Only Connect - Round One -Match Two

Globetrotters v. Board Gamers

The Globetrotters then, were Michael Reeve, Suda Perera and their captain was Chris Clough. Noen of them were known to me before the show, but one thing you know about Only Connect is that there are no mugs on the show. As for the Board Gamers, though, well Michael Wallace has already been good enough to leave a comment on the previous show here on LAM. I’m sure that many people will have recognised his teammates Hywel Carver , and in particular skipper Jamie Karran, as members of a very good and very entertaining UCL team of semi-finalists in the 2011/12 series of University Challenge. So whatever happened the Trotters were going to have their work cut out for them, it seemed.

Round One – What’s The Connection?

The Trotters put the Gamers in first, and they chose Lion. The music lurked behind it. They offered colours after all four, which was accepted, although shades of red and pink was the actual wording of the connection – Ruby Turner – Rose Royce – Pink etc. The Trotters opted for eye of Horus, and found Büsingen: Switzerland – Monaco:France – Berwick: Scotland and Swansea: England. Personally, I thought that Berwick: Scotland was the giveaway in this set. Suda Perera worked out too late that these are football teams who play in a league in a different country. Much kudos to Jamie Karran for voicing the second vowel in Horned Viper, but jet propelled unicycle – dehydrated boulders – invisible paint and iron bird seed gave them little reward. The Trotters didn’t have it either. In my head I was saying Looney Tunes, but I’ll admit it, I hadn’t quite pursued the thought as far as products of the Acme company used by Wile E. Coyote. Ah, poor Wile E! For me, one of the ultimate metaphors for the human condition, however I digress. Twisted flax brought 1968 Black Power Salute Athletes. Right, I thought – Tommie Smith John Carlos – holding shoes on podium – bowing heads, raised fist in black gloves. The second clue – Curley in “Of Mice and Men” made it clear we were dealing with single glove wearers. The Trotters took the third – Freddy Krueger, and had the answer after this. The Gamers took Two Reeds and we saw The World : 1804 – Facebook:2012 – Africa :2009 and China:1982. They didn’t have it. This is actually a great connection, and I was nowhere near it until the last clue. The Trotters could see that these were things, and the years when they reached a population of a billion. Great set. Water showed the Trotters pictures of people who bore titles in their names to which they were not entitled. This gave the Trotters a lead of 4 – 1.

Round Two – What Comes Fourth?

I hadn’t really been on song during round one, but started to pick up a bit in round two. Lion gave the Gamers 4: Parade’s End – 5: Forsyte Saga and they , as did I , though they should look for a series of books comprising of 7, such as Harry Potter, Good shout. Horned Viper ( unvoiced? Not sure) gave the Trotters Fred Dineage TV show ( How) – IPC Media Celebrity Magazine – (Now ) and both of us offered cow at this point. How Now Brown Cow. Again, kudos to the setter – lovely set that. Eye of Horus gave the Gamers diagrams of graphs. I didn’t get it, but Michael explained it perfectly and took it off two. Twisted Flax gave the Trotters Flight – Shaft – and they went for head. The Gamers didn’t have it – any darter would have told you it was point. I used to play for the Duke of Cambridge in Lewisham and had it off two. Water gave the Gamers Adenine – and they discussed this one a lot before going for thymine. A brilliant five point answer – these are the bases of DNA or RNA, apparently. Pictures remained behind two reeds for the Trotters. We saw a courtroom scene – Kevin Peitersen, a vinyl record – or LP ( and here I had it. ) – so an MP would be next. Well worked out. The Trotters had increased their score to 9, but the 5 pointer had worked wonders for the Gamers, who now led with 12 points.

Round Three – The Connecting Walls

The Trotters played first with the Lion wall. Like me they saw a set of Beautiful South songs quickly, isolating Perfect 10 – 36D – Rotterdam and A little time. Ford cars followed – Galaxy – Kuga – Escort and Fiesta. Almost immediately they untangled the other two lines, finding Parker Brothers – Mayfair – Waddingtons and Ravensburger, who all manufacture board games, leaving French – Brazilian – Hollywood and Playboy – which are all bkini waxes, apparently. The sneaky thing that Victoria pointed out about this wall was that it also contained a false set – of ‘adult’ magazines. Nasty.

The Water wall presented the Gamers with more of a problem, They knew there was a set of punk/New Wave bands, and a set of jars as well, but just couldn’t untangle any of the lines. Cole – Marr – Simpson and Oakley were all BBC political editors – Bell – Augusta Westland – Sikorsky and Westland all manufacture helicopters – Kilner – Leyden – Canopic and Jam were the jars, leaving the bands – Clash – damned – Buzzcocks – Undertones. So they salvaged 4 points by knowing the connections, but it left them behind the Trotters to the tune of 19 – 16.

Round Four – Missing Vowels

The first set Irish novelists fell 3 – 1 to the Gamers. This cut the deficit to a single point. Ranks in the British Army went two apiece. Phrases used in letting adverts fell 4- 0 to the Gamers, and sadly the Trotters dropped a point, which gave the Gamers a 3 point lead. Sweet and Savoury Biscuits only had time for one, and it fell to the Gamers. This gave them the win by 21 – 26.

Well played both. I’m very glad that the Gamers won, but I’m also glad that the Trotters aren’t out either – they’re a good team who could still do very well in the competition.