Quiz Heist

I've done a lot of strange things with this blog over the years. One in the style of Ducks, Newburyport, and another with the structure of the movie Tenet.

When I wrote those posts it was because I had just finished consuming/was in the middle of consuming the things they were based on. That's generally how my inspiration works with this blog - I see something right in front of me and try to copy it.

With that in mind, I've just finished watching the film Logan Lucky, which is such a deplorably paint-by-numbers heist movie that its made me wonder whether I could write this blog as if it was a heist. But I don't think I'm going to be able to, so you're going to have to be satisfied with the idea that I thought about doing it.

Rule one of heists - quit while you're ahead.

This is the last first round match of this series, and sees Northeastern - a Uni so new that it only officially became a University one year before this episode was filmed! - take on York, which was given University status in 1963, one year after the first series of UC aired.

Northeastern's official University status is a mere one day older than the youngest Uni on the list - BIMM (Brighton Institute of Modern Music). This Wikipedia page lists UCL and Royal Holloway as being newer, but they were merely acquiring the status as a formality following the University of London Act (2018). So I'm not counting them.

Its no surprise then, that this is Northeastern's first appearance on the show. This is York's twentieth, and they have one final, one semi-final and one quarter-final to their name. They've not made it to the second round since that semi-final, in 2016, when they lost to Hannah Woods' Peterhouse team.

If you want to watch the ep before reading the rest of this review you can do so here. For now, here's your first starter for ten.

First points go to York's Smith (non-captain edition) with Canterbury Tales, and they took one from a bonus set on George Eliot (none of them being Middlemarch). Garwood hit back with Eric Bristow for Northeastern's first ever UC points, he with the advantage of having been born at the time the Crafty Cockney was plying his trade.

Bachelor avoids the trap on the first picture starter and gets Pittsburgh for York. Bonuses on places famous for funicular railways followed, of which they managed two. Another for Bachelor cemented York's lead, and they managed two bonuses on football clubs (getting Forest Green Rovers as the nations only vegan club, but missing out on the fact Margaret Thatcher was a patron of Wingate and Finchley FC).

A few more for NE keep them within striking distance, and Conlon takes the music starter to bring them right back into the fold.

Ideally, if I was going to salvage the heist theme at this point, I would have needed NE to drop miles back, so that the match firmly belonged to York. I would then have needed NE to stage an improbable comeback, stealing York's place in the second round from right under their noses.

That was a lot to ask, if I'm being honest. Quite unlikely to happen, but know that if it had happened then I would have been ready to exploit it.

Influencer gives NE the lead and pushes them into triple digits. Both sides are also fighting for a high-scoring loser place should they not win outright tonight. If either reaches a score of 160 then they know they'll be coming back via the repechage, but both have a ways to go.

Bachelor and Smith (non-captain edition) take the lead back for York, but the second picture goes to NE and it quickly swings back in their favour. That doesn't last long and with five minutes left York lead by five.

Three in a row for York put them above the magic 160 mark - even if they lost it from here they'd be returning. Two bonuses, and a brilliant guess of Uppsala on the next starter, clinched the win for them. Time is running out for NE, who need 40 points in the next few minutes, but Smith (captain edition) takes another starter to end their hopes.

York 190 - 120 Northeastern

Another solid, if unspectacular game to end the first round. Congrats to York who make it to the second round for the first time in 7 years, and congrats to NE on making their UC bow. Join me next week for the first of the play-off matches as Trinity take on Southampton.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but at the start of the episode Rajan said that York and NE had the chance to knock Southampton out of a play-off place, didn't he? Well, if I'd been more on it I could have told you that the losing team wouldn't score more than 155 points before watching the ep, because Trinity/Southampton has been listed on the Wikipedia page as next week's match for days...