Albert lost to KFD

KFD win a crucial battle at the top

Kieran feels the knockers at the door...

Almost done, the last knockings getting louder by the week.  The Albert have an outside chance of catching us in second place.  We, in turn, have an outside chance of overhauling the Prodigals at the top of the table but we'd need three results in the next three weeks to go our way and we're not playing in one of those games though we are setting the paper.  I'm no punter, mug or otherwise, but even I know that accumulators almost never succeed, that's why the odds are so good and you can usually cash out for a lesser sum before it all comes apart.  The top four for the season are pretty much sorted and hopefully WIST and the Lowly Grail will return in the autumn.

Well, if it plays out as expected then it's been a hell of a season, just great to be back doing this face to face.  And it was a hell of a match tonight, maybe the best we've been involved in over the last six months.  Best of all was that Barry was back, fully recovered from his thankfully very temporary, relapse last week and I don't think our 'classic' line up can play any better than we did tonight.  Twos, conferreds and bonuses came evenly from all four of us and, though we led at the end of every round, the gap was never more than two points until halfway through Round 8.  Unanswereds were four apiece, twos also even at thirteen each. 

Martin would never have forgiven me if I'd failed to correctly anagram Eco and Coe.  The Name Of The Rose is his favourite book, and it was possibly the easiest two I've ever scored.  My unlovable and joyless grandmother would randomly declaim "The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold" at the oddest of moments even before the dementia set in, so she finally came in useful almost fifty years after she died.  Doesn't really make up for the rest of my experience of her though.

It's been a long time since I've visited the Didsbury and I doubt I'll be hurrying back soon.  Not my sort of place and pretty ropey beer (didn't tonight's setters get barred decades ago for similar comments?).  However they did manage to produce a slice of lemon for Eveline's end of evening V & T - eventually - which was one up on the Griffin in the reverse fixture.

So, we're setting next week and clearly it would be in our best interests for the Albert to beat the Prodigals but really what can we do?  We're not in the same position as the groundsman at Edgbaston before the first Ashes test, and in any case I'm pretty sure the four Prodigals could beat the entire England XI, at cricket as well as quizzes. 

Whatever happens it's been great to be able to have these Wednesday evenings again and for the four of us to prove to ourselves that we can still be competitive right at the (almost) top of the league.  And also great to be able to pen this nonsense every week.  A very diplomatic silence is likely next week!

We'll do our best with the paper and try to make it interesting and fun and let the chips fall where they do. 

Haysee Fantayzee's reflections from the QM chair...

I QMed last night - I think I was OK but it all passed in a haze (memo to self do not offer to QM after consuming 9 Pornstar Martinis in rapid section).

It was a competitive match all the way through as reflected in the tight score.  It did also allow Eveline to display her knowledge of both male strippers and crystal meth.  You can tell when she has been on the stuff; like a character in an early Carry On film she lapses into a cockney accent and shouts out things like "Cor! what a big one".

Charabancs lost to Ethel Rodin

Ethel just squeak home at the Griffin

Damian has a close encounter with a Miss...

Another close encounter, another near miss for us.  The way this played out seemed similar to last week with the Charas generally playing well, and slowly catching up as the quiz progressed, but not quite building up enough momentum to win.  Our opponents were consistently solid all the way through and stubbornly held onto a lead that they never relinquished.  Given the well-known quality of our opponents there can be no surprises there.

On the plus side we all scored several twos, but on the not-so-plus side at least three of us, including me, fell victim to the unfortunate blurt syndrome when someone else on the team knew the correct answer.  This way we forfeited 3 points on the steal by the opposition.  But hey, ho, that's the nature of quizzing and poses the eternal dilemma for a WithQuizzer: do you go for glory when you have convinced yourself you know the answer and so either score a two or risk having egg on your face with a 'nul pointes', or do you play it safe for one point by conferring with team-mates who have indicated they definitely know the correct answer?  For us it proved a bit of a mixed bag on this occasion. 

...to which James adds...

The Charas never recovered from losing the first round 9-2.  But for that it would have been a nailbiter.

'There’s no effin’ Rachmaninov'.  There was controversy over Rachmaninov vs Rachmaninoff.  Record sleeves of his work are literally split down the middle on this.  It’s a tough one.  I don’t think you ever see Chekhov written as Chekhoff but it’s the same last letter as Rachmaninov/ff.  But then you also never see Tchaikovsky as Chaikovsky which is the same beginning letter as Tchekhoff/Chekhoff/Chekhov. 

(ED: Less debate about how the effin' Russians spell their names and more over where they spill their bombs, please.)

Overall a decent quiz.  I think we can no longer be caught for fourth place, but I doubt there is much chance of us finishing any higher.