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WITHQUIZ The Withington Pub Quiz League QUIZBIZ 11th May 2016 |
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| WQ Archive | Comments | Question papers | |||
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WITHQUIZ The Withington Pub Quiz League QUIZBIZ 11th May 2016 |
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| WQ Archive | Comments | Question papers | |||
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The Prodigals lift the Val Draper trophy to deny the Bards their treble; Albert nick the Plate from under the History Men's noses in a tense finish at the Red |
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Results & Match Reports |
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The Prodigals beat The Bards of Didsbury in a match where the handicap system separated two teams who ended up tied on the points scored on the night.
The 8 players round the two tables in the
Albert Club's back lounge (Tony, Sarah, Jonathan and Jim for
The Bards, and Dave, Jimmy, Michael and
As the match proceeded The Bards had trouble keeping their tally within sight of the handicap-advantaged Prodigals and it was (I think) Round 3 before their score turned positive. Towards the end they did yank themselves up a few notches so that the final scoreline exactly matched the handicap starting point (i.e. a 6 point difference). Just as a bit of fun, after the match ended, we pretended there had been no handicaps and the match had been tied - so we tried the tiebreakers which ended up one apiece - all of which proves that when next season kicks off there's going to be precious little between these two teams. As ever the atmosphere was congenial (there I've just avoided the con*ivial trap!) with plenty of generous-spirited exchanges throughout. There was little need to hurry things along and all was done and dusted well before 10.30pm. A few questions (such as the dictionary definition trios) obviously required a bit more time for cogitation which I (acting as QM) duly allowed. I do think we have found the way through our timekeeping issues by urging QMs to nudge things along when the going gets porridge-like. A friendly "Come on now, I do need an answer" almost always breaks a mental stalemate. I don't feel we need stopwatches next season.
First, words from the victorious captain, Mike O'B.... "Albert won a very exciting and close quiz. It was a most enjoyable final played in a good spirit." ...and from Ivor.... "Nip and tuck all the way in a match that was the last chance either team had to win silverware (of sorts - the plate is suspect metal never mind silver). It was the Albert who finished a point ahead despite their 3 point handicap. The Red Lion was largely devoid of Everton supporters watching the Sunderland match except, that is, for Mrs C who gamely sat in the QM seat instead in her LAST EVER quiz game on a match night. Seat 1 was the best place to be tonight with Mike O’B and young David getting five twos apiece. The game could have gone either way (the quiz game that is) with various players left to rue discretion rather than valour for possible twos, and a blurt with Westmacott instead of Westenra by the same person who blurted Hans Rimmer rather than Hans Zimmer last week." |
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Quiz Paper Verdict |
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This week's paper was set by 'Knocked Out United'. At the Club the feeling after the first 4 rounds was that it was a toughie - but scores rallied and a final aggregate of 68 was not too bad. In the Red Lion the aggregate was slightly higher at 72 making an average aggregate of 70.
There were one or two gripes as the paper progressed: the first of the Pigs' dictionary trio (discombobulate, etc.) was too hard by a fair margin ("could have been here all night and never got that"); confusion over Point, Backward Point and Cover Point in the Jonty Rhodes question (possibly my fault as I allowed Cover Point to pick up the points if you see what I mean); nobody had heard of the Three Wise Men cocktail (easier to just ask for a bottle of whisky as Jim said); and finally 'two' was too deeply hidden in 'Network' in Round 6 Question 8. Mike O'B reflects the views on the paper from the Plate finalists.... " The suicide theme was so well hidden that it could have been interred with the victims since neither team discovered it. Both teams voted for 'Who ate all the pies' as the best round with the exception of me. This was because I was the only person present who didn't realise what the theme was. This resulted in Ashton asking me: 'What did you think we were talking about when someone said 'we haven't had a six yet?''. Answer - 'I dunno'. The dictionary style questions cannot be answered using the 1 minute format. Lastly, where is the George and Dragon on the A6? The only G and D I know is on Manchester Road, Heaton Chapel. Is there another one lurking somewhere? Perhaps I don't get out enough."Not just the Plate finalists but also the Val Draper contestants judged Round 6 ('Who ate all the Pies?') submitted by The Opsimaths as 'Round of the Knocked Out United paper'. Well done them/me! There'll be some wine waiting for them/me at next week's presentations. |
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The Question of the Week |
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This week both the Prodigals and the Bards liked the ingenious new twist on the 'name a year in the life of Joe Bloggs' format devised by the Mantis Shrimps. In Round 1 Questions 3 and 4 they asked for the only decade in which a number of well known people were alive. Excellent! I've chosen the first of the pair....
For the answer to this and all the week's questions click here. |
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Chatterbox |
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Next week's Presentation Evening Some points to note....
Website feedback from non-WithQuizzers I thought you might be interested to hear some comments from someone who replied to my request a couple of weeks ago. This comes from Phil Small who lives in Reading.... "I stumbled across your website about a year ago whilst idly Googling quiz leagues across the country. Seeing as I read it every week I thought I'd show my face - metaphorically at least - and answer your request for feedback. I live in Reading, Berkshire. I wouldn't characterise myself as a 'quizzer' in the sense that I learn things for the purposes of a quiz however I do attend a (low-brow) pub quiz every Sunday and a slightly harder one every other Wednesday. I don't play in a quiz league and never have done (quiz leagues seem prevalent in the North but sparse in the South). I discovered WithQuiz as I got bored of the typical pub quiz and wanted to find harder questions. I read the questions every week. I browse past quizzes (mainly looking for ideas for questions of my own). I don't lift them verbatim but rather use the ideas to help me craft my own rounds (sometimes I borrow the themes, for example). I skim read the front page report but I still don't really have a feel for which team is which and obviously the names of attendees mean nothing to me so I don't really follow what you might call the 'story of the season'. I like the fact that the answers are hidden until I run my mouse over them (quiz sites that publish pdf documents with the answers next to the questions are less easy to use). This doesn't work on a mobile device or iPad IIRC although I rarely browse your site on those. The Home page is fine. I doubt non-WithQuiz people will read all the verbiage (I know it's not there for us) but it makes your site look active and current which is good. I like 'Question of the Week' and a few pictures certainly help break up the text/make it more visually arresting. The menu bar is neat and tidy with very well-kept statistics. Perhaps a description of the scoring system/match format would be a worthwhile addition. The questions...Generally I'd say they're rather difficult and a sometimes a little idiosyncratic. Not meant in any way as a criticism, just that they can be a bit wordy or reference fairly obscure information. I think there's probably a slight generational difference between me and the average WQ attendee which adds to the difficulty, and of course the local questions are impossible for a Southerner (again, completely legitimate to ask them). More positively, I have found some excellent, inventive questions on the site. In the quizzes I set myself I tend to spin out connections and themes to tie things together so I enjoy the WQ format which does a lot of this. Overall I guess I just thought I'd say 'hi' and let you know your hard work is being enjoyed down here in Berkshire. I wish you all the best maintaining and enjoying the league for years to come." |
Anne-Marie
for The Prodigals) represented two teams that have hoovered
up 4 of the 5 trophies on offer this season (The League and
the WIST Champions Cup going to The Bards and the A-Trophy
and the Val Draper Cup going to The Prodigals). A
stellar cast indeed (though Stella herself was unable to see
her Prodigal prodigies victorious). There were a
goodly number of spectators crammed into the four corners of
the back lounge - a trio of Charabancs, and a handful of
spare Prodigals and Bards, including the venerable Eric Gow
whose 81st birthday has (as I write) broken out across the
North West. Happy Birthday, Eric!!
The
History Men lost to Albert by just a single point
(after handicaps were applied) and 4 points (had there been
no handicaps).
When
I was chatting to the Charas after the match Gerry made the very good point
that, hard as we may try, an individual setting a paper can't help but exhibit
his or her prejudices (pop music, Scottish islands or whatever). When 6
teams are involved in compiling a paper, however, that big bias turns into a
soup of lots of little varied biases which hardly get noticed. Having said
this the subject of death by one's own hand or just naturally did spookily seem
to be in the minds of many of our setting teams this time round. Gerry's
own wonderful essay on the triskaidekaphobic composer, the Spare Question right
at the end of the evening, did redress the balance somewhat by making endings
thoroughly entertaining.