Withington Pub Quiz League - quizbiz 02/03/11

(I'm afraid I've just started a new job which means only the barest result details will get onto the site by Thursday breakfast - comments, question paper, etc will be done later in the week)

Opsimaths beat the Charas to narrow the SPW lead; the Pussycats came tantalisingly close to their first victory

Results & Match Reports

Charabancs couldn't quite keep up with the The Opsimaths in a match QMed by the peerless Carmel and refreshed by the miraculous Sean (he turns beer into water daily)

Prodigals beat the Electric Pigs in a tight game at the Albert Club

The Bards found losing to the improving Compulsory Meat Raffle provided a special sort of evil delight as the drinks bill for the grantless students mounted

Albert just beat Calluna Pussycats - Mary reports:

"Another really close contest tonight. Calluna Pussycats led for most of the evening but, like last week, the Albert managed to squeeze a win in the last round. Hard luck yet again for the Callunas!"

TMTCH lost to The Historymen - Ivor writes in:

"Another pleasant evening in the cavernous but homely Parrswood Hotel - and how welcome is the underseat central heating, especially for me with my gouty left foot (I will be reducing my port intake from 3 bottles a day to 2)."

Quiz Paper Verdict

This week's paper was set by SPW. The average aggregate score (71.6) and the feedback received from the teams indicates that this was a pretty good paper. It was well balanced and gave rise to some close contests. The 'but' (doesn't there always have to be one?) concerns the apparent familiarity of the theme (and thus some of the questions and answers) in Round 5. With the popularity of themed rounds it's getting increasingly difficult to find original themes so there has to be some sympathy for the setters but what's wrong with Scottish venues for a change?. The other 'but' reflected in the comments of the Prodigals and Pigs (and others) was the obscurity of the link in Round 4. Perhaps if the extracted words had been given in the right order it would have been slightly easier (though I doubt even then if we'd have got it at the Stadium of Water). Ivor's feedback echoes the above:

"The quiz itself was a winner and Round 2 was a Treat. Although no one got the Shakespearian quote for the last question it was an especially satisfying conclusion (revelation?) to a theme round. Of the themes/connections only Round 4 got the thumbs down as being too unfathomable (and worse for the setters) rather dull (we do love to carp as I have said before)."

For more debate on the quality of the paper view the exchange of (friendly?) comments between Tony and Kieran on the message board.

The Question of the Week

This week the Historymen vote for Round 1 Question 8:

What links Sir Robert Peel, Karl Marx, Tony Curtis and a garden gnome?

For the answer to this and all the week's questions click here

Chatterbox

...oh and one other thing....

Watch Mastermind this Friday. Opsimath Nick is answering on the Dark Ages (which as all good United fans know is coming to an end this year when City lift the FA Cup).

(...and as I now complete the site update at 8.40pm on Friday evening I can reveal that despite a Herculean effort on his general knowledge questions Nick was just overtaken at the last in his efforts to get through to the Mastermind final. He finished second.)