Only Connect - Sudden Death match

The Globetrotters v. The Bakers

Drinking in the last chance saloon this week were the Globetrotters and the Bakers. The Globetrotters, Michael Reeve, Suda Perera and their captain Chris Clough, lost narrowly to semi finalists the Board Gamers, and then dropped the Pilots in their elimination match. As for the Bakers, they beat the Press Gang in their first match, before losing to the mighty Oenophiles in their qualification match. Closely matched sides, in my opinion, and I predicted to nobody in particular that this was going to come down to the vowels.

Round One – What’s the Connection?

The Bakers started the proceedings with Water. Now, we had the second femaleNobel Laureate in Science – who presumably was Marie Curie, the same woman who was also the first. Then the Leader of the second Labour Government – and here we all had it at the same time – they were the same person as did it first. The other two clues were the second superbowl winners, and the second rule of Fight Club ( which QI states is not the same as the first and second rule of Knight Club, but that’s another story). Horned Viper gave the Trotters Signwriting quill: condor – Welsh roofing slate: Empress – US hailstone: Softball. – then Champagne Bottle: Nebuchadnezzar. Like the Trotters this only became clear to me on the last. They are all largest sizes. Lion gave the music to the Bakers – and you never know, I would probably never have had the guts to gamble in the studio, but I did guess Heroes from the first clue, the Eroica, which for me was confirmed by the last – Holding out for a hero. The Bakers had it on the fourth. Eye of Horus gave the Trotters entirely sacred – note correctly – and I saw where the Trotters were going with English translations of latin abbreviations. However Enact a levy on pushpins kind of upset the apple cart, and the last clue was light-coloured bucket. Captain Chris had it with homophones – pail and pale – right write etc. Great set, and kudos for getting it. Twisted Flax gave the Bakers Brazil: forest – China:king – and with a rush of blood to the head the Bakers offered that these were all names of countries and their derivations. Nope. Italy: red haired and Germany : miller made me guess most popular surnames – da silva – muller etc. Kudos to me! Neither team had it. Two Reeds gave pictures and I didn’t have it. Neither did the Trotters, but the Bakers knew that these were all buildings that have won the Stirling prize. This took them to 5 against the Trotters’ 2.

Round Two – What Comes Third?

Eye of Horus gave the Bakers Yorkshire – Tyne Tees – and it looked like we were dealing with ITV regional franchise holders – border was the third. Going northwards geographically the next would be STV. Correct, and the Trotters took a bonus. Water gave them their own set of 4= indigenous minorities – 3=Developing countries – 2=communist countries – and so 1=Capitalist countries. I’ll be honest, I though they could have gone for this on the 2nd clue since it seemed rather obvious. Horned Viper gave Vincente Yanez Pinzon 1500 – Alonso de Ojeda 1499, and here the Bakers’ gambling instinct served them well, as they offered Columbus in 1492 – all leaders of successive expeditions to land in America. Twisted flax gave seed – endocarp – mesocarp and both knew what the connection was, but not the right answer. Anatomy of a fruit and I used my knowledgethat endo – inner, and meso – between or middle would be followed by exocarp. Lion gave pictures to the Bakers. This was lovely – the first was a Chelsea shirt with Major 90, and the second a Newcastle one with Blair 97. Obviously the last would be Cameron 10 – but which team colours? I didn’t know that he supports Villa, but the Trotters did. Good shout, and what a clever set. Kudos to the setter. The Trotters finished with sets of Boy George – George Harrison – Harrison Ford, and so obviously the next would be a picture of someone called Ford. Now, maybe Victoria showed a little lack of knowledge here. The team offered Ford Madox Brown, and she asked if they meant Ford Maddox Brown. To be fair she did concede a moment later that there might well have been a painter called Ford Maddox Brown. Well, Ford Maddox Brown was a Victorian painter, quite well known, and the grandfather of Ford Maddox Ford. So a good round for the Trotters, who were now level with the Bakers on 8.

Round Three – The Connecting Walls

The Trotters stole the water wall away from the Bakers who had already expressed a preference. At once they isolated poets laureate with Austin – Southey – Betjeman and Dryden. Sicknesses – motion – radiation – altitude and morning followed fairly swiftly. This left a lot of time to solve the last two lines, but these looked pretty tricky to me. After one failure they resolved a line of Iowa – Duffy – Saratoga and Missouri. They are US warships, and the Trotters had just stumbled upon them, and didn’t know this. Tricky set. This left eerie – ouzo – audio and queue. They knew it was to do with the constituent letters, but they didn’t get that they all have a single consonant. So six points there for 14 overall.

Left with lion the Bakers saw a set of diets straightaway, but didn’t isolate them. Instead they went for magic tricks with metamorphosis – guillotine – milk can escape – zig zag girl. Then Northern Ireland secretaries with Prior – Mowlam – King and Atkins. Rather surprisingly consider ing how quickly they isolated them, they suggested that they might all be comedians. They spent a little while working out what the ones left after they would isolate the diets would be. Then they isolated the last two lines at their first go. The third line was South Plan – F-Plan – Dukan and Zone, and these were the diets. Bikini – stethoscope – Braille and Daguerreotype almost slipped away from them, as they were looking at the names, but then realized that they were all invented in France. enough for 7 points, and a one point lead with 15.

Round Four – Missing Vowels

All to play for then, and the spoils would go to the fastest finger. Nicknames given to British cities fell 3 -1 to the Trotters. Famous Latin Mottos saw the Trotters lose a point, and gain one to the Bakers 3s. B movies fell 2 – 1 to the Trotters. The Bakers had just done it by 20 to 19. Very hard lines, and very well done to the Bakers.