Scroll down for this week's Question of the Week poll!
Warning: the following contains spoilers for Series 10, Episode 4 of Only Connect, first broadcast on BBC Two on Monday 22nd September. If you haven't seen it yet go and watch it on iPlayer!
Missed last week's recap of the Wandering Minstrels vs. the Gallifreyans? Check it out here!
There's some showbiz swagger in the studio this week, with the QI Elves showing remarkable bravery by putting their reputations on the line. Of course, they're incredibly lovely and humble, and are immediately given the opportunity to clarify that they probably don't know everything about everything. They're up against the Bibliophiles, who immediately got my support for having (at least) two maths graduates on the team. Let's see what the Only Connect gods/devils (delete as applicable) had in store this week.
Round 1: What's the connection?
The questions
1) Music: Year of the Cat (Al Stewart); The Very Thought of You (Al Bowlly); Sonny Boy (Al Jolson); Let's Stay Together (Al Green)
2) Serious; Frame and Fortune; G'day Ya Pommie B.....!; It's not about the Bike
3) Millard Fillmore; Lace; Abolition of slavery; Floor of Roky Erickson's Elevators
4) Rose (in red); Tree (in blue); Pound (in purple); Bird (in yellow)
5) Ford Prefect; David Brent; Sherlock Holmes; Gandalf
6) Pictures: Trevor Peacock; Jonnie Peacock; The NBC logo; Mrs. Peacock (on a Cluedo board)
The answers
Our thoughts
1) A tough one to start, I thought, with recognition of at least two of the singers essential (not much chance of educated guesswork here) and both teams were duly stumped. The closest I could get was vaguely recognizing the clip of Al Green. I suspect some may have known Al Jolson's Sonny Boy as the first American record to sell over one million copies, but beyond that this seemed one to only cement the music question's reputation as the show's toughest.
2) A slightly friendlier bit of standard general knowledge here although some lateral thinking could also clue you in to these being book titles related to sports or sportsmen. Playing along at home I managed to recognize Lance Armstrong's It's not about the Bike but then we foolishly went too specific with cyclist's autobiographies, supposing that Frame and Fortune was some sort of bike-related pun. Not easy, and the teams were evaded again, but I absolutely loved the Elves' idea of TV shows' names when exported to other countries (anyone else who's looked up the international versions of Come Dine With Me will agree, I'm sure).
3) After two tricky openers another question we thought was difficult but the Elves came in for an impressive point (despite having the answer on the first clue with the remainder not reassuring them any further). I'll have to admit ignorance of the 13th Floor Elevators and given their fairly sparse discography I'd imagine I'm not alone. The Elves knew Fillmore was the 13th President straight off the bat, and I presume the thinking in the question is there's not much else to know him for, although Wikipedia tells me he who was the last President was neither a Republican or a Democrat (he was a Whig), which is nice. The other clues are 'classic trivia' territory, with anniversary gifts and the number of US amendments largely the preserve of pub quizzes and not much else.
4) At this point I was starting to wonder if the show had decided "right, we've given BBC Two their easy-ish shows to lure in the new punters, now it's back to the hard stuff" and then this question popped up. A lovely idea, and a really nice question, just a touch unfortunate to come straight after three relatively difficult ones. As always, though, this is a matter of judgement and I typically find those questions with a touch more lateral thinking tend to be the hardest to gauge. The Bibliophiles had this for two, and both teams were up and running.
5) I'll admit that we found this one a touch odd. After two clues we had the answer but the link seemed sufficiently vague that we took a third expecting to work out something more specific. Perhaps a slightly harsh criticism, but I like to think that's more a testament to how tight the vast majority of the show's questions are.
6) A case of "can you recognize what's in these pictures?" but with the inclusion of the NBC logo and the Cluedo pieces providing some enjoyable alternative routes for those of us who struggle to recognize people. The Bibliophiles got the peacock link on the logo, and (I think quite impressively) deduced that either the actor or the Vicar of Dibley character he plays was called Peacock as well.
Round 2: What comes fourth?
The questions
1) First Manfred Mann hit; 2010 Noel Clark film; Gameshow featuring Dusty Bin
2) Tar Heel, NC; Palmetto, SC; Peach, GA
3) 1990: Johnson; 1997: Booth; 2007: Macaulay
4) Arthur Drewry; Stanley Rous; João Havelange
5) 1 of 4: Battleships; 2 of 4: Clue; 3 of 4: NFL Super Bowl Electric Football
6) Pictures: The Only Connect title card extremely pixellated; The Only Connect title card rather pixellated; The Only Connect title card slightly pixellated
The answers
Our thoughts
1) A fun sequence, and one of those gems where recognizing two clues gives it away, but recognizing just one still gives you a chance. We were in the latter camp, being familiar with 3-2-1 (thanks Challenge!), but pushed for time ended up deciding a sequence of 1, 2-1, 3-2-1, 4-3-2-1 seemed (slightly) more plausible. This was partly because we knew there was a film called 21, whereas a film called 4-3-2-1 seemed ridiculous. (The flipside, of course, is that it's much easier to think of an example of 2-1 than 4-3-2-1 for the answer, which should have tipped us off.) The Elves knew their Manfred Mann to give them the connection and the all-important direction to take two points.
2) A test of geography and either quizzing knowledge or quick thinking, here. If you know your state nicknames (see above re: wedding anniversaries), or could infer that's what they were, then you had half of this but would still need to recognize the state abbreviations and know where those states were. A lot going on, then, but the Bibliophiles managed to unravel it all for two good points of their own.
3) Back to some standard general knowledge (with the very slight challenge of recognizing Prime Ministerial years; bread and butter to veteran Only Connect viewers) where most teams would probably have the link after two but not know what the answer was. The Elves were in this camp, and smartly didn't bother asking for the third, while the Bibliophiles managed to sneak in for the bonus. I'll admit I was expecting/hoping to kick myself when the answer was revealed, but Sheffield only rang the very faintest of bells.
4) Another case of straight general knowledge which evaded the Bibliophiles (and us) but not the Elves. As a fairly avid football fan I think I'm going to claim a tiny bit of "before my time" on this; Havelange reigned for a whopping 24 years before finally being replaced in 1998.
5) One I suspect you'll either love or complain is ridiculously obscure. The doctor had this after Clue, but I was so sceptical of it really being the answer I insisted on a third to be sure. Neither team had it, and given that if you're going to be familiar with Bill and Ted's travels at all it's likely with their Excellent Adventure, I can't really blame them. Still, one of the reasons we all love Only Connect is the almost absurd range of trivia they consider fair game.
6) This, meanwhile, was somewhat at the other end of the spectrum. I'd file this under 'cute', but it felt a little like a question from a celebrity special. The doctor, remarkably, was thinking along the right lines after just one clue, and by the second we were sure. In the studio the Bibliophiles took it after three, by which point (and I don't mean this as a disservice to the team, of course) I find it hard to believe anyone would have been stumped.
Question of the Week
A rather mixed bag this week and overall somewhat tougher than the episodes we've seen on BBC Two so far. Nevertheless, it was close at the top and both '5-4-3-2-1' and 'Sportspersons' autobiographies' deserve honourable mentions, but for us Question of the Week goes to UK national parties. While it may have seemed a bit easy at home, I still think this is a great example of an Only Connect question, having the potential to seem impenetrable at first with a great "a-ha!" moment when the penny drops.
Of course, if you disagree (or even if you don't) let us know what your favourite questions were with the poll below!
I was pleased with myself for getting the Martin Freeman one after just two clues, especially as I've never watched three of them, and only one episode of Sherlock.
ReplyDeleteMy best question of the show was the sequence starting with the first Manfred Mann hit. I immediately thought of 54321, wondered if it might be Do Wah Diddy, then felt that my first thought was the song title that best fit as part of a sequence. I guessed that the sequence would end with 21, but couldn't think of a clue for it myself.
Impressive work on the Martin Freeman question, we had it fairly early but are fairly familiar with all four clues so it was rather in our wheelhouse.
DeleteThe Manfred Mann question seems to be doing quite well on the poll; a comfortable third place behind Martin Freeman and (to my considerable surprise) Bill and Ted. Will be interesting to see if things change much as more votes come in.