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WITHQUIZ The Withington Pub Quiz League QUIZBIZ 5th April 2017 |
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| WQ Archive | Comments | Question papers | |||
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WITHQUIZ The Withington Pub Quiz League QUIZBIZ 5th April 2017 |
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| WQ Archive | Comments | Question papers | |||
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Victories for TMTCH, The History Men and The Charas as the handicap system does its thing |
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Val Draper Cup Round 1 - The Results |
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"Our first challenge tonight was not to be the lowest scoring losers (we have no questions for next week….). Instead we had a good win with the handicap applied - and even more pleasing (echoes of our cup final victory in 2011) - we would have won by a point without our handicap advantage. We relocated to the Fletcher Moss (football again) and after a slight hiatus (I forgot to get the paper - thanks to Anne’s husband Guy for dashing out at footie half time to spare our blushes) we really rattled through the questions. An early finish left plenty of time to sup ale and bask in the glow of an uncommon victory over the quiz league's No 1 team.
The difference tonight compared with our hammering
at the hands of the Dunkers only two weeks ago was
that we did not leak steals. We only conceded
two but gained five. Anne was on top form for twos
and 'rescues' - knowing everything from obscure
Moore strips to air squadron numbers. What's
more the team did not have a single blurt all
night. 'Why are you so much more focussed and
better tonight?'
The Men They Couldn't Hang beat The Electric Pigs by a one-point whisker at the Parrswood Hotel. The Pigs just couldn't quite overcome their 8 point starting handicap despite a rousing 'Man of the Match' performance from Tom G. I had the honour of sitting in Gilly's chair and asking the questions in an evening on which Dave B would have been looking down with a smile on his face - a whole round on transport and victory for his beloved Men! He would also have enjoyed the 'SBB' answer his compadres gave to Dublin's latest Liffey crossing: "The Shirley Bassey Bridge". When we got to chat time after the final whistle there was speculation that Dave B - rather like Prince - might have put away a stash of future hit quiz rounds that Gilly would be issuing during coming seasons. If so it would be good news for the Men whose greatest fear is not losing matches but having to emulate Dave's awesome question-setting feats. For now however there are no questions to set, just a happy progression into Round 2 of the Cup.
The Prodigals couldn't quite overcome
their handicap points deficit losing to
"Amidst a raucous background of noisy football fans (apparently something was going on concerning Manchester City) we settled down in the back room to quiz against one of our favourite opponents. As the scores indicate, this was a close run affair from start to finish. The Charas grabbed the lead from the start (courtesy of the handicap system) and managed to hang onto a slender lead right until the end with it all hanging on the very last question which was one of a pair concerning early modern humans. Fortunately for the Charas, my fondness for watching the Discovery Channel came to our aid and we were able to snatch that last point on a confer to carry us over the line. Without the handicaps, I calculate that the Prodigals would have beaten us by 2 points so honours were well and truly shared by both teams!" ....and Dave R adds this gracious comment from the loser's enclosure.... "Good night of quizzing - congratulations to the Charas on a worthy win!" |
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The Paper |
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A lengthy, lowish-scoring paper with an average aggregate of 65.0 some 7 points below the season's overall average. One of the drawbacks of the way our Cup matches are crammed in at the end of the season is that teams may be required to squeeze out a question paper with very short notice and this can affect quality. Tonight's paper scored an aggregate some 15 points below the Opsimaths' average aggregate for their 2 previous papers of the 2016/17 season. In the Parrswood Hotel match only 54 points were scored and there were loads of lengthy conferences as teams struggled with a number of the questions. The greatest complaint came on the question about Booker-winning books with numbers in their titles. A great question if you've half an hour to spare but not suited to our style of quiz. Neither team having got the right answer (one guessed 'one' and the other guessed 'three') there was then a debate as to whether 'pi' was a number, or a numerical concept. On the plus side there did seem to be a good many memorable questions that raised a smile, like the one about London's 'Location 23', or the one that conjured up an image of batsmen's runners bumping into each other at Lord's. In the end TMTCH's Question of the Week vote went to the one about the conviction of Helen Duncan in 1944 - a pure gem! From the Fletcher Moss Ivor sends his brief assessment.... "We really liked this quiz (admittedly a win always leaves one disposed to like a quiz)”
"Although tonight's offering from the Opsimaths was by no means the hardest paper we've ever had to contend with, there seemed to be a consensus on both sides that it wasn't the most popular either. Personally I didn't find the questions too bad (despite embarrassingly guessing the wrong ordinal number for the 3 Alexanders in the 'Old Queen' pair) but some of the rounds - for example the Transport round - were a bit hard going and the pairing was a little uneven. Our favourite rounds were, of course, the Blockbuster Bingo ones where we somehow managed to confer our way out of even the trickiest choices. In fact the whole night proved to be one of our most impressive displays of conferring ever. As for the QotW we voted for the one about the Post Office Tower in the Secrecy, Spies and Espionage round (mainly because it was so surprising and unexpected)." |
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Question of the Week |
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The triumphant Men They Couldn't Hang get the choice
this week and they have opted for Round 7 Question
2:
For all this week's questions and answers click here. |
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....and also |
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As we approach the end of the season could I remind all the teams that are current holders of a Cup (or Plate) that - if they haven't already done this - they must get it engraved to record their 2015/16 triumphs in time for the End of Season evening on May 24th. By my reckoning this includes:
Manchester Trophy Market at 287 Palatine Road in Northenden (0161-946-9209) will get the engraving done for you at very reasonable rates and will ensure the engraving is consistent with the inscriptions already on the trophies.
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Dunkin' Dönitz
lost to The History Men - and would even have
lost without their handicap disadvantage. As
Kieran made clear this was a paper they really
didn't enjoy and one that played to the History
Men's strengths - as Ivor reports....
asked
QM Bob. 'It is the cocaine' said Anne with such a
straight face that Bob looked like he might have
believed her. The more prosaic answer is that
if you get a question to which you know the answer
you get two points! As Gary Player once said
when an interviewer suggested he had a few lucky
shots in his round: 'I find the more I practice the
luckier I get.'"
The Charabancs of
Fire
by a single point at the Albert Club.
Damian reports on proceedings....
This week the paper was set by The
Opsimaths.
...and
from the Albert Club Damian offers this....
