Thursday 26 June 2014

Bolivia produces more Brazil nuts than Brazil

Your target this week:

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

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

The ones that got away

N.B. This quiz began with five picture questions for which we were given ten minutes during which smartphones were permitted. As such for questions 1 and 2 only you should/can allow yourself around four minutes to try and use Google (or similar) to work out the answers. The only restriction is to limit yourself to what you could reasonably expect to do with the pictures on a physical piece of paper in a dark pub - in other words, things like copying the images into a reverse image search website is probably not in the spirit of The Ones That Got Away!

Questions 1 and 2
1) Googling allowed: what type of wave is this?
2) Googling allowed: what is the name of this object?
3) No more Googling! Identify the children's story (title only) from the quote: "And good luck and strong white teeth go with noble children that they may never forget the hungry in this world."
4) Identify the children's story (title only) from the quote: "He travelled all over the world to find one, but nowhere could he get what he wanted. There were princesses enough, but it was difficult to find out whether they were real ones."
5) How many venues (stadia) are there for the 2014 FIFA World Cup?
6) To within 10%, what is the capacity of the largest-capacity stadium at the 2014 FIFA World Cup
7) Who is the president of the company Berkshire Hathaway?
8) To within 10%, what is the average lifespan of a red blood cell?
9) If I'm spending krona and visiting the Drottningholm Palace, which country am I in?
10) If I'm spending West African CFA francs and visiting Banco National Park, which country am I in?

The answers


The excuses


How did you do? Would you have beaten us and helped us win (1 or more correct)? Let us know with the poll below and then check out my alternative questions inspired by this week's Ones That Got Away!


My alternative questions
Yum!
1) Which 1991 movie, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, takes its name from the term for a place where waves hit a piece of land jutting out from the coastline?
2) The Austrian cake Sachertorte traditionally (and according to Mary Berry, of course) largely consists of chocolate sponge cake, dark chocolate icing, and what type of jam?
3) Two lines from Kipling's If— are written on the wall of the players' entrance to Centre Court at Wimbledon. To which two 'impostors' do they make reference?
4) Name a year during which Hans Christian Andersen was alive.
5) Four countries with populations of over ten million recognize Portugese as their official language. Two of these are Brazil and (you guessed it) Portugal. Name one of the others.
6) Essential trivia time: Rio de Janeiro (home of the Maracanã) translates to what in English?
7) Although most of my readers will be more familiar with The Apprentice as a vehicle for Alan Sugar, the franchise began in the United States where which American business magnate acts as the 'boss'?
8) Sometimes known as 'the royal disease', which condition was passed on by Queen Victoria to various royals across Europe?
9) Essential (but actually kinda fun!) trivia time: which Swedish village (whose name means 'outer village') lends its name to four chemical elements derived from a quarry there?
10) Côte d'Ivoire, predictably, takes its name from its historical trade of ivory. Which country to its east was, analogously, once called the Gold Coast?

The answers


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

Friday 20 June 2014

There is an oceanographer superhero called Stingray

New poll options should now be up and running - things are a bit ugly right now but you can hopefully not only tell the world how you scored on the Ones That Got Away, but also on my own alternative questions!

Your targets this week:

1+ out of 9: Well done, you beat us!
3+ out of 9: 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) Two of the countries in this year's World Cup Finals have never won a World Cup Finals match. For one of these countries it is their first year appearing in the Finals, which is the other?
2) Which country will become the first to play 100 World Cup Finals matches in this year's tournament?
3) A Roman mixture of vinegar, honey and salt is the first known example of what?
4) Complete this quote from a TV show whose season finale aired (in the US) on Sunday night: "The night is dark..."
5) Two African countries have a capital city that means the same thing, one in English, the other in French. Name the two countries and the two capital cities. (You need all four for the point.)
6) Which company recently announced that it would allow its tech patents to be freely used worldwide "in the spirit of the open source movement"?
7) Film quotes! Name the movie and the character (or actor) who spoke it: "I'll be down in 2 shakes of a lamb's tail."
8) Film quotes again! Name the movie and the character (or actor) who spoke it: "Please get out of my Van Halen T-shirt before you jinx the band and they break up."
9) Which country is the world's biggest oil and gas producer?

The answers


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


The excuses


My alternative questions
1) Honduras has historically (occasionally) been referred to as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, the former name of which modern-day country?
2) What is the product of the number of stars on Germany's football shirt and the number of stars on Brazil's football shirt?
3) Toothpaste played a role in another classic piece of trivia when, on September 22, 1955, it was the subject of the UK's first what?
4) Give any one of the four 'R' middle names in authors George R. R. Martin and John R. R. Tolkien's names.
5) Gabon lies on the Equator - hooray! But, along with Cameroon, which country does it border to its north which sadly - and perhaps surprisingly - doesn't lie on the Equator?
6) Nikola Tesla also lends his name to the SI unit for the strength of what?
7) An iconic mural by graffiti artist Banksy - since painted over by Transport for London workers - depicted a scene form Pulp Fiction with Samuel L Jackson and John Travolta clutching what instead of guns?
8) Which acting award has Adam Sandler won three times (the most recent coming in 2012 for That's My Boy), with only Sylvester Stallone ahead of him on four?
9) Some more classic/essential/boring trivia to finish: what do the letters in international organization OPEC stand for?

The answers


New! You can now tell the world how you did on my alternative questions too using the poll below!

Friday 13 June 2014

Bonus Question
World Cup Quiz!

Yes, it's the (men's) World Cup, and because I've been far too busy being far too excited about football this week I've not had time to do any pub quizzes. But fear not: instead of the usual quiz questions we got wrong, I've put together a quick World Cup Quiz. A mere four rounds (including pictures, naturally) I've tried to ask a mixture of things that are either interesting, or things that are boring but nevertheless essential trivia knowledge for all those World Cup questions quizmasters across the country will be asking over the next month. I'll have doubtless missed a bunch of obvious material so if you have any favourite football factoids do please let me know, either here or via Twitter @statacake!

Warming up
1) Which country both hosted and won the first World Cup in 1930?
2) Even non-fans know that Brazil are very good at winning the World Cup, but (prior to the 2014 competition) how many times have they won it?
3) Before this tournament, which player holds the record for most goals scored in World Cup Finals matches? Germany's Miroslav Klose is just one goal behind though, and has the chance to equal or even overhaul that record this year.
4) What was the final score in the only World Cup Final that really counts (1966)?
5) What is the official name of the current World Cup trophy?

The answers


Some stretches
1) The 2010 World Cup ball was criticized by some (especially goalkeepers) for being 'too round'. Meaning 'celebrate' in Zulu, what was that ball called?
2) England have participated in three penalty shootouts at the World Cup Finals and, you guessed it, have lost all of them. In the process seven England players have suffered the ignominy of missing a World Cup shootout penalty. Name five of them.
3) Complete this quote from Luis Suárez following his team's quarter-final victory in 2010: "The _____ now belongs to me".
4) The name 'Fuleco', chosen for the Armadillo mascot of this year's tournament, is a portmanteau of two Portugese words. What do these two words mean in English?
5) What was notable about the sequence of World Cup champions from 1970 to 1994, leading some pundits to suggest that England were 'destined' to win in 1998?

The answers


Disciplinary matters
1) To date, five players have been sent off in a World Cup final, but which Frenchman was the most recent to receive this particular 'honour' for headbutting an opponent?
2) ...and who did he headbutt?
3) A mere three England players have been sent off during a World Cup Finals match. Name two of them.
4) A match in the 2006 finals earned the nickname 'The Battle of Nuremberg' after it saw a record four red cards and 16 yellow cards dished out. Name either of the teams involved (and no, Germany wasn't one of them).
5) Which year's World Cup Finals saw the first introduction of red and yellow cards in professional football? This is an important trivium to keep in mind for when a quizmaster asks "Who/when was the first player shown a red card in a World Cup Finals match?" instead of "Who/when was the first player sent off in a World Cup Finals match?"

The answers


Picture Round!
Finally, some pictures. Here are five World Cup mascots, can you match them up to their respective host countries? Any helpful wording has been expertly removed.


The answers

Thursday 5 June 2014

In the board game, 'backgammon' refers to a particularly overwhelming victory

Your targets this week:

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

The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
3) The engineer
4) The curler

The ones that got away
1) Which band had eight consecutive UK number one albums without releasing a single?
2) In psychology, who coined the terms introvert and extrovert?
3) In 1983 the Gavilan SC was the first computer described with what term?
4) Which film was the first to take more than $1 billion at the box office?
5) How many points are there on a backgammon board?
6) A temperature of 58°C, the hottest every recorded on Earth, was recorded in which continent?
7) The flag of which country was the first to be placed on the moon?
8) The term 'queen regent', as opposed to 'queen consort', refers to female monarchs who ruled on their own, rather than as the wife of a king. Since 1066, how many queens regent have there been of England (and later Britain)? These are those 'acknowledged' as queens regent. [This is as much clarification as we could get.]

The answers


How did you do? Would you have beaten us (1 or more correct)? Would you have helped us win (5 or more correct)? Blogger polls are (incredibly) still broken, so if you want to tell the world feel free to comment below or Tweet me @statacake!

Our excuses


My alternative questions
1) The original having heavily featured for much of the show's run, a drum and bass remix of Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love' was the theme tune of which long-running BBC program from 1998 to 2003?
2) Popular in online 'personality tests', the Myers-Briggs psychometric questionnaire identifies 16 psychological 'types' via four pairs (or dichotomies) of type preference, each identified by a letter. One pair is Extroversion (E) and Introversion (I), and another is Sensing (S) and Intuition (N). What type, beginning with F, pairs with Thinking, and what type, beginning with P, pairs with Judging, to complete the set?
3) The term 'smartphone' first appeared in 1997, when which Swedish telecommunications company (whose name is perhaps more familiar in conjunction with that of a Japanese multinational) described its GS 88 'Penelope' as such?
4) While the sinking of the Titanic took some 1,500 lives, the sinking of which (far less well-known) passenger ferry in 1987 is thought to be the world's deadliest peacetime maritime disaster, with an estimated 4,386 deaths?
5) In backgammon you get extra moves if you roll a double (the same number on both dice). Assuming the dice are fair, what's the probability of rolling a double?
6) Despite being the first to ratify the US Constitution, which is the only US state to not have a national park?
Question 7
7) With obvious similarities to that of the Soviet Union, pictured is the flag of Transnistria, a breakaway state located within which European country?
8) Traditionally the direction British monarchs face on coins alternates with each succession. Which king bucked this trend, preferring portraits of himself looking to the left, the same direction as his predecessor?

The answers

Tuesday 3 June 2014

Bonus Question
Does the missing vowels round still not matter?

Still my proudest accomplishment.
Back in October I put up a post addressing the regular complaint that Only Connect's missing vowels round is 'overpowered' using data from the first seven series of the show. A mere six months after it concluded I thought I'd stick up a quick summary of how adding Series 8's data affected things. The answer? Not much. Still, read on for the latest Only Connect missing vowels stats (until Series 9 finishes in a couple of months and I end up doing it all again).

Turnabout's fair play

For me, the headline statistic when it comes to the importance of missing vowels is turnarounds: how often does a team come from behind after the walls to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat? Across the first seven regular series of Only Connect - comprising 99 episodes - 14 teams achieved this feat. Series 8 added three to this total, taking us to 17 turnarounds in 112 shows, or about twice every 13 episodes. There have still only been four occasions where teams were tied after the walls. (For the extra-curious, all three of the new additions took place in the first four episodes of Series 8, with the Lasletts and the Bakers overturning single-point deficits to defeat the Pilots and Press Gang, respectively, while my team the Board Gamers came back from three behind to overtake the Globetrotters.)

Series 4's Radio Addicts, one of just three teams
to turn around a post-wall deficit of four points.
Unsurprisingly, this hasn't changed another important stat: the biggest missing vowels comeback remains a relatively meagre four points, with this having been accomplished just three times in the show's history. My team was the third to turn things around from three points behind, while four teams have managed a 2-point turnaround. Over half of all the missing vowels comebacks have been from just 1 point behind. If missing vowels is an elaborate scheme to help quick-fingered teams win, it's not a very successful one.

Swing when you're winning

Points swings per round: how much the
team that wins a round will win it by.
A new statistic I thought I'd look at this time is points 'swings' per round: when a team wins a round, how many points they win that round by. This gives a sense of 'volatility': how many points the better team might claw back, or extend their lead by, in each of the four rounds. Doing this we get the table on the right where (for example) we see that on an 'average' episode one team will score about 2.6 more points than the other in the connections round, 3.4 on sequences, 2.4 on the walls, and 4.2 on missing vowels. (For the sake of completeness, the relevant standard deviations tell a near-identical story.)

Of obvious note is the missing vowels swing: on average the team which wins that round will win it by more than any other, albeit by less than one point over sequences. However, the fact that missing vowels so seldom makes a difference to the final outcome of a match suggests that while on average one team will score about 4 points more than their opponents in this round, they will usually either be so far ahead - or behind - that it doesn't matter. Missing vowels has the potential to cause big upsets, but only if one team is exceptionally good at them while simultaneously being rubbish at the rest of the show. Moreover, with so little to choose between the four rounds in absolute terms, the same could be really be said of any of them. (Plus, ultimately, like-for-like comparisons such as this are tricky given the fundamentally different nature of scoring between the rounds.)

Summing up

Finally, an update to the average points per round stats. As the table below shows, Series 8 doesn't stand out at all, with the overall averages largely unchanged (desipte my team's best efforts to drag the walls average down...).

Average points scored (by both teams) per round on Only Connect Series 1-8. (Click for big.)
That's your lot. In short: the missing vowels round is still nowhere near as overpowered as plenty of people seem to think: over 80% of the time it makes no difference to a show's outcome, and even then it will likely only see a one point deficit overturned.