Withington Pub Quiz League - quizbiz 14/03/18

Results & Match Reports		Mantis Shrimp beat Albert Prodigals lost to History Men Bards lost to Charabancs Electric Pigs lost to Opsimaths
Compulsory Mantis Shrimp edged a thriller against the Albert at the Turnpike and thereby returned to the top of the table. They have the same league points tally as the Dunkers but a slightly better score difference (plus 86 compared to plus 84). Of course the Shrimps have played one more match than Kieran and his crew but this could count for nought as the last round of matches on April 18th involves the Dunkers' visit to the Turnpike to play the Shrimps. It looks like a stunning end to the league season with a showdown between the two teams that have dominated the table throughout. As for this week's match Rachael has this to report.... "Well, that was a thrilling evening of quizzing! The scores were too close to call for the first three quarters of the match, with the end of each round seeing just a point or two between us and with the lead changing hands. Thanks to a minor surge in the last couple of rounds we were able to establish a slender lead and finished the night 4 points ahead of some excellent opponents. ...and Mike O'B records the visitors' view on matters.... "A good competitive quiz. We were undone by a very poor Round 7. Mind you the evening had its tense but thrilling moments such as persuading Ashton to confer on the German nun question. I had to deploy the paddle to intimidate him. Just as well really since he was going to blurt Herman Goering as his answer. (Herman Goering marrying an ex nun. I ask you!)." Meanwhile over in the Albert Club The Prodigals lost to The History Men. Ivor sees it like this.... "Plenty of laughs at the Albert Club - but when the Prodigals play the History Men there always is. We do take quizzing seriously but the prime aim is merriment. We got off to a flying start (playing first) and for once did not crumble in the last rounds. Thus there were considerable pauses to the flow of things as we tried to fathom out Stella’s question about a money-making feature owned by Betsy Cohen, and again over a question that involved speculation that Herman Goering had been married to a nun. And when the very next question’s answer was indeed Herman Goering we did feel we might be in the Two Ronnies' sketch with Prodigal Jim answering Mastermind questions about the question before." The Bards of Didsbury lost to The Charabancs of Fire in the Bards' new home The Parrswood Hotel. Damian reports on a happy night for the visitors.... "The evening did not get off to the most auspicious of starts given that, as the rest of us were making ourselves comfortable in the backroom of the Parrswood (so nice to be back playing there and, of course, bringing back fond memories of playing dear Dave and his Hangmen in happier times), Chara John was busy watching a meeting taking place in the Cricket Club wondering when the quiz was going to get underway! Despite my confident assertions that he must surely have got the same message that the rest of us had already received from Father M concerning the Bards' new choice of home venue, my optimism on this front was abruptly shattered when my phone went off and I saw at once that the caller was John and, well, you can guess the rest. Fortunately for us he's a quick walker and arrived about 10 minutes later apparently none the worse for his 'where the hell is everybody?' ordeal. All's well that ends well as a certain other bard just a few years older than Tony once put it! As it happens, that proved to be the only hitch of the evening for us as we tackled tonight's paper with the same gusto as last week seizing the lead from the start and either, never losing it, or never falling behind in any of the subsequent rounds. Yet again, all of us qualified for team membership next week by scoring at least one two with a full set from all of us in Round 6! With 5 of us now jostling for regular places on the team this is not proving to be very helpful when working out next week's rota but, hey, who's complaining?" The Electric Pigs have not lost a match since last season (i.e. winter as opposed to spring). Indeed it is a whole 21 days since they had drinks bought for them. I asked Gary whether the return of Barry Whitehead to the quizzing fold under the colours of the Pigs had anything to do with their run of success but apparently Barry was not on the team for the Pigs win last week. This week he was playing but it was the visitors to the Fletcher Moss, The Opsimaths who ended up victorious. The result was pretty much in the balance until Round 7 when the Opsimaths leapt into the lead to finish a good 9 points ahead. The whole evening was a jolly affair overseen by Andrew as a genial but firm QM.
Quiz Paper Verdict		This week the paper was set by Dunkin' Dönitz The average aggregate was 73.6
By common consent at the Fletcher Moss this was a first rate paper with plenty of points to be had for those that worked hard. It didn't last too long (in no small part due to Andrew's firm hand on the QM tiller) and had plenty of sideways clues (answer words starting with consecutive letters of the alphabet for instance) to give scope for intelligent conferences. Round 5 ('I wonder what he meant by that') was full of interesting info. but on occasions the difference between a correct answer and a near miss needed some expert QM arbitration - but this was the only slight criticism we could muster. Rachael pretty much agreed.... "We all enjoyed the paper, plenty of variety and lots of questions which invoked spirited debates! Adam struggled to read out the Planet of the Apes question in a neutral voice without being tempted to break into his best Charlton Heston impression!" ....as did Ivor.... "Quiz was well received. We had a couple of blunders (Gustav Fauré and a mix up between Domitian and Diocletian) but plenty of tip of the tongue teasers. The inventiveness of the Dunkers knows no bounds - fancy pairing a round where two word answers start with consecutive letters with a round where the two word answers start with consecutive letters IN REVERSE!). However we must not diss a very good paper, especially as we are setting next week with only a sow’s ear available with which to construct a silk purse." ....and as did Damian.... "It goes without saying that we thoroughly enjoyed tonight's paper which, once again, seemed to play to our strengths enabling us to notch up our first back to back victories of the season. As an added bonus we were able to get revenge for our defeat by the Bards in our previous meeting. I counted 13 unanswereds which, unluckily for the Bards, broke 8-5 to them. It reminded us of how often the ambience of the Parrswood seems to favour us!"
....and the Dave Barras Question of the Week award this week has been nominated by Opsimath Clare and goes to Round 8 Question 5: The last lines of which 1957 film are these: "Hey what’s your name? Davis. My name’s McCardle. Well so long. So long.”? For the answer to this and all the week's other questions click here.