Ahh bad luck - there was some seriously niche content this week, and 38 is honestly very creditable. Hope you had some fun nonetheless, and do keep coming back for more! Going forward I think I’m going to nudge my R2s a little easier, and certainly next week’s R4 is going to be a bit more “generalist” than this week’s (although I’m going to keep including “specialist” R4s occasionally as I think they’re useful for showing people where their gaps are).
Brilliant, thanks! Cricket is one of the sports I know least well, although I feel like I could get deeply into it if I made a start, so Fire in Babylon is going straight in my queue.
FIB is a thrilling one and quite short. Last Chance U is a very engaging account of student American footballers - it's one season a series, and it takes in a number of junior colleges. Have to echo Davet's recommendation of Living With Lions - the level of closeness they allowed the film crew was quite remarkable.
19, 15 (my egghead subject so still disappointing), aaannnd.... 7, 3, 3, and not sure if its more depressing that i'd heard of 1 answer and forgotten it, or not heard of 16. Still marginally more enjoyable than a crowded commuter train in a heatwave without quiz
Thanks. For info as probably helpful that you can see what people know. The Burren, Petite Maman (excellent film), Brio, Arjona, Reade and Ctrl. Mostly stuff that I go deep on like film and pop music.
R5: 2 (I felt I could have got only a couple more at best)
Total: 59
India does indeed feel like an underrepresented area, particularly versus the vast swathes of Japcon that appears. More great stuff this week, thanks as always
Excellent work on sport! Which one was the spoiler?
And honestly any points at all from round 5 always count as a win to be celebrated, and even better if there were others that felt gettable on another day!
That’s wonderful to hear, and exactly how I hoped that some people might approach these quizzes. 16 is a huge result on R3, and 64 superb overall - congratulations to Team Spicer! Encke is a lovely answer, and one I haven’t yet seen claimed by anyone else.
Was going pretty well until the end (I was fairly close on the Doctor Who one and couldn't quite pull Shanaze Reade's name, but other than that fairly slim pickings in R5).
Oh, and if anyone can recommend a way of knowing significantly more about basketball without having to watch basketball, I’m all ears. It’s one of a small number of sports I’ve never really been able to get into at all.
Great work on the first four rounds - a very eclectic spread this week! 16 for R4 is the best I’ve heard from anyone so far.
On basketball, I’ve really struggled to enjoy live games, despite having made more of an effort than with a lot of other sports, but I’ve really loved watching ESPN documentaries about the NBA legends of the past. If you have an ESPN+ subscription, or have a way of streaming them elsewhere, I’d thoroughly recommend ‘Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs the NY Knicks’, ‘No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson’, ‘Celtics/Lakers: Best of Enemies’, or ‘The Luckiest Guy in the World’ (profile of Bill Walton).
Enjoyed this again - well done on the set. Astonished to have guessed Chandigarh from nothing and to have pulled the title of the Sciamma film in R5. Re docs: Senna, The Last Dance and the All or Nothing documentary are pretty cool to watch (Senna is the best one).
R1: 19 (sheep)
R2: 14 (Spurs, 1924, Shiffrin, Cox, Ippon, Bandy)
R3: 11
R4: 12
R5: 5 (the ones I got were: J. Higdon, Petite Maman, M. Ba, D. Burnham and Jannah)
Nice work and thank you for the kind words. I always find the lucky/inspired guesses are even more memorable afterwards than the bad misses, so hopefully those two will be firmly lodged from now on!
Sorry an otherwise sensational sport round slightly collapsed on the last four questions: it wasn’t intentionally written to get harder at the end, just the way it goes sometimes.
Burnham is a lovely get - have you also read The Devil in the White City, which I finished last month and inspired me to write the question?
Hey! Yes, hopefully Chandigarh will stay in the head from now on. I really did think it was in Gujarat.
Nothing wrong at all with the sport round - just so happened that I didn’t know any of the last few (said “pon” for ippon so it was there somewhere but others nowhere close)
Re the Burnham: what really clued me in was the Philippines mention; I know he did some serious city planning there and the rest of the question seemed to fit e.g. I never knew who designed the Flatiron - not even remotely. As for the book, I’ve heard of it but not read it- will certainly be picking The Devil in the White City up to read once I get through Labatut’s The MANIAC.
Great result on sport, and nice work making it above 50 overall despite some bad luck on a couple of the topics.
I chose the topic for R3 deliberately because I think it’s an area where a lot of quizzers (including myself) know a decent batch of clues and answer-lines but struggle to remember or define how they fit together - I’d been vaguely familiar with the phrase “Malayan Emergency” for years as a quizzer before I had any idea what it was or why it was significant.
Thanks, sport’s one of those things I’ve had to work at to go from “meh” to “alright” in. My personal interests are fairly broad but very shallow, but luckily a lot of popular stuff comes up again and again
Can’t help you on the sporting docs, but will gladly share my scores, which went downhill after R1
R1: 20/20
R2: 9/20
R3: 8/20
R4: 7/20
R5: 2/20
A lot of things that just weren’t in my wheelhouse, although there were a few that I just couldn’t quite bring to mind. Was quite pleased with some of the qs I did get in the sport round, with Iker Casillas and Ippon both being dredged from some dark recess
Both those sport dredges are highly impressive! I think I’d have been digging pretty deep for Casillas, if I’d remembered him at all. None of the R2-4 questions were easy, so if you’re getting big pulls outside your wheelhouse, you’re doing a lot right.
Ahh bad luck - there was some seriously niche content this week, so getting conversions from all five rounds (especially the 2 points from the brutal R5) is worth celebrating. Hope you had some fun nonetheless, and do keep coming back for more!
As I’ve commented elsewhere in the chat, going forward I think I’m going to nudge my R2s a little easier, and certainly next week’s R4 is going to be a bit more “generalist” than this week’s (although I’m going to keep including “specialist” R4s occasionally as I think they’re useful for showing people where their gaps are).
Thanks, much better for me than the Disney but quite a few things in R3 and R4 which I have known at one point and couldn’t remember. If I continue to miss 2 questions every week on the easy round that will also be very useful for closing the gaps lol
Hahaha, this is exactly what R1 is supposed to be doing so I couldn’t be happier! Excellent spread of scores across the board on a very eclectic set of topics - and always good to blow off the rust by reminding yourself of knowledge that you once had.
Brilliant, thanks! I did actually watch episode 1 of that years ago and really enjoyed it, but real life intervened before I could get onto a binging streak and I never picked it back up. Next time I have a free evening I’ll have another go at it, as I find the strategy of multi-stage cycling really interesting.
I was close, but not quite close enough, to Abdullamites (round 5) which was disappointing. Also feel I ought to have got Burren. Hopefully this will fix them in my mind so I get them correct next time I encounter them.
Just 38, poor
Ahh bad luck - there was some seriously niche content this week, and 38 is honestly very creditable. Hope you had some fun nonetheless, and do keep coming back for more! Going forward I think I’m going to nudge my R2s a little easier, and certainly next week’s R4 is going to be a bit more “generalist” than this week’s (although I’m going to keep including “specialist” R4s occasionally as I think they’re useful for showing people where their gaps are).
Military history not my thing, and didn’t do as well in sport as I should.
Sporting docs - Senna also by Kapadia, 1997's Living With the Lions, Disney's Welcome to Wrexham
Brilliant, thanks! I’ve yet to watch a great rugby doc, and Living With the Lions sounds right up my street!
Sporting docs - Fire in Babylon (about West Indies cricket) and Last Chance U.
Brilliant, thanks! Cricket is one of the sports I know least well, although I feel like I could get deeply into it if I made a start, so Fire in Babylon is going straight in my queue.
FIB is a thrilling one and quite short. Last Chance U is a very engaging account of student American footballers - it's one season a series, and it takes in a number of junior colleges. Have to echo Davet's recommendation of Living With Lions - the level of closeness they allowed the film crew was quite remarkable.
Not exactly a sporting doc but I recommend Jonathan Wilson's inverting the Pyramid
19, 15 (my egghead subject so still disappointing), aaannnd.... 7, 3, 3, and not sure if its more depressing that i'd heard of 1 answer and forgotten it, or not heard of 16. Still marginally more enjoyable than a crowded commuter train in a heatwave without quiz
Thanks again Jonathan.
R1. 20
R2. 14
R3. 10
R4. 6
R5. 6
56/100. Slightly better this week.
V impressive consistency Mark, and an excellent set of scores particularly the 6 in R5!
Thanks. For info as probably helpful that you can see what people know. The Burren, Petite Maman (excellent film), Brio, Arjona, Reade and Ctrl. Mostly stuff that I go deep on like film and pop music.
R1: 20
R2: 19
R3: 7
R4: 11
R5: 2 (I felt I could have got only a couple more at best)
Total: 59
India does indeed feel like an underrepresented area, particularly versus the vast swathes of Japcon that appears. More great stuff this week, thanks as always
Excellent work on sport! Which one was the spoiler?
And honestly any points at all from round 5 always count as a win to be celebrated, and even better if there were others that felt gettable on another day!
I wasn’t close enough on Olajuwon. US sport an area I’m constantly striving to improve in
Collaborative effort alongside my parents, which was fun. Here’s what we managed:
R1: 20
R2: 17
R3: 16 (I would have struggled, but my Dad came in big on this round)
R4: 6 (Ouch!)
R5: 5 (The Burren, Encke, Dark Souls, Brio, and Reade)
Total: 64
That’s wonderful to hear, and exactly how I hoped that some people might approach these quizzes. 16 is a huge result on R3, and 64 superb overall - congratulations to Team Spicer! Encke is a lovely answer, and one I haven’t yet seen claimed by anyone else.
R1 20
R2 13
R3 13
R4 16
R5 2
Was going pretty well until the end (I was fairly close on the Doctor Who one and couldn't quite pull Shanaze Reade's name, but other than that fairly slim pickings in R5).
Oh, and if anyone can recommend a way of knowing significantly more about basketball without having to watch basketball, I’m all ears. It’s one of a small number of sports I’ve never really been able to get into at all.
Great work on the first four rounds - a very eclectic spread this week! 16 for R4 is the best I’ve heard from anyone so far.
On basketball, I’ve really struggled to enjoy live games, despite having made more of an effort than with a lot of other sports, but I’ve really loved watching ESPN documentaries about the NBA legends of the past. If you have an ESPN+ subscription, or have a way of streaming them elsewhere, I’d thoroughly recommend ‘Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs the NY Knicks’, ‘No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson’, ‘Celtics/Lakers: Best of Enemies’, or ‘The Luckiest Guy in the World’ (profile of Bill Walton).
Enjoyed this again - well done on the set. Astonished to have guessed Chandigarh from nothing and to have pulled the title of the Sciamma film in R5. Re docs: Senna, The Last Dance and the All or Nothing documentary are pretty cool to watch (Senna is the best one).
R1: 19 (sheep)
R2: 14 (Spurs, 1924, Shiffrin, Cox, Ippon, Bandy)
R3: 11
R4: 12
R5: 5 (the ones I got were: J. Higdon, Petite Maman, M. Ba, D. Burnham and Jannah)
Can’t wait for more!
Nice work and thank you for the kind words. I always find the lucky/inspired guesses are even more memorable afterwards than the bad misses, so hopefully those two will be firmly lodged from now on!
Sorry an otherwise sensational sport round slightly collapsed on the last four questions: it wasn’t intentionally written to get harder at the end, just the way it goes sometimes.
Burnham is a lovely get - have you also read The Devil in the White City, which I finished last month and inspired me to write the question?
Hey! Yes, hopefully Chandigarh will stay in the head from now on. I really did think it was in Gujarat.
Nothing wrong at all with the sport round - just so happened that I didn’t know any of the last few (said “pon” for ippon so it was there somewhere but others nowhere close)
Re the Burnham: what really clued me in was the Philippines mention; I know he did some serious city planning there and the rest of the question seemed to fit e.g. I never knew who designed the Flatiron - not even remotely. As for the book, I’ve heard of it but not read it- will certainly be picking The Devil in the White City up to read once I get through Labatut’s The MANIAC.
Congrats on the set once again!
1. 20
2. 17
3. 7 (poor effort; several things I’m familiar of but just couldn’t piece the clues together)
4. 7
5. 1
Great result on sport, and nice work making it above 50 overall despite some bad luck on a couple of the topics.
I chose the topic for R3 deliberately because I think it’s an area where a lot of quizzers (including myself) know a decent batch of clues and answer-lines but struggle to remember or define how they fit together - I’d been vaguely familiar with the phrase “Malayan Emergency” for years as a quizzer before I had any idea what it was or why it was significant.
Thanks, sport’s one of those things I’ve had to work at to go from “meh” to “alright” in. My personal interests are fairly broad but very shallow, but luckily a lot of popular stuff comes up again and again
Can’t help you on the sporting docs, but will gladly share my scores, which went downhill after R1
R1: 20/20
R2: 9/20
R3: 8/20
R4: 7/20
R5: 2/20
A lot of things that just weren’t in my wheelhouse, although there were a few that I just couldn’t quite bring to mind. Was quite pleased with some of the qs I did get in the sport round, with Iker Casillas and Ippon both being dredged from some dark recess
Both those sport dredges are highly impressive! I think I’d have been digging pretty deep for Casillas, if I’d remembered him at all. None of the R2-4 questions were easy, so if you’re getting big pulls outside your wheelhouse, you’re doing a lot right.
R1: 15
R2: 1
R3: 3
R4: 2
R5: 2
Oh dear. Not my day today. Definitely need to brush up for the next one!
Ahh bad luck - there was some seriously niche content this week, so getting conversions from all five rounds (especially the 2 points from the brutal R5) is worth celebrating. Hope you had some fun nonetheless, and do keep coming back for more!
As I’ve commented elsewhere in the chat, going forward I think I’m going to nudge my R2s a little easier, and certainly next week’s R4 is going to be a bit more “generalist” than this week’s (although I’m going to keep including “specialist” R4s occasionally as I think they’re useful for showing people where their gaps are).
R1: 18
R2: 14
R3: 12
R4: 10
R5: 5
Thanks, much better for me than the Disney but quite a few things in R3 and R4 which I have known at one point and couldn’t remember. If I continue to miss 2 questions every week on the easy round that will also be very useful for closing the gaps lol
Hahaha, this is exactly what R1 is supposed to be doing so I couldn’t be happier! Excellent spread of scores across the board on a very eclectic set of topics - and always good to blow off the rust by reminding yourself of knowledge that you once had.
There’s an interesting Netflix behind the scenes documentary about the Tour de France.
Brilliant, thanks! I did actually watch episode 1 of that years ago and really enjoyed it, but real life intervened before I could get onto a binging streak and I never picked it back up. Next time I have a free evening I’ll have another go at it, as I find the strategy of multi-stage cycling really interesting.
1) 17
2) 5
3) 13
4) 4
5) 0
I was close, but not quite close enough, to Abdullamites (round 5) which was disappointing. Also feel I ought to have got Burren. Hopefully this will fix them in my mind so I get them correct next time I encounter them.