The Teams
Jesus, Cambridge
Josh Kaye
Juliette Tindall
Hamish MacGregor (Capt)
Samir Aggarwal
UCL
Rachel Collier
Michael Fleetwood-Walker
James Salmon (Capt)
Louis Collier
The Tale of the Tape
So, what were the prognostications for last night’s contest, then? Well, I picked out UCL as one of the two teams I felt most likely to be destined for the semis. The other one, Bristol are already halfway there. I just thought that they would have a little too much firepower for what is in it’s own right a pretty useful Jesus outfit.
For the first starter, asked
for an animal I got it from the first clue, referring to talking the hind leg
off a donkey. Coming in after me Michael Fleetwood-Walker went for dog, losing
five. I think it was the allusion to Donkey Kong that maybe meant that Juliette
Tindall saw the light and gave the correct answer. Sweyn Forkbeard – now that’s
what you call a name isn’t it, boys and girls – brought them two bonuses. Godel
may have been a clever mathematician, but dying from starvation due to his fear
of poisoning puts him firmly into the stupid git category as far as I’m
concerned. James Salmon put his team on the board with that one. Systems of nomenclature
saw them mix up Flamborough with Flamsteed, but they still managed the other
two. Knowing Messier stirred me to an early lap of honour around the Clark
living room. You had to stay with the next starter, but once it mentioned the
General in Question shared his name with George Washington’s Virginia Estate it
became clear that this was Admiral Vernon. James Salmon took a second starter
with this one. Fowler’s (Harry? Robbie? ) Dictionary of Modern English Usage provided
two more correct answers to push UCL into the lead. Nobody recognised an
overhead map view of Rio de Janeiro for the next starter. James Salmon knew his
coelocanths when he heard about them, and took his third starter with the world’s
best known living fossil. This on the picture bonuses on three other cities
that are home to the largest favelas in Brazil. Both of us only managed to get
Manaus. Detection of residue on non-porous surfaces? Surely fingerprints I
felt. James Salmon zigged with blood, allowing Samir Aggarwal in with my
answer. Picnics in Art brought just one bonus. The mention of Laurent de
Brunhoff brought me to my feet shouting ‘Elephants! Elephants! That’s the Babar
man!” This all meant that the scores were nicely poised at 45 – 35 to UCL at a
little after the 10-minute mark.
Rachel Collier knew a pair of
creoles when she heard them. This meant that we had a UC special set on pairs
of words where the first letter of the first word is replaced by the next
letter of the alphabet for the second, as in cart and dart. We both got a
couple of them. James Salmon knew Corrie Ten Boom for the next starter and his
fourth. Bonuses on East Africa saw JP asking them to clarify which Kenyatta
they were referring to. Were there that many? John-Boy Kenyatta, Jim-Bob
Kenyatta and Mary-Ellen Kenyatta? Despite this we both took a full house on
this set. This was followed by the music starter where we were given a
none-too-pleasant snatch of Rigoletto, which was identified by Hamish
MacGregor. Three more excerpts from operatic depictions of storms saw us both
get Berlioz, but fail to identify Ethel ‘Who’ Smyth and Richard Wagner. Now,
had Borussia Dortmund not been a specialist subject in Mastermind only half an
hour earlier I might well not have guessed that Dortmund was where the
Bundesliga was formed. But it had so I did. So did James Salmon taking his
fifth. Bonuses on gothic church architecture beginning with T provide two more
correct answers. Primes – quantum computation – it’s all Greek to me, but Samir
Aggarwal knew that the answer was fifteen. W.H.Auden’s clerihews – hmmm, an
acquired taste I dare to say – brought one bonus. Michael Fleetwood-Walker came
in too soon for the next starter, allowing Jesus a free shot, but they couldn’t
dredge up Seine Maritime. James Salmon took his sixth starter recognising
definitions of anagrams of triangle. Bonuses on philosophy brought one correct
answer. I did know Emerson, who must have become a philosopher after he stopped
playing for Middlesbrough. It had been a ten minute period which UCL had made
the better of, and they now left by 120 – 65.
James Salmon took a seventh
starter recognising a lovely bit of Raphael – the artist, not the turtle. The
work of three more artists brought two bonuses. I didn’t know any of them I’m
afraid. Josh Kaye knew that the Dacians were in modern day Romania in Roman
times. Five letter anatomical words beginning with V didn’t help Jesus at all. Hamish
MacGregor knew that Teddy Roosevelt said to speak softly and wield a big stick.
Titles beginning with A Brief History Of – brought two bonuses and showed that
the outcome of the match was still to be decided. However James Salmon took his
eighth starter with chromatography. Bonuses on backgammon again brought UCL a
couple of bonuses. Josh Kaye recognised a wee bit of Richard III for the next
starter. A frankly rather difficult series on battles passed all of us by without
troubling the scorer. Nw, since Dee and Mersey were both mentioned it looked as
if the county in question had to be Cheshire. Michael Fleetwood-Walker found
his range and knocked that one to the boundary. Scotland’s great ways saw UCL
fail to score on what I felt was a distinctly gettable set. Never mind. Skipper
James Salmon soon took his ninth starter with the Beaux Arts style of
architecture. Artists and author with the surname Brown brought just the one
for Ford Maddox of that ilk. Hamish MacGregor knew that M as in MIC stands for
Methyl. That was it, though. The contest was gonged before there was any time
for bonuses, leaving UCL the winners on 185 – 115.
One felt that UCL were the
stronger team through the contest, and the stats seem to bear this out. They
managed a 54.5 percent bonus conversion rate, while Jesus could only manage
33.3 percent. Mind you, they had some very tricky sets in that. Well, they can
still make the semis, but have to win their next match.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t
Already Know Of The Week
The Comoros National Football team, who qualified for the
African Cup of Nations in 2021 have the splendid nickname of the Coelocanths
1 comment:
Starter watch:
Josh Kaye - 2
Juliette Tindall - 1
Hamish MacGregor - 3
Samir Aggarwal - 2
Rachel Collier - 1
Michael Fleetwood-Walker - 2 (1)
James Salmon - 9 (1)
Louis Collier
Winner: James Salmon
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