Withington Pub Quiz League - quizbiz 23/10/13

Early season euphoria dissipates for The Bards and The Pigs, whilst INBTO chug along nicely

Results & Match Reports

Ethel Rodin lost to Cricket Club visitors, The Charabancs of Fire. Damian gives his usual post-match analysis:

"Tonight's match was a close fought affair that went all the way down to the wire. Although, in both halves, there was rarely anything more than a couple of points to separate us, the advantage we had by going first seemed to make a slight but decisive difference."

The History Men were just 4 points behind I've Never Been To One when the final whistle went at the raucous Red. Ivor tells the story:

"A four point loss counts as an honourable defeat against the Griffin, or whatever their current reincarnation is. As expected a raucous evening with, as usual, 90% of the raucosity emerging from our side of the table (we did have Anne playing though)."

Compulsory Meat Raffle ran out victors at the Turnpike in their clash with Albert. Rachael reports a perfect evening quizzing against "lovely guests".

In a late finish at the Fletcher Moss The Electric Pigs were pipped by 3 points by The Prodigals. Anne-Marie sums up....

"Mary QMed magnificently in a very noisy FM front room, patient as ever, having to repeat an awful lot of questions over and over again. She has the patience of a saint with The Prodigals all suffering from hearing loss in our dotage. A late finish but a very slim victory in the Prodigal's favour with Cheryl being our star player yet again."

The Opsimaths got the better of The Bards in an excellent quiz evening at the Albert Club. Oor man Sett Valley Dave, the Setter, was in the chair to lead us gently through the Evo Stik Northern Premier League with suitable local colour added en route. Stars of the evening were Opsimath Nick who got 8 twos for the first time, and Rhys Davies (standing in for sick Dad, Howell) whose bread and butter seems to be answering questions about Minnesota. As Nick got nearer and nearer to the WithQuiz 'Perfect 8' Dave ramped up the tension. The explosion when Nick dredged up Walter Mitty for his final two rocked the rafters.

Quiz Paper Verdict

This week the paper was provided by The Men They Couldn't Hang. Another enjoyable ramble through Dave's favourite airfix kits, north eastern football teams and railway paraphernalia peppered with some very well crafted theme rounds ("Is Joan Bakewell a pudding or a tart, and Mandy Rice Davies a tart or a pudding? We'll just have to wait and see!").

Anne-Marie loved it too:

"As usual another very cleverly crafted quiz from TMTCH. We loved rounds 4 & 5 and wondered how long it took TMTCH to put it all together. We think they could have another career as quiz compilers. Perhaps they need a word with Mr Rainford to see if he has any connections at the BBC."

...and as for Kieran, the master of litotes....

"Great, inventive paper from The Men, easily the best of the season so far. We were a bit taken aback when David announced that he wanted to go for a bang and not a little worried when the Historymedics deliberated for ages over identifying muscles in the shoulder - but more alcohol helped them get to the right answer.

Question of the week, the season and probably of the entire history of the league? No contest! Albert Einstein rocking a mean looking Fender - none of us had ever seen that picture before and it's just brillian.t"

.....whilst from the same match Ivor reports...

"Potential embarrassment tonight was the debate over the question regarding the identity of a muscle crossing the shoulder joint and with Tim being a retired orthopaedic surgeon one would have expected an instant answer. Fortunately he has done three exams in this subject (despite really being a hip specialist) and was able to produce the correct answer though it took almost as long as a rotator cuff repair operation. Not the easiest of muscles to identify. I wonder if James got it?

QotW was - without a doubt - Einstein playing the guitar.

The picture/theme round was well received. TMTCH obviously take great care in devising and balancing their quizzes (Anne did wonder "Are they married?"). Tonight the unanswereds, the passovers and the 2s all fell pretty evenly."

From the Cricket Club Damian reports on the Chara viewpoint....

"Tonight's quiz was the usual quirky and entertaining affair we have come to expect from the Hangmen. Their well-crafted Shopping Basket rounds were, of course, the highlight of the evening and were thoroughly enjoyed by all. One minor quibble from Yours Truly was that some of the themes might have been a tad more varied e.g. the Fairy Theme of Qs 13-15. Now I admit there's a whole world of possible questions about fairies out there! Does anybody else automatically associate all of them with aeroplanes? Generally we enjoyed the themes but found the first one about various obscure actors who once appeared in episodes of Batman from about 40 odd years ago, a little obscure as was the last one about various gardens most of which we'd never heard of. But I stress these were only minor quibbles.

Answer of the Week: Chara John desperately blurting out 'B & Q' when trying to think who Ellen MacArthur's other major sponsor might possibly have been! (Sadly, his blurt of 'Marilyn Monroe' when asked about the celeb who died in 1977 was less successful just as it was when he blurted it to a different question on a previous occasion, but, shush, we promised not to mention that)!"

The Question of the Week

This week The Prodigals and The Electric Pigs both opt for Round 2 Question 2:

What structure was officially opened in 1928 and gave its name to a parliamentary constituency that was created in 1983 and abolished in 2010. Connecting two of the most deprived communities in England it was one of Labour’s safest seats?

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

Chatterbox

As alluded to above, Dave Barrass from TMTCH also quizzes in the Sett Valley league. Apparently they've heard of the WIST Champions League out in deepest Derbyshire and fancy a bash at our silverware. Of course an away fixture in New Mills or wherever is a bit further to travel than - say - The Pineapple under the arches. But we're only talking about the possibility of one, or possibly two, fixtures a year with such travel requirements. And it's always a good thing to broaden horizons (I think). What do you think? If there's a will in the WithQuiz and Stockport Leagues I'm sure Mike Wagstaffe and myself can work out a format.