The Teams
Magdalen, Oxford
Aidan Woo
Lily Costa-Ferreira
Benjamin Sharkey (Capt)
Sasha Walker
Robinson College,
Cambridge
Michael Shipman
Jessica Cronin
Eve Temmink (Capt)
Otis Moran
I shan’t lie to you.
Last week’s Quizzy Monday being on Tuesday messed up my schedule for the whole
week, and being ill on Wednesday onwards didn’t help a great deal either. Okay,
enough of my problems.
Jessica Cronin took the
first starter for Robinson recognizing two works with jungle in the title. They
rode their luck a little with the second of a set of bonuses on cities named
after Roman Emperors but still took two. Skipper Eve Temmink was the first to
buzz for the next starter which seemed all the way along to be pointing to
Mondrian, as indeed it was. I only knew one of the botanicals used to flavour
gin for the next set and so did Robinson. The next starter showed that it often
pays to have someone with a good working knowledge of Tudor history on your
team as neither recognized fairly obvious clues to the surname Seymour for the
next starter. Sasha Walker recognized references to perennial crowd pleaser
Kurt Godel in the next starter. It was nice to see the Trolley Problem, known
to all of us used to doing a big shop in Tescos on a wet Tuesday getting namechecked
in a bonus set on double effect thinking. Magdalen had one of these. Sasha
Walker took her double with the picture starter identifying the sites of Agra
and Petra. More maps showing locations of two world heritage sites brought a well
earned full house to Magdalen. The splendidly titled To Pimp a Butterfly
(sequel to the album why The Hell Would You Want To - ) brought Aidan Woo his
first starter. Diseases named after places brought just one correct answer on a
gettable set. So, after a lively first period the score on 10 minutes stood at
55 – 35 to Magdalen.
Michael Shipman took
his first starter on Archimedes of Syracuse and Robinson faced three bonuses on
Romanesque architecture in England. One of which they answered correctly. They
weren’t all easy to be fair. Michael Shipman then came in too early for the
next starter allowing Magdalen to identify the dessert Charlotte. Captain
Benjamin Sharkey took that one. US Secretary of State William Henry Seward provided
two bonuses. Seward was badly injured by the conspirators who murdered Abraham
Lincoln. A very interesting figure. For the next starter Lily Costa-Ferreira
knew the word horror - surprised that
nobody had it after the Heart of Darkness clue but there we are. Fandom in
fiction was a really interesting bonus theme for the next set but only the last
question on Turning Red proved gettable for any of us. So to the music starter
and Lily Costa-Ferreira took her double with The Stooges. Sadly I don’t think
that they ever had a line up where they were just a trio. Other 60s songs with
titles mentioning dogs brought two bonuses. Our second baby elephant walk
inducing starter passed me by completely but Sasha Walker said the answer was
insulator and I ain’t about to argue with that. French chemist Henri Braconnot and
his discoveries gave me a lap of honour for knowing chitin. Magdalen took two
and let’s be honest, they seemed to be bossing this stage of the match. This continued
when Benjamin Sharkey knew that Henry II was married to Eleanor of Aquitaine. He
seemed awfully pleased to get a set of bonuses on places commemorating battles
of the Napoleonic Wars. They took two. Various places with words for Cross in
their name fell to Sasha Walker. The poems of Elizabeth Bishop – written before
she was a character in Corrie? – brought a single bonus. Aidan Woo knew that
the work referenced in the next starter focuses on Indonesia. Memorial or
Ceremonial Gates provided one bonus – a rush of blood to the head from the
skipper prevented it being two. Didn’t matter. It looked to me as if they were
already over the event horizon by 20 minutes as Magdalen led 180 – 45.
Finally Eve Temmink
managed to elbow her team back into the game recognizing the picture starter, a
terracotta warrior and the dynasty during which it was created. More pictures
of artifacts followed and Robinson identified two of the dynasties in which
they were created. Nobody in either team seemed to know that as well as the
Floor, the Vault is the only other discipline to feature in both women’s and
men’s gymnastics. Eve Temmink knew that a malar rash is a sign of Lupus. Insects
brought couple of bonuses. The skipper was quite rightly throwing caution to
the wind with her buzzing, but sadly lost five with the next which allowed Aidan
Woo in with Guyana. Cattle deities in world mythology promised something
interesting and delivered, but only one of them was answered correctly by
Magdalen. Sasha Walker won the buzzer race to give the term protectionism. The
ballet Swan Lake gave another two bonuses. The excellent Sasha Walker won
another buzzer race to identify Lombardy for the next starter. A full house on
velodromes followed. The next starter was an old quiz chestnut about the
gemstone that was believed to prevent a drinker from becoming drunk – yeah,
hope springs eternal was correctly answered by Jessica Cronin. Geological terms
derived from Celtic languages yielded one bonus. Benjamin Sharkey knew the
Abbasid empire for the next starter. Trilogies named after a city didn’t add to
the Magdalen total, but it would have just been gilding anyway. I’ve never drunk
Kombucha and frankly having listened to its description I don’t plan to do so
any time soon. Eve Temmink took her team into triple figures with it. They took
one bonus on departments of France and the contest ended during the next
starter. Magdalen won by 245 to 105. And that, ladies and gents, is the first
round done.
Curiously there was next
to nothing between both teams’ BCRs – Magdalen was the slightly better with 50%
while Robinson’s was 48%. However, Magdalen had earned almost twice as many
bonus to attempt.
Amol Watch
Sorry Amol, but 19
minutes in is just too late to say there’s plenty of time left. There isn’t.
Say – still enough time to get going - if you’re this far into the show. Mind
you, it’s better than saying – Robinson, are your buzzers still working? - so fair play to you.
Interesting Fact
That I Didn’t Already Know Of The Week
Orleans was named after
the Roman Emperor Aurelian.
Baby Elephant Walk
Moment
Including an early
example of exponentiation to express very large numbers, the Sand Reckoner is a
work by which ancient thinker, in which he attempts to estimate how many grains
of sand could fit into the universe? It was written as a letter to Gelon II,
the King of Syracuse. Yes, the mention of Syracuse made it obvious it had to be
Archimedes, but goodness me we had to wade through so much dum de dumdum dum
dum dum dum dumdum to get there.
Repechage
qualifiers
|
Sheffield |
170 |
|
SOAS |
170 |
|
Imperial |
160 |
|
New College, Oxford |
150 |
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