The Teams
Bath
Lewis Blakeborough
Sajjan Johal
Joni Wildman (capt.)
Luca Romagnoli
Southampton
Cormac Stephenson
Zain Mahmood
Florence Williams (capt.)
Ben Hermanns-Kermode
After two high scoring contests which may well see all four
teams involved playing in at least one other match, what was Monday night’s
third heat going to bring us?
Well, the first starter fell to Jodi Wildman of Bath who
recognised several allusions to the cardinal compass direction West. Soren
Kierkegaard yielded both of us just the one bonus. “Born in the year after
Turner, which British artist – “ always looked to be pointing towards John Constable.
To be honest both teams sat on their buzzer a bit and it wasn’t till his native
Suffolk was mentioned that Florence Williams came in with the answer. The playable
character classes in the 2014 D and D handbook were actually easier than they
sounded and provided Southampton with a full house. Ben Hermanns-Kermode knew
the German operation to rescue Mussolini – which only proved to be a stay of
execution for him (Mussolini, not Ben Hermanns-Kermode). Jellies in the natural
world brought two bonuses. So to an early picture starter and a warning sign in
English, Greek and another language. It surely had to be from Cyprus. Ben Hermanns-Kermode
thought so and was right. Bonuses on maps of islands with British overseas
military bases brought two bonuses. Luca Romagnoli struck back knowing that the
word finger could precede three other given words. Bath were able to answer two
of the bonuses on cities that are important stops on the Trans Siberian
Railway. This meant that the score stood at 65 – 35 to Southampton as we
approached the 10 minute mark.
Now, the words ‘Saul’ and ‘my father’ meant that the
speaker being quoted in the next starter had to be Jonathan. But was the
question looking for him or David as the answer? Well, it was looking for the recipient
and Luca Romagnoli was first in with the answer of David. A lovely UC set on
the saying ‘all that glitters is not gold’ provided two bonuses and narrowed
the gap to 10. As soon as Amol mentioned Metropolitan Cathedral Florence Williams
was in with Liverpool for the next starter. Bonuses on works involving the use
of the organ (wash your minds out with soap) only brought the one correct
answer. Nurungji in Korean cuisine is a term involved in a particular way of
cooking rice. There you go. Cormac Stephenson had that one. The Fischer-Tropsch
process (gesundheit) amazingly brought me two correct answers – more than enough
for a wheezy lap of honour around the Clark sofa. Southampton also took two
although not the same ones. With the music starter Amol was extremely impressed
that Cormac Stephenson recognised the stylings of Charlie XCX so quickly. More songs
dedicated to the artists’ musical collaborators again brought two bonuses. The
Mahavamsa is a notable work chronicling the traditions of Sri Lanka. Zain
Mahmood had that one and all of the Southampton team had correctly answered at
least one starter. Zoological loan words from Celtic languages sounded an
interesting bonus set but only yielded one to Southampton. For the next starter
three seemingly innocent words led Cormac Stephenson to give the correct answer
of object oriented. Fair enough. Cricket records in 2024 brought the two
bonuses necessary to extend Southampton’s lead to 100 points. The next starter
asked for a city, and it could have been almost anywhere until the mention of
the date 6th August 1945. That made it obvious and allowed Ben Hermanns-Kermode
in with Hiroshima. Nicknames of presidents of the USA followed, and they were
probably wise not to include any for the present incumbent. Most of which are
unbroadcastable. Southampton took two, missing out on Zachary Taylor. Sorry –
but every time I hear the name Zachary I can’t help thinking of Dr. Smith from
Lost in Space. So as the 20 minute mark loomed just ahead of us, Southampton
had extended their lead as the score stood at 175 – 50.
Luca Romagnoli got Bath moving again, knowing that
Argentina won the 2024 Copa America. A tough set on eponymous effects in Physics
yielded just one bonus. For the second picture round we saw a map of the
Elizabeth Line and Florence Williams was the first to identify it as such.
Other winners of the RIBA Stirling prize brought just one bonus, but to be
honest anything much more would have just been gilding for Southampton. No one
knew about hyperons for the next starter – quelle surprise. Luca Romagnoli knew
that if it mentions Aldeburgh then the answer is Benjamin Britten for the next
starter. The bonuses on direct carving really weren’t very difficult but poor
old Bath did not have a scooby. Nobody knew tawny as in owl and port for the
next starter. Ben Hermanns-Kermode knew that George Weah had been president of
Liberia. Black rivers brought a full house – and held out the tantalising
possibility that Southampton might reach 300 by the gong. Florence Williams
added 10 more to their score knowing that “construction” and “Galileo” has to
be heading in the direction of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The city of Bialystok
(Max Bialystok?) added another full house in quick time. Nobody knew
parallelogram was the answer to the next starter. Merciless Ben Hermanns-Kermode
was in very quickly to identify the Shatt al Arab as the confluence of the
Tigris and Euphrates. There was time for Southampton to add a bonus on a surface
feature of Venus, but no more, and the final score was 255 – 70 to Southampton.
For the record Bath managed a BCR of 40 while Southampton’s
was 66. No way to sugarcoat this pill, I’m afraid, Southampton were better on
both buzzer and bonuses. Hard lines to Bath, but remember, it’s only a game.
Amol Watch
Did you know that Amol’s favourite poem is Gray’s “Elegy. .
. “? Not a bad choice, but I can’t help plumping for the sumptuous perfection
of Keats’ Ode to Autumn.
Amol offered his encouragement to Bath at 16:53 – but for
once it had little effect. Bath seemed to have fallen into the mindset that
Southampton were going to beat them to the buzzer and as a result, for the most
part they did.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know of The
Week
An unetymological letter p was added to the spelling of
ptarmigan by erroneous analogy with unrelated words from Greek. In all seriousness
I had wondered why that p is there.
Baby Elephant Walk Moment
The Fischer-Tropsch process is a series of catalysed
chemical reactions used to produce hydrocarbon molecules, such as which class
of fully saturated hydrocarbons with general formula CnH2n+2. Please spell your
answer. (Ironically, I had this right, mainly through dim memories of UC questions
in previous years – alkanes often rear their complicated heads. So I’m not so
dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum)
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