Spoilers for Thursday 14th December 2023 (Series 88, Quarter Final 1)

[Ronan M Higginson]

So after 119 heats we've reached the finals of Series 88. Kicking them off today are...

Firstly, #1 Harry Savage - 8 Wins, 939 Points (Average: 117.375)
Highest Score: 130 vs. Sandra Ring (8th Game)
Lowest Score: 105 vs. Stephen O’Mara (5th Game)
9's Achieved: 6/9
Total Points/Max/%: 939/1085 (87%)
Letters Points/Max/%: 605/691 (88%)
Numbers Points/Max/%: 274/314 (87%)
Conundrum Points/Max/%: 60/80 (75%)


Secondly, #8 David Edwards - 7 Wins, 700 Points (Average: 87.5)
Highest Score: 115 vs. Ada Norman (7th Game)
Lowest Score: 73 vs. Ian Watson (8th Game)
9's Achieved: 0/8
Total Points/Max/%: 700/1,069 (65%)
Letters Points/Max/%: 430/675 (64%)
Numbers Points/Max/%: 250/314 (80%)
Conundrum Points/Max/%: 20/80 (25%)

[Philip A]

There’s a new finalists’ trophy I think.

[Martin Hurst]

There’s a new finalists’ trophy I think.

As in the "kryptonite", rather than the Richard Whiteley Memorial one?

[Philip A]

There’s a new finalists’ trophy I think.

As in the "kryptonite", rather than the Richard Whiteley Memorial one?

Yes, the “kryptonite”. It’s blue. I’ve seen it on the Twitter (X) feed.

[Ronan M Higginson]

Good game, well done Harry and commiserations David who played very well
MAROODIES in round 11

[Toby McDonald]

Great start to the finals, well done Harry

GARPIKE in R10

[Ryan Lam]

Here we are, it's that time of year again! With Steph's Packed Lunch officially coming to an end last week and the episodes leading up to the Finals being tense as I mentioned in the Predictions thread, we're here! The first thing you would have noticed on your screen when the show started is the brand new plaque for the Finalists! Looks a lot better than the "Kyrptonite" many finalists from past Series have gotten, although I wished the blue shade was lighter in colour. Also, commiserations to those who just missed out on the Finals such as Hywel Jones and JJ Burrows, the latter, man, if he had squeezed in at the last moment that would have been something to remember. Anyways, here are "The Thesaurus and Cubeacabra (I don't know how to spell it, sorry) who wowed us with his blindfolded Rubik's Cube solve without screwing up" Harry Savage and "The Highway Engineer who's been spotting Obscure things that he should apply for Only Connect" David Edwards today.

Letters: Oh man, this is how you start a Finals with a nine in R1 with DOVETAILS by Harry! David surely must have felt VIOLATED by that! At least the next round he spotted MARQUES to make up for that. Disappointing R5 as both words are not in the dictionary, but David doesn't take it to heart and beats Harry with BENZOATE in R8. Two Chemistry words in the same round, marvellous! After Harry's spot of KERIDA in R10 did he deal those "fatal" injuries to David, widening the gap each time until the end!

Numbers: Is it me or does it feel like most of the time we get a 1 Large round in Finals the solution is quite easy nowadays? Hmm, but moving along, David surprises everyone with his 6 Small selections in both rounds. Unfortunately, he went wrong with the first one but at least he should be proud of himself for the second one because I blanked out and he beat me easily with his solution, well done!

Conundrum: The first conundrum of the Finals is not as easy, but I got the answer fairly quickly due to the way the scrabble was arranged, and since several people on the Daily Chat got the answer but yet didn't know the meaning (fancy that ), it's an aviation term to put it bluntly. Nicely done for Harry as he got this too!

I predicted Harry to win by a margin of 60 points and the eventual outcome was right on the nose! I know, what are the odds? You were great David, and never mind that the gap was this wide right from the very beginning, you held on as much as you could! Even though you lost, congratulations because you are the first person to receive the newly designed Finalists plaque and I hope it sits in a nice place at your home! Hopefully, your wish of visiting every US State comes true in your lifetime as well!

Up tomorrow to end off the penultimate week of the show, it's "University Challenge potential prodigy and Maths Whizz" Viraj Seelam against "Someone who thought she wouldn't be in the Finals but unfortunate not to gain Octochampdon by a single point" Rachel Copley. I bet Viraj was very likely observing and watching Harry while waiting for his episode to be filmed, we shall see how the next show plays out!

Progress:
QF1 (14 December 2023): Harry Savage (#1) vs David Edwards (#8) (118 - 58)
QF2 (15 December 2023): Viraj Seelam (#2) vs Rachel Copley (#7)
QF3 (18 December 2023): Ben Bazzard (#3) vs Caroline McManus (#6)
QF4 (19 December 2023): Paul O'Brien (#4) vs George Baker (#5)
SF1 (20 December 2023): Harry Savage (QF1 Winner) vs (QF4 Winner)
SF2 (21 December 2023): (QF2 Winner) vs (QF3 Winner)
GF (22 December 2023): (SF1 Winner) vs (SF2 Winner)