Sound As A Hound

Just Graham and myself this week. Southampton were playing Hapoel Bethsheba or the like with Man U vs someone unprounounceable to follow. Early observations:

- A gift of wedding cake, baked by Siobhan from Debbie of TLATT for us before we started. Absolutely no soggy bottoms, until later in the evening in any case.

- Siobhan would be making Graham a bottle of sloe gin, maybe to be shared between the team, who knows?

Pictures this week were of an insurance theme, ADMIRAL Nelson, Winston CHURCHILL, that sort of thing. Right out of our comfort zone obviously but all the clues in the world wouldn't help us get Abbie Clancey, though £60,000 a week from Stoke City might have a good chance. I took a picture but its on another "device" so you'll just have to imagine them.

Current Affairs would be mainly in Graham's court this week. I'd spent the previous week in Cornwall where the words "current" and "affairs" have very different meanings to the ones we're used to. So do most things actually. We muddled through, failing to identify that it was an upwardly directed thumb on the 4th plinth at Trafalgar Square.

Some Cornish Folk

Next Up Ding Dong, generally bell-flavoured answers, Martyn Bell, Ian Bell, Tubular Bells, that sort of thing. We did ok.

Connections was one of those where I think we actually got all 9 answers but for the life of us couldn't link them up. What connects Rebecca Adlington, Glenda Jackson, Hamlet? Oscars apparently, they've all won one, well not Mansfield's finest but she ain't too old to start an acting career.

Ten pointers were fairly easily dispatched. We didn't think it would be the Busters' night when Julie revealed they'd gone for The Coors as the Irish band the Lynch sisters were in. While we're there:

B*Witched - like you didn't know

Link Ups round and Gerry is really starting to express himself with this round. So we had Topaz linking to Zager and Evans and Gravadlax joining up with Xenophobia. An educated punt from Graham filled in two of our missing answers but we couldn't quite square the circle and make it ten.

Jeopardy and one of the more straightforward, in a decision sense. Award yourself a metaphorical pat on the head if you know which country first introduced all plastic banknotes and where Phileas Fogg first sailed to after he left London, was it the Reform Club? We weren't really close but had 8 other decent ones.

Music and no good Hound music round is complete without a mix up and so "Troublemaker" by Olly became "Heart Attack" by Bruno. One day we'll crack this, but by then maybe they'll both become so hideously unfashionable, nobody will play their music in public. We can dream. Other than some Disney nonsense, I think we got the rest.

So onto the scores, no-one had aced the Jeopardy and with 3 ten pointers tucked away, Hound had to be in the running. And the final two read TLATT 143, Hound 144! We were outnumbered 3:1 but we've seen before, more bodies doesn't always mean clearer thinking, particularly in the Jeopardy. Disappointing after all the fun that when we got there, Ozzie's kebabs had closed for the night. Can't have it all.