Only Connect’s fiendish quarter-final left two teams battling to spot connections hidden in plain sight

A clue that looks completely ordinary can be almost impossible to crack on Only Connect — and the 2018 quarter-final between the Vikings and Inquisitors offered a perfect example.

Hosted by Victoria Coren Mitchell, the episode aired on 19 March 2018 as the first quarter-final of Series 13. The Vikings — Mark Oxley, John Wilson and captain Mick Lee — faced the Inquisitors, made up of Luke Kelly, Rob Cumming and captain Julia Hobbs, with a place in the semi-finals at stake.

The format was familiar but unforgiving. Contestants had to find connections between apparently unrelated clues, relying on lateral thinking rather than simply recalling facts.

And one of the most revealing moments came when the Vikings were given four seemingly disconnected phrases:

“Turn Around”
“Look Back in Anger”
“Cha”
“Call Me Baby”

At first, the words appeared to have little in common. But the connection was hidden in what could be placed before them.

The first two clues were enough for the Vikings to spot the pattern. Adding “Don’t” created “Don’t Turn Around” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger” — both UK number-one singles. The remaining clues followed the same pattern.

It was exactly the sort of sideways thinking the programme demands: the answer was not necessarily sitting inside the clue itself, but in the words that could transform it.

A strong start for the Inquisitors

The Inquisitors had already established an early advantage in the opening round.

One of their successful sets involved phrases such as “She will bombard”, “We had married”, “She had lost hair” and “I have Apple’s design guru.”

They identified the unusual wordplay hidden in the phrases, finding forms including “Shell”, “Wed”, “Shed” and “Ive”.

The Vikings responded with a music question involving pieces performed at Princess Diana’s funeral, although they were unable to identify the connection.

The Inquisitors eventually moved ahead 7-5 after the first round.

The second round brought another collection of deliberately misleading clues.

One sequence eventually revealed a butterfly’s life cycle, while another connected questions such as “Why Beryllium?”, “Why Carbon?” and “Why Gold?” to the phrase “Why Because?” through the chemical elements.

The Vikings also faced a particularly awkward set involving film titles. Clues such as Jason Bourne, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Bridget Jones’s Baby represented films from a series in reverse numerical order.

By the end of the round, the Inquisitors still held the narrowest of leads, 9-8.

Then came the infamous Connecting Wall

The Connecting Wall is often where Only Connect becomes especially brutal.

The Vikings chose the Water wall and, despite the apparent chaos of the words, managed to uncover all four connections.

Among them were Ascot, Clip-on, Four in hand and Bolo, all types of tie.

Another group — Photograph, Chance, Back seat and Bow — consisted of things that can be “taken”.

The remaining clues eventually revealed two more groups: cartoon dogs and herring dishes.

The Vikings completed the wall for the maximum 10 points.

The Inquisitors then faced the Lion wall and produced an equally impressive performance.

They identified Shambles, Pavement, Swinegate and Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate as streets in York.

Another group — January, Jumble, Car Boot and Flash — represented types of sale.

The final two connections were words meaning a muddle, including Gallimaufrey, Farrago, Hash and Hodgepodge, and famous political scandals such as Watergate, Teapot Dome, Bunga Bunga and Rainbow Warrior.

They too scored the full 10 points, leaving the Inquisitors ahead 19-18 going into the final round.

The final round went down to the wire

With just one point separating the teams, everything came down to Missing Vowels.

The Inquisitors took three points from a category involving “One hundred”, while the teams split points on clues involving plays merged with television shows.

The Vikings then fought back with the category nicknames of European cities.

The final clue was answered right on the bell.

The answer was Budapest, completing the nickname sequence with “The Pearl Of The Danube”.

But despite that dramatic finish, it was not enough.

The Inquisitors won 25-23, securing their place in the semi-finals, while the Vikings were given another opportunity to fight their way back into contention later in the series.

The episode remains a particularly good illustration of what makes Only Connect so difficult. The clues are rarely about knowing one isolated fact. Instead, contestants have to recognise a pattern before the clock runs out — and sometimes the connection only becomes obvious once someone has already found it.

For viewers watching at home, that can make the game look deceptively simple.

For the six people sitting under the studio lights, with the clock ticking and a semi-final place on the line, it is a very different story.