Only Connect (Connection Walls)

Jojo Apollo · Post by **Jojo Apollo** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 5:06 pm

They now have 10 Connection Walls online to play:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/onlyconnect/quiz/

Marc Meakin · Post by **Marc Meakin** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 5:28 pm

Thanks Jojo.

Dinos Sfyris · Post by **Dinos Sfyris** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 5:30 pm

Awesome games. I'd only seen the show once before so took me a while to get the hang of it. Scored 0, 0, 1, 10 and 10 respectively on the first 5 walls. Will try the others later. Cheers for the link

Liam Tiernan · Post by **Liam Tiernan** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 5:53 pm

2 10's, 1 seven, 2 twos and 5 zeros. Some were fiendishly difficult. How long has this show been running? I haven't heard of it before.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 5:58 pm

Liam Tiernan wrote:2 10's, 1 seven, 2 twos and 5 zeros. Some were fiendishly difficult. How long has this show been running? I haven't heard of it before.

It's in its third series at the moment. It's a pretty awesome show, the only criticism I really have is that the difficulty of questions can fluctuate enormously, which means a team can just get a bit unlucky (especially with the connecting walls, where if you get all 4 groups + connections you get 10, so getting 2 groups (the next best thing to getting all four) scores you at most 6). We've had a play through the first 5, and 4 and 5 seem much easier than the first three, but of course it's quite difficult to personally judge what would generally be considered hard or easy.

Liam Tiernan · Post by **Liam Tiernan** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 6:31 pm

10 is a real bitch. I'd be surprised if anyone solves it.

Hugh Binnie · Post by **Hugh Binnie** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 11:48 pm

Is the format slightly different for the online version, or have I just not worked out how to navigate it properly yet?

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 11:52 pm

Hugh Binnie wrote:Is the format slightly different for the online version, or have I just not worked out how to navigate it properly yet?

Slightly. When I tried it you could only put in the connection for the group if you got all 4 (on the show you get a point for each group, and then a point for each connection, even for groups you didn't spot). Other than that it seemed pretty much the same - you select 4 things and if it's a group it gets locked, and if not you get to try again. That said, we had some technical issues on another machine, but we presumed that was a Linux issue.

Hugh Binnie · Post by **Hugh Binnie** » Tue Mar 02, 2010 11:56 pm

Michael Wallace wrote:Slightly. When I tried it you could only put in the connection for the group if you got all 4 (on the show you get a point for each group, and then a point for each connection, even for groups you didn't spot).

Yes, that's all it was. Still, it's a pretty big difference, at least in terms of point-scoring potential.

Liam Tiernan · Post by **Liam Tiernan** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 10:20 am

Michael Wallace wrote:
Hugh Binnie wrote:Is the format slightly different for the online version, or have I just not worked out how to navigate it properly yet?
Slightly. When I tried it you could only put in the connection for the group if you got all 4 (on the show you get a point for each group, and then a point for each connection, even for groups you didn't spot). Other than that it seemed pretty much the same - you select 4 things and if it's a group it gets locked, and if not you get to try again. That said, we had some technical issues on another machine, but we presumed that was a Linux issue.

I had no problems with it, maybe it was the browser?

Dinos Sfyris · Post by **Dinos Sfyris** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 11:17 am

Michael Wallace wrote:We've had a play through the first 5, and 4 and 5 seem much easier than the first three

This. Gonna try the last 5 now.

Julie T · Post by **Julie T** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 3:00 pm

Liam Tiernan wrote:2 10's, 1 seven, 2 twos and 5 zeros. Some were fiendishly difficult. How long has this show been running? I haven't heard of it before.

Got 1 on first one and 7 on the second. It's a bit different to putting in your 2 pen'orth with others playing on the telly!

It's on BBC Four, and is ace. The whole series is on Virgin Media Catch up, which is where I watch it, so I can pause it to give my old and tired brain a chance to work it out before the contestants do. My eldest sometimes has a go too if he's around.

Just found the series on iplayer too:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/search/?q= ... eavailable

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 3:05 pm

Something I've found amusing is that despite them using walls from the show (as you'd expect, given the effort in constructing them), there weren't very many where I was at all spoilered for the answers. You'd think having watched them be solved before, at least something would trigger your memory of the answers, but apparently not if you saw them more than a few weeks ago.

Marc Meakin · Post by **Marc Meakin** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 3:09 pm

I thought they were new walls.

Bob De Caux · Post by **Bob De Caux** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 3:13 pm

Michael Wallace wrote:Something I've found amusing is that despite them using walls from the show...

I may just be proving your point here, but I think I've seen all of this series and don't recognise any of the walls from the shows.

Michael Wallace · Post by **Michael Wallace** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 4:06 pm

Bob De Caux wrote:
Michael Wallace wrote:Something I've found amusing is that despite them using walls from the show...
I may just be proving your point here, but I think I've seen all of this series and don't recognise any of the walls from the shows.

Wall 9 spoilers: The bee, palindrome, and things in a christmas pudding I definitely remember (as does my other half, so it's not just me)

A lot of the other walls I recognised the groups, but often only after it had been solved (and it was the ones I didn't get), but I can't be bothered to go through them one by one to identify all of them.

Julie T · Post by **Julie T** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 4:48 pm

Dinos Sfyris wrote:Awesome games. I'd only seen the show once before so took me a while to get the hang of it. Scored 0, 0, 1, 10 and 10 respectively on the first 5 walls. Will try the others later. Cheers for the link

wd getting 10 on the fourth one, Dinos, I thought that was v tricky. I got 10 on no 5 too though!

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 5:14 pm

Michael Wallace wrote:Something I've found amusing is that despite them using walls from the show (as you'd expect, given the effort in constructing them), there weren't very many where I was at all spoilered for the answers. You'd think having watched them be solved before, at least something would trigger your memory of the answers, but apparently not if you saw them more than a few weeks ago.

Me and housemate did all 10 in a row last night. We then went back to a couple of the hard ones where we had shite scores and still weren't spoilered for all the groups and connections even though we'd just done them. We were high though.

Ryan Taylor · Post by **Ryan Taylor** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 12:35 am

These are really good, and I love the show. Some of them are extremely difficult! My scores are (from walls 1-10) 0, 10, 0, 7, 10, 7, 1, 0, 7, 0 One of the walls is extremely frustrating as I spent 3 minutes chasing a connection that wasn't there

Dinos Sfyris · Post by **Dinos Sfyris** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 10:26 am

I scored 1 solitary point over the remainder of the last 5 walls

Ralph Gillions · Post by **Ralph Gillions** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 10:04 pm

Chris Cummins, winner of Countdown series 50, was in this programme tonight.
(Is it "in" this programme, or "on" this programme?)
He was playing for the Strategists.

Julie T · Post by **Julie T** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 10:38 pm

Posting in case I'm not the only one who hadn't noticed that they put 5 new walls on the site every Monday.
So there are currently 25 walls.

Julie T · Post by **Julie T** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 10:58 pm

Just done walls 11, 12 and 13. Got 10 out of 10 in 2 of them, and 7 in one as I named one group connection slightly wrong.

Am I getting better at these, or are there fewer red herrings in the new ones?

Craig Beevers · Post by **Craig Beevers** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 11:06 pm

Julie T wrote:Just done walls 11, 12 and 13. Got 10 out of 10 in 2 of them, and 7 in one as I named one group connection slightly wrong.

Am I getting better at these, or are there fewer red herrings in the new ones?

I suspect some people might get rather frustrated at Wall 25.

Ralph Gillions · Post by **Ralph Gillions** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 12:44 am

It's a bit frustrating when I solve a wall, and type in the 4 connections for each row, only to be told
that my reason (connection) for one of them was wrong!

Helen Andrews · Post by **Helen Andrews** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:32 pm

Not had a chance to catch this show before, shall have to look for it on iPlayer later. If these walls are anything to go by it looks like fun though. I think like most others I'm having varied success, one minute you feel quite clever about yourself, and then next you're just thinking "...eh?!". Good fun

Gavin Chipper · Post by **Gavin Chipper** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 3:42 pm

The theme tune to only connect sounds like a retarded version of University Challenge's theme. That's all.

Marc Meakin · Post by **Marc Meakin** » Wed Mar 31, 2010 10:37 am

Walls 26 to 30 now up.
managed to max 27,29 and 30.

Ralph Gillions · Post by **Ralph Gillions** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 7:35 pm

Chris Cummins (series 50 winner) is in the final of Only Connect now on BBC4

James Chapman · Post by **James Chapman** » Wed Apr 14, 2010 4:50 pm

Ralph Gillions wrote:Chris Cummins (series 50 winner) is in the final of Only Connect now on BBC4

A friend introduced me to the show last month and Chris was in the first show I saw - Countdown winner I thought!

Its a good show and the final was good.

Catch the repeat of the final if you missed it on BBC4 this Thursday evening.

Julie T · Post by **Julie T** » Fri Apr 16, 2010 12:10 am

The new tournament leader board must be mostly made up of cheaters surely?
10 points in less than 30 seconds? I think not. Anyone disagree?

Ralph Gillions · Post by **Ralph Gillions** » Fri Apr 16, 2010 12:23 am

I agree Julie.
I find 10 points in under 30 seconds hard to swallow.

Julie T · Post by **Julie T** » Fri Apr 16, 2010 1:19 am

Julie T wrote:The new tournament leader board must be mostly made up of cheaters surely?
10 points in less than 30 seconds? I think not. Anyone disagree?

Ralph Gillions wrote:I agree Julie.
I find 10 points in under 30 seconds hard to swallow.

I've just tested my theory.
Apparently, although you have to log in to do the tournament walls, and can only do them once, I logged in again and I could redo them. A bit of a flaw.

Ralph Gillions · Post by **Ralph Gillions** » Fri Apr 16, 2010 1:00 pm

Ah I see. Misleading to say the least.

Adam Gillard · Post by **Adam Gillard** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 8:09 pm

http://www.puzzgrid.com/

Liam Tiernan · Post by **Liam Tiernan** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 11:28 pm

Just checked the BBC site again. There are now 79 walls up, if anybody's interested.

Ralph Gillions · Post by **Ralph Gillions** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 1:58 am

I was at the walls a couple of days ago.
Struggling painfully I'm afraid.
But I won't give up.

Steve Balog · Post by **Steve Balog** » Fri May 27, 2011 12:28 am

Bump because I am really, really digging this game.

Also Puzzgrid would be a lot better if all the grids weren't terrible -- alas, Sturgeon's Law may have been a bit kind. I had my hand at making a fair, completely solvab-oh who am I kidding I was a total dick the whole time I was making it. You should be able to figure out which it is if you want to have a go. Also, It's spelled "liter" here, not "litre" -- litre has a red squiggly line on my spellchecker, liter does not.

deal with it

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Fri May 27, 2011 6:44 am

Steve Balog wrote:Bump because I am really, really digging this game.

Also Puzzgrid would be a lot better if all the grids weren't terrible -- alas, Sturgeon's Law may have been a bit kind. I had my hand at making a fair, completely solvab-oh who am I kidding I was a total dick the whole time I was making it. You should be able to figure out which it is if you want to have a go. Also, It's spelled "liter" here, not "litre" -- litre has a red squiggly line on my spellchecker, liter does not.

deal with it

I dig you Steve. It won't be long before someone tells me to get a room - is that possible, to "get a room" with someone without them getting a room with you?

I found your recent one #1396 and 10/10'ed it with a minute and a half left and no lives lost.

I just thought you had one more but seen you have 3 more so I will save them for later as I should be working.

Steve Balog · Post by **Steve Balog** » Fri May 27, 2011 9:58 am

I think I slightly overrated #1396 to be honest... I had it as fiendish before but it got demoted somehow hahaha

Also if you can actually 10/10 #1387 [that was the one I was referring to in my original post] in one go I will book that room. In England. Bear in mind I live in America, so that'd be a rather large expense.

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Fri May 27, 2011 10:18 am

Steve Balog wrote:if you can actually 10/10 #1387 [that was the one I was referring to in my original post] in one go I will book that room. In England. Bear in mind I live in America, so that'd be a rather large expense.

Got the groups with 2:03 left... identified the first 3 straight away but couldn't get that last one. I guessed viruses. So 7/10 for me. Damn, I came so close to Balog action.

Steve Balog · Post by **Steve Balog** » Fri May 27, 2011 10:24 am

Still very, very strong for that (Excellent work even getting the groups in time, I was trying my best to be a total dick there), but I have a hopelessly high intellectual standard for such encounters. C'est la vie.

EDIT: Though I noticed that you even getting the groups in time downrated the difficulty to hard. What on earth site, you reserve a difficulty rating for walls that are literally unsolvable by humans? lolk

Jon Corby · Post by **Jon Corby** » Fri May 27, 2011 11:03 am

Matt Morrison wrote:I dig you Steve. It won't be long before someone tells me to get a room

You'll jizz your pants if he smokes weed.

Adam Gillard · Post by **Adam Gillard** » Fri May 27, 2011 11:24 am

Steve Balog wrote:I think I slightly overrated #1396 to be honest... I had it as fiendish before but it got demoted somehow hahaha

Also if you can actually 10/10 #1387 [that was the one I was referring to in my original post] in one go I will book that room. In England. Bear in mind I live in America, so that'd be a rather large expense.

I got 10/10 first go. Jus' sayin'.

Mark James · Post by **Mark James** » Fri May 27, 2011 3:40 pm

Nice ones Steve, I have one problem with #1389 though spoiler protected below:
There's no cannon in my monopoly set, mine has a dog, a ship, a car, an iron, a hat and a boot.

I've created one grid myself #1203, hope to have another soon.

Ryan Taylor · Post by **Ryan Taylor** » Fri May 27, 2011 3:48 pm

Mark James wrote:I've created one grid myself #1203, hope to have another soon.

Mr Tank Threat?!

Did this with 2:03 left on the clock although did not get the last link: Juri, Ryu, Birdie, Bison (tough link!). I think what helped with the speed though was knowing the Japanese numbers from 1-10 whereas if I didn't then I would have been really stumped! Nice grid

Matt Morrison · Post by **Matt Morrison** » Fri May 27, 2011 4:17 pm

Mark James wrote:Nice ones Steve, I have one problem with #1389 though

Don't forget Steve is American, Mark. FWIW, the American set is much more fun and cool-sounding than the British one.

Mark James · Post by **Mark James** » Fri May 27, 2011 5:35 pm

Ryan Taylor wrote: Mr Tank Threat?!

Its an anagram of my real name. See if you can guess what it is. And its my PSN handle if anyone wants to add me for some games.

Dinos Sfyris · Post by **Dinos Sfyris** » Fri May 27, 2011 6:51 pm

Mark Thratten?

Mark James · Post by **Mark James** » Fri May 27, 2011 6:53 pm

Dinos Sfyris wrote:Mark Thratten?

Nope.

Dinos Sfyris · Post by **Dinos Sfyris** » Fri May 27, 2011 6:55 pm

Trent Hatmark?

Steve Balog · Post by **Steve Balog** » Fri May 27, 2011 7:27 pm

Adam Gillard wrote:
Steve Balog wrote:I think I slightly overrated #1396 to be honest... I had it as fiendish before but it got demoted somehow hahaha

Also if you can actually 10/10 #1387 [that was the one I was referring to in my original post] in one go I will book that room. In England. Bear in mind I live in America, so that'd be a rather large expense.
I got 10/10 first go. Jus' sayin'.

Well you're brilliant, Jus' sayin. Mere mortals are going to have problems -- I showed these to my friends and it took the best one like three goes to get one match. I expect Apterous to do a lot better than most anyone else I show these to.

Mark James wrote:Nice ones Steve, I have one problem with #1389 though spoiler protected below:
There's no cannon in my monopoly set, mine has a dog, a ship, a car, an iron, a hat and a boot.

I've created one grid myself #1203, hope to have another soon.

Well at least the Americans get one thing right -- Ours has those and a cannon, a thimble (wait never mind no one picks the damn thimble), and just recently a sack of money for some reason.

It does seem those were a bit easier than I planned judging from the site's comments (or maybe it's just Apterous being Apterous) -- Going to try and step it up for the next couple. The other couple of people who made grids around mines are friends I was chatting with when I say this thread. The Raven's are serious grids but very, very easy, and the other two people's grids are in-jokes and obscure video game related hahaha.

I also had something to say about Jon's comment but then I remembered this account is linked to my real identity and I'm looking for a job right now so yea.

Steve Balog · Post by **Steve Balog** » Thu Jun 02, 2011 7:15 am

I'm going to try and make more of these when I get new ideas. I have two more -- one that's reasonably easy, one that... well.... isn't.

Second one is only rated Hard because of how many "that was soooooo easy" comments I've gotten (I by default now rate everything a level lower than I think... might be a problem if I want to make a very easy one), and because Adam will probably get it in a minute and a half at most.

EDIT: Also, is there a place for us Yanks to watch old episodes? I'm digging the show a lot after watching just a couple episodes but I can't find any more online and the site only lets you watch old episodes 7 days after they air.