I think 36 asa combined round score was among the highest
― Stevolende, Wednesday, 22 December 2021 09:47 (two years ago) link
I got 28 when I was on, fluffed 3 of the 13 specialist Subject ones and I think 2 of 20 general knowledge (maybe 3 of 30, have never watched it back) so max I could have got was 33 or 34, and I was answering as quickly as I could to try and make Humphrys ask them faster.
― ailsa, Wednesday, 22 December 2021 10:44 (two years ago) link
3 of 21. Yes I am good at the clever stuff like adding 1 to 20.
― ailsa, Wednesday, 22 December 2021 10:45 (two years ago) link
The record is 41 but that was back in Magnusson days with no nonsensically long questions
― ailsa, Wednesday, 22 December 2021 10:57 (two years ago) link
For those who like quizzes, the film quiz in the Irish Times is always worth a go. Their film critic is a keen quizzer.
― trishyb, Wednesday, 22 December 2021 11:37 (two years ago) link
1st time I've known someone on the Christmas graduate specials personally (Aasmah, who was in my hall at Bristol).
Bristol started strongly, shame they were pipped by King's Cambridge at the end.
Got 19: stollen, devil's advocate, Do It Do It Again*, St. Petersburg, Madrid & Johannesburg, Zurich, May-, Blackpool, Leicester City, Handel, Berlioz, Haydn, Avignon, Fairport Convention, David Bowie, Fanny Craddock, Madhur Jaffrey, Plato, Vit. K.
* Started singing it as soon as Raffaela Carra was mentioned!
― Grandpont Genie, Wednesday, 22 December 2021 20:17 (two years ago) link
So much faffing about and conferring and looking baffled about having to know stuff on these specials.
― ailsa, Thursday, 23 December 2021 20:21 (two years ago) link
Yeah that struck me, only caught the end of this evenings but jeremy has lost a seconds waspishness imo
― Angela's Seshes (darraghmac), Thursday, 23 December 2021 20:31 (two years ago) link
Don't like the way they do the two-stage introductions, with Paxman saying what each person does, then the team members saying who they are afterwards. I feel that they could dispense with the first part.
― Grandpont Genie, Thursday, 23 December 2021 21:11 (two years ago) link
Paxo was diagnosed with Parkinson's a while back, this is the first few shows where he's really seemed to have slowed down.
― ailsa, Thursday, 23 December 2021 21:56 (two years ago) link
Jesus, that LSE team. Could the production crew not maybe remind the Christmas teams that this is a television programme, not a pub quiz? I don't care that you're all having a great laugh.
― trishyb, Friday, 24 December 2021 09:58 (two years ago) link
I mean, obviously I don't want it to be robotic and unfun. You know what I mean. There's a happy medium.
― trishyb, Friday, 24 December 2021 09:59 (two years ago) link
Was that mainly Robert Elms who was like a scene figure so maybe he felt it was expected of him.
Not sure i would have been able to put a face to Soweto Kinch before last night but do think I knew the name.
― Stevolende, Friday, 24 December 2021 13:57 (two years ago) link
lol at john robins' mohican
she seemed so sure at the elements answers but they were all RONG.
― koogs, Friday, 24 December 2021 21:02 (two years ago) link
first of 4 christmas Only Connects on at 8 (not series-linked to the current series, mind). followed by a continuation of xmas UniChall (as nobody calls it)
― koogs, Monday, 27 December 2021 19:35 (two years ago) link
the fuckin' FROMAGES q was another THIRTEEN and it got me again
― i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 28 December 2021 04:59 (two years ago) link
and it spelt FROBMAGES unless you knew to discount one capitalised letter.
― braised cod, Tuesday, 28 December 2021 06:08 (two years ago) link
Looked for ages like nobody was going to get to triple figures. I think I had gone into the kitchen section of my front room when that fromage thing was on so didn't see excess letters.Bad amount of passes going on too.
― Stevolende, Tuesday, 28 December 2021 07:26 (two years ago) link
Singapore Sling was my first 5 pointer in awhile
― i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 28 December 2021 08:05 (two years ago) link
i got FROMAGE at least, assuming the singular would be acceptable, didn't think about making it plural.
― koogs, Tuesday, 28 December 2021 09:10 (two years ago) link
That FROMAGES thing was bullshit (I got it on the last clue because I've got wise to that shit, but bear in mind these teams wouldn't have seen the recent run of those types of questions) And wow those were some bad teams on UC.
― ailsa, Tuesday, 28 December 2021 13:39 (two years ago) link
Hacker and Dodge T Dog on pointless celebs later. i am curious how they will do this.
― koogs, Tuesday, 28 December 2021 16:19 (two years ago) link
^ they were stood behind a crate. made it to the head-to-head. beaten by mrs mcclusky and the scouse kid from grange hill.
16 on celeb UC is quite poor, i think. large runs of questions i had no clue about. mary magdelene, ginger rogers, ginger baker, nougat, noisette, aleph, rnli, orange county, victoria wood, tonya harding, skateboarding, bmx park, chameleon, toy poodle, crossby, woodpecker
― koogs, Tuesday, 28 December 2021 21:50 (two years ago) link
I got nearly all the ones from that list and almost nothing else. And I got fromages! I was feeling very smug, let me tell you. I'm really enjoying the themed OCs. The teams seem to be having a lot of fun while still playing properly.
― trishyb, Wednesday, 29 December 2021 00:32 (two years ago) link
17 on UC tonight
1 strangers on a train2 defenestration3 bashful4 kitchen5 bloody mary (thanks OC)6 0 points7 cobol8 gaslighting9 doo wop10 callow11 prokofiev12 girl woman other13 all things bright and beautiful14 the apartment15 mansplaining16 sportsball17 colette
― koogs, Wednesday, 29 December 2021 22:04 (two years ago) link
OC question writers been consulting ILX? Songs where the title is only sung once, as the last line of the song
― kinder, Thursday, 30 December 2021 20:25 (two years ago) link
Ooh I got the Parasite one
― kinder, Thursday, 30 December 2021 20:27 (two years ago) link
I've enjoyed the Christmas University Challenge episodes as the questions are easy so I can get many correct. I also enjoyed seeing a couple of people I had known on the episode 2 nights back.
re Paxman and his illness: there is plainly a case for keeping someone in post as long as they can do it, on the grounds of (neuro?)diversity, anti-discrimination, 'making disability visible', etc. Yet I wonder if there will also be a point where he, or they, or both, think he has to stop. I take no pleasure in saying that on a thread where we've been discussing his programme for almost literally 20 years.
― the pinefox, Thursday, 30 December 2021 21:51 (two years ago) link
They also had a music round on UC a couple seasons ago themed around songs where the title is only sung as the last line, with nearly the same set of songs. As soon as they started playing the end of "Just Like Heaven" I knew what that connection was going to be.
― justfanoe (Greg Fanoe), Saturday, 1 January 2022 11:06 (two years ago) link
Enjoyed the Christmas UC Final last night. As usual with this short series, it was easy to score highly.
― the pinefox, Saturday, 1 January 2022 11:17 (two years ago) link
Taxi Driver has the be the easiest question yet, i think.
also knew 0xAA in decimal from my Sinclair Spectrum programming days - it's 10101010 in binary and was used for checkerboard patterns (along with 0x55, 01010101)
― koogs, Monday, 3 January 2022 22:22 (two years ago) link
Stunned my wife by getting the % of Chlorine correct. Pure guess, but will take these victories when they happen.
― Dan Worsley, Monday, 3 January 2022 22:28 (two years ago) link
Teams looked so young today.
― Stevolende, Monday, 3 January 2022 23:48 (two years ago) link
THink I did ok with answers but i don't keep score. Not very good at teh science ones cos Physics and Chemistry aren't my area. Though Dad was a Physics major i think & worked in Energy for most of his life.
― Stevolende, Tuesday, 4 January 2022 09:43 (two years ago) link
Picture of Brian Eno. "... Brian Eno or something like that?"
Elvis Presley, "All Shook Up". "Is it Bobby Darin?"
I felt the general knowledge of (young?) students pulling away from mine (their more specialised knowledge is also, of course, distant from mine because better).
I realise that series are filmed at different times but I also observe: Paxman on the regular series last night seemed sharper than he did on the Christmas series 2021.
― the pinefox, Tuesday, 4 January 2022 10:03 (two years ago) link
the old rock and roll round was brutal, i thought - i find that era all very identikit. but i was only half-watching by this point.
― koogs, Tuesday, 4 January 2022 11:15 (two years ago) link
The rivers and their tributaries...arghh! Managed one (the obvious one).
I did laugh at Bicester Village.
24 this week, after my usual slow start... Mississippi, gymnosperms, cycads, gingko, Ginger Rogers, saved a penalty, Portland, Stanley Cup, double-pointed, Cotswolds, Taxi Driver, Elvis Presley - All Shook Up, Augmented reality, Prague, rickets, Tim Berners-Lee, Norman Foster, Brian Eno, Vivienne Westwood, Banbury, xenon, erratic, drumlin, moraine.
― Grandpont Genie, Tuesday, 4 January 2022 21:23 (two years ago) link
I didn't get Tim Berners-Lee as I thought paxo said 'eventer' and thought wtf who knows shit about horse riders?
― two sleeps till brooklyn (ledge), Tuesday, 4 January 2022 21:36 (two years ago) link
Haha, I heard eventer as well and got very confused.
David Beasant being the first player ever to do a victory dance in an FA Cup Final was good too.
― ailsa, Tuesday, 4 January 2022 22:29 (two years ago) link
I forgot about Cider House Rules in the Irving round so did the same as the teams in shouting out Spider-man as a stupid joke guess, prob lost a bunch of points w/ how long I spent giggling about the possibilities of The Spider-man Rules.
― emil.y, Wednesday, 5 January 2022 17:13 (two years ago) link
(also love winning a point by just repeating 'Aida' for every answer in an opera round)
― emil.y, Wednesday, 5 January 2022 17:15 (two years ago) link
Think i keep getting Snow Falling on Cedars mixed up with Cider House Rules which is a bit naff. Can see what it might be over now. But do think that was what I was thinking of when the question was asked,
― Stevolende, Wednesday, 5 January 2022 17:26 (two years ago) link
I've been getting Cider House Rules mixed up with Cider With Rosie for decades and I'm not about to stop now.
― emil.y, Wednesday, 5 January 2022 17:30 (two years ago) link
Wow that was a tough music round this week, especially by University Challenge pop music standards. (Though I knew 3/4 of them)
― justfanoe (Greg Fanoe), Monday, 10 January 2022 22:30 (two years ago) link
True, I managed to guess DJ Shadow
― Mark G, Monday, 10 January 2022 22:53 (two years ago) link
Mind you, Bob Dylan was one of the rounds on Mastermind, but the contestant got four. And they ranged from quite easy to very tough. The four she got were mostly tough ones...
― Mark G, Monday, 10 January 2022 22:55 (two years ago) link
xp I got 3 out of 4 but fluffed Art of Noise. Not sure it's accurate to call Shadow "sampledelia" to be honest.
― Critique of the Goth Programme (Neil S), Tuesday, 11 January 2022 09:58 (two years ago) link
well doubt paxo's an afficianado
― Stevolende, Tuesday, 11 January 2022 10:09 (two years ago) link
didn't get the Hardy questions or the Dickens (at least not before they answered). doubt i could've named anyone from Madding Crowd past Bathsheba. and didn't get the Greenwood Tree question despite reading it only last year.
that was an odd piece of the art of noise, not an obvious bit. and i changed my mind from avalanches to big audio dynamite. 8(
― koogs, Tuesday, 11 January 2022 10:12 (two years ago) link
xp yeah he was making his stupid "this is beneath me" face when reading the questions
― Critique of the Goth Programme (Neil S), Tuesday, 11 January 2022 10:20 (two years ago) link