'Machine languages' would come fourth. For their final choice, the Poets chose Water, and got the picture set: we saw Edward Scissorhands, then Andrew Castle; they spotted it to be the Queen's children in reverse order of age, so offered 'Charles Dickens' for three points. Left with Two Reeds, the Surrealists saw '2nd: D', then '3rd: E flat'; they thought it might be simply notes going up, and offered '5th: F sharp'. Not right. The Poets saw '4th: B flat', but were none the wiser. The sequence is Beethoven symphonies, so '5th: C minor' would complete the set. At the end of the second round, the Poets led 8-7.
On to the Walls. The Surrealists went first, and chose to tackle the Lion wall. After looking over the clues, they quickly had their first set: 'Slip', 'Square', 'Yorker' and 'Ball' are cricketing terms. A second set came shortly afterwards: 'Baffle', 'Puzzle', 'Bewilder' and 'Stump' are words meaning 'confuse'. They looked over the final clues, and resolved matters with plenty time to spare: 'Darby', 'Eddy', 'Smith' and 'Fox' are surnames of founders of Christian movements, while 'Murdoch', 'Barker', 'Wesley' and 'Lively' are surnames of female novelists. A full ten there then.
The Poets thus set to work on the Water wall knowing what they had to do. They quickly had their first group in place: 'Scull', 'Stroke', 'Crab' and 'Blade' are rowing terms. They then spotted a link of famous Brians, and after a couple of misfires slotted in 'Blessed', 'Lara', 'May' and 'Cox'. The final clues didn't take long for them to work out either: 'National', 'Piano', 'Cru' and 'Canyon' can all follow 'Grand', while 'Clough', 'Chasm', 'Gorge' and 'Gulch' are names for a ravine. Another full ten, which gave them a slender lead of 18-17 going into the final round.
So, Missing Vowels, once again, would be the determinator. 'Things you can be between', such as 'THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA', went to the Surrealists 3-1. 'A Tom Hanks co-star and the film they co-starred in' went to the Surrealists 3-0. 'Things involving 13' went to the Poets 2-0, and time ran out on the final clue. The Surrealists won 23-21.
Another good close match between two even teams. Unlucky Poets, but nothing to be ashamed of at all in your two performances, so thanks very much indeed for playing. Well done Surrealists though, and good luck in the group stage!
Next week's match: the Beekeepers vs the Policy Wonks
And hopefully, I'll look into that extra matter of Missing Words later in the week.
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