The Teams
Newcastle
Anna McCully Stewart
Alice Groth
Laurie Guard (Capt.)
Dan Hill
Edinburgh
Parthav Easwar
Johnny Richards
Alice Leonard (Capt.)
Rayhana Amjad
Well, at least we were allowed to watch OC and UC last
night, which is something.
A first starter on films with the word ‘All’ in the title
allowed Anna McCully Stewart to open the Newcastle account with an early buzz.
I really liked the bonus set on books read by the Monster in Mary Shelley’s
“Frankenstein” – I always thought that the Monster was more of a ‘Titbits’ sort
of guy. (Ask your grandparents). Two bonuses were taken. Poor Alice Groth fell
right into the trap with the next question. Ullrich Salchow and Alois Lutz
identified the sport in question, but she answered with ice skating – while
Amol had asked for the correct specific term. Parthav Easwar went the wrong
way, trying his luck with ice dancing, while figure skating was the answer
required. For the next starter Rayhana Amjad began Edinburgh’s run for home by
recogising Simone de Beauvoir’s “Must we burn De Sade?” World capitals and
languages brought us both a full house. The next starter asked for the three
letters ending a series of words to which we were given the definitions.
Newcastle skipper Laurie Guard came in too early with -asm and for the second
consecutive starter Newcastle lost five. I’ll talk more about that later.
Johnny Richards waited to hear the full question then gave the correct answer
of mma. The French actor Vincent ‘Qui?’ Cassel brought two bonuses and the
picture starter. Lovely one this. I have never seen the flag of the Russia
oblast Volgograd before. But I have seen photos of the Mother Russia statue
featured on it, and I knew it is in Volgograd. Nobody had it although Dan Hill
came close with Volga. Parthav Easwar knew that La Malinche helped the
conquistadores to overthrow the Aztec Empire. This earned the picture bonuses
on further flags of Russian oblasts and they didn’t do badly at all with them,
scoring a full house. Parthav Easwar knew that pistachios are used in baklava (not
only that but they were my least favourite flavour of ice cream available in
the sadly missed Rossi’s ice cream parlour in West Ealing.) The human digestive
system brought two bonuses. This meant that after Newcastle’s positive start
Edinburgh seemed to have the whip hand, leading 90 – 10.
The next starter gave me this week’s baby elephant moment,
but also a lap of honour. When it eventually mentioned human papillomavirus –
HPV – and smear test the disorder in question had to be cervical cancer. Laurie
Guard had that to set Newcastle moving again. A full house on Caspar David
Friedrich – been a while since he was namechecked on UC – was swiftly taken. The
clues were all there that the next starter was referring to Yeats (W.B. and not
Eddie) and Rayhana Amjad gave the answer. Fast growing cities in Africa brought
two correct answers. Rayhana Amjad seemed delighted to hear Amol announce that
the music round was on Jazz. Nonetheless Dan Hill very nearly beat him to it.
Sadly, he gave Art Brubeck as the answer, allowing Rayhana Amjad in with Dave
Brubeck. I wonder – if Dan Hill had just said Brubeck, would Amol have accepted
it? On balance I think he might well have. More tracks with titles referring to
their time signature – look, just go with it, ok? – yielded nothing for their
pains. I’ve never heard of tropicalia as referenced in the next starter but I
still said Brazil. So did Johnny Richards, correctly. Dynasties of Roman Emperors
proved tricky for Edinburgh and they only managed the Julio-Claudians. Newcastle’s
bad luck on the buzzer continued when Dan Hill guessed that Jupiter was the
second densest planet in the Solar System. Give that it also has the smallest
radius Rayhana Amjad knew it had to be Mercury. French mathematician Sophie
Germain promised me nowt, but, like Edinburgh I took one on Fermat’s last
Theorem. You had to wait and wait with the next starter but as soon as Amol mentioned
the Blue Rider Alice Groth was in with Kandinsky. Mythological depictions of
scorpions brought a full house and made things look slightly better for
Newcastle who now lagged by 55 to Edinburgh’s 145 at the 20 minute mark.
Both teams sat on their buzzers a little for the next starter
but Rayhana Amjad worked out that if it’s in ACT it must be Canberra. Denise
Scott Brown and Robert Venturi were not members of Steps, apparently, but
architects who brought no more points to Edinburgh. So to the picture starter,
and nobody recognised the Rokeby Venus of Velasquez – one of the most famous bottoms
in the Art World (Venus’, that is, not Velasquez’s). Alice Groth knew the
writer Alice Munro which won the picture bonuses. Other paintings that had,
like the Rokeby Venus, been targeted by climate activists brought just one
correct answer. Amazingly I got the next Science starter on things linked by
the number three. I guessed the cusps mentioned belonged to the tri rather than
the bi. Laurie Guard had that one. Endonyms brought us both two correct
answers. I believe that having those two penalties early doors in the match had
made Newcastle withdraw into their collective shell. Now they seemed to have
surmounted that mental hurdle. Time, though, was not on their side. I think
that Johnny Richards got the word young (youth) from the reference to the German
word jugendstihl for the next starter– that’s where I got it from.’Not even
wrong’ brought only one bonus, but Edinburgh were well over the event horizon
by now. Dan Hill knew that the bloke in the Wilton Diptych was Richard II. The
legacy of Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” brought Newcastle a triple figure score
at least. Several clues to the word bubble brought Rayhana Amjad another
starter. Tuna in Japanese cuisine brought a full house. Nobody knew Bone
mineral density for the next starter. There was just time enough for Alice
Leonard to give weaving terms warp and weft to take her team to 200, against Newcastle’s
105 at the gong.
When they took starters Newcastle did not do badly with
them achieving a good BCR of 67, noticeably better than Edinburgh’s 55. If you
can’t at least achieve parity on the buzzer, though, you are always likely to
struggle. Hard lines, and congratulations to Edinburgh.
Amol Watch
“Bad luck Dan,” said Amol in response to the Art Brubeck
answer – “Them’s the breaks. Quite so.
Amol was pushing it when he said “plenty of time, Newcastle”
just past 17 minutes.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of
The Week
Shaming as it is to admit it, I was not previously aware
that Dar Es Salaam means abode of peace.
Baby Elephant Walk Moment
A test for which specific disorder was developed in the
1920s by the physician Georgios Papanikolaou? (who was surely a character in
the League of Gentlemen. Hello Dave.) The test involves the collection of
squamous and glandular cells, which are observed for abnormalities such as the
presence of koilocytes, a hallmark of infection by the human papillomavirus and
the test is often known - (here there was an incorrect buzz from Parthav
Easwar) – by an abbreviation of Papanikolau’s name as a pap test or pap smear.
Need I say more? Dum de dumdum dum dum dum dum dumdum.
No comments:
Post a Comment