Only Connect 2012/2013 - Round 1 Heat 5

Only Connect 2012/2013 - Round 1 Heat 5

Wordsmiths

Brian Pendreigh 

Dave Taylor

Chris Brewis

vs

Educators

Jay La Roche

Michelle La Roche

Matt Finch

Well, with no disrespect intended to the opposing team, I had to be biased tonight. Dave Taylor and Chris Brewis were my victorious team mates at the recent Brunton Shield (see photo on relevant post), and event organised by Brian Pendreigh. Despite enjoying a swift few pints with them on Wednesday I managed  to avoid finding out the result. I met Brian also back at the World Quiz Championships back in June which he helped bring to Edinburgh so I was certainly rooting the Wordsmiths on tonight. 

Indeed Wordsmiths got off to a good start with the 'ova' connection and Brian getting a very tough connection on characters in the title of plays who don't actually appear. I think sometimes on this show when they give clues you have heard of it is much harder than obscure ones as so much rushes into the mind, a feeling that I can imagine is intensified by the pressures of actually being on the show. The Van Gogh question was a toughie and I am surprised it was not given in the second case as I have seen similar answers accepted for similar questions before but nevertheless a 5-3 lead was held by the end of the first round.

The second round, always the toughest started with a tough number questions and the sort of question you will only get on Only Connect. This was the first and only time in the show the Educators led. To be fair they were slightly unlucky in the next round as they knew the beer connection but could not work out the answer and like myself, partly due to my partner mentioning it, thought the men in space question was actually CSI related! I particularly  liked the question on wedding vows here.  Wordsmiths picked up on that one and added extra points to lead by 11-6 going into the wall.

I actually think there have been a few episodes this series where one wall has been harder than another. I guess it all depends on knowledge but I thought the Wordsmiths had the harder wall tonight but made it look very easy indeed. The Educators had a slightly few more obvious connections and may have gained a few more points but kept missing Red out of the squares connection. At 18-9 down after the wall it was going to take a mighty effort to come back.

I still haven't decided if I like this final "missing vowels" round yet in the sense that it seems at odds with other parts of the quiz but it does make for some very good viewing. Jay La Roche was on fire early on and brought it back to 17-14 due to Wordsmiths dropping a few. The tide turned when it came to Architecture, a quizzing staple, and the Wordsmiths clawed it back to cement the win. Funnily enough my Mastermind-Specialist-subject-to-be, Eurovision, popped up right at the end and Educators were just running out of time and lost out 19-16.

Another cracking episode and well done to Brian, Dave and Chris who won well. Obviously I am over the moon they took the victory and look forward to seeing them in the quarter finals. The Educators played a good game but were up against an experienced team who as I have found have first hand are superb quiz players!

Roll on next week....