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WITHQUIZ The Withington Pub Quiz League QUIZBIZ 3rd May 2017 |
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| WQ Archive | Comments | Question papers | |||
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WITHQUIZ The Withington Pub Quiz League QUIZBIZ 3rd May 2017 |
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| WQ Archive | Comments | Question papers | |||
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Next Wednesday The History Men will meet Ethel Rodin in the Val Draper Cup final whilst the Plate final will be between The Prodigals and Dunkin' Dönitz; both finals will be played at The Albert Club - I will bring the question-papers with me so no need to collect from The Red; everyone else please note the .....and also column below - I need your 'Knocked Out United' questions by Friday evening! |
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Val Draper Cup Semi Finals- The Results |
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It was a raucous good-hearted affair between two teams who relish each other's company such that the ritual insults ran off each other's backs like water. Howell was a peerless QM and arbiter of fair play, whilst Jitka grumped on at the Opsimaths to no avail. We truly did sleep on the roses this time round. Anne was (as ever) in great form berating her colleagues at the end of Round 7. "How can we get so far behind so quickly?", she said. David (just back from two weeks in India) informed her that in fact the History Men were at the time 10 points ahead and surging towards an appearance in the Final. I do like watching a well-oiled machine going through the gears! Great fun and the best of luck to Ivor's crew next week in the Final. Ivor contributes his own thoughts on the evening....
"Always nice to win with and without the handicap -
especially against a team who usually beat us in the
league games. The Historymen are delighted to reach the Val Draper Cup final for the first time since 2012 (and with the added bonus of not having to set a round for the final week of the competitive season). Tonight’s game exemplified the expected intense, but friendly rivalry, with plenty of laughs both during and after the quiz. The game was quite evenly balanced: 13 twos to each side, 3 steals each, but the Opsimaths going second got all five of the unanswereds with Mike Bath the unquestionable Jonah (or should that be unanswerable Jonah?) with 3 of his questions foiling all players."
Probably to the disappointment of all
neutrals The Men They Couldn't Hang lost to Ethel
Rodin. Ethel dispatched their 13 point
starting handicap and ran out victors by a
convincing 8 points. They'll be hard to beat
in next week's Val Draper Final if they keep the
same form.
At the end of an emotional
roller-coaster of a season for The Men Graham
offers these words....
"A defeat for the Hangers came after a hard fought
semi-final against Ethel - but it proved to be a
thoroughly entertaining evening. My only
disappointment was getting two points for the
Tottenham question. We're all looking forward
to celebrating the end of season in 3 weeks time and
raising a glass to Il Capitano Dave Barras." |
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WithQuiz Plate Semi Finals - The Results |
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"It's been so long since we last played, that emeritus QM Bob has been on holiday, come back and then decamped once more - Tuscany this time. We are all totally envious of what seems the perfect retirement. Super Sub stepped up to the plate once more and David did his best in the QM chair. It's a thankless task trying to follow such a talent, though - but for a protracted Round Seven - he would have achieved his aim of getting everything done by 10 o'clock. The Bards competed gamely on an excellent Shrimp paper but we managed to overcome the 6 point handicap by the end of Round Two and just about hung on to the lead right up to the end. The Bards weren't helped by Bernard's late arrival part way through Round One followed very quickly by a two round absence to deal with a work-related phone call. We like to think we'd have won even if the Bards had had a full complement for the whole quiz. Yeah we like to think that..... 'Tintern
Abbey Road' sent Tony into a reverie about the
supposed lifelong bliss to be had if you view the
sunset through a particular window in said abbey
with the object of your affections by your side.
In his case it didn't work out - so he told us. I
hasten to add that this was with a lady called Joy
and predated his meeting Sheila with whom he seems
to have led a very happy life without the benefit of
Abbey vistas. Tony, you old dog, it's time for the
memoirs I think. (ED: If Joy's out there
reading this there's a hefty wodge in a brown paper
envelope waiting for you if you can spill any
beans). The 'Run on' Round featured a terrific nod to the originators of the genre followed by the gem 'Pol Pot Noodle' making a late challenge to the 'Chow Mein Kampf' of a few weeks ago for 'Mash Up Answer of the Year'. We have another trophy to play for! We can consider this season a success. We've played the same four (or rather five) players in the same positions all season and attacked when we saw the opportunity. As a result we won the league and are in a cup final (sort of). We haven't tried to make Martin answer questions backwards, nor Barry float between seats one to four, nor even get David to go against all his instincts and punt for a two on military history or American politics when fifteen fingers are held out in front of him. Simple really. I wonder if by any chance this site is read by Catalunyan ex-pats whiling away the small hours before the next great idea takes shape?
The Electric Pigs lost to The Prodigals who win through to another Cup final just one week after their A-Trophy final triumph. The margin was comfortable with the Prods 5 point handicap start being cast aside fairly easily. |
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The Paper |
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Once more an excellent and varied offering with an average aggregate of 79.5 - well up on the season's average of 72.6. Lots to praise but I particularly enjoyed the 'Val' round - a satisfying nod to the late, great WithQuizzer, Val Draper, who we remember each year when we play this competition. A simple idea well executed. Amazing that no-one's thought of doing this before! Once more the 'Run On' round got some good belly laughs. Quite easy but full of amusement, a round like this has plenty of pluses. It's quick to get through (usually) and it raises the spirits if things are getting a bit too ponderous and intellectual. Like Kieran (above) we loved the Cambodian fast food option but also chortled heartily at the thought of Groucho-on-Thames. Ivor makes a good point about tonight's paper....
"With the Ruby Anniversary of the Quiz league coming
up it is pleasing that quizzing seems to be a safe
activity and unlikely to follow bear-baiting and egg
and spoon racing into extinction because, yet again,
our league youngsters have proved they can set a
quiz that is spot on the right level of difficulty
as well as the right level of interest and
entertainment. Tonight all the themes and
connection rounds satisfied the exacting (sometimes
unreasonable and craven) demands of the quizees.
There weren't any 'ffs' from Tim or 'chuffs' from
Anne. As for my QotW....I am amazed that a setter could find a question with the word Granite as an answer (Round 6 Question 4). Though I am disappointed that the Irish crooner Val Doonican, and his French cousin Val D’Isere, failed to make the cut for the 'Val' Round." Mike H, who was observing proceedings at the Albert Club sent these thoughts.... "As the only spectator, can I just say how much I enjoyed the quiz? There were some excellent rounds. I've still no idea how you got 'peach' as an answer to the Roman apple question. It seems totally unrelated to the question, but I guess you just wanted to name a fruit and got lucky." As a postscript I should mention that Rachael emailed me late on Wednesday with an apology.... "Round 7 Question 6 Part B - this should have said that the 'link name' was mentioned in the chorus of Weezer's song rather than in the title. Many apologies if this has caused any problems." Rachael, I can honestly say that this did not cause me any problems - though had it been a mistake relating to the Beezer then I would have been incandescent (actually the History Men got this answer by working out the US President link without having to resort to any Weezer-knowledge which, if I'm honest, was a bit thin on the ground at the Club). |
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The Dave Barras 'Question of the Week' |
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For all this week's questions and answers click here. |
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....and also |
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The Opsimaths
just weren't able to match The History Men
and saw their handicap disadvantage widening as the
match progressed. The gap at the end was 10
points (or 5 if you discount the handicap). I
do think going second was an added handicap for the
Opsies earning the home team all 5 unanswered
questions. Each team notched up 13 twos with
Ivor and Nick (with 5 twos apiece) gaining the MVP
award for their respective teams. I was the
Jonah of the evening with 3 of the unanswerables
heading in my direction.
Dunkin' Dönitz
beat The Bards of Didsbury by the narrowest of
margins at the Griffin. Kieran was
there and he tells us what went on....
This week the paper was set by Compulsory Mantis
Shrimp.
Based
on the pure joy delivered by the surreal image
conjured up by its answer, this week's award goes to Round
8 Question 1 (the 'Run On' format where the last
word in the first part of the answer is the first
word in the second part of the answer):
Next
Wednesday we move on to the Finals of the Val Draper Cup and the Plate, for
which (as is the custom) a consortium of teams masquerading as 'Knocked
Out United' will be the setters. The Opsimaths have agreed to be the
'Knocked Out United' editors this year - so would each of the following
knocked out teams please submit a full round, plus a pair of questions
for Round 8, by Friday May 5th to myself (