The Men They Couldn't Hang lost at home Albert. Graham reports....
"A fun night at the Parrs Wood Stadium which was obviously no place for engine drivers. Defeat for the Hangers was clearly a plot by Anne-Marie and the Prodigals, especially as we took the opportunity to introduce the young buck Josh to Withquiz (speciality pop music from 2010 on). However we did manage 4 (yes, teleprinter, FOUR) twos in a round for the first time in my memory (Dave Barras may know better)."

The Electric Pigs beat The Charabancs of Fire by a clear 10 points at the Fletcher Moss.

Compulsory Meat Raffle lost to Ethel Rodin at the Turnpike. Ethel distinguished themselves by notching up a massive 52 points, easily the highest of the evening, and possibly their highest ever. This result keeps them comfortably in the hunt for the league crown.

The paper this week was set by The Prodigals.

A very respectable 71.8 average aggregate meant that very few WithQuizzers will have gone home twoless to cry into their pillows.  There were variations in the difficulty however, with the second half considerably easier than the first half.  A few grumbles about balance within the rounds could be heard at the Red Lion but they were minor compared to the general appreciation of another inventive and interesting set of questions.

I was sitting on the Opsimaths bench this evening looking over QM Peter's shoulder to peek at the answers.  Best round for me was Round 5 where you were given a list of first names and asked to spot the link between them.  Although this round could have been better balanced it did provide some excellent challenges.  Each set of names seemed to ring distant bells but only after some concentrated conferring did the answers emerge from the teams and even then not in all cases.  The name 'Terence' in the last question of this round was perfectly positioned to throw the teams off the scent - though in the end the Opsimaths rumbled it.  An excellent round!

Good too (and not unexpected after the exchanges a few weeks back) that the Prodigals had devoted a whole two rounds to 'celebrating great women'.  Not sure all of the women featured had rightly earned the adjective 'great' however.  Geva Mentor, Laura Geitz and Laura Langman!?!

What did the rest of you think?

From the Ethel Rodin/CMR encounter James....

"It's always a bit difficult to offer a critique from either end of the success spectrum (i.e. when you've been hammered or when you've walked away with it).  However, trying to be objective, we thought it a good quiz with good questions.  No controversies and no 'who cares?' questions.  Even the few unanswered questions had answers that had been discussed and rejected in the conferring that went on.

The hidden themes were transparent - which always helps.  All in all it was a good paper that afforded a good night's quizzing.

When we play CMR I'm always left thinking that either the league should set a moratorium on questions about cheesy 1970s TV programmes, or we should allocate an 'old git' to join their team (nominations?).  As a child of that decade myself, I'm invariably left high and dry when that kind of question comes round.  Great films and decent music from the same era tend to transcend generations making them fair material, but the amazing quality the 70s offered on the silver screen was countered by some utterly dire material on the small screen - much of which has (thankfully) never been repeated, and should be allowed to remain in obscurity ad infinitum."

From the Albert/Charas match Mike....

"This was a very workmanlike quiz which moved along at a good pace.  We liked the chef theme and our question of the week is the one about the first woman to be elected to the Rock Hall of fame.  This was not because of the intrinsic merit of the question so much as the fact that the answer so enraged Graham that he threw himself face down on the floor of the pub.  Very impressive - and reminiscent of the old days in the League.

Just for a change most of the questions in the Bingo rounds were relatively easy.  There is nothing wrong with this.  It's nice to get the answer right when we spend so much of our time getting things wrong."

....whilst from the same match Dave's summing up was not so sweet....

"If revenge is a dish best served cold then Anne-Marie laid on a veritable sorbet as TMTCH managed a mere 2 points in rounds 3 and 4.  A good job Ellen Wilkinson is one of Durham's finest.  Even the big boys toys question came dressed up in women's clothing.  QotW?  Plymouth Rock - if only 'cos it gave debutant Josh his first two.  You never forget your first two!

....and Graham's even less so....

"Have to say that a round with nil points for us and one for the Albert sums it up."

Finally from the ever courteous Andrew and his victorious Pigs it was clearly not a boring evening - or rather ....

This week I take the recommendation of the History Men (or 'the Hymen' as James' messaging spellchecker seems to call them) and opt for Round 5 Question 5:

What links these first names: Wes, Alejandro, Richard, Bennett, Morden?