Only Connect - Quarter Final 3

The Edwards Family v. The Trade Unionists

If you managed to check out my belated review of round one, then you’ll remember that these are none other than the two teams that topped my unofficial table – the Trade unionists top scored in round one with 29, and the Edwards Family scored 27. Two other teams scored 27, but neither of them had such a good win margin as the Edwards. The stats of both teams actually bear very close comparison – the Trade Unionists for example scored 11 in the vowels in the first round, and the Edward 10. Anyone’s game.
The Edwards Family consisted of David Edwards, his daughter-in-law Charlotte Martyn, and her husband and David’s son, Richard Edwards, their captain. You’ll remember that I mentioned a little bit about David’s illustrious quiz career before. They won match 2, when they defeated the Inorganic Chemists. In Match 8 the Trade Unionists, Colin Whorlow, Nick Atty, and captain James Hastie, defeated the Rock and Rollers.

Round One – What’s the Connection ?

Put into bat first , the Edwards took Lion, and found a set of pictures which was much to their liking. Firstly we saw a mathematical formula, and then Brian Lara. Bang ! Its 501 they declared, and indeed it was. Victoria did explain the maths, but I didn’t jot it down, sorry. However I am reliably informed that it is the formula for the sum of the first 18 prime numbers - the afore mentioned 501. Brian Lara set a world record first class innings of 501 a few years ago. Great start. The TUs missed a set of Little Venice – Silver – Christopher Columbus – The Equator. A little surprising – Little Venice is one of those old quiz chestnuts for example. The Edwards knew that these were all derivations of the names of South American countries. They followed this up with the music, behind horned viper, and recognized a set of songs that won the Oscar for best song. You would have forgiven the TUS for buckling at this stage, but this outfit are made of sterner stuff than that. The fightback began when they found , behind water, Elbow finger – left feet of 16 churchgoers. Alright, not perhaps the most difficult set, but it still took real guts to go for it off 2 clues. They are all the derivation of imperial units of length. I will admit that I was nearly taken in by Readies – The Fighting Tigers – Owl Stretching Time the same way that the Edwards were. They knew the third as a working title of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. However just as I was about to say it, I realized that I knew Fighting Tigers as well, and it was Dad’s Army. No such revelation for the Edwards, and with a bonus to the TUs for the correct answer, the round was evening up nicely . Especially when two reeds gave them The Author of The Castle of Otranto – Poet of Odes and Epics – Rumpole of the Bailey . They knew these are/were all Horaces. I met John Mortimer once in BBC Lime Grove Studios – where I was a washer up in the canteen. I was going upstairs and he was coming down. I said “I love Rumpole of the Bailey , Mr. Mortimer. “ He said nowt. You pays yer money, I suppose. Back to the show. Both teams scored 6 , in what had really been a round of two halves.

Round Two – What Comes Fourth ?

The Edwards took 2 reeds to start. What they got was one of those sets where you all know the connection, but you have to perm one out of three or four for the answer. Conservatory – Billiard Room – led them to opt for the Library. Incorrect. The TUs tried the Ballroom, but that wasn’t right. Clockwise, the next room in Cluedo is the Study. Hard lines. The TUs saw a lung – a brain – a liver, and correctly surmised that the next would be the skin. Correct, although their reason – it’s the largest organ, was not the one which was given – that being that it’s the heaviest organ. Doesn’t matter – you only need the next in the sequence – it doesn’t matter how you get there. Twisted flax gave the Edwards Domitian - and although I’d never have had the guts to gamble in the studio, at home I had a five pointer. He was followed by Nerva , then Trajan. Both teams knew they were consecutive Roman Emperors , neither knew the next was Trajan’s cousin Hadrian . The TUS took eye of Horus, and Create – Read – Update led them to the correct identification of the CRUD database functions – with the d standing for Delete. I freely admit that I fell into exactly the same trap that the Edwards fell on the set behind Lion. I though that 11 – 101 were binary, and I too said the next would be 1001. No – the next was 131. The TUS couldn’t see the answer – they are the sequence of palindromic prime numbers, so the next would be 151. Tricky set. Finally water gave the TUs Speech and Expression – Religion – From Want – and they slammed it into the back of the next with from fear. What a round they had had – they now led by 12 to 6.

Round Three – The Connecting Walls

Both teams managed to unravel their walls within the time limit. The TUs took Lion, and found sets of - Bouncer – Flipper – Doosra and Slider – cricket deliveries : Wellard – Eccles – Tootsie and Willy – all TV Dogs : Boxcar – Ceiling – Sigmoid and Hyperbolic – all functions. Left with Jaffa – Alexandria – Barcelona and Toulon, all I could think is that they felt the obvious answer was too obvious – with Mediterranean ports being the answer they didn’t give.
So just a slight chance for the Edwards to pull back some of the lost ground. They unraveled the wall, finding :
Citizen – Omega – Pulsar and Ingersoll who manufacture watches : Pi – Riley – Crime – The Party , all of which can be preceded by Life of: Gamma – Alpha – Neutron and Beta – which are all forms of radiation. However even though they found Dent – Virgo – Osman and Willis , they didn’t get that they have all been quiz/game show adjudicators.
So the scores had increased – but at 19 – 13 to the TUs, the gap was the same.

Round Four – Missing Vowels

No mistake, this was asking a lot of the Edwards. Yet bigger leads have been overturned before.
Anything could happen. I have to say that this was the cue for a terrific performance from Charlotte from the Edwards. She didn’t get all of their points, but she got the lion’s share. We began with Bildungsromans ( has that word ever featured as a missing vowel ? I have half a mind that it has ) The Edwards took 2 to 1, but they buzzed wrongly with one . The second set on Wren Buildings they took 3 – 1, and just for a moment it looked possible. The 2011 additions to the basket of goods didn’t help either team that much – the Edwards took the only point, but it was running the clock down nicely, and that was what mattered to the TUs. Colloquial names for plants fell to the Edwards 2 -1, but that was it. When all the adding up was done, it was a win for the Trade Unionists by 22 to 20.

Very well played TUs. You deserve huge credit for keeping your heads after the Edwards made that fantastic start. Good luck in the semi finals . Very hard lines to the Edwards – a fine team in their own right.