Tuesday 28 February 2017

Only Connect Series 12: Elimination Quarter-Final 2: Beekeepers vs Oscar Men

OK, time to start catching up with my Only Connect backlog. Tomorrow, from last Friday, the first qualification match, in which we find out the first semi-finalists, and tonight, from a couple of weeks back, the second eliminator match.

Playing it were the Beekeepers, Ian Wallace, Josh Spero and captain Mark Wallace, who overcame the Scunthorpe Scholars and the Policy Wonks but were overpowered by the Cosmopolitans, and the Oscar Men, Howard Freedman, Adrian Knott and captain Michael Slowey, who have won two, over the Maltsters and the Genealogists, and lost two, to the Part Time Poets in the first round and the Psmiths in the preliminaries.

Round 1. The Beekeepers went first, and kicked off the match with Lion: 'Miranda: Queen', then 'Eighth wonder: King', then 'Devised by Shigeru Miyamoto: Donkey'; that gave it to them, you add 'Kong' to the second to get the first. (Last one would've been 'Chinese Special Administrative Region: Hong'!) The Men opened their account with Horned Viper, and got the picture set: we saw the dinosaur symbol you get when your phone's WiFi goes on Google Chrome, then the broken robot you see when a Google page doesn't load, then the 'Fail Whale' from when something goes wrong on Twitter. They didn't see the link, instead suggesting the late great Douglas Adams was involved. Their opponents saw the sad television logo you see when you try to watch a removed YouTube video, and picked up the bonus. For their own question, the Beekeepers chose Two Reeds: 'Capitol Versicherung AG', then 'Les Papiers Jennings', then 'Dunder Mifflin', and finally 'Wernham Hogg'. They offered 'fictional publishers'; not right. Their opponents offered 'settings for various makings of 'The Office''; correct for a bonus. For their own question, the Men chose Twisted Flax, and got the music round: we heard some slow piano music, then 'Winchester Cathedral', then 'Chapel of Love', and finally 'Get Me to the Church on Time'. They didn't get it, their opponents did, offering 'places of worship' for a bonus. (The first piece was 'A l'eglise') For their own question, the Beekeepers chose Water: 'Q (Turkey, 1928)', then 'e, v, [symbol I can't reproduce here] (Russia, 1917)'; they offered 'letters removed from those alphabets in those years', and picked up three points. Left with Eye of Horus, the Men saw 'Newly discovered moons of Pluto', then 'Apple-flavoured Mountain Dew drink', then 'Humpback whale tracked by Greenpeace'; they offered 'named after Norse gods', which was not correct. Their opponents saw 'Natural Environment Research Council polar vessel', and offered 'online naming polls that were hijacked', for a bonus. (The last one being the now infamous 'Boaty McBoatface'!) At the end of the first round, the Beekeepers led 8-1.

Round 2, What Comes Fourth? The Beekeepers kicked off the round with Lion: 'A kinder, gentler nation (41)', then 'It's the economy, stupid (42)'; they saw it to be campaign slogans of successive US presidents, so offered 'Yes we can (44)' for three points. The Men chose Two Reeds next, and got the picture set: we saw Val Kilmer, then George Clooney, and they quickly saw it to be portrayers of Batman on film, so offered Ben Affleck for three much needed points. The Beekeepers chose Horned Viper next: '1946 onwards: Post-War', then '1931-1945: Post-Vintage', and then '1915-1930: Vintage'. They didn't get it, their opponents did, offering 'pre-1914: Veteran' for a bonus, the sequence being classifications of classic cars made during those years. For their own question, the Men chose Twisted Flax: '129' (in brown), then '134' (in blue), and then '140' (in pink). They didn't get this, their opponents did: '147' (in black) is correct, the seqeunce being the score you get when you pot those coloured balls in a perfect game of snooker. For their own final choice, the Beekeepers chose Water: 'North Swindon', then 'Washington & Sunderland West', and then 'Sunderland Central'; they saw it to be the first constituencies to declare on Election Night 2015 in reverse order, so offered 'Sunderland South', which was accepted for the points, 'Houghton & Sunderland South' being the correct constituency name. Left with Eye of Horus again, the Men saw 'The Beautiful Game', then 'We Will Rock You', and then 'Tonight's the Night'. They didn't see it, nor did their opponents. The sequence is musicals written by Ben Elton, as the Men suspected, and so 'Love Never Dies' would be fourth. At the end of the second round, the Beekeepers led 14-5.

On to the Walls. The Men went first, and chose the Water wall to tackle. They fairly quickly had two groups isolated: 'Marx', 'Chuckle', 'Coen' and 'Everly' are famous brothers, while 'Chortle', 'Guffaw', 'Cachinnate' and 'Titter' are words meaning 'to laugh'. The final groups slotted in pretty nicely after that: 'Chair', 'Spin', 'Barrow' and 'Wright' can all follow 'Wheel', while 'Keswick', 'Aspatria', 'Kendal' and 'Cockermouth' are places in Cumbria. A well solved and much needed full ten there.

The Beekeepers thus set to work on the Lion wall. Spotting some links fairly quickly, it took them until just after halfway to isolate a set, and they managed two at once: 'Autumn', 'Melancholy', 'Grecian Urn' and 'Psyche' are the subjects of odes by Keats, while 'The Machine', 'The Magic Roundabout', 'Nightingale' and 'Michelangelo's David' are all linked by 'Florence'. The final two sets then came on the second go: 'The Flumps', 'Waybuloo', 'Noggin the Nog' and 'Engie Benjy' are children's TV shows, while 'Woolloo-mooloo', 'Bondi Beach', 'Paddington' and 'The Rocks' are parts of Sydney. Another full ten, which gave them a 24-15 lead going into the final round.

So, Missing Vowels to finish off with as usual. 'Things that avoid the Sun', including the topical 'LIVERPUDLIANS', went to the Beekeepers 2-0. 'Shakespeare players with a word changed to its opposite', such as 'TWELFTH DAY', was split 2-each. 'Things that can be abbreviated to two letters' went to the Men 2-1, and that was time. The Beekeepers won 29-19.

Another good half hour of quizzing, even if a bit one sided. Unlucky Men, but a perfectly respectable series of performances, so thanks for playing. Well done Beekeepers though, and good luck in the play-offs!

Next match, to be reviewed tomorrow: the Surrealists vs the Korfballers

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