Wilbury is derived from "we'll bury"

Your targets this week:

1+ out of 7: Well done, you beat us!
4+ out of 7: We'd have won with you on our team!

The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
3) The oceanographer

The ones that got away
1) Which member of the Traveling Wilburys sung the line "I don't believe you, you're not the truth"?
2) In 2011 who was named Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine? Was it Bradley Cooper, Matthew McConaughey or Brad Pitt?
3) Which of these are teenagers not soaking in vodka: socks, their eyeballs, tampons, or Q-tips (cotton buds)?
4) What were the last two letters added to the English alphabet? (You need both for the point.)
5) Which restaurant was originally known as Pete's Super Submarines?
6) Who was the first member of the Beatles to have a solo UK number one album?
7) Which country absorbed Albania in April 1939?

The answers

1) Roy Orbison (in Oh, Pretty Woman)
2) Bradley Cooper
3) Q-tips
4) J and U
5) Subway
6) George Harrison
7) Italy

Our excuses

1) The Traveling Wilburys hint admittedly through us off slightly, as we assumed we were looking for the singer of a song by that group, rather than a song by one of its members. That said, given we apparently thought Neil Young was in the group, this slight confusion probably didn't make much difference.
2) Regular readers may recall that not so long ago I had cause to look up People's Sexiest Man Alive list due to not guessing that Sean Connery won it in 1989. I even wrote my own question on it, but nevertheless couldn't recall who had won in 2011. While we correctly ruled out Brad Pitt (one of four two-time winners) I was a little too swayed by the quizmaster stressing that spelling wouldn't matter, which seemed to rather hint at McConaughey over Cooper.
3) A ridiculous question, with predictably little conclusive evidence to back it up online. You can of course find tales of all of these things happening, while we managed to remember that the rumour-quashing website Snopes (as recently as 2012) said that the vodka-soaked tampons story is false.
4) I was similarly sceptical of this question, and while it's quite hard to google various links do seem to suggest J and U were the last two to be added. While we had J, it seems that our other guess of W was the third last.
5) I suspect many of my UK readers may have got this one right simply by it being the only major submarine sandwich chain in the country. While we did consider it we ultimately went with Quiznos (the second-largest such chain in North America) deciding that Subway was just too obvious.
6) I've complained about this before, but I really did hope one benefit of moving to Canada would be an end to us getting questions about the Beatles wrong on pub quizzes. After ruling out Ringo (who has perhaps unsurprisingly never had a UK number one album) we made a half-educated guess at Lennon. Predictably it's very close between the remaining three, with Lennon and McCartney getting their first number ones in 1971, while Harrison pipped them with All Things Must Pass in 1970.
7) It's rare for us to miss a European history question on this side of the Atlantic, but this was something that apparently passed us by. Instead, we went with Yugoslavia, which seemed a not too ridiculous bet based on geography alone.

How did you do? Would you have beaten us (1 or more correct)? Would you have helped us win (4 or more correct)? Let the world know with the poll below, then read on for my alternative questions (loosely) inspired by this week's Ones That Got Away!


My alternative questions
1) Featuring in the 1990 romantic comedy Pretty Woman, which Verdi opera features a wealthy man tragically falling in love with a courtesan? (The opera is based on La dame aux Camélias, a play adapted from a novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils.)
2) In the 2014 movie Guardians of the Galaxy, Bradley Cooper provides the voice of Rocket, a character inspired by a Beatles song and similar in appearance to which animal?
3) What two-word term describes a drink of lager mixed with a lemonade-based alcopop (such as Smirnoff Ice) sometimes fortified with a shot of vodka?
4) An English Scrabble set features two Ws, each worth four points. Which language Scrabble set features five Ws, each worth a measly one point? Other one-point tiles include Y (of which there are seven) and DD (of which there are four).
5) Subway's biggest-selling sandwich, the Italian B.M.T., was originally named after Brooklyn Manhattan Transit (subway, geddit?). Give any one of the words the letters B.M.T. now supposedly stand for.
6) George Harrison was a member of the Traveling Wilburys supergroup, but which British rock group are widely recognized as the first supergroup, being credited as such by Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner in 1969?
7) Along with Kosovo (which is currently only partially recognized) there are six present-day countries which were formerly part of Yugoslavia before its breakup in 1992. Name four of them.

The answers

1) La traviata
2) Raccoon
3) Turbo shandy
4) Welsh
5) Biggest, Meatiest, Tastiest (variations such as Big/Bigger, Meaty/Meatier or Tasty/Tastier also acceptable)
6) Cream
7) Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia

How did you do on my alternative questions? Have another poll!

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Only Connect Post Mortem: Series 10 Episode 13QI Elves vs. Nightwatchmen

Scroll down for this week's Question of the Week poll!

Warning: the following contains spoilers for Series 10, Episode 1 of Only Connect, first broadcast on BBC Two on Monday 24th November. If you haven't seen it yet go and watch it on iPlayer!

Missed last week's recap of the Coders vs. the Romantics? Check it out here!

An extra-late update this week, as technical difficulties have wreaked havoc with my vital TV quiz Internet opinion schedule. Nevertheless, here we are with the last set of first round losers, the QI Elves and the Nightwatchmen. The former were seen off by the Bibliophiles 23-16 in their opening match, while the latter suffered the ignominy of a missing vowels turnaround as a five-point lead was turned into a narrow, 28-26 loss against the Nørdiphiles. Two lovely teams but one of them would be eliminated tonight. Hashtag sadface.

Round 1: What's the connection?

The questions
1) Music: Any Broken Hearts to Mend?; How Can You Mend a Broken Heart; Where Do Broken Hearts Go; Too Many Broken Hearts
2) Joan Fontaine; Jack Charlton; Lucian Freud; Liam Gallagher
3) AM I NOT A MAN AND A BROTHER; ISAMBARD KINGDOM BRUNEL – ENGINEER 1806-1859; IN VICTORY MAGNANIMITY IN PEACE GOODWILL; STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS
4) Pictures: Ben (a rat from the 1972 sequel to Willard); Gentle Ben; Ben Nevis; Uncle Ben
5) Australian gold; Antiguan and Barbudan silver; Portugese platinum; Cuban copper
6) You; A Beatle; A Dukla Prague Away Kit; My Two Front Teeth

The answers

1) Broken hearts
2) Sibling feuds
3) £2 coins
4) Bens
5) Web country codes and elements
6) 'All I Want for Christmas is ____'

Our thoughts
1) A tough set of songs to identify and with some quite long titles you'd need to know at least two, or make a good educated guess, to get the points. The Nightwatchmen didn't seem to recognize any which allowed the Elves to open proceedings with a good bonus point. At home we were lost until I excitedly recognized the Jason Donovan classic, but based on that alone we over-thought matters and proposed "suits of playing cards".
2) Another tricky one, as while after two clues it's reasonably clear we're talking about siblings, the specific feud link seems rather harder to pin down. Both teams, like us, were skirting around the sibling idea, but neither could land on the required answer. I'll admit that only the Gallaghers' reputation for not-so-familial relations was familiar to me.
3) As I mentioned just last week (when women on banknotes appeared as a sequence question) things on money is one of those areas everyone loves to set quiz questions on. While at home we managed to get this on the final clue, it's perhaps no coincidence that all four could feasibly appear on plaques or statues, which was where the Nightwatchmen headed. A question I'd expect is either a five, one, or zero-pointer for most players.
4) I really hope that we weren't the only people at home thinking "...black things?" before Uncle Ben rather awkwardly debunked it. It certainly had the appearance of one of those questions where the setters are trying to lure people in to an early buzz after two clues, but that seemed far too easy. After the third, however, we decided Ben Nevis was actually the Black Hills of Dakota and we were sunk. The Elves, however, weren't to be tricked, and took what was ultimately an easyish point on a question where patience pays off. I was surprised to learn that the rat in this question is the same 'Ben' Michael Jackson sang about.
5) Lovely stuff, and a real Only Connect classic. The opening clue offers a few thoughts ("is Australian gold used as a standard for something?" "maybe it's to do with Olympic medals?") and the second only serves to further suggest it's somehow to do with precious metals. Platinum, though still in the same vein, does rather bring elements to mind (which was when the penny dropped for us) while the final clue helped confirm it for the Nightwatchmen. Not only does this question feature some really elegant misdirection, it's also gettable for five if you've really got wits about you: perhaps I'm ignorant of the metal down under, but I'm fairly sure there's nothing special about Australian gold, which could easily be enough of a hint to spot the link and (if desired) take a brave punt.
6) This was really a test of whether you knew either of the middle two songs, as the first alone is little to work with while the last gives it away. We took a bit of an early stab after two clues with Time Magazine's Person of the Year, expecting to see Hitler or the Queen show up next. "A Dukla Prague Away Kit" did, admittedly, lower my optimism a tad, while it was enough to give the Elves two points and a 4-1 lead.

Round 2: What comes fourth?

The questions
1) Trousers; Shave; Were-Rabbit
2) Pictures I 100% can't be bothered to render properly, sorry: L reflected; M reflected; N reflected
3) Clergyman (7); Former Marriage Guidance Council (6); Fill with joy (5)
4) Spanish; Asian; Hong Kong
5) Broken hearts; Sibling feuds; £2 coins
6) 1st: Love's Labour's Lost; 2nd: A Midsummer Night's Dream; 3rd: All's Well That Ends

The answers

1) Death (Wallace and Gromit titles)
2) O reflected (L, M, N, O reflected)
3) (e.g.) tardy (4) (Prelate, relate, elate, late)
4) Swine (Influenza pandemics)
5) Bens (First four answers in this programme)
6) 4th: The Winter's Tale (Shakespeare plays with apostrophes)

Our thoughts
1) The Nightwatchmen impressively spotted we were dealing with Wallace and Gromit after 'Trousers' alone, and with 'Shave' it's difficult not to at least have the link. At this point it's a matter of how well you know the films, and at home we (correctly) deduced the third clue wouldn't help, and (incorrectly) guessed Were-Rabbit as the answer. Neither team could remember A Matter of Loaf and Death (I'd got as far as "there's baking in it, I think?"), thinking the sequence was instead going back to the duo's debut in A Grand Day Out.
2) Very hard to judge the difficulty of this IQ-test style puzzle, but my suspicion that it was perhaps a tad easy was reinforced by the Elves joining me in spotting it for three points.
3) I do wonder if this one was originally planned without the bracketed numbers before someone decided that it needed softening up a bit. I think it hinges a little too much on whether you remember Relate, as it seems tough to come up with 'elate' for the final clue with nothing else to go on. We'd deduced that it would be a case of "take a letter away each time" which should have helped, but didn't, while the Nightwatchmen knew their marriage councils and worked their way to two points.
4) A matter of how well you know your flus, although despite working this out after two clues we couldn't decide whether it would continue "swine, bird" or "bird, swine" and so took a third to be 'sure'. This, however, seemed to kill off the flu idea and we were left stumped. The Elves, meanwhile, went for it after Asian and took an impressive three points (leaving Victoria to explain that avian flu was never a pandemic).
5) Forget question of the week, this felt like question of the series. Absolutely devilish, the Nightwatchmen seemed in agony before eventually picking out 'Bens' to earn two points. I'd love to have had the experience of playing this in the studio, as trying to keep track of who was asked what in that sort of environment seems a world away from playing along at home.
6) Impressively, we were fixated on the apostrophes ourselves but couldn't see how that could form a sequence, and while the Elves spotted the link they couldn't come up with a fourth allowing the Nightwatchmen a cheeky bonus. (It was only on a second viewing that I noticed the apostrophes were coloured!) Perhaps it was just in comparison to the previous one, but this question felt a touch like someone stumbling across a group of four and thinking "ooh, I can make this an Only Connect question!". Nevertheless, after two rounds with some absolute crackers, the Elves had stretched their lead by another point going into the walls 10-6 ahead.

He'll be ready.

A four point lead looks good, but as the Elves didn't know their bridge terms their seven on the wall left the door open for a real comeback. The Nightwatchmen couldn't quite take advantage, managing seven points of their own and in the process providing some wonderful imagery. Stumped on who CJ, Kevin, Barry and Judith could be, they proposed characters from Baywatch and the West Wing. The former suggestion is particularly glorious, and so naturally I called in my expert Photoshop skills to help bring it to life.

With a four point deficit to make up the Nightwatchmen would need to inflict a Nørdiphiles-like comeback to stay in the competition. Alas, it was not to be as the Elves took the vowels 7-5 and the show 24-18. Sad to see the Nightwatchmen leaving so soon, as the trio were an enjoyable watch. Similarly though, it would have been a bit of a shocker for the Elves to be dumped out immediately, and so I'm glad they've lived to fight another day.

Question of the Week

As you can probably guess from the write-up, there was no doubt for our favourite question this week. Although 'Web country codes and elements' looked like having the accolade all but sewn up, it was First four answers in this programme that knocked our socks off. I say it about a lot of questions, but this is another example of why Only Connect is so great. It seems simple on the surface, but short-term memory can be surprisingly rusty, not least when you're in the middle of filming a TV show, and it was particularly fun that it fell such that the team had to remember their opponents' question to boot! As always, if a little bit late, the poll below means you can share your own opinion with the world!

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Mick Jagger's real name is Michael Jagger

Your targets this week:

1+ out of 7: Well done, you beat us!
3+ out of 7: We'd have won with you on our team!

The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
3) The oceanographer

The ones that got away
1) Which celebrity was jailed for 15 months in January 2009 for false imprisonment?
2) What was the Italian home town of the first Roman Catholic saint to receive stigmata?
3) Found just north of Venezuela, Saint John's is the capital of which country?
4) Which famous John McCrae poem includes the lines "We are the Dead. Short days ago we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, loved and were loved, and now we lie".
5) Who's older, Robert De Niro or Al Pacino?
6) Who did Mick Jagger marry in 1990?
7) Which band had a hit with the song 'I Can't Dance'?

The answers

1) Boy George
2) Assisi
3) Antigua and Barbuda (Antigua alone was deemed acceptable)
4) In Flanders Fields
5) Al Pacino (born 1940, De Niro was born in 1943)
6) Jerry Hall
7) Genesis [VIDEO]

Our excuses

1) I've written on occasion of the disadvantages we face with US-centric questions here, and in this instance it worked against us. Assuming this would be some American we'd never heard of we didn't give it much thought, but when the answer was revealed I was kicking myself as the memory of the story came back to me.
2) What seemed like a very odd question at the time made sense in retrospect as the Saint in question was, of course, the Saint Francis of Assisi after whom the current Pope took his papal name.
3) I keep telling myself I'll learn the necessary geography for this part of the world, and I keep failing to work up the enthusiasm to do it. Some of you may remember this coming up in a set of bonuses on Unviersity Challenge last week, with the Trinity team correctly spotting that Saint John's is the capital of both Antigua and Canada's province of Newfoundland.
4) My only defence is that this quiz was from a little before this year's Remembrance ceremonies had taken place, but even so to have been oblivious to who wrote In Flanders Fields is fairly shocking. There was some further frustration as a few days later I received an email about a nearby hospital, at which John McCrae had worked as a physician, who were putting on an exhibition in part about his life.
5) An absolutely dreadful question, which was followed on the night by "Who is worth more, Al pacino or Robert De Niro?". We put Robert De Niro for both, hoping that the quizmaster had decided to have each one be correct once and it would guarantee us a point.
6) A perfect storm of an old musician, a model, and celebrity news from 24 years ago. According to my notes we put Twiggy which, given that she was also a model and not too much older than Hall, is a downright success of a guess in my book.
7) Not much to go on, here, and while I'm quite partial to the occasional bit of Genesis this isn't one of my favourites.

How did you do? Would you have beaten us (1 or more correct)? Would you have helped us win (3 or more correct)? Let the world know with the poll below, then read on for my alternative questions (loosely) inspired by this week's Ones That Got Away!


My alternative questions

Question 3

1) Having been released from prison after four months for good behaviour, Boy George had a request to appear on which prison-like reality TV show turned down by the Probation Service in December 2009?
2) In Christian tradition, how many 'Holy' or 'Sacred' piercing wounds were suffered by Jesus during the Crucifixion?
3) Pictured is the crest of which sports team?
4) Give either the title, or the author, of the poem which contains the lines "If I should die, think only this of me: That there is some corner of a foreign field that is for ever England". (This is what we thought In Flanders Field was.)
5) Robert De Niro and Al Pacino have each won once from five nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor. De Niro won in 1980, while Al Pacino won in 1992. Name either of these two movies.
6) Members of which organization purportedly plotted to murder Mick Jagger after they were blamed for the death of Meredith Hunter at a 1969 concert in which he performed?
7) Which three word phrase, a place located "on the east of Eden" according to the Book of Genesis, has come to refer to where we go when we fall asleep?

The answers

1) (Celebrity) Big Brother
2) Five (one in each hand, one in each foot, and the piercing in the side by the Holy Lance of Longinus)
3) The West Indies cricket team
4) The Soldier by Rupert Brooke
5) Raging Bull (De Niro) and Scent of a Woman (Pacino)
6) The Hells Angels
7) Land of Nod

How did you do on my alternative questions? Have another poll!

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Only Connect Post Mortem: Series 10 Episode 12Coders vs. Romantics

Scroll down for this week's Question of the Week poll!

Warning: the following contains spoilers for Series 10, Episode 12 of Only Connect, first broadcast on BBC Two on Monday 17th November. If you haven't seen it yet go and watch it on iPlayer!

Missed last week's recap of the Children in Need special? Check it out here!

After the celebrity hiatus last week we were back with mere mortals battling for survival in the regular series tournament. The last time we saw the Coders they were looking a little shell-shocked after an 30-13 defeat (including an 11-1 missing vowels drubbing) to the impressive Gamesmasters. The Romantics, meanwhile, had been similarly stung as the Orienteers went from a 20-19 post-wall lead to a 33-21 post-vowels victory in their first round encounter. Both of tonight's teams had looked handy earlier in their respective opening matches, so it would be interesting to see who'd come out on top - particularly in missing vowels.

Round 1: What's the connection?

The questions
1) AG; SA; SpA; plc
2) Ageusia; Anaesthesia; Anosmia; Deafness
3) Geraldine Estelle; Victoria Caroline; Melanie Jayne; Melanie Janine
4) Pollyanna; Paparazzo; Svengali; Man Friday
5) Music: 'The Littlest Hobo' theme; Old Shep; Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band; The Singing Dogs
6) Pictures: Ring; Bar; Fridge; Horseshoe

The answers

1) Shareholder companies (in Germany, France, Spain and the UK)
2) Loss of senses
3) Spice Girls
4) Etymologies from fictional characters
5) Dogs
6) ____ magnet

Our thoughts
1) Not a particularly soft start for this loser-loser playoff, with seemingly very little to go on before the final clue. I wondered whether there was some more misdirection intended from the setter here, with an incautious reading of AG suggesting silver, but otherwise this seems a very tall order before the third clue and even with all four we were still lost. The Romantics, though, managed to pick up a point.
2) The Coders took a point back of their own here, with this largely a test of whether you know what Ageusia is. Predictably a certain Dr Karran didn't ("it's not very common!") and we only took 2 at home. Quite an elegant set, I thought.
3) Only Connect proving that nothing is off-limits as the contestants' knowledge of 90s girl bands was given a thorough shake-down. There were probably some die-hard fans who had this on the first clue, whereas for the rest of us it was a fun case of spotting the possible link and then realizing that Gerladine must be short for Geri. The Romantics, alas, didn't see it allowing the Coders to pick up a bonus.
4) Immediately onto something rather more from the 'quizzer' end of the general knowledge spectrum, this, and I was impressed with the doctor for spotting it after just two clues. Both teams, meanwhile, thought they had an idea but neither seemed close on what was another tricky question but some fun trivia nevertheless.
5) The dreaded music question turned out to be a real blessing as the Romantics took a very impressive three points. It's not often we don't hear all four music clues and so it's hard to have much of an opinion on the question itself, but a look at the remaining clips suggests to me many of us would have done well to score at all.
6) This was the second picture question of the series where the connection was a wall-style "can all be followed by...". The last time was, coincidentally enough, in the Romantics first game where they failed to spot that Rabbi Lionel Blue, Jack Black, Jack Straw and Gabby Logan could all be falled by 'berry'. I didn't really blame them for missing that, and I don't blame either team for missing this one, either. The choice of pictures for these sorts of clues seems a difficult decision, and while you don't want it to be too transparent, I think choosing an open refrigerator and its contents as well as a bar with two prominent pints on it was a little bit too distracting. The Coders' guess of 'things on a slot machine' was what we came up with at home, and I think in the studio I may have tried to argue the fruit in the 'fridge' clue similarly fitted in. Still, 4-2 to the Romantics after a challenging first round.

Round 2: What comes fourth?

The questions
1) Pictures: The Queen; Florence Nightingale; Elizabeth Fry
2) C over U; CC over US; CCC over USS
3) Slieve Donard; Scafell Pike; Snowdon
4) 1p; 3p; 8p
5) 1: one; 2: three; 3: eleven
6) at Rest; is Rich; Redux

The answers

1) Jane Austen (Women on baknotes)
2) CCCP over USSR (Soviet Union initials in Russian and English)
3) Ben Nevis (Highest mountains of home countries)
4) 18p (Add the next value coin)
5) 4: seventeen (Written numbers with 1, 2, 3, 4, 'E's)
6) Run (John Updike's 'Rabbit' nvoels)

Our thoughts
1) People on money is typically the preserve of the seasoned pub quizzer, but this particular story made some headlines several months ago. This had some fun balance to it: the first two women are readily recognizable, but the sequence is only particularly easy to spot if you also have Elizabeth Fry who is rather harder to identify. A good question, only a tiny bit spoiled (I think) by Jane Austen not actually being on any notes yet, but it's only because Only Connect is so good that I feel it even worth commenting on that. The Romantics, seemingly thinking of titles (Queen, Lady of the Lamp) went with a Dame, allowing the Coders to come in for a well-earned bonus.
2) From the sublime to the somewhat ridiculous, I felt, as while this is a mildly enjoyable trick it nevertheless seems effectively impossible without all three clues (which is where the Coders took it). I was initially thinking along rebus lines muttering things like "see over you... two see over you... er..." before the final clue was revealed.
3) A pretty standard bit of general knowledge, and I'm surprised it (presumably) hasn't come up before on the show. A lot of viewers will have had this for an easy five, I suspect, while the Romantics took a second clue to be certain.
4) Number sequences always bother me a little, as with enough creativity one can construct a variety of more-than-plausible alternatives. Nevertheless, this was an elegant example and at home I was kicking myself for not taking the punt for three points, instead playing safe (as the Coders did) with the final clue.
5) These two questions, coincidentally appearing back-to-back, sum up so much of why Only Connect is fun. Despite similar appearances the puzzles are both fundamentally different, and in theory so easy a child could solve them while their parents over-think it. This is where the Romantics found themselves, before almost snatching victory from the jaws of defeat by guessing 'nineteen' despite suggesting 'seventeen' in their discussions of prime numbers. The Coders were happy to snag another bonus while the doctor, to my continued astonishment, got it after just two clues at home.
6) Ooh, nasty. Neither team had this last one and I'm not too surprised. All I know about John Updike was that he was the start of a question in the University Challenge Quiz Book the doctor's team used in their preparation for the show. The answer, in case you're wondering, was Sophie Johnson. With the Coders a mere 8-7 ahead going into the walls it was still anyone's game.

The Coders made light work of their wall, picking up a perfect ten and guaranteeing themselves a lead heading into the final round. The Romantics, meanwhile, began with flotation devices but had completely forgotten this possible link when it came to the answers, leaving them with a not-quite-perfect seven. There was some frustrating to watch wall technique here, as early on they identified five types of press (trouser, tabloid, bench, linen and the phony garlic) but only tried three of the five possible permutations before giving up.

With a combined losing record of 24-3 from their first round missing vowels escapades both teams had something to prove here. The Coders, sitting on a four point lead were looking the favourites but the Romantics pulled off the comeback to tie the game at 24 points apiece. The Coders should have been home and hosed by then, however, but captain David let out an inadvertent "the" before one answer to drop a point and allow the Romantics an easy steal. As it was he made amends with the tie-break clue ('Winner Stays On', delightfully appropriate as always) and I was pleased to see how much care he took in delivering his answer. Fantastic composure. With that the Coders sneaked into a final playoff game to try and reach the quarter-finals while the Romantics, despite a couple of commendable performances, were heading home.

Question of the Week

There were three stand-out candidates this week, with 'Women on banknotes' and 'Add the next value coin' both strong contenders. However, our pick of the bunch was Spice Girls. While I suspect this will prove a fairly divisive one, for us it stood out as showing off the range of knowledge Only Connect expects of its contestants, combined with a fun penny drop as you realize Geri is short for Geraldine. Good show.

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The 'Spanish Prisoner' was a 16th century version of the modern-day '419 scam'

Your targets this week:

1+ out of 8: Well done, you beat us!
3+ out of 8: We'd have won with you on our team!

The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor

The ones that got away

Question 5

1) Prior to its rebranding in Austria in 1987, in which country did the drink Red Bull originate?
2) What was the (somewhat uninspiring) working title of the Alien movie franchise?
3) Who guest starred as himself in the 1993 Simpsons episode "Marge vs. the Monorail"?
4) On whose memoirs is the movie The Wolf of Wall Street based?
5) On which movie is this musical (pictured) based?
6) In the Halloween movie franchise Michael Myers' mask was based on a mask of which actor?
7) In marketing terminology, what is 'angel dusting'?
8) In Macbeth what line precedes "Fire burn, and cauldron bubble"?

The answers

1) Thailand
2) Star Beast
3) Leonard Nimoy
4) Jordan Belfort (surname suffices)
5) Catch Me If You Can
6) William Shatner
7) Including a tiny amount of some desirable ingredient in a product (so you can claim the product contains it, even though it's not of any use - you'll have to judge for yourself if you're close enough on this one)
8) Double, double, toil and trouble (you must have this word perfect, I'm afraid)

Our excuses

1) I'm not entirely sure if 'rebranding' is quite the correct word, here, but it was at least 'inspired' by a Thai drink named Krating Daeng. We stuck in Europe with neighbouring Italy, but perhaps should have realized it may have come from somewhere rather further afield.
2) A cool fact, but despite the doctor being a moderate fan of the films not one we'd come across before. Our attempt at an 'uninspiring' name was simply 'Space!', which I still rather like.
3) While we could remember the episode, we could only think of "that Monorail guy who sings the Monorail song about the Monorail" and thought he looked a little bit like Richard Gere. Turns out that chap was played by Phil Hartman (another guest star on the episode) whereas the Nimoy appearance was completely lost to our combined memories.
4) Nominated for five Oscars, I was surprised to be reminded that it didn't actually win any of them. Nevertheless, it's not one we'd seen (no surprise there) and I'll admit I didn't even know it was based on someone's memoirs.
5) Without too much to go on beyond what looked (at a distance) like a pilot's outfit and "maybe a bit 1930s?" we put The Producers (no, I'm not really sure why, either).
6) You may be thinking there was a secret Star Trek theme going on here, given the Nimoy question earlier, but these questions were asked in different rounds by independent setters. Another pretty rad fact, even if a bit impossible to stand a chance of working out. This is a cool link for a depiction of how the transition may have happened.
7) A fun question to toss around, although again difficult to land on the correct answer. We ended up with the use of fake "real person" testimonials as adding some 'angel dust' to a product's marketing campaign.
8) Ugh. We both instinctively thought it was "hubble bubble toil and trouble" and then the 'double double' doubts snuck in. Unfortunately this is one of those questions you have to hope your instincts are right; once you've thought of another possibility you'll be able to convince yourself both are right and wrong within the space of a minute.

How did you do? Would you have beaten us (1 or more correct)? Would you have helped us win (3 or more correct)? Let the world know with the poll below, then read on for my alternative questions (loosely) inspired by this week's Ones That Got Away!


My alternative questions
1) Translating to 'Red Bull' in English, which Formula One racing team does the company own along with Red Bull Racing?
2) SETI is the collective name for a number of projects looking for alien life. Of what four-word phrase is SETI an abbreviation?
3) A 5-element expansion of the classic game Rock-Paper-Scissors (invented by Sam Kass and popularized by the sitcom The Big Bang Theory) adds the Star Trek character Spock and what animal to the original three shapes? The animal loses to rock (by crushing) and scissors (by decapitation) but wins against paper (by eating it) and Spock (by poisoning him). Ouch.
4) What three word phrase describes the 18th century collapse in share price of a British company given a monopoly to trade with South America?
5) In 1925 con artist Victor Lustig successfully 'sold' which famous landmark?
6) Shatner's Star Trek character James T. Kirk shares his middle name with which Roman Emperor?
7) What term describes the practice of masking the sponsors of a message or organization to make it appear as though it originates from 'grassroots' support?
8) In basketball a player achieves a 'double-double' if in one game they accumulate a double-digit total in two of five statistical categories. One of these categories is 'points' (so if a player scores 10 or more points in a game they have half of a double-double). Name two of the other four.

The answers

1) (Scuderia) Toro Rosso
2) Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
3) Lizard
4) South Sea Bubble
5) The Eiffel Tower
6) Tiberius
7) Astroturfing
8) Rebounds, assists, steals and blocked shots

How did you do on my alternative questions? Have another poll!

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Only Connect Post Mortem: Children in Need Special!

Scroll down for this week's Question of the Week poll!

Warning: the following contains spoilers for the Series 10 Children in Need special of Only Connect, first broadcast on BBC Two on Monday 10th November. If you haven't seen it yet go and watch it on iPlayer! (And maybe, like, give some money to charity or something? I think they said something along those lines.)

Missed last week's recap of the Wandering Minstrels vs. the Chessmen? I haven't written it yet but you can still check out the poll here!

It's time for an Only Connect special where celebrities (but that's the BBC 4 definition of celebrity, mind you) are somehow persuaded to appear on a quiz show famed for its difficulty all in the name of charidee. Tonight's volunteers are the Noggins (Sophie Grigson, Robert Peston and Patrick Marber) and the Curiosities (Kevin Eldon, Kate Mosse and Steve Jones). Let's see how they get on.

Round 1: What's the connection?

The questions
1) Music: Devil's Trill Sonata; Devil's Gallop; That Ole Devil Called Love; Better the Devil You Know
2) Epoch succeeded by hardon epoch; Curd cheese equivalent; Deep Space Nine's Ferengi; Elementary particle
3) Pictures: John Legend; Louise Mensch; John Diamond; John Goodman
4) Words such as 'basket'; Chambermaid references; Parodies of Christmas carols; Jokes about lavoratories
5) Ris a l'amande; Greenland; Lego; Sandi Toksvig
6) Theos; Hercules; Endeavours; Ellerys

The answers

1) Devil
2) Quark
3) Nice people
4) Banned by the BBC
5) Danish
6) Fictional detectives + 's'

Our thoughts
1) A fairly standard music connection, but by no means an easy one, and the Noggins came up with a good educated guess seemingly based solely on That Ole Devil Called Love. Some top level Only Connecting there to pluck out the plausible link, I thought.
2) My initial presumption that this would be an easy show was being brought into serious question early on, as that tricky musical opener was followed by one that required some pretty specialized knowledge for anything more than a point. The Curiosities missed the elementary particle (I'm sure Steve Jones will be stressing that quarks don't come up much in genetics...maybe) but the Noggins were able to snatch a point. In what is possibly a first for the show VCM offered a bonus point to the Curiosities if they could tell her where the word 'quark' comes from (James Joyce's Finnengans Wake, elementary particle fact fans) which was duly added to their total and caused me considerable confusion when double-checking our scores.
3) Another impressive spot from the Noggins for 1 point here, in what seemed another tough set. You need at least two or three, ideally with one of those being Diamond, to stand a chance here, I think. At home, meanwhile, our recognition of Mensch and Goodman didn't get us anywhere. (I was unfamiliar with Mensch, which apparently means "a person of integrity and honour".)
4) I wondered with this if the setters were hoping the celebrity guests may have come across this particular topic in their televisual travels. As it was we, like the contestants, were nowhere, and while Parodies of Christmas carols puts one in mind of bans, the rest just didn't really seem to fit a group like that, let alone the specifics of the BBC.
5) We were into more familiar Only Connect waters here, however, with Greenland and Lego quickly sending most trivia fans to Denmark. The Noggins needed Sandi Toksvig to be sure (and briefly considered some more classic Only Connect strategy by starting vague with 'Scandinavia') and took another point in what was proving a hard-fought contest.
6) A really lovely question to finish the round. At a basic level it has a real kick yourself moment when the penny drops (particularly for us at home, as we'd both considered Endeavour Morse but nevertheless taken the last clue before realizing the connection), but there's also an elegant link between Theos (Greek for God) and Hercules (the Roman demi-god) to distract at the start. The Curiosities found their way to the answer to pick up their first point (James Joyce bonus notwithstanding) of the show. 4-2 to the Noggins!

Round 2: What comes fourth?

The questions
1) Knowledge is...; ...knowing a tomato is a fruit.; Wisdom is...
2) Pictures: Bush; Dole; Gore
3) Apply salt; Lick hand; Drink tequila
4) əʊn; li; kə
5) Howe; Heseltine; Prescott
6) 28th: The Holy Innocents; 27th: John, Apostle and Evangelist; 26th: Stephen, Deacon, First Martyr

The answers

1) ...not putting it in a fruit salad. (Miles Kington's definitions)
2) (e.g.) Kerry Blue terrirers (Losing US presidential candidates)
3) Bite lime (Traditional way of drinking tequila)
4) nɛkt ('Only Connect', spelled phonetically)
5) Clegg (Deputy Prime Ministers)
6) 25th: Christmas Day (Festivals of 28, 27, 26, 25 December)

Our thoughts
1) Not entirely sold on this question, although it's a fun quote (which I'd completely forgotten). There's some entertainment to be had with concocting guesses for the answer once all three clues are revealed (we proposed "not caring" while a certain Mr Carver suggested "a brand of toothpaste") but otherwise it's rather an all-or-nothing know-it-or-you-don't affair after the first two clues.
2) I was worried this would be another one of the dreaded "Austin Powers in Goldmember" style 'picture phrase' questions, but mercifully it turned into a fairly fun "say everything you can think of and we might get it". After both teams blanked on the first sequence they came close here but couldn't quite unravel things. We managed to stumble our way to the answer for 3 points, but as we'd just got home from a pub quiz that had a similar-ish round we were rather well placed for such a question.
3) Trivial for 2 points, this struck me as a question that was testing your nerve. We were pretty sure after the first clue, but took the second to be sure, while the Noggins needed all 3 to be certain they had the order correct (it's fairly easy to imagine one might do the tequila last, for example).
4) Another lovely question, and I'd like to know if any international phonetic alphabet buffs out there got this for 5. A self-referential question is usually good fun, and the gradual increase in information from each successive clue works really nicely here. Like the Curiosities, we got this for 2 points (although admittedly VCM was a touch generous, much to the chagrin of the Noggins - calm down, it's only Only Connect!).
5) Deputy Prime Ministers are becoming something of a quizzing classic, thanks both to the notoriety of Prescott and the novelty of Clegg, and the Noggins took a fairly soft 2. I'll admit that our fancy Canadian lifestyle briefly distracted us at home; we were thinking of Gordie Howe, a hockey player so famous he's been a clue on the show before.
6) I suspect a lot of viewers at home will have had this for 5, but we weren't sure enough about the Holy Innocents clue to rule out the idea of the sequence going up to the 31st or 1st of a month. The second clue gives it away to any seasoned Only Connect fan, I think, while the Curiosities took all three to take 2 points and trailed 8-6 going into the walls. (And while I fully sympathize with the show's lenient stance on these specials, I feel obliged to point out - as VCM hinted - that their initial answer of St. Nicholas was off the mark, as his day is on December 6th. I only mention it as my primary school celebrated St. Nicholas day with a chap dressed up as Old Nick "on the Friday closest to December 6th, unless December 6th itself was a Friday, as obviously on the actual day St. Nicholas is too busy in Holland". Obviously.)

Both teams impressed on the walls, with a perfect 10 apiece (although I was a little unimpressed with the 'receptacles' group of Can, Pail, Pitcher, Scuttle; mainly because we didn't even consider it as it seemed too weak a link). A 2 point gap is nothing in missing vowels, but the Noggins held on for a 22-18 victory. I was intrigued to note a Santa Claus clue here which, along with December's festivals, briefly had me wondering if they'd anticipated a Christmas-time airing. However, with Children in Need always falling at this time of year I can only assume this was a coincidence.

Question of the Week

It was an easy decision at home, with Fictional detectives + 's' a clear winner for both its great kick yourself moment and the elegant Theos/Hercules opening. Of course, we'd love to know what you think, so click things on the poll below please!

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Still on holiday!

Hello all. Just a quick post to let you know that as we're still on holiday in the Big Apple there's not been time for your regularly scheduled dose of pub quiz failure. We have squeezed in a quiz while we've been down here, however (and even got to pull from the quizmaster's Mystery Sack), so don't worry; we're not slacking off. Normal service should resume next week, and thanks for reading!

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Only Connect Post Mortem: Series 10 Episode 10Wandering Minstrels vs. Chessmen

Scroll down for this week's Question of the Week poll!

Warning: the following contains spoilers for Series 10, Episode 1 of Only Connect, first broadcast on BBC Two on Monday 3rd November. If you haven't seen it yet go and watch it on iPlayer!

Missed last week's recap of the Politicos vs. the Oxonians? Check it out here!

After a brief hiatus while we took in the sites of New York City, I'm back with a very belated summary of our thoughts on the second elimination match of the series. On paper the Chessmen were looking good: they came third in Series 2 of the show but couldn't quite live up to that pedigree as they were seen of 26-24 by a very good looking team of Linguists. The Minstrels, meanwhile, had a rather tougher time against the Gallifreyans and went down 26-12. One game at a time however, but I don't doubt the Chessmen would be feeling slightly more of the pressure here.

Round 1: What's the connection?

The questions
1) £7-12 per week wages; £2 emergency credit for phone calls; 3-4 visits per month; No votes
2) Roaming in the Gloaming; Singing in the Rain; Blowing in the Wind; You've Lost That Loving Feeling
3) Music: Themes from the Dukes of Hazzard (Waylond Jennings); Sir Duke (Stevie Wonder); Duke of Earl (); The Grand Old Duke of York
4) Salem; Graymalkin; Crookshanks; Gobbolino
5) Pictures: Jay-Jay; Dee Dee Ramone; Yo-Yo Ma; Zsa Zsa Gabor
6) Beelzebub; Mephisto; Inquisitor; Listener

The answers

1) UK prisoners
2) Restored 'g's
3) Dukes
4) Witches' cats
5) Repeated first names
6) Barred weekend crossword series

Our thoughts
1) A rather sharp shift in difficulty from the second clue to the third, and almost impossible to miss for at least a point, the fun in this one is whether you can spot it early. I persuaded a sceptical doctor to take it for 3 points while the Minstrels took it for 2.
2) An Only Connect classic where the answer is staring you in the face but is brilliantly easy to miss. Neither team spotted it (nor did we at home) but I felt Blowing in the Wind should really have given it to me.
3) If you recognized either of the middle 2 clues you'd stand a good chance (perhaps via "noble titles?" and then "dukes?" if pushed). Sir Duke is one of those songs where you think you know it (I certainly do) but then you discover you've no idea what it's actually titled. The Minstrels worked backwards from the final clue, which seemed a deliberate giveaway, but was nevertheless not trivial to do in the time.
4) Those of us of a certain generation (myself included) would have been tempted with a very punty 5 here, as memories of Sabrina the Teenage Witch on CITV came flooding back. Graymalkin then takes us to a rather different end of the fictional spectrum with Macbeth (which was enough for us at home) and Crookshanks meant that all those people who find Harry Potter questions on quizzes irritating got their weekly dose of annoyance. The Chessmen, enormous fans of the boy wizard I'm sure, got 2 points thanks to Hermione's cat (well, half-cat), while the last clue was admittedly a new one on me.
5) A picture round of "do you recognize any of these people?". At home I spotted Yo-Yo Ma (fun fact: I played the cello for a couple of years before switching to the double bass) which was enough for me while the Minstrels took all 4 for the point. (The doctor, true to 'people-recognizing form', was convinced the last clue was Joanna Lumley.)
6) The Series 10 '2-clue trap' reared its head again here, with Beezlebub and Mephisto seemingly pointing at devils/demons (and while that perhaps would seem 'too easy' there have been some questions this series along similar lines). The Chessmen weren't falling for it though, and took a solid 3 points to lead 5-4.

Round 2: What comes fourth?

The questions
1) Nimble; Wood-coloured; Vulpes
2) Pictures: Austin 7; Stephanie Powers; An open door with an arrow pointing in
3) Parrott/McCoist; Dettori/McCoist; Dawson/McCoist
4) H; AL; SN
5) Pipes of Peace = 1; Ebony and Ivory = 2; Mull of Kintyre = 3
6) S. her v.; H. and g.; L. to r. over us

The answers

1) (e.g.) Vaults (Quick Brown Fox Jumps)
2) (e.g.) Someone holding a gold credit card thing (Austin Powers in Goldmember)
3) Dawson/Tufnell ('A Question of Sport' captains)
4) SL (Trivial Pursuit Categories - History, Arts and Literature, Science and Nature, Sports and Leisure)
5) (e.g.) Hey Jude (Paul McCartney number ones)
6) G. s. the Q. (God Save the Queen)

Our thoughts
1) Quite a nice question, which I was mildly annoyed to be beaten to by the doctor (who is normally hopeless at such things). The Minstrels had it at a similar time, recognizing the pangram (using all the letters of the alphabet) but mistakenly thought it was "The quick brown fox jumped". (This is an easy slip-up; but using 'jumped' instead of 'jumps' means you don't have an s.) As it was this minor error wouldn't matter, as they got a bit flustered, took the final clue, then jumped ahead to 'dog' at the end of the line. The Chessmen were able to step in for the easy bonus.
2) While I don't like to be negative, I'm afraid this really was one of the weaker Only Connect questions I've seen (sorry!). There have been a few of these 'picture phrase' questions this series, and I don't think I've been convinced by any of them, but this one in particular with a very optimistic clue to the word 'in' does rather verge on the silly. Your only chance is if you recognize at least one of Austin 7 or Stephanie Powers (and really I think you need both), but even then stumbling to the correct answer seems an exceptionally tall order. Unsurprisingly neither team were even close to this.
3) I was surprised to see the Minstrels take all 3 clues before the connection occurred to them, as I would imagine many viewers would have had the link immediately and it was just a matter of suspecting the order was leading up to the present day (and then remembering who the current captains were). Unusually for a TV question I can say all this with some confidence. As someone who has barely watched A Question of Sport I nevertheless knew the sequence from the first clue and managed half of the final pairing. The Minstrels, alas, couldn't drag up the correct names and the Chessmen picked up another handy bonus.
4) Only Connect has done Trivial Pursuit categories before, but this time they apparently decided to take the opportunity for a bit of chemical symbol misdirection. At home I was feeling very smug by correctly observing that "those can't be chemical symbols, it should be Al and Sn, not AL and SN" which predictably meant I (like the teams) still didn't work out the answer.
5) I quite enjoyed this one, although that's perhaps more due to doing well on the type of question we're usually terrible at. I can't say I recognized Pipes of Peace, but Ebony and Ivory can only mean Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder, at which point the significance of the number 2 becomes clear. With a 4 piece group including Paul McCartney very easy to identify (and rather more easily than one with Stevie Wonder), it seemed more than likely this was where the question was going. The Minstrels again were close but no cigar, spotting the link but seeming to miss the McCartney connection, and the Chessmen took their third bonus point of the round.
6) A somewhat weird question to finish, I thought, and an absolute gimme for 2 points. Or not, as the Chessmen managed to miss it. The Minstrels duly hoovered up the bonus, but were still trailing 8-5.

A 3 point lead meant any sort of slip-up from the Chessmen on the wall would open the door for the Minstrels. They duly obliged by missing one connection to score 7 and the Minstrels followed the script with a maximum of 10 to tie the game going into the vowels. This scoreline was perhaps a touch surprising given the earlier rounds, but the Chessmen pulled out a solid performance to take the game 25-21.

Question of the Week

(Originally posted on November 3rd.) The Ones That Got Away is on holiday in NYC this week, and so the Only Connect recap is going to be (very) delayed. We've found time to catch up with the episode in a break between the Museum of Sex and going to a pub quiz, and can announce that our Question of the Week was Restored 'g's! Of course, you can still vote for your favourites with the poll below, and normal service should hopefully resume once we're back in Canada's chilly embrace.

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