Withington Pub Quiz League - quizbiz 20/04/16

Calling all website users who are not regular WithQuiz competitors:

The maintenance of this site is a labour of love and we are buoyed up in our endeavours when we hear of the use non-WithQuizzers make of it. The Eggheads apparently feast on our quiz papers in preparation for their regular contests with mere quizzing mortals; financial wizards in London use our questions as lunchtime relaxation before getting back to their afternoon's efforts at fiddling the LIBOR rates; ozzie students test themselves on our papers whilst downing their happy hour tinnies.

But pretty well all the feedback is second or third hand - so it would be most helpful if we could get first hand feedback now and again. This summer I'm thinking of upgrading the site design so input from you at this time would be really useful.

What I'd like to know is.....

Who you are, whereabouts you live (city, country, etc.) and why you access the site

Which bits of the site you read

What could be done to make the site more 'user-friendly' (don't hold back - I know there are lots of improvements I could make)

What's your view of the content of the Home page - especially the pictures and their captions

What's your view of the standard of our question papers

What you really like about the site - and what you don't like

Any other information that colours in for us the way you use the site

Any comments really welcome - as brief as you like or as detailed as a Dave Barras question - please email mikebath@pfsl.org.uk.

Wins for The Prodigals, The Dunkers, The Shrimps and The Bards to take them through to the Val Draper semis in a fortnight;

The Pigs are highest scoring losers so earn the last place in the Plate semis;

Question setters for the semis are yet to be announced since this week's lowest scoring losers (The Charas) set for last week's cup matches and are thus exempt from setting duties - watch this space!

(Newsflash: Ethel Rodin have kindly agreed to set for semis on May 4th - many thanks to them)

Results & Match Reports

Dunkin' Dönitz beat The Charabancs of Fire in a quickfire affair at The Griffin.

Kieran sends his report....

"With the new spirit of 'let's get this over and done with' that is sweeping Wednesday night quizzing, this was indeed all over and done with by 9.45, five minutes before Liverpool completed their demolition of Everton - and thereby giving more grist to the mill of Brexiteers complaining about useless ineffectual Spaniards coming over 'ere and doing our jobs very badly. Charismatic, media-friendly Germans on the other hand....

I could get to enjoy this! And also get to enjoy the quiz finishing at a time sufficient to allow conversation, a relaxed drink and plans for future weeks. Bob 'Move over Bamber' Ganley is in his element in the new format, if only because his smart phone is never in one place long enough for GCHQ to get a reliable fix on it. No sharp words or demands for an instant answer, just clearly and quickly delivered questions and gentle persuasion to both teams that time is up and we're all a bit bored with this question so come up with the answer now because time is moving on. That was the routine at the end of round 4 at about 9.10, having only started proceedings at 8.45! Mike Heale, we are trying to honour your memory.

The Charas played their part in a completely enjoyable match, and evening, as they always do. They were three-handed tonight, Father Megson having lost an argument with some garden furniture shortly before kick off and therefore finding himself obliged to spend the evening at Stepping Hill. No information about how much (if any) drink had been taken prior to this unfortunate event. How he will regret missing out on the '32 button priest's cassock' question but I'm sure we'll hear his thoughts on this and the current state of midweek urban A&E soon enough.

We now have something of a team selection problem for the semi final in two weeks' time but I believe greater powers than the Dunkers (no not you Signor Infantino) are bringing enormous intellects to bear on this as I write."

....and Damian's observations from the three-seated Charabanc....

"In the absence of our reverend captain who apparently tripped over one of the 32 buttons on his cassock and injured his foot whilst inspecting some railway sleepers in his garden (he's always been very protective towards railway sleepers and especially those who choose to do it in his garden), a 3-man Chara team struggled valiantly to salvage something from the wreckage of what has been undoubtedly our worst ever season since we first joined WithQuiz in what now seems a lifetime ago. Predictably, our efforts were in vain and, handicaps notwithstanding, we duly finished lowest scoring losers of the evening. Well, I guess somebody has to and, given our form all through the season, it might as well be us. This means that we won't even get to defend our cherished Val Draper Cup for the first time in about 3 years. Sorry, Val!

Au Revoir (at least until the End-Of-Season Bash)."

The Bards of Didsbury just can't be stopped a the moment - handicapped or otherwise - and so it was against Ethel Rodin, but only just.

Tony reports....

"It was a very pleasant evening at the Cricket Club in the company of our old friends and rivals, Ethel Rodin, the team formerly known as Dr O'Neil. It was a closely fought contest throughout. The Bards eventually overcame the handicap to run out winners - although that wasn't until the very last question and it could easily have gone to a tie break - which would have been difficult because there was no tie break question! Our victory was all the more notable for Steve's perfect 8 twos, applauded enthusiastically by both teams.

I should add that Eric had read the new time-keeping rules thoroughly and so had arrived complete with stop watch and a whistle. He and Dom were strict disciplinarians so that, despite some initial protests, the whole quiz was completed with every time limit applied rigidly.

Round 8 finally put Ethel to the sword and so the Bards triumphed.

It seems likely that as a result of tonight's quizzing we will find ourselves playing the Grand Admiral on each of the next two Wednesdays!"

Compulsory Mantis Shrimp are also in stonking form as the season comes to a close and managed to beat The Electric Pigs in the highest scoring match of the evening (The Pigs losing score was equal to the highest winning score in the other three matches and so earns them a consolation place in the Plate semi-finals in a fortnight).

Rachael sends her comments....

"We had an enjoyable evening at a mercifully quiet Turnpike and made our way through the quiz at a brisk pace with few questions detaining us for too long. The two teams' scores were only separated by a couple of points for most of the match until the last couple of rounds when we pulled away slightly. Both teams began the quiz on a plus two handicap so neither of us had an initial advantage.

The Pigs were great company and excellent sports so we enjoyed a most pleasant evening. The points racked up pretty rapidly with both of us scoring plenty of two-pointers."

The Opsimaths lost to The Prodigals in the third Albert Club derby of the season. The Prodigals were on awesome form fielding, alongside Captain Ann-Marie, their two new stars, Jimmy and Michael, with a welcome return for Fraulein Bassett who is visiting these shores temporarily (I suspect to check that her daughter hasn't trashed the Heaton Mersey villa in her and Mark's absence in Vienna). Dave was unavoidably detained at Old Trafford but managed to get along towards the close to savour the victory. As for the Opsimaths (for whom I was on QMing duties), well the paper just didn't suit (and I suspect going first added a little more woe in terms of how the questions broke). No matter, a second-placed finish in the League signals a highly satisfactory season and we'll be in there scrapping for glory again in the autumn.

As elsewhere the match rattled along at a brisk pace with little need to hurry either team. The result was plenty of conversation time when the match had ended - most enjoyable!

Quiz Paper Verdict

This week's paper was set by Albert who had had less than a week's notice to prepare their fare. So, many congratulations on producing a paper that was quick and easy to play and left most matches done and dusted with an hour's conversation space before closing time.

Scores were high with an average aggregate of 80.5.

Unusually the style was predominantly 'announced themes' (which I know always irks Pig Gary) with five of the 8 rounds falling into this category. Rounds 2 and 3 homed in on words or phrases that rhymed or just repeated (e.g. 'hocus pocus', 'Jack Black', 'Sing Sing' and so on). Great fun! Then in Round 5 Sean Bean and Zsa Zsa Gabor cropped up as if the Albert just couldn't stop repeating themselves however hard they tried.

Downside? Well, as QM, I did seem to be dealing with obscure pop music rather a lot (though to be honest what is obscure in this category and what is well known, is way past my ken these days). Also we felt a little cheated in the one hidden theme round when it transpired that only the first of the 8 theme words was recognised as such by any of the competitors.

Comments from elsewhere?

Damian....

"We thought The Albert's paper was, on the whole, a jolly affair with nice, short questions which, ably QMed by Bob as usual, we managed to get through by about 10 o'clock. The new time guidelines for answering questions seemed to work fairly well in this particular instance. We honestly couldn't think of any questions we might have been able to answer better under the old, take-as-long-as-you-need system. We did have a sense that those who went first in the first half and second in the second half had a slightly easier time of it but, let's face it, most people have had an easier time of it when facing us this season!

QotW: We just had to nominate the one about why priests wear 33 buttons on their cassocks. I'm sure our wounded reverend captain would never forgive us if we didn't!"

Kieran....

"Of course The Albert's splendid uncomplicated and points-rich paper helped things along no end so many thanks to them for this - as well as for catching the zeitgeist of south Manchester quizzing circles. We still doubt that Grand Funk Railroad have ever had a hit however."

Rachael....

"We found the paper diverse and accessible and the themes generally well-executed. However, there did seem to be some inconsistency in the difficulty levels between question pairs and we had some concerns about the wording of a few questions. Adam was particularly dissatisfied with the 'Catch 22' question given that it apparently contained erroneous information.

Our QotW was the one about abracadabra."

and finally Tony....

"There was a little adverse criticism of the paper. For instance, in a round where the answer was supposed to be two words which rhymed how was 'abracadabra' supposed to fit the theme?"

And as a postscript I have just received this note from setter-in-chief Mike O'Brien....

"We are pleased about the general reception given to last night's paper given that we had to throw it together rather rapidly. We wish to make the following points:

1. Apologies for the error concerning the Question of the Week. It should read 33 buttons, otherwise it makes no sense; I missed the mistake when proofreading.

2. 'Abracadabra' does fit the theme because the introduction points out that the answers could include rhymes in extended words.

3. There were no hidden themes. The use of the word 'Peared' in round 7 was meant to give a big clue as to the content. Perhaps I was being too clever by half.

I would suggest that the demand for quicker matches is going to change the nature of the questions posed. I discarded some possibilities because they were either too wordy or would have taken too long to work out.

Lastly, Eveline promised to deal more ruthlessly regarding any complaints and sent me this picture to make her feelings clear.....

The Question of the Week

In honour of our WithQuiz chaplain who was injured just before yesterday's match in a freak sleeper slip we celebrate the life and times of Father Megson with this week's choice - Round 8 Question 2:

Why do Catholic priests have 33 buttons on their cassocks?

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