University Challege 2024 Semi Final 1 - Imperial v. Trinity, Cambridge

The Teams

Imperial

Justin Lee

Adam Jones

Suraiya Haddad (Capt.)

Sourajit Debnath

Trinity, Cambridge

Sarah Henderson

Agnijo Banerjee

Ryan Joonsuk Kang

Jeremi Jaksina

It’s the semifinals, folks. No more second chances, and the only place to get a drink is in the last chance saloon. By the time we get to this stage it usually starts to seem as if both teams are very familiar to us and we don’t really want to lose either.

We began with a long-winded starter which might have qualified for the baby elephant walk moments, other than the fact I knew the answer early. Agnijo Banerjee took first blood for Trinity, with differential. Monarchs nicknamed the Conqueror did not include William of Normandy. Trinity managed one of these. Justin Lee came in too early on the Shakespeare starter that followed and lost five. Trinity could not dredge up Sir Andrew Aguecheek. Justin Lee knew Wu languages for the next starter. Imperial failed to score on German engineers – my childhood years as an Airfix modeler meant I knew Heinkel. Never mind though, Justin Lee’s buzzer finger was firing on all cylinders as he came in early recognising the names of leaders of the Children’s Crusade. I played the Pope in a play of the same name and subject when I was in the 6^th form. Ingredients in Bengali five-spice brought two correct answers to give Imperial a 10 point lead. With the picture starter Justin Lee took his third consecutive starter recognising the flag of Bougainville. Flags of three more indigenous movements in the Pacific bought a terrific full house. That man Lee took a fourth consecutive starter with Arnhem Land. Major Commonwealth cities that are not capitals brought one bonus. For the next starer on green chemistry Ryan Joonsuk Kang was just edged out in a buzzer race. By whom? Guess! Yes, Justin Lee, five starters in less than 10 minutes. Chemistry bonuses meant that Imperial had a lead of 85 – 15.

Adam Jones got in before Justin Lee for the next starter on CP Snow’s The Two Cultures speech. Two bonuses on set theory took Imperial into triple figures. Justin Lee took another starter, knowing the German tow of Wittenberg. John Dryden’s Absalom and Achitophel saw Imperial give another 2 correct answers. Amol then issued encouragement to Trinity, and lo and behold, after 7 consecutive Imperial starters Agnijo Banerjee came in with the correct answer of camera lucida. Women with the given name Marianne proved to be no help to their cause whatsoever. This took us all to the music set. Amol asked for the Central European composer of a classical piece. Usually when I hear ‘Central European composer’ I’ll go for Liszt, Dvorak or Smetana. This was Janacek (wasn’t he a TV detective played by George Peppard?) Nobody had it. Agnijo Banerjee earned the music bonuses by knowing QCD means Quantum Chroma Dynamics. One correct answer followed. Sourajit Debnath knew that the films cited for the next starter were set in Senegal. American Observatories brought just the one correct answer, but things were still looking good for Imperial with their 100 point lead. Nobody knew champions from GB in the Gymnastics floor event for the next starter. A rush of blood to the head saw Suraiya Haddad come in too early for the next starter and answer that Pygmalion constructed the first woman, Pandora. Understandable error – he created Galatea, but it allowed Agnijo Banerjee to keep his team going with the correct answer of Hephaestus. I have to be honest, the announcement of bonuses on the minimalist composer Pauline Oliveros did not elicit cheers of joy from Trinity. They didn’t get any of them, and I’m afraid when it’s not your night then this is the kind of bonus set which often comes your way. Quotations missing out the word ‘when’ fell to Adam Jones which earned the dubious reward of a set on syncretic beliefs and religion. Didn’t seem to bother Imperial, they took a full house in quick time. For the picture bonus we saw one of Diego Rivera’s murals for Ford world HQ. Jeremi Jaksina took his first starter with this. Three more 10^th century paintings of factories yielded nowt. Like I said – not your night. At the 20 minute mark, Imperial led by 160 – 60.

Justin Lee extended that lead with another correct answer that the president of Dominican Republic in 1861 asked Spain to reconquer the country. Two bonuses on two -hander plays were taken. Why was Tennessee Williams called that when he was born in Mississippi is the question which wasn’t asked, but I’d like to know the answer to. Agnijo Banerjee, still gamely banging on for his team took the next starter knowing the old chestnut that the only female judge in the Old Testament was Deborah. Sustainability bonuses were no more generous to them than their previous sets were. Justin Lee, having a quite magnificent evening, took the next starter with pyrophoric substances. A full house on Sicily took Imperial past 200, and frankly, put them well beyond the event horizon. Neither team knew Burundi or Zambia have coastlines on Lake Tanganyika. The splendid Agnijo Banerjee buzzed correctly on the Geometry starter that followed, giving the correct answer. Me? Don’t be daft. Finally they had a gettable set of bonuses on plants, but probably should have known that tequila is derived from the agave family. Bit of an old chestnut, that one. Adam Jones won the buzzer race to identify the Desai novelists. A bonus on rivers of Russia edged them closer to their average score. Jeremi Jaksina won a buzzer race to identify famous 1980s pineapple impersonator, Manuel Noriega. Sennacherib (gesundheit) yielded one bonus. Captain Suraiya Haddad took the next starer or Imperial, identifying cortisone thus ensuring that all the members of Imperial had correctly answered at least 1 starter. 3 questions on fictional bookworms yielded a full house. I’ll be honest, I was thinking Pompey when Justin Lee buzzed in with the same answer to the next starter, but given the dates it became clear we were looking for Sulla, which is the answer Jeremi Jaksina buzzed in with. Subjects of portraits by Elaine de Kooning remained unanswered as the gong ended the contest. Imperial won by 240 – 110.

Trinity were stunned by the early buzzer onslaught from Justin Lee and unhelpful bonus sets meant that they were never really able to come back on Imperial. Their BCR of 25 is no reflection of their ability but a fair reflection of the way that the bonus Gods were against them. As for Imperial, they had a BCR of 64. They’ve been impressive all series, and now need just one more win.

Amol Watch

Every now and then Amol does seem to like showing off that he knew something the teams didn’t. For example, with the Toby Belch question he couldn’t stop himself from saying ‘they go together’ after giving the answer. Not a criticism, just an observation. JP often did the same thing with literature questions.

I don’t know, but I imagine that Trinity’s hearts may well have sunk after Amol felt the need to issue encouragement after only 12 minutes,

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

Plankalkul is often cited as the first computer programming language.

Baby Elephant Walk Moment

One of the 12 principles of green chemistry set out in 1998 by Anastas and Warner, what two word term did Barry Trost introduce in 1991 to refer to the concept of maximising the use of raw materials so that the final product contains the maximum number – (and at this point we could all give thanks that Justin Lee’s buzz spared us more of this question.)