The familiar pattern emerges as the Girls beat the Charabancs and go 4 points clear with Christmas still a few weeks away.

By common consent the Men TCH make an auspicious start at the setting stakes (albeit with a few blind spots).

The Results

Charabancs of Fire fluffed their chance to surge on up, being beaten at home by the Napier Girls

Electric Pigs tied a thriller at the Club with Dave snatching a one point bonus on the final question to earn a tie against the Opsimaths

Ethel Rodin gained a walkover against Albert who have had to scratch for a second week running

History Men just sneaked ahead of Snoopy's Friends on the last 2 questions

X-Pats pipped Albert Park at the post in a closely fought battle at The Sun in September

The Paper

The Men They Couldn't Hang set this week - their first ever WithQuiz paper.  General feedback was pretty good.  Kieran writes:

"All in all a pretty good effort for a first paper - though guys, ditch the questions about the Hang Seng and the length of hang glider flights next time please.  Yes I know there was a hanging theme but........."

Similarly at the Club there was a groan at these 2 ungettables on the final round but otherwise some really interesting stuff - if perhaps a tad too much on film quotes and Children's TV.  My favourite round was the 'Jobsworth' Round 3.  A perfect example of how to execute a theme I thought.  Loads of wide-ranging general knowledge with the upfront theme offering a sideways entry point.

Oh, and one other point to make now all the results are in.  Whether by accident or design the paper was very evenly balanced with one tied match and no more than 4 points separating the teams in the other games.  Too often this year the papers have been lop-sided with one team getting significantly easier questions throughout (never the Opsimaths of course).

I'm looking forward to The Men TCH's second offering in the new year.

Question of the Week

My choice this week.  I've actually sat in the only bar on Eriskay and drunk whisky from a bottle purporting to have been salvaged from the 1941 wreck referred to in this question - and so for that reason alone I plump for Round 3 Question 4:

Name the ship that was sunk off Eriskay in 1941 and was the inspiration for Compton Mackenzie’s book and subsequent film Whisky Galore.

Click here to see the answers to this and the rest of the week's questions and answers.