Withington Pub Quiz League - quizbiz 13/03/13

The Fairies and The Bards both win; a win for the Fairies next week will secure the title making the final showdown between our top two teams at the Griffin in a fortnight's time merely about South Manchester bragging rights

Results & Match Reports

Albert beat The Prodigals by a country mile as first Mary,

"Just got home (12.10am) after a most enjoyable evening at the Fletcher Moss. We lost the toss which seemed to be an advantage as we had a good lead after two rounds which the Prodigals couldn't pull back.

The score was almost irrelevant as much fun was had by both sides. The answer of the evening was supplied by Eveline to the question about the event granted a Royal Charter now best known as a piece of cockney rhyming slang - she came up with Berkshire Hunt......."

and then Anne-Marie, report...

"Well it is safe to say last night was The Prodigals worst performance of the season. I think by the last round if you asked us all our names we couldn’t answer, but that takes nothing away for a glorious performance by The Albert."

I Blame Smoke Fairies scored a fairly comfortable victory over The Charabancs of Fire. Kieran sees it thus....

"One more win next week or a draw against The Bards in a fortnight and we're there! Long slog against The Charas tonight and only a three point lead at the end of round 5 but we ran away with it at the end."

and Damian sums up for the Charas....

"In the absence of Father Meggers, who was busy hiding somewhere in the Highlands of Scotland trying to conceal his mortification at losing out for Pope to some elderly Argie by the name of Frank, tonight's drubbing was at the hands of of one of our most long-standing and feared opponents, the legendary Fairies. That we lost to them was no surprise, but by the margin that we did was a bit of a bummer to say the least, especially as up until Round 5 there was only 3 points separating us (1 or 2 points for the most part)! Nonetheless our special thanks go to Quizmaster Bob who compèred the quiz with his customary flair, efficiency and good humour!"

Ethel Rodin beat The Electric Pigs at the Cricket Club in a fairly close encounter.

Compulsory Meat Raffle couldn't do the Fairies a favour by defeating The Bards who ran out safely in front. Tony spills the beans....

"In the quiet of the Turnpike we exposed the 'Third Man'. Former Chairman of Billinge Parish Council and QM extraordinaire, Eric, played for the Meat Raffle who were a tad short handed. He understood why the potage was 'thick', but remembered that all they grow in Billinge are potatoes (he once presented the annual prize for the largest spud), so nul points for our phantom papparazo."

The Opsimaths beat The History Men in the hubbub of the Albert Club. Brian and Jitka officiated as joint Question people and oversaw a lively contest with the Opsimaths soaring in the first half and the History Men not quite doing enough after the break to bring them back down to earth. Each Opsimath played their part but special mention to relative newcomer Hilary who excelled. Ivor calls it from the loser's corner....

"Three teams remained in contention for the last two places in 'Europe' going into tonight's games but an emphatic victory by the Opsimaths has probably dealt a death blow to our hopes. The Opsimaths actually won despite getting more of the unanswerables with Nick having a particularly good night notching up 5 twos (unusually, he was both the MVP and the 'Jonah' with 2 unanswerables). We had a very poor night. I failed on both Everton questions, Anne had made a net contribution of -3 by the end of the first half (though she rallied later) and our brief resurgence (soon extinguished) was due to Tim's recent holiday in the Antarctic where he acquired an unenviable knowledge of penguin species (that works out about £4,000 per question)."

Quiz Paper Verdict

This week the paper was compiled by The Men They Couldn't Hang. This sort of paper is wasted on a noisy lounge bar and a set of lowly quizzers. The QM should have been on a pedestal with a mike in hand reciting the paper straight through - answers and all - with perhaps a short pause for applause every now and then. It was a masterpiece of erudition and wording. It was just dripping with information. The answers seemed to be incidental as the paper unfolded. It took ages to complete and even now as I read it through prior to getting it on the site I keep coming across stuff that had passed me by early in the evening. So, I liked it; so we all liked it. Well mostly. Anne did quibble that TMTCH Dave is a bit into trains and boats and planes - and very lowly and foreign football clubs - and wars and guns and things. Dave can you swot up on knitting and vodka and love and peace for next season please? Oh, and Tim thought there just weren't enough penguin questions for his liking (he has just come back from the bottom of the world - he is a doctor, after all). Has there ever been such a carefully engineered format as greeted us in Rounds 4 and 5 - the chocolate product-themed picture/verbal choice pick your own concoction? As Kieran says Mr Heale will be harrumphing somewhere up above. Glorious!

But enough of my measured analysis, what do the rest of you think?

Prodigal Anne-Marie....

"A very clever and thorough paper set by TMTCH."

Albert's Mary....

"A very varied paper with some new ideas for rounds 4 and 5 but perhaps a bit too complicated with hidden mini themes etc."

Fairy Kieran....

"Fantastically inventive rounds 4 and 5. A huge amount of work must have gone into them and I'll need to see the paper to work out all the themes and connections. By miles the best innovation of the season - or many seasons. Mike Heale would have walked out in fury. I can give no higher praise. But we still miss you loads Mike - I imagine you've been beating the Celestial Host hands down in the last few weeks with your grasp of Papal trivia."

James Rodin....

"Good quiz... both teams appreciated the questions.... most of which provided ample opportunity for extended discussion! The first half seemed a little harder for the team going first.... but all in all some great rounds. In the bingo round, Dave (I presume) has found an excellent way to deal with those themed questions when it's hard to find 8 decent ones for a full round...my favourite question was the Jo Nesbo one.... mainly because of the way we worked it out via Jaeger... Germanic hunter, and guessing head from hode..."

Bard Tony....

"The quiz was truly enjoyable with a wide selection of pick your own questions which even the Bards could not crib about."

Chara Damian....

"Tonight's fare from the Hangmen was a well-crafted and well-thought out (if somewhat over-wordy) mélange of subjects, themes and a bit of blockbustering with a difference. We especially enjoyed the chocolate bar theme of the blockbuster rounds. Lip-smackingly delicious! Later rounds were, we felt, a tad top-heavy with football trivia which is a bit hard on those of us who couldn't care less which football team shared their name with some ancient fertility goddess and won the German championships back in 1931! The Hangmen could at least have balanced that out with a couple of old queenie questions to placate Yours Truly. But, sour grapes apart, it was yet another excellent set of quiz questions from one of the league's best ever quiz setters!"

and finally Ivor, Man of History....

"Quiz was of the usual cunning TMTCH kind with an almost superhuman effort at novelty in Round 4 and 5. Plenty of things I never knew but thought I knew. I had always assumed Sham 69 and Stiff Little Fingers had sexual connotations - perhaps the Vibrators, the Slits and the Sex Pistols are similarly double entendres all done in the best possible taste."

I think you can safely assume, TMTCH, that league table position and setting popularity are at opposite ends of a spectrum.

The Question of the Week

This week I'll take the plunge and nominate Round 6 Question 7:

Members of which subversive organisation having stolen a Scorpion tank with which to invade the Houses of Parliament, ended up seeing the father of their leader's girlfriend accidentally spray his suburban garden with heavy machine gun fire wiping out his entire gnomery in the process?

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

Chatterbox

As you can see from the Fixtures page we have now made the draw for the Cup. Just before the History Men (and woman) actually plucked the names from my own flat cap at the Albert Club we had a debate about the cup fixture format and agreed that it would make more sense if the losing teams in Round 1 became the Plate semi finalists, rather than the losing teams in Round 2, as has been the case in past years. This way everybody retains an interest in the competition for at least the first 2 Rounds.
The 4 teams getting a bye through to Round 2 are: the Smoke Fairies, Albert, the Charabancs and the History Men. This means that the Smoke Fairies get the honour of setting the paper for Round 1 on April 10th.
Our new team, Gin'll Fix It, were given a fixed slot in Round 1 and left out of the draw. If they lose in Round 1 then they will play a Friendly on the Round 2 evening against one of the other Round 1 losing teams, and then play in one of the Plate semis the following week. If they win in Round 1, but lose in Round 2, then they'll play a Friendly on the Semi Finals night against one of the other Round 2 losing teams. Whatever happens they'll get 3 matches.
Handicaps will apply as last year. I've yet to decide how to deal with the handicap system for Gin'll Fix It matches - any suggestions will be very welcome. In the absence of any feedback I'll play Draco and come up with something (probably to the advantage of our newcomers).
So once more we are 12 (or at least for the Cup weeks). Let's hope this carries through into next season. The home venue for Gin'll Fix It is likely to be the Old House at Home on Burton Road and their captain is Andrew Cooper whose contact details are already on the Team details page.
I've had another approach from someone wishing to join us - this time from an individual....Gerry McLoughlin (gerrymc2@ymail.com - 07549-010615) would like to join one of our teams. Get in touch direct with Gerry if you want to give him a game and get him involved.
Finally another invitation from a TV company for you to apply to be a contestant on a new quiz show......