Only Connect - Series 10 - Match 19

Bibliophiles v. Gamesmasters

The Bibliophiles, Richard Clay, Vince Milner, and Mike Hart, got off to a good start by beating the Q I Elves first time out. However in a battle of the Philes they lost narrowly to the Nordiphiles in their last match. Filip Drnovšek Zorko, James Robson and skipper Frederic Heath-Renn, the Gamesmasters also comfortably won their first match when they beat the Coders, but lost a good match against the Orienteers last time out. The stakes? On the one hand a place in the quarters, and on the other, bus fare home. Pre match form suggested that the Gamesmasters would be better on the vowels, and so the Bibliophiles needed to get a cushion by the end of round three.

Round One – What’s the Connection?

Captain Frederic of the Gams immediately opted for Hornèd Viper. Now, I liked the picture set this revealed. I didn’t notice, but it revealed Roy Liechtenstein’s Whaam! – but without the exclamation mark. Next we saw Messrs Ridgely and Michael – without the exclamation mark. That was a pair crying out for the wrong answer to be given. Thankfully the Gams resisted the temptation, and saw a picture of Allo Allo. At last it became clear with a road sign saying Westward Ho – you see how it works. Yes, only one point, but a point which might easily have been lost had they dived right in. Lion brought the Bibs OAT. Nope, me neither. JGB – same. – Bund – Huh? The last clue, Gilt, made it clear these were government bonds, and that was the answer given by the Bibs. Both teams were playing tricky sets sensibly. The Gams picked eye of Horus, walking straight into the music set. I didn’t get the first two, but I recognized Cinderella Rockerfella on the third. Cinderella was my answer, confirmed when the last was Prince Charming by Adam and the Ants. Ridicule is nothing to be scared of. Neither team got it. Twisted Flax gave the Bibs Queen Elizabeth II. Possibility overload there. Romeo Beckham didn’t make anything clearer. Neither did Mark and Carol Thatcher. The fourth clue, Macduff, made it obvious, just so long as you know the play “Macbeth”. The big thing about Macduff is that he was born by caesarian – it is important to the plot. Now, I never knew that the Queen or the others were, but what else could it be? The Bibs went for the same as me, and we were both right. The Gams took Two Reeds, and started with Eraser (28s). Both the Gams and I considered it was something to do with films, but needed the second – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (66s). I guessed at this point it was the relatively prosaic – this was the amount that the censors had cut from the named films. The Gams were barking up the swordfight tree at this point, but were sensible enough to take the third clue – Rambo III (65s), and Last Tango in Paris (10s). This changed their minds, but unfortunately they went for the length of screen kisses. A bonus for the Bibs was duly taken. Now, I took a five pointer with the water set. Kings of the Ptolemaic Dynasty was enough of a clue. You see all of the kings of the dynasty were called Ptolemy ( while all of the queens, I think, were Cleopatra). So they all had the same name was my answer. It was proven right when the next clues were Edward Heath’s Yachts – (Morning Cloud) – George Foreman’s Sons (George) – Philosophy Dept. of Woollamoloo Uni (Bruce) That was enough for a point, but had they had the courage of their convictions they might have had at least 2. Nonetheless they led by 4 – 1.

Round Two – What Comes Fourth?

The Gams picked Water to start this time. We saw a picture which I’m sorry to say I didn’t recognize as Julian Lennon. The second was Paul McCartney’s son James – and apart from the hair you could see a resemblance (although I didn’t). Finally Dhani Harrison. The Gams actually said that James McCartney looked like Sir Paul, but didn’t latch onto the set. Neither team saw it – required was Zak Starkey, Ringo’s son, although I’d like to think they would also have accepted Jason Starkey.  Captain Mike of the Bibs also voiced Hornèd Viper in the time honourèd fashion. Now, the first clue gave a real opportunity for a five pointer. After – 4^th then 6^th: The Silver Chair - a bit of thought I gave “1^st then 2^nd: The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe” As you can guess this is all to do with the Chronicles of Narnia. The Silver Chair was 4^th to be published, but actually 6^th in the order of events of the story. This is because two other novels were added – The Magician’s Nephew, and The Horse and His Boy, which fit into the series earlier than The Silver Chair. However, only the former goes before The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe. Phew – got it? The Bibs did for a 3 pointer. Now, Lion gave the Gams Bafta Awards to start. When they were given The Exeter Levels , then Mississippi, they figured out that it’s the words, and the fact that we have 4 As, then 4Es, and so on. So they offered any word with 4 O’s – having toyed with giving Boogaloo as an example. The Bibs opted for Twisted Flax, and this gave the innovative Music sequence. We had Sir Tom Jones singing “The Green Green Grass of Home”, then something which had blue in it. Then Orange Crush by REM. So – working on ROYGBIV we would have a song with red in the title – red sails in the sunset for example. Now, like Filip of the Gams, I was onto the next one from the first clue – Rod Laver. The court on which the Australian Open final is played is named after Rod Laver. SO working forwards through the year, the Arthur Ashe court would be the answer IF this was the sequence. The Gams took the second – Philippe Chartrier – to be certain, and then gave the answer for a 3 pointer. There was a potential three pointer in the last set for the Bibs too. Miss Harris didn’t help, but Mrs. Beale certainly did. – Mrs Butcher I answered, knowing that these were successive names of Pat from Eastenders. The Bibs obviously knew it was Eastenders, but not the right character. No bonus to the Gams either. Nonetheless the Gams finished the round having knocked a point off the Bibs’ lead, which stood at 9 – 6.

Round Three – The Connecting Walls

The Bibs picked the Lion Wall. They’d the cushion of three points already, but would need a good wall performance to keep it, or even better, to increase it. That’s exactly what they produced. Almost immediately they isolated the latin dances – Sarabande – Bolero – Flamenco – Fandango.The DEA – ATF – CIA and IRS – all US government agencies followed almost immediately afterwards. They discussed the others for all of 30 seconds, and then proceeded to isolate a set of sandwiches – BLT – Sloopy Joe – Pan Bagnat – PBJ. This left the last line of Corrina – Jamon – Reuben – Liar. Double each of those and you get the names of films. Exemplary demonstration of how it’s done chaps – 10 points gained without braking sweat.

The Gams needed an equally good performance on the water wall just to keep the gap at manageable proportions. Some nifty work very quickly separated the D Day beaches – Gold – Utah – Juno – Omaha. They could see a set of Tarot suits, but left them for a moment. Carpet – Roundabout – 8 Ball and Lantern they knew co0uld all be preceded by the word Magic. This left just the tarot suits, and the other line. They deliberated for a bit, then decided the last line would be space probes. Quite right. Finally happy the separated the tarot suits – wand – sword – cup – pentacle, which left the probes – Gallileo – Giotto – Dawn and Rosetta. 10 points. This meant that we had a 19 – 16 game, going into the vowels.

Round Four – Missing Vowels

The first category was Highs and Lows. The Bibs buzzed incorrectly on the first, and the gap was down to 2. The Gams didn’t know the answer, and buzzed too early on the next. The Bibs did know, and so increased the lead to 4. They took one more and going into Neologisms in “Jabberwocky” they were sitting pretty on 20 – 15. However the Gams took a full house of 4 on this set, and the gap was down to 1. Two football teams from the same city saw the Gams equal the score, take a one point lead , then a two point lead by the end of the round. 7 unanswered points, and that is why the Bibs needed a cushion. Very hard lines on the Bibliophiles, but well played Gamesmasters – good luck in the quarter finals.