TV Watch - Only Connect

Only Connect – Quarter Final 2 – The Wrights v. The Bloggers

Returning to do battle tonight were Pete, Rosa and captain Liz Wright, a family team who beat the Urban Walkers in a tight first round match. Their opponents were Chris Rubery, Steve Perkins, and captain Ruth Deller, otherwise known as the Bloggers, who blew away the Mensans in an outstanding Missing Vowels performance in round one. On paper . . . well, the Bloggers had the higher score in round one, based largely on a superb buzzer performance. Matches aren’t played on paper, though.

Round One – What’s the Connection ?

Wrights took the viper first. Don Quixote then Cold Comfort Farm didn’t offer me at home many clues, and the Wrights too opted for the next clue, the Rape of The Lock. I had a feeling we were talking about works that mocked other forms of literature here, and so did Liz. Good shout that for 2 points. Bloggers took Lion, and after seeing unloose and debone chanced their collective arm with false opposites. Unwisely as it proved. Given irregardless and the old favourite inflammable, Liz knew that they are all words which mean the same if you remove the prefix. Liz then took water. The word Inchon appeared in yellow. Then Archangelsk in White. Ports on rivers named after that colour ? I wondered. Then Jeddah appeared in red, and I changed rivers to seas. Black Odessa proved it. The Wrights were right to take all 4 clues, but they didn’t see the colour connection. The Bloggers saw the colours, but not why. Flax gave Bloggers the sound clues. They took all 4 but couldn’t connect them. The last two – Lust for Life and Pride ( In the Name of Love ) gave me deadly sins, which Liz had already latched onto for the bonus. They then took Eye of Horus, to reveal Greek for Laurel – Character in Metamorphoses . At this stage I was thinking – well in Ovid’s Metamorphoses its Daphne that Apollo chases, who gets turned into a laurel, which is why he wears laurel leaves, so is that the answer ? I was waiting for the character from Scooby Doo to confirm it. The Wrights were barking up the Kafka / Metamorphosis tree at this stage. Sadly it was the author of Rebecca rather than Freddie’s girlfriend which confirmed it for me.The Wrights had it at this point too. This left the Bloggers to finish off with reeds and pictures. Coral was followed by a pot , which made me idly speculate about wedding anniversaries. A rather delicious looking but forbidden pastry followed, then a somewhat less lovely creepy millipede. The connection was a thousand – millefiori, millefeuille etc. Cracking answer, guess or not. Into round 2, the Wrights led by 6 to 1.

Round Two – What comes fourth ?

Wrights do like to start with the viper, and this revealed buried alive, then encased in ice. David Blaine ? I wondered. Standing on top of a pillar confirmed it, but what came next ? Was it that damn silly thing by Tower Bridge where the silly so and so starved himself ? It looked like all Liz was going to do was supply the connection, but Rosa gave the answer about the glass box above the Thames, and the point was secured. The Bloggers opened the eye of Horus, and found exo – thermo – meso . They had a decent guess with endo, but it was not to be. I didn’t get it either. They are actually spheres in the Earth’s atmosphere. Good set, and its more obvious thank you might think once it's pointed out. Wrights took flax, and got the pictures. They didn’t get it, neither did I. Victoria was proud to announce that we had a mascot – Ascot and scot. Simple when you know it, not so simple when you don’t ! It would have led to cot. Bloggers chose reeds for vernal – aestival – at which point they knew they were looking for that kind of adjective to apply to winter . But what was it ? I knew it was hibernal – yes, bragging again, but neither side did. So to finish the last pair, the Wrights took water. 1 B =2S, 1S = 2M, 1M=2C. All manner of answers were considered, but none was offered. Captain Ruth confidently supplied a great answer – 1 C = 2Q , the letters standing for musical notes. Lion remained, and revealed 1 minute to 10, 1 minute past 10 , 11 minutes past 11, and they worked out it was time palindromes on a digital clock, for 12.21. Score now, Wrights 8 to Bloggers 4.

Round Three – The Connecting Walls

Bloggers took the Lion wall. Last time out they took a full ten . Quickly they untangled Mr. Benn, Alex Delarge ( who he ? ) , Oddjob and the Riddler, who all wear bowler hats. Impressively quickly they also found Von Richtofen, Vivaldi, Manchster United and Mars, which all were nicknamed the Red – (Baron, Priest, Devils, United- although not admiral, sadly. ) With three guesses and oodles of time left they sorted out one set, but cleverly didn’t punch them in too soon, in order to give themselves time to work out the last. Kelloggs, Tottenham Hotspur ( yes ! ) , France and Pathe all suggested cockerels, but Dinara, Realm, Randy and Levi flummoxed them. The connection was tricky. If you take the last letter from each you get foreign currency. Nasty, but clever. 7 points earned.

The Wrights were left with Water. Last time out they didn’t solve the whole thing. Quickly they saw a set of Blades. There were 5 possibles, but a little nit of jiggery pokery sorted out Sheffield United, Helicopter, Ice Skate and Razor. Methodically they uncovered gov – org – biz and museum , as all part of internet addresses. With three tries left they were on the right lines looking for galaxies, and Milky Way, Andromeda, Pinwheel and Cigar fitted the bill. Only blood, curtain, cart and sword remained. The connection, that they are all things that can be drawn, wasn’t too fiendish at all, but it still eluded them. They too scored 7. So going into the final round they still led, by 15 to 11. Now, intriguingly the Wrights had also scored well in their vowels round in their first match. So anything could happen.

Round Four – Missing Vowels.

Famous film taglines brought a point to each team. The Bloggers though had two right answers, but lost a point for not quite getting the tag to Alien right. 18th century battles saw the Wrights take a potentially match winning 3 points, to 1 for the Bloggers. Phrases often abbreviated on the Internet looked like it might give the Bloggers hope, though. Indeed a 4 point shut out pulled them right back into the game. They were a scant two points behind with male and female animals to follow. 3 – 1 to the Wrights kept their noses in front and a little bit more. Alcohols followed. Ruth buzzed too early, losing a point and giving a free run to the Wrights. They then took the next two, with only the last falling to the Bloggers in a rearguard action. The finishing line seemed close as we moved onto objects collected as antiques. There was just enough time for the Wrights to pick up another point, and in the end, secure a comfortable win by 26 to 18. Well played both teams, and congratulations to the Wrights, who take the 2nd semi final slot.

What's that, you ask ? Is it us next week ? Well, it might have been. However its actually a Children In Need celebrity led special - according to the Only Connect website, between the Wheel Men and the Larks. Sounds like fun. Our match, where my team the Radio Addicts take on The Britpoppers will be on in a fortnight.