Only Connect 8/3/2009

[Kniwt]

This is most likely best answered by our resident "OC Question Setter."

During a round 1 question tonight, I distinctly saw a player look off to one side and say, "We've got 24 seconds left."  Is there an actual numeric clock visible to the players, or was he doing an amazingly accurate estimate of the same 40-second time bar that we all see?

[davidbod]

The contestants look over the studio to a very large (42" or somesuch) plasma screen which shows this:

Clue 1  Clue 2
.........X.........
Clue 3  Clue 4

where X is a small number showing the seconds left.

The information on their screen is somewhat different to what you see at home. First of all, it is in black and white text to aid readability. Also, the connection is never shown so that we can punch this up for the viewer earlier than telling the contestants. Finally, they don't see the extra captions that are sometimes "overlaid" for picture questions (and likewise for music questions).

There is one aspect where the contestants see more information than the viewer: the Greek letters are shown as words ("Alpha", "Beta", "Gamma" etc.). We don't seriously expect the players to memorise the Greek alphabet, and besides we don't want to have a tape stop or edit caused by a player who's mistakenly asked for a letter that's already gone.

For completeness, during the grid round the (real-life) screen they're looking at *does* have a timer bar, and it's VC's screen that has the numeric countdown on it.

The length of the missing vowels round is decided after Round 3, based on how much stretch and squeeze is required to bring us in on time. In other words, it's backtimed but it is always between 90 seconds and 3 minutes duration (although 2'30" is the longest we've ever used, I believe). We do tell the contestants how long we've chosen before we start play. When this time expires, the time up chime is cued in. Nobody on the studio floor knows the time but everyone on "cans" (headphones) can hear the Production Assistant give a verbal countdown.

[davidbod]

May as well complete the set by describing what's on Victoria's screen:

At the top, she sees all four clues at once as soon as the letter is selected - this is how she can tell music and picture questions in advance. When a clue is revealed to the contestants, that clue gets a yellow box around it. For picture questions, there is a small text caption underneath (the same text being used for the overlays).

Underneath the clues is the connection caption which you see at home, the answer essentially.

Underneath that is what you might call the "model answer" version which is the long-winded, perfect, quibble-free way of describing the answer, which VC can use to clear up any specifics.

On the lower-right she has a paragraph of text which is used for: alternative answers to accept or refuse or ask for more information; pronunciations; and background notes.

On the lower-left is the digital timer clock, the scores and the team names. When the teams buzz in on round 4, the box around their team name lights up.

Here's an example of how this works in practice with one of the questions from the previous week (spoilers ahoy if you haven't seen episode 2 yet):

Clues:
Lübecker marzipan
Bayonne ham
Arbroath smokies
Melton Mowbray pork pies

Caption:
EU-protected foods

Model answer:
They can only be manufactured in particular geographical areas under EU law.

Background notes:
ACCEPT: ‘Foods with Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status’ (the technical term)
ACCEPT: ‘Foods with Protected Destination of Origin (PDO) status’ (a near-identical scheme)
PROMPT ON: ‘Foods with places in their names’

Lübecker marzipan: originates from Lübeck in northern Germany.
Bayonne ham: air-dried, salted ham from south-west France.
Arbroath smokies: lightly-smoked haddock from Arbroath in Angus, Scotland.
Melton Mowbray pies: granted protection in April 2008.

[MyronMMeyer]

Is there a judge, or does Victoria have the final say as to whether a team is right or wrong?

-M

[Kniwt]

Fantastic answers!  Thanks.

[davidbod]

[quote name=\'MyronMMeyer\' post=\'221909\' date=\'Aug 4 2009, 02:04 PM\']Is there a judge, or does Victoria have the final say as to whether a team is right or wrong?

-M[/quote]

Yes, me That said, Victoria is pretty good at picking up the intricacies of the questions and knows when something's good enough or not.

Generally, we give the host the licence to run it as she sees fit, and then if either myself or the series producer will call a stop tape at the end of a question if we feel something's gone wrong and - if necessary - retake the scene to ensure the correct outcome (this has only happened once in 2 series). Although it has never happened, if a solution is spoilered due to a harsh judging decision, a replacement question (from about 12 spares we have on file) will be substituted in.

We do try to pre-empt likely borderline cases and put those on the question script and the host screen, as described above.

For completeness, the contestants have the opportunity to appeal immediately if they feel any judging situation has been unfair, and the series producer, exec producer and myself take a view on what's fair.

Given the complexity of the subject material and the enormous minefield of clever alternative answers that might be possible, I'm amazed the game works at all!