The Blueprint

Paxman begins the episode by saying that UCL have an average score of 180 from their previous three matches. My ears prick up at this, because I would surely have remembered if that were the case. Famously (at least in the eyes of this blog), they won their first and second round matches by a score of 180 to 170. If they were to maintain the 180 average then they would have had to have scored 180 in their first quarter-final too. Which is something I would have definitely commented on, having made such hay out of the fact they'd had a pair of identical results. But they scored 185 last time out, giving them an average of 181.67 (182 if we want to go to the nearest integer). Decidedly not 180, though.

What is it that University Challenge has against numbers that aren't multiples of five? Its a strange piece of dumbing down that I've never understood. People aren't scared of exact numbers are they? Is it because they think people would be confused by an average score of 182 when you can only score points in packets of five or ten? Surely they don't have such a dim view of their audience.

Either way, Bristol have an average of exactly 195 , despite losing their first match 185 to 195. In the play-off they won with 185, and in their next two matches they scored 205, although their opponents had different totals, so its not that remarkable. Paxman describes them as having posted 'increasingly impressive' scores, which neglects the fact that they seemed to have plateaued at 205.

Anyway, I've probably put the average reader off by this point, so let's get n with it; here's your first starter for ten. If you want to watch the episode before finishing this blog, you can do so here.

Both sides wait well beyond the point at which reasonable doubt has been established to buzz in with Jay-Z on the opening question. Bristol may have 99 problems, but McLaughlin isn't one, and it is he who eventually takes the points.

Salmon tries to get UCL off the mark with Oak on the next starter. You can't knock the hustle, but his guess is wrong, and Richardson steals in with beech. She takes the next one too, before McLaughlin grabs the picture starter to put Bristol in firm control.

At this point UCL don't seem to be feelin' it, but its onto the next one, and L Collier finally breaks them out of their slump. Kehler hits back for Bristol, but he interrupts incorrectly immediately afterwards, which must leave his teammates wondering whether he's a friend or foe. He proves his primetime credentials moments later with Kanye West on the music starter. They get PJ Harvey, but unforgivably miss R.E.M on the bonuses.

Two more starters for McLaughin put Bristol a hundred points clear and at this point they must be thinking the game iz mine. A couple for R Collier and Fleetwood-Walker give UCL momentary hope, but they can't change the game in any meaningful way. Richardson takes another, and in my lifetime I've never seen a team make a comeback from this far back this late on. There's a fifth for McLaughlin, on a question mentioning dead Presidents, and, magnificently, Kehler gets the final starter of the night to put Bristol on 205 points for the third consecutive match.

Bristol 205 - 70 UCL

UCL will be feeling numb, but thanks to the format of the quarter-final stage both sides will have an encore. Bristol advance to the semis, while UCL will have to win again to join them there. See you next week for more quizzing fun.

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