Withington Pub Quiz League - Quizbiz 09/04/25

The Prods, KFD, the Pigs and the Bards make it through to the Val Draper semis with the rest going into the Plate semis ...

apart from the Charas who are knocked out and yet again earn the Cup setting honours as Round 2's lowest scoring losers

Val Draper Cup - Round 2

Charabancs lost to KFD

Ethel Rodin lost to Prodigals

Opsimaths lost to Electric Pigs

Bards beat History Men

Val Draper Cup - Round 2

Charabancs lost to KFD

KFD win the Griffin Derby heat

Kieran harbours past criticism from Lord Bath, it seems

We weren't looking forward to this. We had the biggest deficit to overcome out of all four matches and we'd lost on both papers the Albert had set this season prior to tonight (just to keep that theme going we've already lost to our semi final opponents the Bards on a Charas paper - ho hum).

Well it wasn't quite that bad, apart from the ludicrous Round 5 and the setters not providing a question 8 in the 'letters in reverse order' round. Following our territorial spat from a couple of weeks back the Charas had graciously installed themselves on the visitors' side of the Living Room despite having been drawn as the home team. We showed our appreciation of this gallantry by wiping out the handicap by the end of Round 2.

Insult to the Greek civilisation

(R8/Sp)

The first half of the paper seemed to be the missing first half from the Albert's league paper a few weeks back. Interesting formats and plenty of points on offer as twos or from inspired conferring. Fr Megson, however, was a little surprised to learn that Belfast is known as the 'Athens of Ireland' - not in his experience it's safe to say. Similarly, Martin was certain that the question about the mathematical term containing the letters in reverse order made absolutely no sense and, the one time John Dalton Mathematical Scholar does know a thing or two about the subject.

15 or so years ago I wrote a themed round, the theme being Canadian singer/ songwriters, and I got roundly rubbished in QuizBiz by Lord Bath for choosing such a ridiculous subject to link the answers. I'll be interested to read his take on the Albert's almost identical round from tonight's paper

(ED: Moi? Older and wiser - and with a Canadian Opsimath playing for us this year, Kieran).

The second half, hmmm. "Least said, soonest mended" as my grandmother might have said had she been of a grandmotherly disposition. The scoring slowed considerably. Eight of the 11 unanswereds coming after the break. Anyway we maintained our lead until the win was mathematically certain and, yeah, least said....

One more game then (at least). The Last Dance, The Last Waltz, and lots of other end of era references I'll no doubt come up with between now and next Wednesday. The Griffin, Bob and our man (hopefully) not yet ready to leave the stage.

See you then.

Journey of a Thousand Miles

(R4/Q2)

Ethel Rodin lost to Prodigals

The Prods avenge their sole 2024/25 league defeat

Jimmy has a good night out in Ladybarn

An enjoyable night for the Prods in Ladybarn as we gained revenge on the only team to beat us (so far) this season.

We won the toss, went first and the questions did seem to fall nicely for us. There were some clever and interesting themes from the setters; we particularly enjoyed the Canadian musicians round even though we didn't tumble it during play.

Ethel were as dogged as they always are and it was a tight contest until Round 7 where we managed to open up a 7-point lead that ensured progress into the semis. Kate once again proved a more than capable deputy for Anne-Marie and everyone else chipped in with points in a strong all-round team effort.

The Birmingham of Belgium

(R2/Q6)

Puff daddies

(R1/Q6)

Val Draper Cup - Round 2

Opsimaths lost to Electric Pigs

The Pigs prove the league positions correct with a stonking win

Mike celebrates Canadiana spoken with the right accent

A solid win for the Pigs who outpunched us in all departments. They overcame their 5-point deficit fairly rapidly and then kept their noses in front from then on.

The Pigs are a highly disciplined outfit who instinctively know each other's body language and sense when to leave someone to ponder and when conferring is the likeliest option. I noticed a couple of long ponders this week by Guy which ended with an answer dredged from the depths for two points. The other Pigs let him be whilst he was mid-ponder even though they knew the answer. I'm not sure the Opsis are so disciplined. In mitigation though it's worth saying the Opsis did get the rough end of the share of 'unanswerable questions' with 10 coming our way to the 5 the Pigs fielded. Over the course of an evening this does make a substantial difference to the chances of the two teams.

Canadian Tehmeena was QM this time round and had the pleasure of asking a question about Canadian PMs and then a whole round where the answers were linked by reference to Canadian music icons. Whether by design of our setters or by accident, this season has certainly brought a greater than average Canadian flavour to the papers. Good news is that Tehmeena has so liked her time in Manchester that she has applied to extend her work assignment and won't return to Edmonton until 2026.

Well done, Pigs - and good luck in the semis next week!

Deputy Head and his Clown

(R4/Sp1)

Bards beat History Men

The Bards slip into the semis

Ivor wonders about adopting their own Paddle of Rebuke

A Derby cup game in the Stadium of Dreams that is the Parrswood. Sometimes we feel like Queen’s Park when they played at Hampden Park. Tonight we retreated to our fourth venue in the cathedral-like space because the pub had several events on. One of these was a tarot reading meeting (none of us saw that coming).

Tony reported that he was hard pressed to raise a team as “our best players are away on early Easter breaks” so we were allegedly up against conscripts from the bench. As these people were grandson Tom and Robin’s father Mike, both of whom are already battle-hardened in the League it was a 'B' team that was likely to flatten most 'A' teams. And so it proved as, despite having a two-point start the handicap had unravelled after the first round. The game did remain competitive to the end. Of course our chief aim was not to win but to just not lose badly. Quiz setting at short notice is not our forte - indeed in the USA it might qualify as 'cruel and unusual punishment' under the Eighth Amendment.

Vinny & the Crazy Gang's impressario

(R4/Q7)

QM tonight was MOBO. He did not bring the 'Paddle of Rebuke' with him, thank goodness, as this seems to be only used for internal discipline. Perhaps some of us probably deserved it as well. Like many quizzers we exist in a different space-time universe which not even Einstein could fathom. It always seems the opposition are taking too long to deliberate whereas we are entirely appropriate in our use of thinking time.

Quiz paper set by...

... Albert

Average Aggregate score 72.8

A little harder than average with plenty of innovative twists.

Twistiest of all had to be the 'Reverse Alphabetic Sequence 3 Consecutive Letters' Round 3. Once the Opsis and the Pigs had got their heads around the format each question consumed an age to answer. Everyone (IMHO) uses the phrase 'Lowest Common Denominator' but this doesn't give the required letter sequence - so what's the alternative name? Everyone knows You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' by The Righteous Brothers - so where's the 3-letter sequence? Of course we needed to restore the dropped 'g' to 'Lovin'. All in all a bit too tricksy methinks.

But overall though a good paper prepared in short order with a round on Canadian pop icons that delighted at least one Canadian WithQuizzer.

Bowling along

(R1/Q1)

... and these were Ivor's views ...

Tricky little quiz tonight (72 was our combined score) and pretty even with (Bards first) 9 unanswereds (5-4), 17 twos (9-8) and 10 steals (6-4). Of course only really tricky if you do not know the answer and I am always amazed (and sometimes impressed) by what our opponents and fellow team members have not only filed away in the cerebral cortex but are able to retrieve in time for a point or two; David remembering the middle name of Bob Wilson for example.

But we must also have some memory-editing going on; how else to account for no one recalling the name of the giant-killing Wimbledon manager. We did enjoy most rounds even the lower scoring pairs rounds where at least the difficulties were well matched. The round causing most brain ache was the reverse letters round with the sequence sometimes as well hidden as a stop codon in a DNA message. The 'Plagues' round was also well received by us Ulster oldies who were well versed in Biblical horrors even at primary school. What a shame we were not told Belfast was the Athens of Ireland - though by the mid seventies it certainly had more ruins!

Corded button

(R6/Q1)

Question of the Week

This week the Pigs particularly liked the Nazi pair in Round 8. Because of its possible topicality I've chosen Round 8 Question 1 ...

In the 1930s members of the Nazi party in Germany were known as brownshirts from their uniform. Which country's Nazis were known as silvershirts?

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

Prince of Darkness & Love Supreme

(R8/Q3&6)

... and also

Through a combination of the handicap system and sheer bad luck the Charabancs have copped for setting duties 2 weeks out of the past 3. I've spoken to them seeking some alternative arrangement but with all the other 8 teams in play next Wednesday it's impossible to find another solution other than that they set. Thanks Damian and co. for accepting this and rolling up your sleeves yet again. A reward awaits you in quizzing heaven!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We now have 14 members for this WhatsApp group with at least one from each of our 9 teams.

If you wish to join then let me know ...

... the name by which you would like to be known (which I suggest has your team name as the last part of it), and your mobile phone number.

I can then admit you to the group.

The Plastic Pig

(R2/Q4)