I've become worse than the naughtiest boy at school recently with my excuses for lateness. No canine has eaten my homework, but I have spent several hours in walk-in centres and A&E over the last couple of days. Turns out Boy 2 did indeed have an avulsion fracture to his distal interphalangeal joint, left-hand, ring finger, as he suspected. He wasn't just whinging after all. Footballing injury.
No contest at the PA this week, so Robson and I hit the Crown & Sceptre, South Croydon, early. Taking it on the road. Unusual set-up with contestants spread throughout the pub interspersed with non-participants who nevertheless try to answer questions out loud.
The format was quite familiar in places, a picture round to start for instance. We managed to get Viggo Mortensen between us and only about 4 others. Not a great start, but I don't think anyone got an uglified Alex Best.
Round 2 current affairs, pretty much all based on articles that we had seen. The queen had 8000 at the year's first garden party, Robson guessed Rosanne as the eponymous sitcom making a comeback after 20 years. We only missed a royal marries commoner story, Japan not Denmark.
Cast your mind back, the PA used to do a top ten round, C&S does two top fives. Richest British musicians and highest grossing Julia Roberts films in real terms. We felt we did well to even name 5 of her films, but rued putting Peter Pan not Hook. Not the first time that that film has tripped us (ok me) up. We got 5 or 6, probably a decent effort.
Alpha links round next, not unlike chain letters, but in this version first letter of each answer starts with the letter of the alphabet immediately following that of the previous answer. Ghana, Horology, Iran, Johnny B Goode, Kath & Kim, Lira, Monty Panesaar, Never never land, Out of Africa, Polonium. Kath & Kim came from the very depths of our combined minds, not a place you want to go to too often.
Connections round only consists of 5 questions. A breeze even allowing for the error in the first question. Quizmaster remained adamant that both Kids in America and French Kissin in the USA were performed by Kim Wilde. I don't think so. All famous people following in their father's footsteps. Hilary Benn, Kiefer Sutherland & Charlie Sheen the other 3.
Last round called Wipe Out, but is just Jeopardy in disguise. Only 5 point bonus though for getting them all. The tenth question stumped us completely anyway, not familiar with the plot of the hit musical Hairspray. We erred on the side of caution, leaving out 3 that we would have guessed right. Any one would have given us an outright win, but as it happens three teams are tied on 40 points.
They had anticipated this potential outcome, setting a tie-break question after the last round but before marking. Nearest to the year that the Soviet Union prevented Pasternak from accepting his Nobel Prize. One team never answered, we said 1962. It was 1958, the other tied team were one year further out. Hurrah for Hound!
The team that we swapped papers with won the raffle covered by the entry fee of £1 per person. A bottle of wine. Strangely the quizmaster reduced my score of 31.5 for them to 30. I had been generous on the Kim Wilde/Debbie Harry question, and half marks are apparently not allowed. A bit on the strict side considering that they were out of contention.
After a decent interval during which we were ignored, I enquired politely about the first prize, only to learn that there is no such thing. All a bit of fun for charity. It was explained to me that they do this because the previous first prize of £12 used to attract professional quizzers. I then enquired equally politely "What about a Well Done then?". The response to this was "Oh, did you win, the two of you? I thought it was that other lot around the corner!".
Never mind, a good away win, no me for the coming Thursday, Robson is hoping for some support if possible.
G-Force.
Sunday, 28 May 2017
Friday, 19 May 2017
Hound Of God - Remastered
Different team selection today. For the first time in about a month, Man U didn't have a Thursday game on, instead Tottenham were slicing through Leicester like their eponymous cheese. So we had Daren joining Graham and myself while Kevster railed about the heaviness of Heathrow traffic.
I have notes on the re-quiz chatter but they make no sense so on with the quiz, round 1, pictures of "E's". Elephant, egg-box, emeralds, etc (not actually pictured). For the Hound, they were good.
Emma Thompson, budding national treasure or whinging old harpie, you decide.
Current Affairs was, to continue recent trends, more mainstream than often the case though we went wrong supermarket again with Asda in place of Tesco and for a change, the Greeks and not the French are on strike. You just have to play the percentages in this game.
Round 3 would be sport-themed, loosely so. Who was the quote, "He looks as happy as a penguin in a microwave" assigned to? It only really makes sense with a Geordie accent.
Sid Waddell
Connections would be Oscar winners which I think Graham bagged in one with Sean Penn (Dallas Buyers Club?). Daren was looking for hidden demons and took his time to come round but the likes of Elton John and Halle Berry sealed the deal.
On ten pointers I only have the answers written down but I'm sure "Harry Potter", "Ride of the Valkyries" and "Goat" tell you all you need to know.
A goat.
Half-time and disappointingly, no sandwiches or snacks had emerged so we were forced to do our thing. Refreshed we tackled the link-ups, I'll take the rap for Invicibles and not Invictus being the SA rugby film but otherwise plain sailing. Onto jeopardy, first winner of Celebrity Big Brother anyone? These were the days when people watched it but not the three of us I'm afraid. Had we known it, I'd have fought my corner on the month Elvis died but as we were, it was two blanks. Fair play to anyone bagging it. Proved to be Jack Dee.
Music and I do believe Daren identified an Olly Murs track. Whether indeed it proved to be an Olly Murs track is a different matter but still progress in my book. Here's Keane, someone we all know.
Not the biggest field for this week's quiz and when it became clear no-one had bagged the jeopardy, hopes were raised and fears subsided. A confortable Hound win was the order of the day. Ok, a few items of business.
1. Congratulations to Grey(Hound) Round becoming the first blog page to hit 500 views. Thanks to those French and Ruskies, traffic has been mushrooming and we calculate by 2030, the Hound blog will be the only thing read on the internet.
2. No quiz at the PA next week due to a private function. Default fallback will be the Crown & Sceptre in South Croydon but if Steve or Kevster want to show us the mean streets of Reigate or Sutton, then what the hell.
That's all folks.
I have notes on the re-quiz chatter but they make no sense so on with the quiz, round 1, pictures of "E's". Elephant, egg-box, emeralds, etc (not actually pictured). For the Hound, they were good.
Emma Thompson, budding national treasure or whinging old harpie, you decide.
Current Affairs was, to continue recent trends, more mainstream than often the case though we went wrong supermarket again with Asda in place of Tesco and for a change, the Greeks and not the French are on strike. You just have to play the percentages in this game.
Round 3 would be sport-themed, loosely so. Who was the quote, "He looks as happy as a penguin in a microwave" assigned to? It only really makes sense with a Geordie accent.
Sid Waddell
Connections would be Oscar winners which I think Graham bagged in one with Sean Penn (Dallas Buyers Club?). Daren was looking for hidden demons and took his time to come round but the likes of Elton John and Halle Berry sealed the deal.
On ten pointers I only have the answers written down but I'm sure "Harry Potter", "Ride of the Valkyries" and "Goat" tell you all you need to know.
A goat.
Half-time and disappointingly, no sandwiches or snacks had emerged so we were forced to do our thing. Refreshed we tackled the link-ups, I'll take the rap for Invicibles and not Invictus being the SA rugby film but otherwise plain sailing. Onto jeopardy, first winner of Celebrity Big Brother anyone? These were the days when people watched it but not the three of us I'm afraid. Had we known it, I'd have fought my corner on the month Elvis died but as we were, it was two blanks. Fair play to anyone bagging it. Proved to be Jack Dee.
Music and I do believe Daren identified an Olly Murs track. Whether indeed it proved to be an Olly Murs track is a different matter but still progress in my book. Here's Keane, someone we all know.
Not the biggest field for this week's quiz and when it became clear no-one had bagged the jeopardy, hopes were raised and fears subsided. A confortable Hound win was the order of the day. Ok, a few items of business.
1. Congratulations to Grey(Hound) Round becoming the first blog page to hit 500 views. Thanks to those French and Ruskies, traffic has been mushrooming and we calculate by 2030, the Hound blog will be the only thing read on the internet.
2. No quiz at the PA next week due to a private function. Default fallback will be the Crown & Sceptre in South Croydon but if Steve or Kevster want to show us the mean streets of Reigate or Sutton, then what the hell.
That's all folks.
Tuesday, 9 May 2017
Pants Down Hound
3 Hounds in the house before seven, but few others until the start of the quiz when the place suddenly filled up. Kevster stranded at some airport or we would have been 4.
Pictures were all starting with "B" or would have been if Siobhan hadn't asked for the brand of baked beans. No problem with the Burundi flag.
Decent effort in the current affairs round, another issuance of postage stamps has passed us by (songbirds this time), and who knew that 77 degrees proof Bombay gin had briefly hit the off licence shelf.
Authors for round 3. "A woman is just a woman, but a cigar is a good smoke ". Kipling not Hemingway, but we got the rest.
British islands for the connections round, Rams, Copeland, St Mary's, Muck, Rum, Asparagus (really), Harris, Lewis, Samson.
Sorted out the tenners between us, still in the running.
Nidd was the hardest answer in the chain letters round, but they're all easy if you know them.
Less said about the jeopardy round the better, we flip/flopped between red/orange as the visibly coloured tag on Levi jeans. Not sure why we didn't just leave it out but we ended up flopping for orange.
Solid music round, would have been close but to be honest the other teams are raising their game as well.
No quiz on the 25th. No Robson for the 11th, Portugal is to be arraigned by both him and then Steve in quick succession, will it ever be the same again? Old Petworth Railway station looks nice for a short stay.
G-Force
Pictures were all starting with "B" or would have been if Siobhan hadn't asked for the brand of baked beans. No problem with the Burundi flag.
Decent effort in the current affairs round, another issuance of postage stamps has passed us by (songbirds this time), and who knew that 77 degrees proof Bombay gin had briefly hit the off licence shelf.
Authors for round 3. "A woman is just a woman, but a cigar is a good smoke ". Kipling not Hemingway, but we got the rest.
British islands for the connections round, Rams, Copeland, St Mary's, Muck, Rum, Asparagus (really), Harris, Lewis, Samson.
Sorted out the tenners between us, still in the running.
Nidd was the hardest answer in the chain letters round, but they're all easy if you know them.
Less said about the jeopardy round the better, we flip/flopped between red/orange as the visibly coloured tag on Levi jeans. Not sure why we didn't just leave it out but we ended up flopping for orange.
Solid music round, would have been close but to be honest the other teams are raising their game as well.
No quiz on the 25th. No Robson for the 11th, Portugal is to be arraigned by both him and then Steve in quick succession, will it ever be the same again? Old Petworth Railway station looks nice for a short stay.
G-Force
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