Press Gang v Bakers Only Connect

Many people say that quizzing is the new rock'n'roll.

Sorry?

Is it?

I'm so sorry.

Nobody says that quizzing is the new rock'n'roll.

But it could be the new musical theatre.

This quiz, for example, is enigmatic,

it's problematic,

it's mathematic.

Why it's... I'm going to stop there before someone gets hurt!

Let's meet two new teams starting on the road to possible championship.

On my right, Emily Phillips,

a puzzles compiler and modern languages graduate,

who speaks French, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Finnish

Richard Colfer, a physics and computing graduate

with a passion for science fiction and a talent for playing Peggle

And their captain, Robin Seavill,

a modern languages graduate with an interest in creative writing

who once performed a duet with Rowan Atkinson.

They all work as puzzle compilers for the press association.

So, Robin, that sounds like a solid team of puzzlers,

but how good is the team's general knowledge?

We spend a lot of time compiling puzzles and proofing puzzles,

so I would like to think that we know more than we think!

And tell me honestly. In all your years of puzzling investigation and research,

have you ever come across one that's cleverer than Only Connect? Never!

This is the pinnacle!

A right answer immediately! You're going to do well!

You're facing tonight, on my left,

Tim Spain, a research scientist with a PhD in physics

who enjoys making bread.

Matt Rowbotham, a tax lawyer and keen marathon runner,

with a talent for pumpkin carving!

And their captain Peter Steggle

a speech writer and former civil servant who enjoys visiting historical buildings

and baking crumbles.

United by their love of the culinary arts, they are The Bakers.

Peter, what's been the highlight of your baking career?

I think I made a pear crumble a couple of years ago

with a very nice almond topping Interesting.

A liquid, was it, or a sort of dry, scattered almond topping?

Well, you replace half of the flour with ground almond dust

and use that to make a lovely crunchy top. Interesting.

My granny used to make a chocolate cake with ground hazelnuts instead of flour.

Dense! But delicious, I'm sure

It is delicious. Let's get on with the quiz.

In Round One, I simply want to know what's the connection between four apparently random clues.

The fewer clues you need to see before giving me the right answer, the more points you get.

Press Gang, you won the toss, so you go first.

Which hieroglyph would you like

Water, please. OK.

What is the connection between these clues?

Here's the first.

Sol et lumiere?

Next, please.

It could be a colour?

Lumiere is a candlestick.

I don't know what colour the..

Next, please?

The sorting hat. They can all talk.

They can all talk. They are inanimate objects that can talk

Well done. You didn't need to see the last clue.

The Queen's mirror in Snow White which talks in the cartoon.

Tell me about that first one.

The candlestick from Beauty and the Beast.

Yes, a talking candlestick.

And Dora the Explorer's backpack.

What's its name? Fred? David?

No, sorry. I've no idea.

It's Backpack! Its name is Backpack.

Imaginative(!) Like a rock star s child, it's called Backpack.

Well done. You're off the blocks with two points.

Over to The Bakers to pick a question.

Lion, please. OK, lion.

What is the connection here? First clue coming up now.

Next, please.

Next, please.

Heads of state from other countries?

One more. Next, please.

We think they're all founders of countries.

That's exactly what they are. Founding fathers of nations.

Which nations? Bernardo O'Higgins, I believe, is Chile.

That's right. Freed Chile from Spanish rule.

Kemal Ataturk is Turkey. Absolutely.

And Prince William I of Orange would be the Netherlands.

Right. And Jose Rizal?

No. Philippines, in fact.

A Filipino nationalist.

All founding fathers. Well done to you.

Back to the Press Gang to pick a question.

Twisted flax, please. Absolutely.

What is the connection between these clues? Here's the first.

Next, please.

Is it something you get from some sort of food or drink?

Shall we move on? Next, please

Gosh, this is... Waves? Something waves?

Shall we go for waves? I'm not sure.

Next, please.

That's waves.

These are all waves.

Can you tell me any more than that?

With a cyclic motion.

They come and they go. Sine waves?

I'll take it. I can't bear this misery. We've only just started

They're based on sine waves. Were you saying that, Richard?

Like my voice in the morning! Sinusoidal.

On oscillating or repetitive waves.

Well done. You get a point. Back to The Bakers for a question.

Two reeds, please. These are going to be picture clues.

What connects them? First one coming up now.

Next, please.

It may be white card and white rhino?

White card and white rhino?

US registration. So we need more, yeah?

Next, please.

Ah. It's the Red Sea.

The Red Sea, OK.

They're all... It's black rhino green card, red sea.

So a colour thing?

Colours. Keep talking.

They are... They're all a colour something. So Green Card, Red Sea,

and black rhino. On this occasion

I'm afraid I can't take it and that's partly because there's been a mistake in your gloss of the answer.

So I'll show the fourth clue to the Press Gang for a possible bonus point.

Yes, they're not the colour... They're not the colour they are called.

A black rhino is not black, the Red Sea is not red,

the black box is not black

and the Green Card is white, not green.

They have colours in their name that do not apply to what they are.

It's actually a white rhino. Had you known the name, it might have helped.

But so many things have colours in their names, but they're misnomers.

Colour misnomers.

So you get the bonus point. Well done, Press Gang.

And your choice of a question. Eye of Horus, please.

Eye of Horus. What connects these clues? Here's the first.

Next, please.

I don't know. It's just a guess

Next, please.

Knock three times. You have to knock three times.

Precisely the answer.

The final clue was Black Rod summoning the MPs.

You knock three times to achieve these things.

Well done. Back to you, Bakers One more question.

It's the horned viper.

Music question, cos we haven't had that yet.

Shout "next" when you want to hear the next clue. Here's the first

STIRRING ORCHESTRAL PIECE

Next, please.

SLOW HARMONIOUS PIECE

Next, please.

# Like a circle in a spiral

# Like a wheel within a wheel

# Never ending or beginning

# On an ever spinning wheel... #

Next, please.

# I saw a mouse! Where?

# There on the stair!

# Where on the stair? #

Windmills.

Windmills is the link. You recognised the last two.

Do you know what the first two were?

I couldn't even begin!

The first one was Don Quixote's Madness: A Battle with the Windmill.

That piece is called. And the second was The Song for Moulin Rouge.

The theme for Moulin Rouge, The Red Windmill.

But you get the point. Well done.

At the end of Round One, The Bakers have two points.

The Press Gang are ahead with six.

Round Two is sequences.

There are still four connected clues, but the fourth is invisible because that is the answer.

The teams may see up to three before buzzing in.

Press Gang, you're first again

Which hieroglyph would you like

Lion, please. OK. What is the fourth

in this sequence? Here's the first.

Next, please.

Next, please.

Two cuts, four pieces. Is the right answer. And why?

Richard? Just going by the number sequence.

The cuts are going down one each time.

The pieces are going down five then four, then three.

I haven't recognised what it's from.

You're not recognising it as a piece of maths? No.

Are you familiar with this, Bakers?

I think it's the maximum number of pieces you can get

from making that number of cuts in a thing.

That's exactly right. It's a mathematical thing.

If you cut a circle, it's the maximum number of pieces you can make.

Known as the lazy caterer's sequence!

But you as bakers would know, if you actually cut up a cake

five times and made 16 pieces,

some people would be short-changed on the pieces!

A nice big piece for me, and strange little cuts for everyone else!

But well done for the point. Bakers, it's your question. Water, please.

OK. These are picture clues. What would you expect to see in the fourth picture?

Next, please.

A minty sweet.

A round one with a hole in.

Are you trying to say Polo mint Yes! That is allowed.

I'll accept it as an answer. We chose a doughnut!

I'm surprised you didn't. Can you explain the logic?

A button has four holes, a bowling ball, three,

your mask there has two, and a doughnut just the one.

Something with one hole, we chose a delicious sugary doughnut.

Yum, yum, yum. You get the points. Back to Press Gang to choose a question.

Eye of Horus, please. Eye of Horus.

What is the fourth in this sequence?

Next, please.

Next, please.

Could be by populations. Yep.

So the next one would be bigger or smaller?

Greater London.

Is the right answer. And why?

Populations of these areas.

Decreasing in size, or increasing in size!

That's right - cover everything

It works whether you do it by population or surface area.

They are the largest urban areas in the UK going upwards.

Bakers, your turn. Horned viper, please.

What's the fourth in this sequence?

Next, please.

1: outstanding.

An outstanding answer for three points. Why is that?

I believe it's the grades in Ofsted reports.

That's exactly what it is. Ofsted grades.

Number three, "requires improvement". Do you know what that used to be?

I could say, but probably not on TV at this time!

It was "satisfactory",

but then someone decided that "satisfactory" meant "requires improvement"!

Not in my dictionary!

But yes, beloved Ofsted, hello to you!

Outstanding would be number 1.

Press Gang, your turn. Two reeds, please.

What's the fourth in this sequence?

We need more than that. Next, please.

Four, um... Four.

No, A Good Day To... I'm afraid I can't accept this. I can't.

It's been too long. I'm going to show the third in the sequence to The Bakers.

For a possible bonus point.

A Good Day 2. 2013.

I'm not going to accept it. Can you talk me through your thinking?

I think these are the Die Hard sequels.

It is the Die Hard sequels, as I think you all know,

but it is the last word in the title. That's what makes it exact.

Die Hard 2, Die Hard: With A Vengeance,

Die Hard 4.0 and in 2013,

A Good Day to Die Hard.

So you got the film right, but not the exact sequence.

"Hard" was the answer.

Nevertheless, your turn for a question. Only one left,

so you get the twisted flax.

What's the fourth in the sequence?

Next, please.

Next, please.

CONFER QUIETLY

Three seconds.

1st: Janis Joplin.

That's so spectacularly wrong.

But thank you! Over to Press Gang for a possible bonus point.

1st: Sandy Shaw.

That I can accept. We actually had first Bucks Fizz.

Why is it? These are people who represented Britain in the Eurovision Song Contest

and won - or Sandy Shaw won, as did Bucks Fizz.

And probably not many others.

It's UK placings in the Eurovision Song Contest.

People that came fourth, third second and first.

I could have taken Lulu or Katrina and the Waves.

Janis Joplin, I'm as certain as I can be,

never represented the UK in Eurovision. I'm sure she was a fan!

That would have been an amazing year!

But no. At the end of Round Two

The Bakers are up to eight points

but Press Gang are ahead with 1 .

Time for the Connecting Wall, a plethora of clues.

16 all jumbled up and need sorting into four connected groups of four.

Bakers, you go first this time Your choice is lion or water.

Water, please. OK.

Two and a half minutes you've got to solve the water wall.

Starting now.

Types of rice. These are Disney princesses.

They are American Ivy League colleges.

There are types of rice.

Is chout a kind of rice?

No. I don't think it's a princess.

..we've tried.

What other princesses are there

What is Arborio? Merida. Merida as a princess, do you think?

That sounds promising.

Well done. Remember, it's three strikes and you're out. OK.

So we've got arborio and basmati, definitely rices.

Yep. Chout, trapeze, popcorn.

Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella. Shall we select the two rices that we know?

We think those are rices. OK.

And the others seem to be... Are these films?

Trapeze, Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, Popcorn?

Certainly a number of them are

That would leave chout and bomba,

which seem quite plausible. Yep As a kind of rice.

Could trapeze be other than...

What films... Romeo and Juliet. . Um...

Is it Baz Luhrmann films, maybe

Baz Luhrmann? No, cos that's Juliet, isn't it?

I'm not sure. I think it is. You're right.

So shall we try bomba?

No. OK.

Arborio and basmati we think are rices.

They may not be, of course.

Cinderella. Popcorn artists. No

Arborio. Popcorn rice.

I don't know. Are they words from Italian?

Let's try these fellows.

You've got ten seconds now.

That's the same as we just tried. Let's try that one.

That's it! You've solved the wall with a few seconds to spare.

That's four points immediately and bonus points for the groups

So the first one. Brown, Columbia, Yale, Cornell.

They're US schools. Any more? Ivy League.

Ivy League American universities.

What about this now? Snow White

Pocahontas, Merida and Jasmine

We think these are Disney princesses.

They are Disney princesses. Which one didn't you know?

Merida. From Brave.

One of the more obscure ones.

OK, next group. Romeo and Juliet,

Chout, Trapeze, Cinderella.

We think they're Baz Luhrmann films.

They are not Baz Luhrmann films They are Prokofiev ballets.

Ah! More cartoons than ballet in your life, clearly! Maybe, yes

Starting to look like it. What about the last group?

Basmati, Bomba, Popcorn, Arborio.

We think it's rice.

They are types of rice.

Which ones bamboozled you there

Bomba and popcorn are both a bit tricky.

I think I've heard of popcorn rice, but not bomba.

Bomba is a sort of Spanish paella rice.

Popcorn, not actually popcorn,

it's a Louisiana pecan rice, I think it's known as.

It smells like popcorn when cooked.

But you do get four points for the groups you found.

Three more bonus points for the connections.

That's a total of seven.

We're going to bring back the Press Gang to have a go at a connecting wall.

16 more scrambled clues still need unscrambling

into four neat groups of four.

Have you all played the walls online?

Umpteen times. Is this going to be a strong round for you?

We hope so! Let's find out. You get the lion wall because water's been taken. Good.

You've got two and a half minutes to solve it, starting now.

Romantic... Cheeses?

Caesar salad. Caesar salad.

Blue cheese salad.

I don't know. West Side Story.

Toy Story. Bedtime Story.

Love Story. Any more stories?

No. L.A. Story, that's a film.

That's a film, that's a film.

And that's a film.

OK. Go for that.

Did we have Toy?

OK. We've got some stories.

Pastoral. Is it a type of poetry?

Romantic poetry. Tragic?

Tragic. Symphony. Pastoral symphony.

Romantic symphony? Romantic symphony? Italian, perhaps?

Someone's done an Italian symphony. Salads. Ranch dressing?

OK. Blue cheese dressing, maybe

Utility. What's that? Utility room.

Heroes. Dogs, maybe? Toy dog. Hound dog.

Utility dog? Toy dog. Is there a fourth dog?

No, there isn't.

What's Heroes? Got any idea for that?

That's a show or something.

So should we try some of these. .

Let's try something. Let's try the dogs.

Do we know the dogs? Are there four dogs?

Utility. Toy. Hound dog?

Yes, try that.

No.

Shall we do these symphonies, then?

Oh, that's a shame.

Wafu. Does that mean anything to anybody?

No. No.

OK. Let's try and leave that to the fourth round.

Did we do...

Salads. Go on. Caesar salad.

Go ahead. Press it. Italian salad?

Ranch salad? Ranch is a dressing.

Maybe this is a salad?

Wafu.

Well done.

Tragic. Definitely. Two or three dogs.

You've got 30 seconds.

I'm not seeing any dogs.

Go, go, go. Come on.

What does that leave us?

An Italian dog?

Have we done Italian symphony?

Yes.

About ten seconds.

Just a couple of lives.

Try that, then.

Toy Symphony.

Five seconds and one more go.

No, that's it. Your three lives are out. The wall's frozen.

But two points for the groups you've found,

and more points for the connections.

Love, Bedtime, L.A., West Side

Films which end in Story.

Yes. Put Story on the end of them and you get a film title.

And this one. Ranch, Blue cheese,

Wafu, Caesar.

I think we said salads or dressings?

Types of salad. Salad dressings

No. Which of those is your answer?

Types of salad.

I'm afraid I just can't take it

They are dressings.

Wafu is really not a salad.

It's a vinaigrette made with soy sauce, popular in Japan.

You're close, but I can't take it.

You can still get points for the connections in the groups you didn't find.

Let's resolve the wall.

Utility, Pastoral, Toy, Hound.

Dogs, then?

Pastoral? I think so.

Types. OK? I'm going to say it

Types of dog. Absolutely.

They are Kennel Club groups of dog.

Pastoral, you didn't know. It's dogs bred to work with livestock.

Collies, a Welsh corgi I think is a pastoral. So they are dogs.

The last one.

Romantic, Italian, Heroes and Tragic.

At least three of those are symphonies, so we hope the fourth one is, too.

They are all symphonies.

They've actually got something even more in common than that, you could guess for.

I only know one of them.

Um, written by Russians.

No, they're all 4th symphonies

I'm assuming Heroes is the one you didn't know. Yes.

Philip Glass's 4th symphony.

Heroes.

But they're all symphonies. So, two points for the groups you've found.

Three more points for the connections. That's a total of five.

Let's see what that does to the scores going into the final round.

So it's all very close. Speaking of close,

look at your laptop, just over there.

On it, you'll find our website with many more connecting walls to play.

If that's not enough, you can write your own.

Meanwhile, we'll play the Missing Vowels Round.

Well-known sentences, phrases, names or titles

from which we've removed the vowels and re-spaced the consonants.

What are those hidden clues?

Put your fingers on the buzzers please, teams.

Speak carefully - you'll lose a point for getting things wrong

The first group are all styles of cooking.

Fusion. Correct.

Nouvelle cuisine. Correct.

Molecular gastronomy. Correct.

Southern Italian. Delicious!

Next category:

Broken heart. Yes.

Funny Bone. Yes.

Butterflies in the stomach. Correct.

Adam's apple. Correct.

Next category:

Waterloo. Correct.

Grand Central. Of course.

A tricky one. In Tokyo, it's Shinjuku.

Next clue.

Gare du Nord. No. It is Gare du Nord. Correct.

Next category:

Stuart Little. Correct.

Rastamouse. Yes, it is.

Reepicheep. Yes, it is.

Don't know this one? It's Angelina Ballerina.

Next category:

Press Gang?

END OF ROUND JINGLE

What would you have said? Happy Days. And you'd have been right

But too late. It's the end of the quiz.

Looking at the final scores. Press Gang finish with 21 points

but ahead with 24, it's The Bakers.

Well done, Bakers. You're now on the fast track towards the semi-final.

Press Gang, you move on to the more scenic route.

But you can still get there.

Thank you all very much for playing. Thanks for watching.

Join me next time for another episode of Only Connect,

the quiz which is definitely a case of what you know, not who you know.

Unless you're friendly with one of our question setters!

But, to be honest, I've met them, and that's extremely unlikely!

Goodbye!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd