New Year, New Le(niency)

Before we start I'm going to plug my latest eBook - a collection of Grand Final reviews from the past decade. You can buy it here, or you could help me out by leaving a (glowing) review on Amazon...

We haven't had a regular series episode of University Challenge for three weeks, which means that I've been able to distract myself by writing terrible poetry about the sky.

People going into Tesco
When the sky is like this
Into Sainsbury’s
When the sky is like this

It also means that we have had our now-traditional Christmas interlude, with teams of well-to-do graduates from ten institutions having a crack at our favourite quiz.

This year there were three Cambridge colleges and one Oxford College, a ratio of 40% compared to the 29% we had in the regular series. Surely there are enough famous people who went to less salubrious establishments, but then again, maybe I'm wrong.

Spoilers ahead, be warned...

Durham were the only team who turned up for the first round, with Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer determined to take this very seriously, which I admired. They were the only team to score more than 200 points, which was 90 more than Queen's, Cam who ranked second.

They were less dominant in the semis, beating Worcester, Ox by 35 points. Queen's beat fellow Cambridge side Churchhill on a tiebreak to join them in the final.

This is where things get interesting.

The two sides traded early starters, with Denyer being perhaps controversially allowed the answer zirconium despite the fact she hadn't actually buzzed. Queen's had already buzzed incorrectly, but her teammate James buzzed at pretty much the same time Denyer started speaking.

However, watching back with frame-by-frame accuracy like a video assistant referee, it is clear that Denyer does start speaking before James buzzes. I paused the footage at the precise moment James buzzes and at that point Denyer has already said at the very least 'zirc'.

I came on here with the intention of writing something about how the show was getting more lenient (hence the title), but the transgression isn't as serious as I had originally thought. Denyer should still buzz of course, but crucially she starts answering before the buzz from James, which is why she was given a reprieve.

That's enough fun (for now), let's get on with tonight's episode. If you want to watch it before reading the review you can do so here.

Here's your first starter for ten.

Darwin, Cam face Edinburgh for the fourth quarter-final spot, with both sides comfortable winners in round one. In 2019, Darwin were 25 points away from facing Edinburgh in the Grand Final, losing 165-140 to St Edmund Hall, Ox in the semis.

Darwin's Whitaker took eleven starters (the entirety of his team's haul) in their first-round match, and he kicked things off in the same style with Paris. They took two bonuses on paintings of enslaved people before Whitaker took a second consecutive starter with the Argonauts.

This was slightly similar to the Denyer answer from the Christmas special, in that he answered after buzzing but before his name had been announced, and it looks as though he gave the answer in concert with his teammate Willis, who had buzzed a fraction later than he. Rajan lets them off but warns them against doing the same in the future.

Aiton loses five points for a guess of treason, but Whitaker can't make it a hat-trick and the question drops. Mellor gets Edinburgh off the mark with Oxford English Dictionary next time out, and then Willis takes Darwin's first non-Whitaker starter of the series with the Krebs Cycle on the picture starter.

A starter from Myles keeps Edinburgh in touch, but Whitaker reasserts his dominance with Mali on the following question, buzzing as soon as he heard the name of the capital city Bamako. A man who has done his revision, clearly. He takes his fourth with Ari Aster, and Edinburgh are going to need to start challenging him on the buzzer if they are to stand a chance.

The music starter, on Mussorgsky, goes to Aiton, and he corrects Saint-Saens to Satie at the last second to save five points on the bonuses. His streak continues with arc, then Edinburgh are cruelly denied the points for saying Dorothy Hodgkins rather than Hodgkin, which feels like needless pedantry.

Scourge, courtesy of Self, helps Edinburgh to close within ten points, but, perhaps predictably, Whitaker views this state of affairs as undesirable, and buzzes in with Grendel at the very next opportunity.

Aiton keeps Edinburgh in the game, but whenever things get a bit uncomfortable for Darwin, Whitaker is there to take the heat off. This time, on the second picture starter, with Elizabeth Siddal.

He ends the match with eight starters to his name, which is a slight drop-off from his first-round efforts, but remains by far the best in the match, and it is more than enough to earn his side a place in the quarter-finals.

Darwin 155 - 125 Edinburgh

Edinburgh can count themselves unlucky to have faced such a buzzer star in Whitaker at this stage, and performed decently in losing. Darwin look strong, but if Whiatker has an off day then they are very vulnerable.

Next week sees Wadham facing defending champions Imperial - join me for another recap. Goodbye.