Each episode pits two teams of three people against each other and consists of four rounds. In Round 1, teams are given a series of four clues and they have to guess the connection. The fewer clues you need before spotting the connection, the more points you win. In Round 2, the clues make up a sequence, so you have to figure out what the fourth in the sequence would be. Be prepared for the occasional team that successfully guesses the fourth in the sequence after just one clue - it's like witchcraft. Round 3 introduces the evil Connecting Wall, a scrambled grid of 16 clues that have to be sorted out into 4 connected groups in two and a half minutes. And to end things, there's the Missing Vowels buzzer round, where teams are given a category and then have to identify a series of words or phrases with the vowels taken out.
Hosted by the marvelous Victoria Coren Mitchell, a woman who is firm but fair, and always funny, this show is incredible not only for the quality of its contestants but the quality of its writers. I can't imagine what sort of people come up with such elaborate and tricky clues year after year, but they are frighteningly clever. The Connecting Wall is particularly devious, featuring multiple clues that could belong to multiple categories, further complicating an already thoroughly complicated puzzle.
The show often deals with very British topics, so it can be rather disheartening to a non-British viewer like myself when you simply cannot figure out any connections. On the plus side, you can always dismiss a particular set of clues as being too British and therefore not feel like quite such a fool. The show's website offers up a plethora of Connecting Walls so you can play for yourself and measure your connecting prowess. It's an addictive and frustrating pursuit, a form of schadenfreude that only a quizzing nerd like myself could recommend. So delve into the world of Only Connect and follow me down the rabbit hole. You'll be so glad and annoyed that you did.
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