Only Connect - Round One Match 2 - Celts v. Cartophiles

Only Connect Round One Match 2 – The Cartophiles v. The Celts

You know, back in the day when Gary, Lisa and I were originally applying for the 3rd series of OC, we originally thought we’d make Celtic roots our connection. Then we couldn’t make the auditions, Lisa couldn’t make the 4th series, so we recruited Neil and we dropped the Celtic thing. So it was nice to see another team picking up the idea and running with it. The Celts were University of Wales graduates Beverley Downes, Huw Pritchard and David Pritchard. As for their opponents, the Cartophiles, they were Colin Kidd, Mark Cooper and Josh Mandel. Colin is a Masterminder, so has some TV pedigree. Victoria reminded us that it will be au revoir rather than goodbye to both teams at the end of the show, since everyone gets to play again, and even teams that lose their first game can still make it to the semi finals, and then we were off.

Round One – What’s the Connection?

The Celts elected to take the first set behind two reeds. This was a picture set – showing the Alhambra, which means the red one in Arabic – The Red Fort – then the Moulin Rouge, and at this they had the connection that they were all called the Red something. The last would have been Red Square. Good start. The Carts picked Twisted Flax, and saw Mariah Carey +11, Princess Anne +5, Sam Taylor-Johnson +23, and this was the giveaway for me as well as the Carts. These represented the difference between these ladies’ ages and that of their spouses. The Celts picked Lion, which gave us Music. We heard Blue Velvet – Boogie Nights – and we both had the answer at the same time. The songs share their titles with films. A relatively gentle one that, but only if you knew the names of the songs. Water gave the Carts - His physiognomy is so grammatical – O, he will dissolve my mystery – He is the very pine-apple of politeness – and here I was thinking of Mrs. Malaprop – and so it turned out were the Carts. A good round for both teams so far. The Celts picked Horned Viper for ‘Civilization V’ – Chicken Wire – Graphite Crystal and Blockbusters Board. The last one made it clear that they were all hexagonal. One point which proved that it can often be worthwhile keeping your heads until the last clue is revealed. The Eye of Horus gave Puyi – Wilhelm II – which were clearly last Emperors of China and Germany respectively. Both of the teams had showed knowledge and tactical awareness, with neither team throwing away points by wading in too early, or by being too cautious. It was looking like a good match, and at this stage the Carts led with 7 to 6. Good round.

Round Two – what comes fourth?

The Celts began with Eye of Horus. This was 4: Freedom from Unreasonable searches. Then we had 3: Protection from quartering of troops. 2: The right to bear arms. They had it figured out that we were dealing with the US Bill of rights, and gave 1: Freedom of Speech . Good enough. The Carts followed this by opting for Two reeds. This was a picture set, and showed us the National Gallery. - Not "You’re the tops", again, surely? I wondered. No, the second was The British Museum – the third the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art , which made this the list of the world’s most visited Art Museums, and so the Louvre completed the set for a Celts bonus. For their own next set they opted for water. Alberto Contador led me to think about taking a flyer with Bradley Wiggins. The second , Andy Shleck looked good. If the third was Cadel Evans, then I was in the money. It was, and I had my best answer of the day. The Celts had it off two, and were looking very good value for this round. Lion gave the Carts some pictures. We saw a set of what it transpired were teletubies aerials! Kudos to the setter for that one! It beat both teams, but I’ll guess not a lot of people at home. The Celts chose twisted flax, and saw Receptacle – Ovary – Style. Hmm, I’ll admit that I was struggling here. The Celts had no idea. The Carts knew it was central parts of a flower, but they zigged with stamen when they should have zagged with stamen. Very bad luck, that one. To finish the round the Carts had horned viper. 0=Green – 1=Red made me think roulette wheel , which would mean 3= red. I was right! So were the Carts, who took the full set and this confirmed the answer for them. Even so this just meant that they had narrowed the Celts’ lead slightly, as they now led by 12 – 9.

Round Three – The Connecting Walls

The Carts went first, and given the choice they opted for Lion. I saw a set of named weapons at first. The Carts could see parts of a ship, and musical terms. The chip parts unraveled first, then they saw the weapons and took them out of the game as well. With some careful working out they unraveled the last two sets on the first go. Good work that. So they knew that Bilge – Hold – Galley and Wardroom were parts of a ship. The weapons were Mjöllnir, Sting, Hrunting and Excalibur. Victoria really wanted Magical weapons but she gave them it – quite right too. Cadenza – Coda – Bridge and Movement they knew were parts of a piece of music. This left Half-pass – Flying change – Passage and Piaffe. I’ll b e honest, I didn’t think it was quite ballet, which the Carts offered, but I didn’t have dressage movements either. Still, a good 7 points for the Carts meant that the Celts needed to do well on their own wall.

Given the Water wall to solve the Celts saw several categories fairly quickly. However they took a while to unravel their first set – Wallace – Burton-Race – Hollywood and Leith – all TV cookery judges. Then Portobello – Morningside – Jopp and Davidson’s Mains, which are all places in Edinburgh. Oyster – Black trumpet – Beefsteak and Blewit fell almost immediately, a set of edible fungi. This left Home – Lost – Everything –Haven’t Met You Yet which are obviously Michael Bublé singles. The Celts, then were obviously more than equal to the challenge. Their lead was now extended to 6 points, 22 to the Carts’ 16.

Round Four – Missing Vowels

The first set was Nuts and Seeds. The Carts took two to the Celts’ one, but they also lost a point for an incorrect buzz. Films starring Audrey Hepburn fell 2 apiece. Ten letter occupations went 2 – 1 to the Carts. Poisonous substances went the other way – 2 -1 to the Celts. The Carts took another two points on religious movements, but it wasn’t enough, as the Celts won 28 – 22. This was a good show between two quality sides, and it makes you glad that both will get another chance later on in the series.