University Challenge 2024 Round Two - Warwick v. Trinity, Cambridge

The Teams

Warwick

James Coe

Luke Beresford

Matthew Bliss (Capt)

Abby Akarapongpisakdi

Trinity, Cambridge

Sarah Henderson

Agnijo Banerjee

Ryan Joonsuk Kang (Capt)

Jeremi Jaksina

So a mere fortnight after their triumphant return in the repechage Trinity came looking to repeat and to gain their place in the quarters. First blood fell to Warwick though, and James Coe who knew the Fischer Tropsch process. Gesundheit. Two bonuses were taken on notable real-life robots. Nobody knew about he philosophical term disenchantment for the next starter. Jeremi Jaksina took the first points for Trinity, knowing that the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo are from Argentina. Writers who have been the subject of biographies by Hermione Lee brought just the one bonus. Jeremi Jaksina took a double, recognising the description of various women with the given name Rosa. I was waiting for Kleb, but it never came. TV shows linked by the US state of Oklahoma brought us both just the one bonus. Nobody knew a sunrise flag on a green background was used by the independence movement in Ireland prior to independence. Sarah Henderson knew that the Crawfords and Bertram’s feature in Jane Austen’s masterpiece, “Mansfield Park”. This earned the picture bonuses of three more flags featuring sunburst motifs. They took two but missed on the only one that I knew, Namibia. Ow, the chemistry starter that followed had a healthy slice of Greek Mythology attached to it or I’d never have known it was argonauts and earned myself a lap of honour. Agnijo Banerjee took that one. Bonuses on pairs of pendant paintings brought the first full house of the contest, and meant that Trinity led by 75 – 20.

Italian and Scottish symphonies were enough to put Sarah Henderson onto Mendelssohn for the next starter. Two bonuses on Thomas Cromwell put Trinity one question away from triple figures. Now it was that Warwick finally managed to win a buzzer race with skipper Matthew Bliss knowing the term simulacrum. Me? No – I could tell you about wasimacram, but that’s about it. The bonuses on subatomic particles earned me a bar to my lap of honour for correctly guessing neutrinos. (So much better than oldtrinos.) This was compounded by knowing cloud chamber and Thomson. I Can’t remember the last time I had a full house on science – if indeed I ever have. Warwick only managed two. I didn’t recognise the wee bit of Debussy for the music starter, but Sarah Henderson did. Other composers who composed works based on symbolist poetry Trinity took two which was two more than I did. Ryan Kang recognised the derivation of the word renegade to take the next starter. He became a little overexcited, raising his fists in the air in a momentary celebration. A dangerous thing to do with half the contest still to go. Playwrights associated with the Theatre of the Absurd (sounds like the plays we used to put on in dear old Elthorne High School in Ealing in the late 70s and early 80s. Not the plays – our ‘acting’) brought Trinity just the one correct answer. I would have answered Ionesco to all of them too in the hope of getting one. Just as Warwick were slipping out of the contest again, the skipper won the next starter knowing the method man, Stanislavski. A UC special set of pairs of places sharing the first three letters in their names brought just one bonus but at least they were moving again. James Coe maintained his momentum, providing the super answer of the prefix super for the next starter. 2 bonuses on cuisine followed. Agnijo Banerjee prevented Warwick from taking a treble, knowing that the most westerly borough of the West Midlands is Wolverhampton. They took a full house on chemical elements, and such was my science prowess in this show I took two of them too! But Warwick’s collective dander was up, and they struck back with Luke Beresford knowing that Mount Korab is the highest point of elevation in both North Macedonia and Albania. 2 bonuses were taken on grammar. I had a full house – thank you Lionel Rose (my latin teacher). Nevertheless, Trinity still had a commanding lead of 155 – 95 on 20 minutes.

Abby Akarapongpisakdi knew that the painting for the second picture starter was by a Russian artist. Three more late 19^th/early 20^th century paintings depicting bears brought two more bonuses. This set had taken Warwick into triple figures and they were stealthily creeping up on Trinity. Once again though Agnijo Banerjee beat them to the buzzer just when they were working up a head of steam. He knew the cryptocurrency Tether. Literature and Greek Mythology brought a full house, which lengthened the odds of a Warwick win somewhat. Nobody knew methyl violet for the next starter. Luke Beresford took the next starter on Egypt. This earned bonuses on Chad. Nice fella. No, not Chad the person, but Chad the country. TTwo bonuses meant that they were exactly fifty behind with four minutes left. Amazingly it was possible for them to draw. However they needed the next starter. They took it as well! Abby Akarapongpisakdi knew the Orange, Peach and others are all sporting Bowls in the USA. Only two bonuses on video games meant that they were still 30 behind and would need at least two visits to the table. However, with Sarah Henderson taking the next starter Warwick’s hopes wee all but extinguished. Monarchs who died from horse related incidents (No, not Catherine the Great! Wash your minds out with soap!) simultaneously ran down the clock and ran up the lead to forty five. Warwick needed two unopposed visits to the table. They got the first visit when Matthew Bliss correctly identified Emily ‘Cheap as Chips’  Dickinson for the next starter. Two bonuses on reptiles meant that Warwick really had to take a full house on he next set. If there was time. There was certainly enough time or James Coe to take the next starter. 2 bonuses on snakes in Shakespeare meant that the tie was possible if they took the starter. Oh, the narrow margin between success and defeat. Asked for a seven letter stage of cooking sugar, Abby Akarapongpisakdi came in with caramelisation. So close. It allowed Ryan Kang to seal the deal with caramel. Both he and Jeremi Jaksina put their hands together as if giving thanks to a deity. Rightly so for the contest was gonged before the first bonus was answered.

What a contest! What a fightback by Warwick! But congratulations too to Trinity who kept their heads. Warwick’s BCR was 60, while Trinity’s was 58, showing the closeness of the contes, which was played in an excellent spirit.

How is Amol Doing?

With 11 and a half minutes on the clock, Amol uncorked a dose of ‘plenty of time to get going, Warwick.’ That ole jedi magic was back, as captain Matthew Bliss won the next starter. As the contest went on the power of the Force became more and more evident as Warwick came within a gnat’s whisker of forcing a tiebreak.

I like the way that Amol shows his enthusiasm at the end of a contest – and that contest was certainly worth being enthusiastic about.

Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week

The name given to pairs of paintings that were painted together and meant to be displayed together is pendant paintings.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

Nothing really this week. I can’t nominate the most convoluted Science question because I got it right.