Weaver's Week 2009-08-30

Yes! It's everyone's favourite interactive game show, The Drogna Game, hosted by Ganord In A Rather Silly Visor and doing a remarkably accurate impression of a cheesy game show host. Think of a combination of Bruce Forsyth and Bob Monkhouse, with perhaps just a touch of Eamonn Andrews' drollery. Angord takes on the role of the cute but ditzy hostess, clearly modelled on Anne Aston from The Golden Shot. Their opponent for this match is the undisputed champion, the Black Belt of the sport, the Red Salamander of Dargon. He's accompanied by his coach and manager, Ron Gad.

We have a suspicion Janet has played the game before, knowing how to play with moves using the selected colour or shape. Angord is a little over-enthusiastic with her gonging – "she finds it hard to think and move at the same time," explains our host in his most oily manner. But there's an elementary mistake, as Neil tries to play a blue circle when he's standing on a red pentagon: the colour or shape must match with the square he's starting from. "Evitagen doog yrev", calls the opposition's second, who always speaks backwards.

While the return journey begins, Ganord talks to some children from Earth, thinking about what they might give His Highness. A yellow daffodil and some apples meet with approval; some polish for his leaves is an "unusual" suggestion.

Gandor puts his coat back on, and tells the team that they've got about 15 minutes before their spaceship is ready, and to get some gifts. From callers, we learn that His Highness the Rangdo likes eggs, especially in an omelette. One youngster suggests that he might like a teapot. Ahead of her time!

Previous series of The Adventure Game had had a structure akin to the traditional five-act play: an introduction, a warm-up puzzle, a really difficult middle game, some sort of conclusion, and a last all-or-peanuts (well, all-or-green cheese rolls) challenge before the journey home. For this team, the structure was disrupted by an error in the Dogran's maze, and the difficult middle game lost rather a lot of its lustre.

And that's it: Ganord says goodbye, Ron Gad says eybdoog, and the credits roll.

Cardiff get the Name That Decade question, on the 1600s. This institution was founded in 1883, and took its present name in 2003 when it merged with the Medical College and broke away from the University of Wales. Alumni include Huw Edwards and both Glenys and Neil Kinnock. Thumper notes that no Welsh institution has won a University Challenge series... yet?

There's a bizarre question on reading the postal area for Penge in a mirror and working out it's 5.32 in the morning. There's another question asking after a constant in astrophysics, correctly answered by Cardiff's astrophysicist; their reward is the wordplay question, words that can be prefixed by S. The visual round is on actors playing Othello. It's introduced by Lenny Henry, who said recently that he owes this engagement to his degree from the Open University. How come that institution doesn't compete any more? Should the host be able to block sides in this manner, as the rumour has it? Anyway, King's leads, 40-35.

Q: A Bavarian secret society...

Cardiff, Chris Clark: Illuminati.

The audio round turns out to be about songs based on the works of JG Ballard, and features the cameraman pulling back from a closeup of the captain to see the whole team. We're passing comment on the direction? Crikey. But not as crikey as the suggestion that the EU has expanded to include Swaziland. Even the most ardent europhile might baulk at that, and Cardiff lose a subsequent set of bonuses by still giggling. King's has very quietly ensured everyone gets at least one starter. The second visual round is on pictures of Roman gods, no-one recognises Boticelli, and Cardiff leads 105-80.

Islands in lakes and coastal features bring Cardiff back into the game, but they're still two cycles away from the lead, and we can't see them making the repechage. Someone suggests that a dead king might be buried in Basingstoke, much to Thumper's amusement. Cardiff get the next set, close the gap to within 15, but just as they're answering the next starter, the gong goes. King's has sneaked a win, 155-140.

King's win comes from David Willis, four starters in the final stanza, as the side made 13/27 bonuses. Cardiff's bonus conversion rate was 12/24, and Chris Clark's five starters included some crackers.

Next match: Newnham Cambridge v Sussex

Where do we begin? "Cardenio" and "Love's Labour's Won" are lost plays, both attributed to Mr. Shakespeare of Stratford, but the other two were to other authors. Chessmen get Things Beginning with Ts___ for their picture clue and two points. Mathematicians get phonetic spellings of roman numerals – Dalziel, seedy, emcee generate a couple.

"Are they French names for chess pieces" asks Nick Mills of the next set? They go for French names for chess pieces, and pick up the two points. A merciful release. Mathematicians get the audio round: shall we hand it over already? Would the question writers really include something so simple as a round of musical tunes at this exalted height? Er, no. Tunes sung by Marni Nixon, who voiced a zillion actresses who were less good at singing, yes. Not only do the Chessmen get two points for people who wear red shirts, but they correctly predict the last clue will be Garibaldi's followers. Chessmen lead 7-3.

Round two begins with 1485 AD, through Elizabethan and Regency, then Victorian, for reasons that the Mathematicians aren't sure about. It's actually World War I, the periods of the Blackadder series. Were the Mathematicians born when this went out? "It's in our knowledge range, but it's hard to connect them", suggests James O'Driscoll. Chessmen get that the next set is Chinese dynasties, and correctly name the Qing.

"If you're looking forward to a nice easy round, tune to another channel now," suggests our host. The grids are extra-difficult this week, and the Chessmen are having the greatest difficulty getting started on this one. It takes them almost a minute to start jabbing. They have three tiles, some Jacks, and then go on a process of elimination trying to find the last tile. Nothing for the groups; they were Magic ___, synonyms for "criticise", physics waveform, and famous Peters. Spotting the links gives them Two points!

There's some headroom for the Mathematicians, and they begin by suggesting there are constellations, but then go for snooker players, which is actually correct! Very sensibly, they abandon their trial-and-error technique for something more thoughtful, such as things to do with water. They're able to bang the buttons far faster than the opposition, but not to much more effect, and the other three groups evade them. Positions in yoga just evade the team – they reckon they're symbols of India. They confuse constellations for nebulae, and miss snow____. Two points! Chessmen's lead remains, 17-8.

Into mssng vls, where we begin on Twins, which just about ends in a 2-2 draw. Biographical Films is in a 1-1 draw, Doctors Who Were Authors is a 2-0 win for the Chessmen, and they've won by 22-11. Well done to them!

Next match (final): Rugby Boys v Cambridge Quiz Society

Shall we begin? Abigail Maher is discussing the Life and Work of Louis Wain, a painter ... whoa! Just as they've done in the finals for the past few years, each show is introduced by a short film clip featuring the contestant talking about the subject. These are more cheap affairs, just the contestant in front of a screen overlaying some footage of vague relevance to their subject. As we were saying before we were so rudely interrupted, Louis Wain was a painter best known for his representation of cats. The contender gets the series off to a great start, ending on 15 (1).

Roy Watson Davis takes the Basil Rathbone films of Sherlock Holmes. He was active during the Second World War, and aimed both to entertain and to be the definitive portrayal of the detective. Another round, another stellar performance, 15 (1).

William de Ath has the Life and Works of Kurt Vonnegut. "He was a science fiction writer," states the contender; it's not an opinion shared by the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy entry on the author, whose published novels have been re-interpreted as a thesis on anthropology. The final score: 15 (1).

A three-way tie! So it goes. Do we get rid of the chats? We do, indeed, though it could be that they've gone to squeeze in a tie-break. Tony Esau is first up, having scored a measly 14 points first time up; he remembers the treaty of Vichy and the Vulcan bomber to finish on 27 (2).

Roy Watson Davis knows the predecessor work of "Under Milk Wood", and is asked which state has been represented by Edward Kennedy, who died this week. The contender looks like he might do something useful, but once he makes a couple of errors, many more follow, ending on 21 (4).

There's seven minutes until the next show, and that's an awfully long time to ask two minutes of questions, until we remember this show started a couple of minutes early and only ever runs for 27 minutes. William de Ath remembers Fred Godwin's nickname, and takes a pass about half-way through his answers, not remembering Mike Channel from Radio Active. But then he passes again, errs a bit, and finishes on 25 (4).

So Tony Esau is the week's winner, and William de Ath will be on the repechage board when we publish it in five programmes' time.