WITHQUIZ

The Withington Pub Quiz League

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24th November 2021

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Prods continue at the top whilst Ethel get back to winning ways and go second; good wins for the Opsis and Albert

Ethel Rodin beat Electric Pigs

Albert beat Bards

Opsimaths beat History Men

Charabancs lost to Prodigals

Opsimaths beat History Men

Unseating the champs last week, the History Men fail at the Club

'Skipper for All Seasons' Ivor reports in...

Once again we have avoided defeat by more than 10 points - but only just - and it was indeed a just (i.e. fair) result.

Always a delight to be in the back room at the Albert Club facing some of our oldest opponents (in every sense, though we are not far behind).  I am always amazed at the average age of University Challenge teams which seem to be 20 or 21 - though sometimes when it is 29 you can rest assured that the greybeard in seat 4 doing a post-grad diploma in an exotic subject is really a pub quizzer like us.

Anyhow good to face the Opsimaths (minus Mike B) and find that the 20 month quiz hiatus has not dulled their competitive spirit.  Bob the Hat was QM and he commented that the back room is like quizzing in someone’s living room.   Up to a point Bob.  At home you can open the curtains and tell the occupants of the main lounge to shut up or tone down their excitement on a televised football match, but perhaps not in the Club. 

We lost tonight not because of inequality in the unanswereds (4 to us, 3 to the Opsis) nor because of failing to go for twos (13 to us, 12 to Opsis) but because of our dreadful steal/passover rate (3 to us, 8 to the Opsis).  This was not due to blurting either, but most likely due to the Opsis knowing more than us, at least on the subject matter tested tonight.

It was however the mathematics and physics questions that tested us most of all.  When the Opsis got '4!' (4 factorial) as a question we expected something similar and gettable.  Young David still gets dreams in which he is doing an especially tricky exam in mathematical optics and has not a clue about anything  (“Were you naked in that exam” asked Anne).  Sure enough it became a living nightmare when our question arrived and it included two functions of 'x' (when even our knowledge of one function would be suspect).  Even Nick got it wrong in the attempted steal.  One does not have to be much of a mathematician to realise that our performance will have dented our standing in the league table and our reasonable score difference has suddenly become unreasonable.  Still there is next week…


Sabre rattler

(R2/Q8)


Triumphant Opsi skipper Howell adds...

The Opsimaths returned to some sort of form in a quiz set by people who are just a bit younger than us (rather than a lot younger)!  The History Men arrived at the Club first and made the mistake of sitting in the comfier seats that have now notched up 3 losses and no victories so far this season!

The quiz was played out in good humour, but with 4  twos for the Opsis in Round 2, we took the lead, and the margin was never any closer.  

Three bits of humour from the evening... 

1. R2/Q4: Anne is always an entertaining opponent and suffered some gentle ribbing when Bob said "you've got the paired Maths question" - cue groan from Anne as Bob started the question.  The groan made Bob pause after he'd said "If f(x)..." allowing Brian to interject "she's just adding 'off' to that". 

2. R3/Q5: The chess question regarding a player having to make a move that would significantly worsen their position, had the History Men in a huddle debating the possible answer.  Knowing it was something in German their deliberations centred around 'Scheisser Creek'. 

3. R5/Q2: Anne (again) was complaining as Nick was asked for the letter that represented Planck's constant.  Two points for Nick with Anne observing that it was a quiz question that is asked all of the time - to which I added "but at least the answer is always the same". 

Bob was excellent as QM and I wonder if we could consider a move for him during the January transfer window!!!


Lord Summerisle in full flow

(R5/Q5)


and spectator Mike sums up...

The Opsis did very well but it was a slightly disappointing quiz containing a few specialist questions (e.g. maths) and some photos, many of which were very hard to identify - though some were guessable.  I would certainly not have recognised Christ the Redeemer, situated on the most beautiful bay in the world, but appearing from the photo to be in some kind of jungle. 

I was happy to know the answer to the first question of the evening though neither of the teams knew it (I was allowed by the QM to give the answer after both teams had failed).  On the first half of quiz I knew more answers than I usually do when I'm actually playing - though I wasn't so hot on the second half.

Personally, had I been QMing, I would not have allowed the answer given to R4/Q1, particularly as the hidden theme word was not part of the answer given.


Chess titans do battle

(R3/Q1)


Charabancs lost to Prodigals

The Prods keep up their run at the top

Damian is still philosophical...

Despite feeling that we put up a better performance than last week we actually came out slightly worse on points scored - so not failing quite as well  this time, sorry Sam. Nonetheless we always felt we were in contention and narrowed the gap to just 1 point at half time.


The Manchester Man with a pub

(R6/Q1)


And despite yet again coming out ahead on twos scored (10 to our opponent's 9) like last week, our conferring ability continually seems to lag behind that of our competitors.  Given there were no silly blurts or anything of that nature I can only put this down to our collective ignorance currently being slightly ahead of that of everybody else in the league - so at least we lead the pack in something!


The Bard of Salford

(R6/Q3)


Ethel Rodin beat Electric Pigs

Ethel triumph at the last to climb back to second

James texts in...

It was closer than the 8-point margin implies.  The scores were level going into Round 7 but then the picture questions fell very well for Ethel.

By the way if you don’t know Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs (R1/Q6) hunt them down.  They're sumptuous and well worth a listen - taking just 15 minutes to consume compared to the Alexandria Quartet, which seems to take forever.


"Now that's what I call religion"

(R8/Q3)


Albert beat Bards

Albert win to go fourth

Mike O'B paddles in...

The really big news is that  'The Paddle of Rebuke' has reappeared. I caught him canoodling at the back of a cupboard with a female.  He has assuaged my rage convincing me to let her stay by naming her 'The Racquet of Reward' to be used when one of the Albert team does well.  Personally I doubt whether there is much use for such a function when I consider the team.  However. I have reluctantly agreed to a trial as long as he controls his boundless lust and the house is not overrun with tiny table tennis bats running about.


Glasgow's Cathedral

(R2/Q2)


A chessel

(R3/Sp1)


 

Quiz paper set by...

...KFD

Average Aggregate score 75.3


I was at the Etihad for this week's quiz evening watching the beautiful game being etched onto the collective consciousness of around 52,000 lucky souls.  What a memorable spectacle when the best in the world gather to exercise their sublime art on your own doorstep!  And so to this week's quiz paper.

I'll leave the comments to those who actually quizzed.


Constable's runner up

(R6/Q5)


so what did Damian think...

Interesting paper from our fellow Griffinites, KFD, tonight.  Lots of variety on offer with plenty of well-received questions mingling with quite a few headscratchers - and even an enjoyable picture round to boot (can't recall how long it's been since we last had one of those).

Slight quibble with the definition of North America for the location of one of the questions as it turned out to be in Mexico, which I always think of as Central America, so I didn't even consider Mexico as an  option.  Although geographers generally observe only two halves of the Americas with Mexico being included in the northern half I personally thought it would have been kinder to add 'Central' for that question.  Just my twopennyworth in what was otherwise a most enjoyable round.

We found the mathematical questions a little time-consuming as there was a great deal of back and forth clarification needed for one of the equations (the second one I think) with some consensus that it wasn't worded quite correctly.  Don't shoot the messenger as I'm certainly no mathematician, but that's what seemed the view of the maths geeks on both teams.  Otherwise, well done KFD! 


The 1960 US Dressage team

(R1/Q4)


and Mike O'B...

This was hard going.  Last week we got by with 6 twos; this week we managed 4.  Most of the rounds were OK and the scores can be put down to our ignorance, except for the dance round, which was very unbalanced, and the strange chess round, which was a mixture of answers which required a really detailed knowledge of chess and the chess world, and answers which had nothing to do with chess but contained the word 'chess' as part of the answer.  


and Ivor...

The KFD Quiz paper was generally well liked.  The themes were accessible though the 'Dundee' answer was regarded as 'a bit below the belt' (we must accept there have been several fighters of the name but none as famous as the legendary cornerman).  The first question of the quiz (the collective round) caught us all out (except for non-playing Mike H) but Vanessa’s answer “the name of the Queen’s corgis” did seem plausible.  Interesting (to me anyhow) that the word 'Duchess' appeared twice tonight in the questions and answers.  KFD are renowned for their lack of interest in the aristocracy and indeed neither questions referred to any of the current 29 'Gracious Ladies of the Realm' or even the exile in Montecito. And the picture round was very challenging, especially for those of us who find a street map a stern test.


and finally James...

Overall a very accessible quiz with a decent aggregate score.  Good to see the return of the picture round. Who knew that there was a golf course at the top of the Victoria Falls?


Question of the Week

This week both the Charas and the Prods have chosen Round 6 Question 2...

1.      On 1 December 1976 the Sex Pistols made an infamous TV appearance on Bill Grundy’s Today show.  What was the Daily Mirror’s headline the following day?

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


Grundy loses control

(R6/Q2)


...and also

Barry has told me that the Red Lion closes for refurbishment on December 3rd.  So that means that papers for the matches on December 8th must be deposited, and picked up, at the Fletcher Moss.  Pigs could you please check this is OK with the staff at the Moss?

I'll let you know of arrangements for post-Christmas fixtures when I find out how long the Red is expecting to be closed for.