Apologies for the delay in posting the answers.  Sometimes my life is busy enough to justify not logging on to the blog.

Answers:

1. Which blooming Christmas plant originated in Mexico? A> Poinsettia
2. Which Irish rugby star opened the new Claremorris Tennis Club building? A> John Hayes
3. In the song The Twelve Days of Christmas, how many pipers are piping? A> 11
4. Which is the largest of the Canary Islands? A> Tenerife
5. What colour is Melanite? A> Black
6. How many pounds (lbs) does a gallon of water weigh? A> 10
7. A person born on June 21 belongs to which star sign? A> Gemini
8. What is the name of the book recently released about the House of Prayer in Achill? A> Immaculate Deception
9. Who was recently awarded Mayo GAA footballer of the year? A> John Casey
10. Who did boxer Matthew Macklin defeat in the National Stadium last weekend? A> Rafa Sosa Pintos
11. “How many Wimbledon titles did Martina Navratilova win?” A> Nine*
12. What is the name of singer Mary Coughlan’s recently released book? A> Bloody Mary
13. In which country can you find Lake Disappointment? A> Australia
14. What is St Nicholas the patron saint of? A> Pawnbrokers**
15. Which is the largest of the US states? A> Alaska
16. Name the two people who qualified for the final of The Apprentice on TV3. A> Steve Rayner and Stephen Higgins

* The ambiguous phrasing of this question caused a bit of a backlash. Nine is the number of singles titles won by Navratilova. In total, she has won 20 titles there.

** We wrote down “Children” and, even though she didn’t call that out, I think we must have received a point for it.

Picture round:

1. Liam Clancy
2. Lady Gaga
3. Paddy Reilly
4. Diarmuid Murphy
5. Stacey Solomon
6. Geraldine O’Callaghan
7. Graeme McDowell
8. Joe Coleman
9. Donal Murray
10. Andy Reid

Some people are obviously in the “quiz ether” at the moment as Stacey and Joe appeared in the picture round of the previous quiz I attended.  Also, doesn’t Andy Reid look a bit thin here?

However, there are drawbacks. Firstly, the bar itself might not be a great shape for a quiz. Secondly, the ‘outsiders’ are both loved and hated – loved for coming along and swelling the numbers, hated for their potential to walk away with some prizes.  The fear of someone strange pocketing the first place winnings invariably leads to ‘local’ questions. It can all get a bit Royston Vasey.

Last night my new quizzing scene contact, Ger, invited me along to a fund-raising quiz for the Claremorris Golf Club, in Killeens’ Pub.  This night out exhibited all of the above features!

In fact, it exceeded them.  The quiz itself didn’t kick-off until 10pm. It was scheduled for 9.30pm but, of course, one has to factor in ‘Irish Time’!  Why had it been scheduled for 9.30pm? So that everyone could watch the Munster v Perpignan rugby match on the bar’s sole television.

Our team consisted of myself, Ger and a work colleague of his called Tom.  That would have been it if a random guy called Fergal hadn’t walked in the front door, beside which we were seated, and asked if we needed a fourth. It was a bit like being asked to dance at a disco. “Why? Are you looking to take part, yourself?” we wondered. Eventually negotiations ceased and he sat down.

Our biggest problem was hearing the questions.  The bar is shaped like a capital L, with out front door berth being at the furthest point away from the quiz mistress as it was possible to be. She was using an amplifier, but unfortunately whoever had set it up had just placed the two speakers right beside her.

At half-way we were miles off the pace. Our 42/50 didn’t seem too bad to us. That was before it was announced that the leaders were on an amazing 48/50, and we were only in joint fourth.

By the end though, we’d made up some ground and came in joint-second, on 82/100. This was something of a surprise in itself, as I had counted our score as 80 points.  However, as almost always seems to be the way with quizzes of this size, there had been a few controversial answers so maybe we had been given points for these. It didn’t make much difference really though, as we were told that we were officially the third-placed team (following a countback) and they were only giving out prizes for first and second.  We were still a fair distance behind the winners, who finished on 88 points.

Ah well.

As usual, here are the questions we got wrong for you to have a go at:

1. Which blooming Christmas plant originated in Mexico?
2. Which Irish rugby star opened the new Claremorris Tennis Club building?
3. In the song The Twelve Days of Christmas, how many pipers are piping?
4. Which is the largest of the Canary Islands?
5. What colour is Melanite?
6. How many pounds (lbs) does a gallon of water weigh?
7. A person born on June 21 belongs to which star sign?
8. What is the name of the book recently released about the House of Prayer in Achill?
9. Who was recently awarded Mayo GAA footballer of the year?
10. Who did boxer Matthew Macklin defeat in the National Stadium last weekend?
11. “How many Wimbledon titles did Martina Navratilova win?”
12. What is the name of singer Mary Coughlan’s recently released book?
13. In which country can you find Lake Disappointment?
14. What is St Nicholas the patron saint of?
15. Which is the largest of the US states?
16. Name the two people who qualified for the final of The Apprentice on TV3.

(I’ve put #11 in quotes, as that was the way it was called out on the night. You can probably guess the problems it caused!)

Now, here’s the picture round.  Be prepared for possibly the worst photocopying ever seen.

Good luck with these.

Update: answers here.

They’re hiding after the Continue link.

Answers:

1. Which Kenny Rogers song begins with the line “In a bar in Toledo”? A> Lucille
2. How many contestants start each episode of The Weakest Link? A> 9
3. “Colmcille Gibson’s name wouldn’t look good in lights so he changed it to what?” A> Mel Gibson
4. What were the two Taliban guerillas who were killed by a bear last week eating at the time of the attack? A> Porridge
5. In which Irish city did a street collapse last week? A> Belfast
6. What was the name of Westlife’s first No. 1 single that had only one word in the title? A> Unbreakable
7. How many siblings did former US President John F. Kennedy have? A> 9
8. Who was the Roman god of fire? A> Vulcan
9. Which former Austrian President went on to become was also Secretary General of the United Nations? A> Kurt Waldheim
10. In which year did the following events take place: Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the GAA voted to allow Soccer and Rugby into Croke Park, Cork won the All-Ireland Ladies football final. A> 2005

Pictures:

1. Borat / Sacha Baron Cohen
2. Beyoncé Knowles
3. Boy George
4. Alan Sugar
5. David Beckham
6. Charile Brown
7. George Clooney
8. Audrey Hepburn
9. Bobby Charlton
10. Lisa Simpson

1. Bill Gates
2. Michael Lynn
3. Silvio Burlusconi
4. Sharon Commins
5. Katie Taylor
6. Joe Coleman
7. Whitney Huston
8. Andrew Cowles
9. Stacey Soloman
10. Mary Coughlan

This has put a slight dent in my quizzing calendar as I’m slowly coming to terms with living in a new place with a different quizzing ’scene’.  Truth be told, until yesterday I’d only heard of one quiz taking place and that, alas, happened on the night before my morning on the Ray D’Arcy Show quiz.

Yesterday morning, I received a call from my wife.  She’d heard that there was a big quiz taking place in Claremorris later that night.  “That’s great,” I said, “but unless you hear of a team looking for someone, it’s a bit short notice.”

10 minutes later she rings back.  “Turns out the guy who told me about the quiz is actually looking for a fourth team member…”

“I’m in!”

So, last night I found myself walking in the door of the McWilliam Park Hotel knowing I’d be taking part in a quiz but not knowing what my team-mates looked like!  They were Ger, my wife’s colleague, his sister Marie and their brother-in-law Andy.  And I’m glad to say they were all very nice people and good craic too.  We called ourselves Ba-NAMA-rama.

Andy had come prepared.  “I’m convinced there’s going to be a question on ‘Sea the Stars’ so I’ve learned all about him.” he told us, before going on to name the horse’s trainer, owner, jockey and stud farm.  This boded well – surely, we already had at least one point in the bag?!

The quiz itself was a big one, with around 70 tables.  It was the annual fundraiser for the Claremorris GAA Club and it was clear they were well used to running it.  Instead of just announcing the event and hoping people would turn up, the club sold tickets á la their annual dinner dance, four for each table, in advance.  So, for example, this explained why I was there.  Marie had bought four tickets and thus, when she only had three team members earlier in the day, she did her best to find a fourth.  In other circumstances, if you were thinking of going along but couldn’t get a full team, you’d be tempted to just stay at home and not bother.

The quiz featured 10 rounds, including two picture rounds (one on hairstyles!) and a music round, which was worth 20 points.  Thus, the quiz was marked out of 110.  The quality of questions was even, with each round featuring one or two real tough ones.  This made for a nice challenge.

The sports round kicked off with “Who trains the famous racehorse Sea the Stars?”  Andy was over the moon – you’d think we’d just won the quiz!  In truth we all had our moments of inspiration.  Marie knew without thinking that Hearts were the only suit of cards where the king didn’t have a moustache whilst Ger knew that Declan Corcoran was the Mayo referee who took charge of this year’s All-Ireland Ladies football final.  For my part, I knew that ‘Tie a Yellow Ribbon‘ was performed by Dawn.

At the end of the night we finished second with 97 points, just one off the winners.  Andy was particularly happy as he reckoned he’d never ever finished in the top three in a quiz.

Here are the questions we missed.  See how you do:

1. Which Kenny Rogers song begins with the line “In a bar in Toledo”?
2. How many contestants start each episode of The Weakest Link?
3. “Colmcille Gibson’s name wouldn’t look good in lights so he changed it to what?”
4. What were the two Taliban guerillas who were killed by a bear last week eating at the time of the attack?
5. In which Irish city did a street collapse last week?
6. What was the name of Westlife’s first No. 1 single that had only one word in the title?
7. How many siblings did former US President John F. Kennedy have?
8. Who was the Roman god of fire?
9. Which former Austrian President went on to become Secretary General of the United Nations?
10. In which year did the following events take place: Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the GAA voted to allow Soccer and Rugby into Croke Park, Cork won the All-Ireland Ladies football final.

Picture rounds:

Update: answers are here.

Only Connect is a particularly hard quiz in which teams of three are presented with clues/facts and have to work out the connection between them. You can find some examples of these on its Wikipedia page.

If you’d like to take part, and you’ve got two willing mates, you have until midnight on November 10th to email contestants@presentable.co.uk

The only thing is – you have to be a UK resident to take part. This makes me sad but I’m posting this anyway as a test of the blog’s international reach.

It was a tough defeat, as we only lost one of the three rounds. Alas, it was the 1v1 buzzer round, the only one which allows for a large gap between the teams, and that’s what happened to us.  At the end of that round, we were trailing by 16 pts to 9 and, with a maximum of 9 pts available for the final round, it was always going to be very unlikely that we could turn it around.

We did our best and, indeed, we did win the final round by 9 pts to 6, but that left the final score at:

The Mathemagicians 22 – Universally Challenged 18

“But, sure there’s always next year…” we’ve already been told by several, well-meaning friends.

Perhaps.  It’ll depend on a few things. Firstly, will the Ray D’Arcy show team decide to do it again? Secondly, if they ever chance upon this blog, I hope they’ll take some advice and tweak the format of the live quizzes slightly.

Now, before I start I do feel like complimenting the team behind the whole event.  The Sligo qualifier was one of the most enjoyable and well-organised table quizzes I have ever taken part in.  It was professional to the last, with free t-shirts, snacks and sweets, an electronic scoreboard that worked and it even started pretty much on-time (or as near as makes no difference).

The problem is that the event then transformed itself from a table quiz, between table quiz teams, into a three round, 15 minute burst, in which two of the rounds either discourage or don’t allow any team work.  We actually came off best against The Mathemagicians in the two rounds that team work was in play for.  Unfortunately we got stuffed in the single player round.

It’s the same playing field for both teams, I know, but should a single player round be allowed to be so decisive in a quiz designed to find Ireland’s best quiz team?

Anyway, here are my suggestions:

1. Lengthen the live quiz. It’s too short. It lasted 15 minutes, but probably six or seven of these were taken up chatting with Ray and the explanation of the rules etc.  Perhaps the production team have done their research on this and decided that the Irish public’s attention span isn’t long enough to stick with a half-hour quiz but it works fine in the UK where a show like Brain of Britain has been going on for 42 years.
2. Sort out the technology. The teams were communicating with the studio via satellite, and it seemed to work fine, in terms of speaking.  However, the buzzers suffered from a terrible lag. On several occasions, our player, David, hit the button before there’d been a peep from his opponent but, apparently, still didn’t get in on time.  The Today FM staff were obviously aware of this problem as they’d mentioned it to us before we went on-air. However, during the round, when you know there’s only 60 seconds worth of time available, it was very frustrating. We also had an incident in which neither buzzer seemed to register – perhaps they’d been pressed simultaneously? Ray’s suggestion that the players “Buzz again” caught our Dave on the hop and allowed the other guy in.  There’s definitely room for improvement here.  A simple alternative might be, since the buzzer just mimicked a phone number tone, to use a land-line phone instead?
3. Remove (or increase) the 1v1 round. David didn’t feel very good after the quiz was over, putting the blame for the defeat on himself. This seemed a touch cruel on the guy, especially as he had to deal with the problems outlined above.  My main problem is that the 1v1 round goes against the ethos of table-quizzing.  It’s a team sport, where almost every question can be discussed before an answer is given.  Thus your final score will be an accurate reflection of how your combined skills and knowledge coped with the questions on the day.  This round didn’t fit with any of that.  It merely told us that their buzzer guy was better (or just quicker) than our buzzer guy.  How would their other players do against the rest of us? We never got to find out.  So, I’d say either get rid of the individual round altogether or else have four individual rounds, where everyone gets a go.  That way, the final score would indeed reflect the combined knowledge of the team.
4. Pass missed questions to the other side. At a table quiz, you have to answer every question that’s asked on the night.  Practically no quiz on TV or radio provides this feature (with some exceptions, such as Chris Moyles’ Quiz Night and Pointless) but they compensate for this slightly by allowing a missed question to be passed to the other side.  This allows for a double hit on any wrong answer and increases the potential of a swing.  This would also have helped with providing drama for the listener, as five of the eight first round matches featured such a large gap after the individual round as to make round 3 redundant.  In fact, on one day, due to the gap being 12 points, the quiz was declared over and the final round was never heard!

Missed questions:

We only got one question wrong but, for completeness, here it is:

1. Sushi for Beginners, Angels and This Charming Man are all novels by which author?

I am glad that we took part though, if for no other reason than it gave our friends and relations the chance to hear us in action!

I do hope this event comes to a successful conclusion on Friday next.  I’ll still be listening. I also hope it comes back next year and for several years afterwards and, all going well, this first year will be seen as the one where they learned what worked and what didn’t and ironed out those wrinkles.

If you’d like to hear how we get on, or even just want to know what I sound like, then tune in to Today FM (that’s 100-102 MHz in Ireland) or else click on the “Today FM Live!” link in the top-right of www.todayfm.com

We’ll be on-air from about 11.20am tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, in what will be the penultimate first round match.

Wish us luck!

Well, just like any good pro (or determined amateur), I find that it’s impossible to put the brain to rest just because you’re not actually taking part in a competitive event.

The sport similie breaks down at this point though as I’ve never been the type who prepares for quizzing like it’s a sporting event.  I’ve known some – reading through almanacs and encyclopaedia on their spare time. One day, when I was in college, I popped into a service station to pick up some sweets to find a quizzing acquaintance working the till.  It had been a quiet afternoon for him, obviously, as he had a copy of that year’s Who’s Who open on the counter.  Not my idea of a fun read.

So, obviously I play along with other quizzing endeavour when I can.  Here are some of my favourites.

The king: Who wants to be a Millionaire?

The original and best.  Millionaire first appeared on television in 1998 and became compulsive viewing almost immediately.  In my opinion, while the easy-to-grasp structure of the show and the inherent drama of seeing people battle with their internal demons (the “take the money” angel v. the “let’s risk it” devil), another significant factor was the ease with which viewers could play along.

We certainly did in our house.  Once the soft ones are out of the way, each question takes anything from 60 seconds to 5 minutes to be answers.  Thus, the whole family can debate the merits of the various answers.

In recent years, the show’s makers have actually tried to tap into this by posing questions before the commercial break with viewers being offered the chance to win a cash prize (if they call a premium rate phone number).

Pointless: It isn’t

My new favourite quiz show is not only structured in such a way as to allow easy playing-along but its makers actually encourage it at the start of each episode.

How does it work? Well, the creators of the show didn’t actually come up with an original idea here.  They simply took Family Fortunes and turned it on its head!

So, the teams are asked to give a correct answer to a question that has already been posed to 100 people for 100 seconds.  Unlike Family Fortunes, however, the contestants have to try and find the answers that were given by the fewest number of people. Obviously, if a correct answer exists and not one of the 100 wrote it down, that becomes the holy grail – a truly pointless answer!

And, before you ask, giving a wrong answer sticks 100 (ugly) points straight on to your score. It also sets off a buzzer, which is a nice touch!

QuizQuizQuiz: Quizzing on the go

I’m a bit of a gadget fan so I was always, eventually, going to become an iPhone owner. And, lo!, it happened in June of this year.

Now, you probably already know this but one of that device’s big selling points is the ability to download independently created applications.

It took me a while to find a quizzing app that I liked.  In the end, it came through a suggestion I received here on the blog.

It’s called QuizQuizQuiz and, while I’m not a big fan of that name, I think the app itself gives you the best quiz you can have on an iPhone. It’s got single player and mutliplayer modes (up to five people can pass the phonie on the left hand side) and has a vat of questions so deep that I have yet to see one repeat.  And I’ve played it a lot.

It’s also got adjustable levels of difficulty and achievements.  I earned one of these by trying out a round at the highest “Mastermind” setting – I got the “Worse than chance” award, for scoring my first zero for a long, long time…

Alas, it’s not a free app, but it is on offer at time of writing.

So that’s three of my quiz-brain-workouts.  Anyone got any others?

Finally, a request.  I don’t know whereabouts in the country the blog’s readers call home but if anyone is going to the remaining three quizzes in this series, and would feel up to posting a report on the event here, please drop me a mail to quizmaster@tablequiz.net. Thanks.

I was listening to the show this morning and Ray revealed that the questions were written by the same man who did them for Blackboard Jungle (the quiz show, not the movie), back in the day. That’s kinda cute IMO. I do wonder what this fellow’s been doing in the meantime though?!

Answers:

1. Which county is sometimes known as the “Model County”? A> Wexford
2. An ambush is the collective noun for which animal: lions, tigers or bears? A> Tigers
3. Chemistry, Tangled Up and Out of Control are all albums by which group? A> Girls Aloud
4. Three’s a crowd, Someone special and The perfect man and are all books by which author? A> Sheila O’Flanagan
5. Turin is the capital city of which Italian region? A> Piedmont
6. Minister Conor Lenihan is a TD for which constituency? A> Dublin South West
7. Amarillo is in which US state?* A> Texas
8. It’s fifty years since Cliff Richard had his first UK No 1. What was the name of the song? A> Living Doll
9. Andrea Corr got married to whom, in August this year? A> Brett Desmond
10. What age is former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern? A> 58

Photos:

So that’s that.  We had a great night, with an exciting finish, but now it’s time to start thinking about the next one. One game at a time and all that…