Withington Pub Quiz League - quizbiz 30/01/13

Topsy-turvy time as the Bards lose to Ethel and the Fairies tie with Meat Raffle

Results & Match Reports

I Blame Smoke Fairies, 7 points ahead going into the final round just scraped a tie against Compulsory Meat Raffle. Kieran reports for us...

"Despite being a man down and shorn of our normal QM we opted against asking the Raffle for a postponement and had a thoroughly enjoyable night instead. Paper author Brian did duty as QM.

We thought we were comfortable for most of the evening but Richard's encyclopaedic knowledge of flags helped the Raffle overturn a sizeable deficit and gain a fully deserved point in a thrilling finish."

Albert couldn't quite overtake The History Men as Ivor relates...

"The lead switched several times and with two questions to go the scores were tied at 38 all. This is a situation that does not happen often and is the time when you want to have a player in seat four with sufficient sang froid to mull over, and then calmly deliver, a correct answer without breaking into the kind of sweat last seen on the forehead of Roy Kinnear - because one of the seat fours is destined to be a hero and the other a zero. Tonight it was the Roy Kinnear lookalike (me) who vaguely remembered it was the Greeks who produce so much tobacco that the EU pay them farm subsidies to burn it before it poisons everyone else, and it was Eveline who ended up picking the wrong Nordic country (as would I, had the questions been reversed)."

The Bards came off second best to Ethel Rodin in the Cricket Club derby. James observes:

"In the 'Months bingo round', Ethel really did steal a March on the Bards.... but as previous victims of such random rollovers, we were happy to accept the points. Otherwise, it's fair to say that the questions fell marginally in our favour, and we weren't shafted as on all previous occasions in the Didsbury CC derby. On this occasion a different batting order for the Bards might have made a difference. It was Jeff's turn to sit out (in our rotational squad system), and so we were fortunate that the questions he would have known the answer to, weren't asked. Very few unanswereds and not many steals."

The Charabancs of Fire got caught by Pogo-stick exponents, The Men They Couldn't Hang, who just bounced back from their record thrashing at the hands of the Bards last week as if nothing had happened. Damian tells all...

"You never know where you are with The Men. One week they go down 19-61, the next week they're putting the poor Charas through the ringer yet again. We've tried them with just 3 players and we've tried them with all 4 and the result is always the same. If we weren't so insensitive, we might start to develop a complex about it!"

Hangman Graham chips in from the same contest...

"Last week's pasting at the hands of the Bards was reversed at the Turnpike as the Hangers managed the double over the Charabancs. A fun evening had by all, as always, at the Turnpike in the company of the Charas - and, of course, greatly helped by the beer prices. We did feel that the questions for those who went second were slightly easier. We lost the toss and then stormed to our highest score for quite a while.

PS: Steve's knowledge of soft porn stars was quite astonishing - his hand went straight out for Mary Millington."

The Prodigals overcame The Electric Pigs at the Albert Club just clinging on after an heroic Pig comeback in the second half. In another first for WithQuiz (I think) the Prodigals were represented by 2 brothers and 2 sisters from the same family - that is Manc Family Glennon. Anne-Marie's Thursday morning reflections...

"A really close match at The Club, with The Prodigals in a commanding lead at half-time and then the Pigs coming storming back in the second half. The difference between the teams last night was the last minute inclusion of yet another Glennon to The Prodigals, our Stella who's usually in the QM chair. With David at football, Mark away coz he does a proper job and Cheryl poorly, Stella bravely stepped into the dark and dirty world of WithQuiz for her debut and what a great debut it was. A slightly inebriated (Ed: Bollocks! As Round 4 would have it. Just tired and a wee bit emotional) Lord Bath took last minute QM duties for a high-scoring match with very few unanswered questions. And my new knowledge of all things Slough is just one of the many reasons I turn out to play every Wednesday!"

Quiz Paper Verdict

This week the paper was constructed by The Opsimaths - well actually, Brian. Other Opsimaths were called into service to rehearse the paper but 'twas Brian what wrote it, Your Honour. It seems to have been pretty well received in most quarters and earned a higher than average aggregate score (indeed the second highest of the season to date just behind the earlier Opsimaths paper) - so not many unanswered questions. A gripe or two about the balance. A moan about the fact that the bingo questions were only in one round and not in two (which can often even up imbalance of just a single round of this type) and a bit of a groan at the lavatory humour in Round 4. All in all though a thoroughly good WithQuizzing evening around the pubs and clubs.

Specific feedback came from Tony...

"The quiz was testing and enjoyable. I do have one gripe, which I have made before. If we are to have a 'Pick the questions' section to the quiz then there should be at least two rounds in this format to even up the chances. As it was we lost the single Bingo round 9-2 and never quite recovered."

...and Kieran...

"Brian (our Guest QM) rightly received the plaudits for yet another paper full of interest with plenty of points on offer for the switched on quizzer. Question of the week? The whole round on Slough won it for us. Who knew it is such an interesting place?"

... and James from the Cricket Club derby...

"A good quiz. We're licking our lips for the follow-up to the male appendages round. And we were a tad disappointed to see no reference to Honourable Members (Ed: of which James has one himself I'm led to believe) - nor to the Dicks who run Wonga.com"

... and Anne-Marie...

"Yet another fascinating and beautifully crafted Opsimaths’ quiz (well another fascinating and beautifully crafted Brian quiz). A full round about Slough has to be not only a With Quiz first but an entire world of quizzing first."

... and Damian...

"Tonight's questions were an enjoyable assortment of themes of one sort or another with a quick bingo round thrown in. Slight miff about some of the pairing - for example, we all knew the answer to which state Obama was born in but felt the corresponding pair about the state that still flies the Confederate flag, was not quite so obvious. But minor quibbles only!

For QotW, we were going to plump for the late (not so great) Bernard Manning's quip about the epitaph on his gravestone, but decided it was not appropriate to honour him. Instead we went for Spike Milligan's touching desire to outlive Harry Secombe so that the bugger wouldn't turn up to sing at his funeral! It's nice to know Spike got his wish!"

...and finally Ivor (beware this report contains some flash language)......

"The quiz went down well with only four unanswered questions. Excellent mix of varied themes with the 'millys', 'elli' and 'month' rounds taking the prizes for welcome novelty. As I have said before this league loves, indeed craves, novelty (you will be disappointed next week).

QotW was the April fool japes one - unfathomed by us, but not by the Albert. And a special mention to the 'membrum virilis' round - but where were Chopper Harris, Plenty O'Toole and Pee Wee Hermann? Surprise of the night was the dearth of Scottish questions. Surely the Opsimath Captain cannot have have exhausted his supply of obscure Munros and even more obscure distilleries?" (Ed: Actually the entire effort was down to Brian tonight and - despite his surname - he seems to know more about Slough than Scotland. Shame on him!!)

The Question of the Week

This week the Pigs and the Prodigals vote for Round 5 Question 10:

What connects pasta on the BBC, a holiday resort in The Guardian, and ‘Diseases of Brunus Edwardii’ in the Veterinary Record?

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