The Teams
Bristol
Jake Wingfield
Francesca O’Connor
Freddie Burns (Capt.)
Artem Borisov
Queen’s University, Belfast
Owen Carter
Thomas Dean
Isa Arellano (Capt.)
Noah Calhoun
The first starter twisted and turned like a twisty, turny
thing, losing 5 for Queen’s before the mention of George Gerschwin, Liszt and
Rachmaninov made it clear to Jake Wingfield that we wanted the term Rhapsody. Who
I believe was one of the Angels in Captain Scarlet. You can have that one for
free. Questions on a video game, Clair Obscur got Bristol off to the best
possible start with a full house. “Portrait” and “prominent piece of jewellery”
had to be driving at Girl With A Pearl Earring and it gave Jake Wingfield his
double. A slightly macabre UC special set on the graves of mathematicians saw
Amol give a rather snappy response to the suggestion of Euler for the first. I
hoped we weren’t going to see a repeat of last week’s display from him. Both of
us took just one for the obvious answer of Euclid. Look, I didn’t have a clue
what the next starter was all about – still don’t – but Thomas Dean gave the
correct answer of the Lorentz Factor. Christians in the Mongol Empire brought
two bonuses but Queen’s were let down by their dates of English kings.
Something really tickled Noah Calhoun about the second bonus, but whatever it
was I couldn’t make it out. Come on Noah, share the joke with the whole class,
please. What is represented by the formula for the SI derived unit in the
picture starter? This was actually the answer as well as the question. It works
better if you say it out loud – watt, you see. Jake Wingfield took his third,
knowing that the second Hunger Games book is Catching Fire. Three more SI unit
formulae provided us both with just the one correct answer for lux.
Surprisingly the mention of neighbouring Rawalpindi was not enough to give
either team Islamabad for the next starter. So at the 10 minute mark Bristol
led by 55 – 10.
Glass and navigation tool pointed to the sextant for the
next starter which was taken in an early buzz by Noah Calhoun. Bahamian artist
Tavares Strachan (yes, alright, Tavares Who?) yielded 2 correct answers, but
they missed on Jack Johnson, the man of whom Nat Fleischer once said he was the
only boxer who might have beaten Muhammad Ali in his prime (before his 3 year
ban for refusing to fight in Vietnam) You can have that for free too. Poor Owen
Carter had been just a little buzzer happy in this first half of the contest
and lost five for the third time with a bit of a wild guess. Livonia was enough
for me to guess Latvia while Artem Borisov answered Estonia, both of which
answers were acceptable. The science of colours brought two bonuses. I guessed,
along with Thomas Dean, that the sect referred to in the next question were the
Shakers. (I didn’t immediately launch into a chorus of Shake yer booty – but it
was s struggle). Lakes that have vanished or greatly diminished in size brought
a timely full house to take us up to the music starter. Very quickly Jake
Wingfield identified The Marriage of Figaro. “Of Course!” exclaimed Amol. Yeah,
well, we don’t all have the answers in front of us like you do, mate. Three
more pieces of music whose titles reference Zephir/Zephyr brought two bonuses.
Walled city – and – game – were enough to give Freddie Burns Carcasonne. Baroque
architecture saw Bristol get one bonus – but a single letter robbed them of
two. Amol ruled out Trompe d’oeil for trompe l’oeil and was right to do so. For
the next starter the mention of a book title with the latin for logarithm gave
Freddie Burns John Napier. Literature set in LA in the 1970s brought a full
house to Bristol. Thomas Dean knew the Overton Window for the next starter. We
had some blinds put up by our Overton window last year. Physicists in the RNA
tie club – don’t ask – brought both of us two bonuses and I made my lap of
honour around the sofa while the going was good. This meant that Bristol led
130 – 70 as we approached 20. Just a few minutes earlier the gap had narrowed
to 25 points, but it was widening ominously now.
A beautifully constructed UC special on flags saw Jake
Wingfield first in with Italy. The inaugural Best Album Cover Grammy brought
two bonuses. Fair enough. Noah Calhoun guessed we were seeing a photo of a
golden eagle for the next starter. More birds that are shared as national
symbols by multiple countries brought 1 bonus, although they were nearly there
with the first but said swallowtail rather than swallow. Artem Borisov knew the
word for eggs in Korean cuisine. Phonetics saw Bristol take a full house
leaving them just one full set away from their double century. They didn’t get
it with the next starter for Noah Calhoun correctly buzzed in with algae. A
couple of bonuses on Linus Pauling put Queen’s into triple figures. Freddie
Burns knew that Joseph Wright of Derby painted Vesuvius a lot. Had he never
heard of Etna or Stromboli? Mountain bike challenge races promised but little but
we both got the gimme by knowing the capital of Costa Rica. Thomas Dean knew
that Japan has been governed by the 1955 system. The late Catherine O’Hara
brought just one bonus, but the answer of Schitt’s Creek set my grandson
giggling for the rest of the show. He’s a chip off the old block, that boy. Francesca
O’Connor knew that the first word of ‘Daffodils’ is I. Off the point, Stan Tottman,
one of the best teachers I ever knew, once explained that the first line of
Daffodils encapsulates the romantic movement “I wandered lonely as a cloud” –
and he was right. It really is all there. Innominate parts of the body
(Innominate – de do de do do, Innominate do do do do. etc) brought 1 bonus.
Thomas Dean knew that SG was sublimation. Fair enough. There was time for just
one bonus on islands. Bristol won by 205 – 135.
Bristol deserved their win and achieved a healthy 60.6% bonus
conversion rate. Queen’s BCR was even slightly better, with 63.6%. But you know
the old saying – it’s bonuses for show, but starters for dough.
Amol Watch
We saw an unusually snarky Amol last week. Thankfully that
Amol seems to have put back in his box. Don’t be in a hurry to let hm out again
any time soon, please.
Interesting Fact That I Didn’t Already Know Of
The Week
The swallow is the national bird of both Austria and
Estonia.
Baby Elephant Walk Moment
There were just a couple of times when the internal
orchestra was about to strike up with the familiar dumdums but on these
occasions an early answer put a stop to it, I’m happy to report.
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