I agree with all of your comments. I too was blown away by Imperial's performance, particularly the Justin Lee-Adam Jones powerhouse. I cannot comprehend how they have built up their level of knowledge at a relatively young age. I would love to know what their approach and methods are. I thought Suraiya Haddad did a beautiful job as captain. Though, as others have said, it was frustrating that she answered hastily a couple of times when there was no reason not to wait until she had heard the whole question. The mispronunciation of Avogadro was also a bit painful (19:24). That aside, it looks like Imperial are going to be the team to beat.

@@jamesmakey2792 Thanks-and, actually, Justin Lee gave Suraiya Haddad a few answers in the bonus rounds as well. (I’m sure Adam Jones and Sourajit Debnath did, too, but I recall Lee specifically.) Haddad _did_ answer a bit hastily on a few occasions (one of which I mentioned in my opening comment)-but Imperial was far enough ahead during almost all of the show (once things got going, Lincoln-Oxfordshire was no closer than 45 points to Imperial at their closest) that they didn’t have much to lose - _and_ they didn’t lose much - by answering hastily. But you’re right-they probably didn’t _gain_ a whole lot either, since lots of these answers were in the bonus rounds, where, for better or worse (better for them, worse for us), they have all the time in the world. I would guess that the _quaestio interrupta_ thing was just a matter of style (something like “I’m reasonably sure of the answer-let’s move this thing along”), rather than a strategic choice, and, on the whole, as I said, I liked it because, well, it _did_ move things along. (The Avogadro mispronunciation _was_ painful because, at least to me, it seemed like, well, either a genuine slip of the tongue or a mishearing.) And, yes, absolutely, Imperial sure looks like the team to beat. They have the knowledge (especially the Lee-Jones juggernaut-they were strong on starters in both games) _and_ the all-important buzzer speed.

Thanks for posting this, not! Made it no surprise who won. Very selfish!

@@michaelmccarthy9411 Don't check the comments before you've watched it then

They are very well rounded. The whole team contributes well.

@@gooscarguitar It's staring me in the face as soon as I click it open!

Absolutely agree, they always look so solid!

Jones is amazing and he looks like Oscar Wilde.

Just needs to cut down on wasting points by answering too soon/flubbing

It was phoney from the start, almost patronising.

Totally agree with the sentiment re, "did you have fun?" A pointless question that is more embarrassing than enlightening.

Yes I agree that Amol needs to show some ingenuity

@@deborahbaldwin6660he can’t show what he doesn’t have!

I agree, but they were so impressive and far ahead pointwise, they didn't need to! However, better than tactic of many leading teams in the past, tactically prolonging their conferring to maintain advantage timewise.

You're right! The delaying tactics are poor sportsmanship. I cannot understand how UC seems to be the only "game show" which doesn't have OFFICIALLY timed answer periods, not just ones arbitrarily imposed by the questioner! Time limits would improve the game, I'm sure.

Yes, but jumping in too fast is also a bit rude especially when so far ahead. We like to hear the question. I do like the faster pace this season, but sometimes it gets too fast and stressful. I know it must be competitive but not at the expense of enjoying it.

yeah that was a good trap.

Definitely intended as a trap, but it did quite clearly say "19th century" tbf

I will fight you on the "its" you left out :)

Canaletto is not a bad guess just from the picture, the style is similar and even though the scene does not actually depict Venice, it sure looks like it. However, the clue did say that the painter is French. (I assume the extra clue was added both because Lorrain is less well-known and to discourage the guess you just made.)

Canaletto was my first thought before I heard "French". Having been to the National Gallery quite recently, I was blown away by the clarity and detail in his paintings of Venice. Lorrain's 'Seaport at Sunset' doesn't quite compare in that respect.

So far I'd agree they're better than the 2021-22 team - mind you I think that team would've scored more with Rajan as that was the series Paxman really started to slow down his diction. I'd argue their strongest team was from 1995-6 - all of their matches are on KZfaq actually kzfaq.info/get/bejne/aK1jodx4lcu5m30.html

Wow, thx for the reply mate. Never watched the retro era of UC@@gabsymalone6307

But their teamwork feels rushed compared to Zeng’s year.

@@enlisty Yes, that's why I used the word "runaway". Too quick to interrupt even for the bonus questions, and got it wrong a few times. But that could be their strategy. Get the opponents shell shocked.

The 2019 team with Brandon as the star was the stronger of the 2 recent Imperial wins, I feel. Zeng's knowledge of geography was absurd and can't be equalled, but Brandon's broader knowledge was dominating all their matches on its own in 2019. No one came close to competing. This current team is particularly scary because they have more than 1 hard hitter: Lee and Jones are both phenomenal, with Debnath nicely complementing them and Haddad's solid captaining. The team to beat this year.

If I were to be exceptionally pedantic... For a black hole, more mass effectively does means larger, and the black holes in quasars are always billions of solar masses so quite large. And the accretion disk, which is centred on the black hole, is what emits the radiation. But it did still sound like someone had grabbed a popular science book at the last minute to write an astrophysics question.

28:14 ; - )

Thanks! 😊

More London than combined Oxbridge...

By the way, the record for most correct starters by an individual player in a match is 15*, set by Gail Trimble

Thanks!

@@davidklompenhouwer555 more than welcome.

repechage. It means second chance

A heat (as in rowing or fencing) in which the best competitors who have lost in a previous round compete for a place or places yet left in the next round. From French repêchage, from repêcher (“to fish out, rescue”), from re- (“again”) + pêcher (“to fish”) (Wiktionary)

the middle word is "and"

@@PhatInAHat did you think I was replying to a different comment?

@@PhatInAHat I'm not talking about drum and bass you melt. Nobody was talking about drum and bass. Read the original comment that I replied to.

@@gooscarguitar lol, sorry my mistake - I just made two comments under University Challenge vids and the other one said something like "the correct answer could be drum n bass". So when I had a youtube pop-up on my phone saying someone replied "the middle word is "and"" I perhaps naturally assumed it made sense that someone was replying to my other comment.

No because he had finished reading the question

Oh, you're right. I wasn't paying attention enough. Thanks!@@gooscarguitar

Imperial is imperial but I think UCL can give Imperial a run for their money.

katipunan

University Challenge have been pretty consistent for maybe the past 6 years in penalizing mispronounced answers, and this is the line they have drawn

@@Ramboost007 Except when Paxman accepted "superium" when the answer was "supremum"

Hapax legonemenon

the words inside the brackets are your real focus innit

Agreed. However, better than tactic of many leading teams in the past, prolonging their conferring to maintain advantage timewise.

She'll learn, they have 2 chances at the quarterfinals for that

Reading a lot of books, listening to a lot of podcasts, doing a lot of quizzes. The more you do the less random and more predictable it seems

You have to remember that these teams are selected for what they know: it's like the Olympics of knowledge. But there are many people who have very extensive knowledge because of the work they do. I've been working in the knowledge field for a very long time, as a teacher, a magazine editor and a translator, and I watch UC to see how many of the answers I get right. Every week I do better than the losers but not as well as the winners. Not everyone can be at that level without a great deal of education.

most likely a mix of gooscarguitar and some intense trivia scoping online on every topic/field imaginable. oh how lucky we are to have the world wide web.

Agreed!!! This guy is rushing words & unnecessarily harsh. I didn’t like when the aging Paxman did it but he wasn’t nasty so early on!

He wears a watch and rings - he hardly 'flaunts' them. 'Humiliates' - well - less than Paxman did. It's part of the game.

I agree I can't stand him, no charisma, no personality but at least he has stopped saying haitch for aitch!!

It was one of paxman's unforgivable traits, too. In the way it implies stupidity, it disproportionately disincentivises contestants from guessing answers based on their susceptibility to public humiliation. It adds nothing to the game. Rajan could have stopped it. Don't remember Bamber doing this. Next. He doesn't just "wear" the jewellery, he constantly and ostentatiously adjusts his cuff to show off his shiny little watch and dual gold rings. Paxman didn't wear a watch AFAIFK and only wore one simple signet ring. Finally, all this pretending he knows the answer business? Rajan only got a 2:2 English degree. Paxman was another low achieving English language grad. I daresay neither of them know, on average, more than I do. I average about 8 per game - answering before the contestant does. But I only got 5 today. And I stand by my observation that he speaks too quickly and doesn't enunciate adequately. @@andrewclifton9772

lol "haitch" - such a marker !@@afreeman63

it gets worse ! He was in an interview with Piers (assh0le) Morgan wearing TWO watches. One to tell the time and one to make it go shiny shiny. And two effeminate rings on each hand. google up "amol rajan watch" @@afreeman63

It's her job to repeat her teammates answers: She is the captain. Have you not watched the show before? And saying Avagardo instead of Avargadro? Well, you just used the word misspelled instead of mispronunciated, so I guess we can all have lapses, eh?

Because the rules only accept the captain’s answer in bonus questions (unless nominate to teammates), regardless of what the teammates answer. This means that the captain may pick the answer from a teammate as the whole team’s answer.

Second point is a good point, they also put UCL against Hertford College, Oxford. However, regarding your first point, seriously? That is your take on the episode?

I thought she did an excellent job. Mispronouncing Avogadro is hardly a major sin and I think if they had lost by 5 points we'd be up in arms about it. She kept the ball rolling; no time wasting as other teams have done when they were ahead; and although she had her lapses she was very well informed and overall an asset to her team.

I would have liked your comment for the 2nd opinion but your 1st one is complete bogus.