Only Connect - Round One - Heat 2

The TEFL Teachers v. The IT Specialists

Last week the new series started in the best possible way with a fantastic match. Which was wonderful, but it did mean that this week had a lot to live up to. Mind you, bear in mind that this is Only Connect, and even the most everyday edition of Only Connect is still a hell of a lot better than anything you get almost anywhere else. So this week pitted the TEFL teachers against the IT Specialists. The TEFL teachers were Saul Jones, Emma-Louise Mutter, and captain Chris Sowton. TEFL, as I’m sure you know, means Teaching English as a Foreign Language. Their opponents, the IT Specialists, were James Kemp, Sally Wilson , and captain Lynne Ashcroft.

Round One – What’s The Connection ?

The Specialists kicked off with Twisted Flax, getting Sue Tilley – Dentist Byron McKeeby and Nan Wood – Lisa Gherardini – Anna McNeil Whistler.Now as it happened I knew that Sue Tilley was Benefits Supervisor Sleeping. Would I have had the guts to gamble on 1 clue ? Probably not, but the Specialists on all four clues knew that they were all models who sat for famous paintings – Whistler’s old girl being the last one. Two Reeds gave the TEFLs Desert Attack – MI-5 – Clue – which gave me a Clue – and Murder in the Calais Coach. They didn’t get it, but the Specialists knew that these were all American titles for British creations. The Specialists chose Lion, which gave them New Boy at Repton – The Rutles Lead Guitarist ( I had an inkling ) – ABBA’s manager – which gave it to the Specialists at the same time I was certain. All of these are called Stig. The TEFLS now opted for Water, and the music question. O Supreman and O Fortuna gave me the connection. It didn’t work for the TEFLs, but the Specialists made no mistake. They tried to further their lead with eye of Horus – and Santinho – Jesus – Guð hjálpi Þer ( and my passing acquaintance with Icelandic came in handy for me here) – and the clincher Gesundheit. They made no mistake, and so it was vital for the TEFLs that they got something from Horned Viper. Pictures of a Persian cat and an ottoman was good enough to give them Empires for 2 points. All of which gave the IT Specialists a useful lead, as the score at the end of the round was 6 – 2.

Round Two – What Comes Fourth ?

The Specialists kicked off with the Lion, and Stage 4 : Disputacious – Stage 3 : Argumentative : Stage 2 : Talky – Sounded to me like what my team go through when we don’t know an answer in the club. Neither team knew that these were from Byron’s definition of the stages people at a party go through – so the last would be silent, but the TEFLs guessed brilliantly for a bonus. For their own first set they picked Twisted Flax. The pictures looked a fairly simple set , of musical clefs. I guessed at treble – correctly as it turned out. The TEFLs were correct too, and they certainly sounded as if it wasn’t a guess on their part. Eye of Horus gave semiquaver in North America – Okta – Quart , and it seemed reasonable to suggest half of something. Quite a benign set that if you took all three. Two Reeds gave the TEFLs Tay – Morar ( and here I guessed Loch Ness ) and TEFLS guessed wrongly. Given Lomond as the 3rd the Specialists tried Fyne, but fine as an answer it was not. These are the sequence of largest Scottish lochs by volume. Ness doesn’t have the area of Lomond, but it’s much deeper – it’s not as deep as Morar, but its area is much greater. A definite bonus chance gone begging there. Horned Viper gave the Specialists Neck – Head ( Nose – I shouted ) – Short Head , and the TEFLs, given a bonus, made no mistake. This just left Water, and the TEFLs had . . . forever - . . . for summer - . . . with fever . Meant nowt to me, I’m afraid, nor the TEFLs nor the Specialists. I can only apologise. It was a great set, as these are all part of the lyrics to schools out – work through it yourself and you’ll see. Really nice sequence, that one. Just as last week, then , the second round had narrowed the gap between the two teams. The Specialists still led with 8 points, but the TEFLs were catching them hand over fist with 7.

Round Three – The Connecting Walls

The TEFLS took the Lion wall, and could see a set of slang words for face, but couldn’t immediately unravel the right ones. So they took a different tack – finding Poke ( pig in a ) – Hot Tin Roof ( Cat on A ) – Bonnet ( work it out for yourself ) and Manger. Then they found Tag – Unfriend – Share and Like from facebook. The faces were still there, and eventually yielded up Boat Race – Phizog – Smiler – Kisser, which left Block – Mug – Chip – Bun. The TEFLS couldn’t get it, and neither could I. A good old fashioned one this – all family names from the Happy Families Game. Ah yes. D’Oh !
The Water Wall only gradually yielded up some of its secrets to the Specialists. Types of electronic music were there, and they knew it, but it wouldn’t come at first. So they found Picket – Boycott – Sit-in and Walkout which they knew were all types of industrial action. Then right at the death they found the literary sisters – March – Dashwood – Fossil – Mortmain. When the wall resolved itself they saw that the music types were Ambient – House – Breakbeat – Industrial. This left Euro – Techno – Demo and Bureau . Neau – it wasn’t just the O sound – as the Specialists knew it was that they can be followed by –Crat.It was almost inevitable, then, that the teams would be tied at 14 each as we went into the missing vowels week. As my grandmother would say, it was déja vu all over again.

Round Four – Missing Vowels

Another tiebreak to come ? A distinct possibility. Films about sport fell 2 – 1 to the Specialists. Methods of advertising also fell 2 – 1 to the Specialists, who now held a two point lead. Circus performers followed , and for the first time in the contest the TEFLS took the lead, with 3 answers to 0. They also took the first two gadgets, and the fourth, and even though the Specialists took the third, it meant that they now trailed by 3. There was time for no more.Well, at least we’d avoided a tie break, and both teams had posted scores to be proud of. But in the end it was the TEFLs who took the win, 22 – 19, and go forward into the second round. Hard lines Specialists, and well played both.