Post Winter Blues, Post Winter Bliss

We had a three-week break from University Challenge due to the Winter Olympics. Only I decided to turn this into a five-week break for some reason. Knocked me out of my groove, and its sometimes hard to get back into it.

I also got distracted trying to mass-transfer my old blogs from Tumblr onto this website, and succeeded in adding 235 posts simultaneously, but with incorrect titles and all of the images stuffed at the top. Fortunately, this didn't also trigger a 235-email blast to all of my subscribers, or I'd have probably lost all of you.

Anyway, onto the episodes. First, Edinburgh vs Merton, in which both sides also started as though they were feeling sluggish after a three-week break. Despite of course, the fact that the episode was filmed months ago and it is impossible for the Winter Olympics to have had any effect on it.

Here's your first starter for ten.

Easwar takes the opening points with O and A, and a couple of bonuses from Edinburgh gave them a 20-point lead.

From here, things started to go wrong. Easwar was docked five points for an incorrect interruption, and Merton were unable to pick up the mistake. Cosnett then negged for Merton, and then Ong did the same, putting Merton on minus 10.

Finally, there was another correct answer, with A Suitable Boy from Amjad, but they took no bonuses.

Duncan then joined his Merton teammates in losing five points, but his captain Cosnett was not to be outdone and took a second neg of the match, dropping Merton to a record score of minus 20. It would have been nice if Fleetwood-Law could have given the last wrong answer, to add a level of perfect symmetry to their demise. Like the opposite of what my fellow blogger Jack McB often says when all members of a team have taken a correct starter.

After the picture round, Cosnett grabs Merton's first positive points (though they still remain adrift in the negatives), and two bonuses bring them back to zero. Phew. We're twelve minutes in, and the score is 45-0. What a strange episode. Hang on, another neg for Edinburgh and it's 40-0.

Wicca puts Cosnett at 2-2 on the buzzer, and somehow Merton are back within 25 points.

Richards hits back for Edinburgh, but no one recognises Animal Collective on the music starter. Cosnett guesses Arctic Monkeys, which amuses Rajan. Even for Alex Turner, that would be a big departure, though.

Half-time: Edinburgh 60-15 Merton.

There is another missed starter, before Cosnett goes to 2-3 with an incorrect guess of III (as in third). Easwar picks up the pieces and follows up with another starter to push Edinburgh into three figures.

From here, they do their best to hand the win to Merton, performing only slightly better than Merton did over the first twelve minutes.

First, a starter for Ong, who correctly adds 6, 7 and 6 to make 19. Not bad... She also takes the second picture starter with camera obscura and Duncan follows this with Vienna. Virgo completes Ong's hat-trick, and Merton have closed the gap from 90 points to 30. Yet another neg, this time from Richards, drops Edinburgh back into double figures and reduces the deficit further for Merton.

Thiol gives Ong her fourth starter, and the sides are ten apart.

Both sides miss a starter on a colour before Richards makes up for his error with Tower Hamlets and Greenwich (giving both boroughs rather than only one, which the question had asked for, so thankfully they were both right).

Edinburgh 105 - 85 Merton

Rajan says that at the start he thought they were competing against each other to get things wrong, winding him up. And that's the best thing he's ever said. According to Blanchflower, this is the third-lowest-scoring match of the BBC era, beaten only by Wolfson/St Johns (155) and King's (LDN)/Emmanuel (165). Edinburgh won't care, though, because they are through to the last four.

Onto the next match, in which I can confirm the teams scored more than 200 points and received fewer than eight penalties.

Here's your (second) first starter for ten

The previous quarter final was a qualifier, with the winner going through to the semis. This one, between Manchester and UCL, was an eliminator, with the losers going home and the victors needing to win another match to progress.

Madgwick, star of Manchester's previous matches, takes the opening starter with Boudicca, and they grabbed a quick pair of bonuses on UNESCO World Heritage Properties.

Doherty matches his opposite number with a starter for UCL, and they tied the game. He messed up a little bit on one of the bonuses, guessing Adam Adler when Campion-Dye had suggested Adler. The question had asked about a person with an alliterative name, so it's possible that Rajan would have prompted had he simply given Adler, but under normal circumstances, the surname would have been acceptable. Oops.

Madgwick then takes inspiration from the Edinburgh-Merton match and loses five with an early buzz. Unlike the Edinburgh-Merton match, UCl capitalise and take the lead.

Desire gives Doherty another starter, and when Campion-Dye takes the next with David Hockney, the Londoners look like they are cooking. Colostrum (which you shouldn't cook with) puts them further clear.

Methodist gives Manchester's Madgwick much-mandated remediation, and they maintain momentum on the music round when Faulkner races his skipper to buzz in with Fontaines DC. A hat-trick of bonuses courtesy of Black Midi (who excite Madgwick to an exceptional degree), Squid and Wet Leg brings them within 20 points of UCL.

Campion-Dye atones for an earlier neg with Thales of Miletus (whenever an answer has three or more words, it automatically sounds cool), and Doherty follows this with a sharp buzz of cactus.

Maglev then gives Manchester's Madgwick... you get the picture, I'm not going to do the whole thing again. They take a single bonus on tennis (worth 5 points rather than 15), before another Madgwick starter - this time correctly guessing Roger Bannister on the picture starter and it's back to a 10-point gap. And like their previous answer, Madgwick levitates above the opposition to tie the game with Tajikistan. They are desperate to say Dagestan for all three bonuses, and it is finally right on the last one, though Rajan corrects the pronunciation.

Doherty snatches the lead back for UCL, but they can only hold it briefly as, you guessed it, Madgwick hits back for Manchester. This time, the lead is not relinquished, and Madgwick completes the win with their six, seventh and eighth starter questions.

Manchester 150 - 120 UCL

By far the standout individual of this series, Madgwick again drags Manchester to victory. UCL were a bit complacent, I feel, and Manchester, to use a footballing parlance, wanted it more. They will have another chance to make the semis; UCL will not.

See you next time for Sheffield-Imperial and Darwin-Warwick.