University Challenge (also featuring Only Connect and other BBC quiz shows)

is "greek fire" the first thing that comes to your mind? i had to look up what it was.

Yeah, I never heard of it. We went with St Elmo's.

it's pretty famous if you've any interest in classical history tbf

catching up on old episodes and this one team didn't know who wrote Martian Chronicles...

Hmm, we have no House of Games recorded today, and the episode doesn't seem to be scheduled for later in the week. Was it on and our Sky box just didn't catch it?

my listings mag says yes, usual time, bbc2

(actually work slack is full of people asking if various things got to sky, seems like there are occasional problems)

So weird, because the recording isn't marked as failed or anything. Oh well.

28, being slightly generous. the episodes with courthauld in do have more cultural and fewer hardcore science questions. likeable teams although if the cambridge captain had listened to her teammates more (and one of them hadn't accidentally leaned on the buzzer) they might just have squeaked it.

the ex-ilxor had a good Only Connect last night

Last night's UC teams had only one scientist between them, so I was expecting low scores all round - but by some extraordinary coincidence there were very few science questions. Hmmm.

They do tailor the bonus questions somewhat to the teams' subjects - of course if you get a starter you might bonuses designed for the other team.

Yeah, but then you get to "waste" the points they would have gotten.

My gf's sister was on this tonight!!

UC or OC?

that ABCD one was one of the easiest one they've ever had, surely?

Got 27 this week
Lowell, Mars, cantaloupe, pumpkin, pitch, Shanghai & Beijing, William Shatner, Eric B & Rakim, Cornershop, moon, fermium, goldcrest, finch, ash, Andrew Motion, St. Sebastian, IBM, Harry S. Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Mel Brooks, Xanadu, roe, ore, spit, Titicaca.

Watching the Robert Gordon contestant arguing in favour of Norman Cook was painful.

UC!

I'm currently sitting in a pub with one of the perpetrators of that Norman Cook foul-up. They consider themselves told

(although they were arguing for Cornershop!)

Blimey, it's a small world a bit.

I knew I shouldn't have Twitter-searched 'university challenge' ffs

Yes, never Twitter search any of the Monday night quiz shows unless you want evidence to discredit the idea that they are TV for smart people.

Especially if your irl fam is on the wrong end of the bullshit

Or your actual own self. Just saying.

it's holiday season. so UC is on Mon-Fri and there's a festive OC on Friday

3 more OC specials next week, themed episodes on Boxing Day & Tuesday and Champion of Champions on Wednesday.

jfc I can scarcely manage one uc & one oc per week.

ffs listen to the questions soas

I would be very annoyed if I were the other two people on the losing OC team last night. Their captain did not listen to them, and gave wrong answers to a couple of questions as a result. Maybe her earpiece wasn't working correctly?

Did Paxo hint that the graduate festive UCs had somewhat less demanding questions than the regular ones? For if so that wasn't reflected in my scores.

Univ/Glasgow last night got a reminder of the rules whereas SOAS/Balliol on Monday didn't. Possibly as a result of JP realising his assumption that the contestants would be familiar with them was an incorrect one.

3 more OC specials next week, themed episodes on Boxing Day & Tuesday and Champion of Champions on Wednesday.

What would the fourth be?

(hem hem)

UC, all those people graduating in 20xx disgust me

Brookmyre was on last night. was he ailsa's backup specialist subjecy when she was on mastermind

the four OC specials appear to be

1 (23rd) Christmas
2 (26th) Mystery
3 (27th) Love
4 (28th) Champion of Champions

re hardness: watching last night's UC now and i think the follow-up questions at least are tailored to the guests (although often they go to the wrong team)

But isn't it the same on regular UC? Don't they sometimes tailor the bonus questions to people's specialities (or is it specialisms? I can never tell anymore)?

I think the Christmas starter questions feel easier, because the answer is often something festive.

Yeah, there was a bunch of (classical) music questions, fairly obscure. Paul Gambaccini had nothing to say: it wasn't his team.

Christmas questions are definitely easier than 'normal' ones in my view! The later in the series, the harder they are too (normal ones). I've had to quit in recent series because it just got boring not knowing anything.

Brookmyre was on last night. was he ailsa's backup specialist subjecy when she was on mastermind

Had no idea! Weirdly I've just read/ re-read a whole ton of Brookmyre books in the past few months.

(i could be wrong! but istr it was a scottish author i hadn't read anything by)

Yes, hello, I did the Jack Parlabane books as a specialist subject a few years ago.

(Jack Parlabane is a character in a series by Christopher Brookmyre, if that isn't clear)

Captains rushing in to answer without listening to the actual correct answers coming from their teammates is a bit of a theme on the quizzes at the moment.

Grinds my gears something fierce

Not as much as being told "no no no, it's not that.... We don't know!" by our quiz captain. Not TV, just our local pub quiz league, still though..."

(ignore that last quote mark)

paxman in a christmas jumper is just wrong

So, was that the last ever Paxo?

it's back to the normal series next week, i guess the end of that will be the last

I think that was the last he recorded, was what I meant

The Christmas UCs haven't been very Christmassy imo. Token 'Letters of the word MISTLETOE' but no 'if Santa goes down the chimney with radius X' etc etc. Still, I've been getting a bunch of them right which is more than I do in the usual series!

Only Connect was tough tonight. That Roman numeral question, aargh!

Not normally wound up by UC contestants, but was by St Andrews's Cryan tonight. He really did talk too much.

Anyway, 17 for me tonight.
Romola Garai, Crewe, Perth, Robert Koch Institute, Max Planck Institute, Galilean telescope, Bulgaria, Slovakia, erratic, drumlin. moraine, collage, Suzanne Sontag, Dorothea Lange, Maximillian, Sweden, philology.