The Teams
Harper
Adams University
Alastair Ward
Rachel
Henderson
John Owen
(Capt)
Will Jones
Strathclyde
Matthew Johnston
Kate Lochrie
Jack Stirling
(capt)
Tom McHugh
I’ll be
honest, I was not previously aware of the existence of Harper Adams University –
presumably named after the big guy with the enormous grizzly bear and the
enormous beard whose life and times were on ITV on Saturday teatime in the
early 80s. They were the first university in Shropshire. Well done! Strathclyde,
unlike Harper Adams, has been this way before but have yet t reach their first semifinal.
For the first starter the single word title of two gangster films always looked
like it was going to be Scarface and this gave Strathclyde captain Jack Stirling
his first starter. It would not be lonely for long. Records broken at the 2024
Uefa Men’s football championships brought the first full house of the contest.
I’m really a bit surprised that my early lap of hour answer of white noise was
not also given by either of the teams. I don’t know how I knew but when Amol
asked for the city which Andrew Marvell represented in parliament I thought ‘Hull’.
Maybe it was because he mentioned the river Humber in “To His Coy Mistress”,
lascivious little devil that he was. The Philip Larkin reference confirmed it
and Jack Stirling took his second starter. Cultural figures depicted in works
by Salvador ‘Hello’ Dali brought two more bonuses.After both teams sat on their
buzzers for a moment Tom McHugh identified the name Mercator with cartography.
American molecular biologist Nancy Hopkins provided 3 soporific bonuses of
which Strathclyde took none, but I guessed MIT. Harper Adams were in the
horrible position already of having seen Strathclyde take so many consecutive
starters that they were in danger of just accepting that they were going to be
beaten to the buzzer. It called for an early buzz – even an incorrect one – for
the next starter to break up the rhythm of the game as much as anything. They didn’t
get it. For the picture starter we were shown a federal map of Germany and Jack
Stirling identified the highlighted state of Saxony. The bonuses on towns or
cities that have ducks named after them
I thought would surely include Aylesbury, and I couldn’t help wondering
if the Austrian town of Rubber would also be included. It wasn’t, mainly
because I just made it up. Strathclyde did not add to their score, but they had
still completed a first period shutout as they led 70-0 at 10 minutes.
The next
starter was interesting as an example of a question in which all bar one word
could have been removed from it, and someone would still have probably been
able to answer it. That word was Solidarity (Solidarnosc in Polish IIRC) and it
enabled John Owen to get Harper Adams rolling. They were given a very gettable
set on the History of the People’s Republic of China, and they took two. Laphet
Tokhe, as well as being the star of one of South east Asia’s least popular
sitcoms, is also a Burmese dish that uses tea leaves. Sounds delicious. Rachel
Henderson took that one to continue the Harper Adams mini revival.
(incidentally, if Victoria Beckham had kept her maiden name, then Harper Adams
could have been named after her daughter. Or vice versa.) Film director Kevin Macdonald brought
just the one bonus. Jack Stirling took his 4th starter knowing that the Three
Mile Island nuclear accident took place in the state of Pennsylvania, or as it
nearly became, the ‘Ell of a State of Pennsylvania. ( I do apologise). A gentle
bonus set on female protagonists in the Old Testament brought a full house.
Nobody recognised Gladys Knight and he Pips for the music starter. Did you know
that they were first to have a hit with Heard it through the Grapevine? Oh, you
did. Ok. Surprisingly nobody had epigenetics for the next starter. (Don’t be
daft, of course I didn’t.)Jack Stirling took starter number five with portraits
by Frida ‘Monty’ Kahlo. The music bonuses on three songs played in the first
ever series of Soul Train saw Amol hang his head when they gave the answer of
Eartha Kitt for Curtis Mayfield on Move On Up. They took none of the bonuses on
54 year old soul. Jack Stirling took a 6th starter knowing the great
triumvirate of golf and it seemed as if Harper Adams were falling back into the
mindset that prevented even the Hail Mary early buzz that the situation was
calling for. Mataphor and analogy in 20th century science wins the
prize for the most unusual bonus theme in this show and it brought Strathclyde
one bonus. Would you believe I had a full house? I have always loved ‘Alice in
Wonderland’ which all of the answers referred to. John Owen recognised a description
of Iain Banks’ first novel, Gustav Mahler brought 1 bonus. At just after the 20
minute mark Strathclyde led by 120 to 45.
Various clues
brought Jack Stirling his 7th bonus with the adjective Large. I
wonder if they would have got to Eddie if we’d had the full question? A set on
poetry brought nowt. So to the picture starter which turned out to be starter
number 8 got Jack Stirling. He recognised the work of Botticelli.One bonus on
other depictions of the Annunciation extended the Strathclyde lead to 100. The
northernmost municipality of Germany gave Kate Lochrie her first starter. Cryptic
crossword setter bonuses proved to be insoluble. The next starter was basically
a long winded way of asking – what is the capital of Spain? – and Tom McHugh
won the buzzer race for that one. Italian American physicist, Fermi (who was
much more successful than his compatriot, Softi – actually I really am sorry
for that one) did at least provide a couple of bonuses. Jack Stirling completed
his set of 9 starters with the next on Nitrogen and Hydrogen. The Lake District
brought two bonuses to leave Strathclyde teetering on the brink of a double
century. Tom McHugh’s answer of Francis Fukuyama saw them cross it. Which was
about it. The gong sounded just after the reading of the first bonus.
Strathclyde won by 205 – 45.
In all honest
this was not a great match at all. That’s the way t goes sometimes. For the
record Harper Adams recorded a BCR of33.3% while Strathclyde didn’t do all that
much better with 45.1%, but they won so many bonuses even this small advantage
was always going to tell.
Amol Watch
“His Dad’s
younger than me!” exclaimed a horrified Amal about the youngest scorer at the
Euros. You should worry mate. I’m probably old enough to have taught his Grandad.
Amol issued
his first encouragement to Harper Adams at 9:26. Did it work? Well, what do you
think?
Amol revealed
that as well as Bertrand Russell, his hero is Bob Marley. I’d love to have been
a fly on the wall for the conversation those two might have had.
Interesting
Fact That I didn’t Already Know Of The Week
I have heard
of crossword compiler Torquemada, but I didn’t know he was the first to compile
a crossword made entirely of cryptic clues. Nice one!
Baby
Elephant Walk Moment
With the Latin
binomial Danio rerio, what model organism has Hopkins used to study the roles
of various genes in development and cancer progression? The organism is so
named for the striped patter on its scales.
Repechage
Table
|
Sheffield |
170 |
|
SOAS |
170 |
|
New College Oxford |
150 |
|
Lancaster |
145 |
|
--------------------------------------- |
|
|
Trinity Hall, Cambridge |
135 |
|
Grenn-Templeton, Oxford |
130 |
|
Durham |
120 |
|
Cardiff |
115 |
|
Linacre, Oxford |
115 |
|
Newcastle |
105 |
|
Bath |
70 |
