Spoilers for Thursday 22nd December 2022 (Series 86, SF 2)

[Ronan M Higginson]

With Tom now being our first confirmed finalist for Series 86, we still have one more Semi Final to come...

Firstly, No.2 Seed Edward Byrne - 9 wins, 1,074 points (Avg. of 119.33 per game)
Highest Score: 143 vs Matt Greer (8th Game)
Lowest Score: 104 vs Anthony Wilson (6th Game)
9's Achieved: 5/8 (63%)
Total Points/Max/% 1,074/1,185 (91%)
Letters Points/Max/% 660/741 (89%)
Numbers Points/Max/% 324/354 (92%)
Conundrum Points/Max/% 80/90 (89%)

Secondly, No.3 Seed Quinn Bartlett - 9 wins, 954 points (Avg. of 106 per game)
Highest Score: 124 vs Sue Telfer (1st Game)
Lowest Score: 86 vs Mike Dobson (8th Game)
9's Achieved: 8/13 (62%)
Total Points/Max/% 846/1,112 (76%)
Letters Points/Max/% 608/799 (76%)
Numbers Points/Max/% 286/357 (80%)
Conundrum Points/Max/% 60/90 (67%)

Tune in at 2:10 to find out who'll be joining him tomorrow.

[Ronan M Higginson]

Excellent game, well played guys. Good luck to the finalists tomorrow.

[Andres Sanchez]

Very solid game between the two, great guys.

Here's my play:
BARKING
COMER
100+50-(75/25)+10-9
FARINAS/NEARISH
DECODES
(8*7+1)*4*4+3
PANES
AIRPOT
(50-(100/(75-25))*5
MOGGIE
MISWROTE
BASINET
TREMORS
8*5*10+7+3
GREMOLATA - 2.63 seconds

100-92 with Ed on the left and 97 - 78 with Quinn on the right. Buddies and I can't wait for the final!

[Toby McDonald]

Congrats Ed and unlucky Quinn. GODSPEED was very bad luck; I considered it too.

Best of luck to Tom and Ed. Should be a cracker.

[Ryan Lam]

It's the second Semi-Final and the second last episode already. Damn, time flies and it's only ten days left until 2023. So let's get along quickly as I try to recap this episode just hours before the Grand Final!

Letters: Good start in the first third of the show, then Edward separates Quinn when he had HERNIAS in R4. Bad luck to Quinn who "gambled" or had godspeed but it's not valid (I went "WHAT?!" when I realised it was invalid in Lexplorer btw). Excellent spot of PAEANS in R7 by the former and the last third was almost a repeat of yesterday with the exception of R12, with RIMSTONE a great spot by Quinn in R11! Colin, comeon...yes, it's already known Edward won at the end of R13, but again, don't spoil the fun this early. It's going to be a party dampener if we know the Grand Champion by R13 in the next episode and he says it, ugh...

Numbers: Given this is a Semi-Finals, Edward goes for a 4 Large selection...and how unimpressive this went according to Rachel with an easy target. Next, Quinn goes for the other extremity with 6 Small in R6 (this is definitely some competition), and CECIL gives us a challenge now! Argh! The pain and misfortune when Edward could have gotten the target on the dot with an Open Goal solution, but that's what happens when you finally get a target at the last second! The last two rounds were quite easy for a Finals despite the selection, so well done to both who get the targets easily!

Conundrum: Ironically, the answer to this is something I regularly put on my pasta when I cook Aglio Olio at home, yet I failed to see this Edward buzzes in at the last second, does he have it? No, he does not with a wrong answer...but wait, hold on, Quinn wants a shot at it in the last 0.75 second. Too bad, the clock's hand and music beat his reaction time. I mean, who doesn't want to buzz for fun before you say goodbye? Pity he had no chance though...

Wow, can you imagine this game and the third Quarter-Final almost had an identical scoreline, with both players losing with the same score? I thought this game was going to be close with Edward winning by a margin of 20 points and without a crucial conundrum. I did get the latter part correct, but the margin was wrong with it standing at 34 points, so hey, what do I know about predictions? Quinn, catching up with Edward was always going to be difficult, but you tried your best. You gambled at times and it paid off well, but unfortunately not today. However, I wish you all the best in your poker career, who knows, perhaps your next quiz show should be Only Connect where you can get to meet professional poker player Victoria Coren Mitchell! Good luck and hope to see you more on television in the near future!

So, it's game on, it's now definitely an England vs Ireland showdown for the Grand Final. Will Tom become the first ever contestant to never lose a single round and win the coveted Richard Whiteley Memorial Trophy to become one of the greatest in recent times or will Edward stun everyone by causing an upset here to become the first #2 Seed in three years to lift up the trophy instead? Last Series, Matt and Dan gave us an incredible Grand Final with the lead swapping back and fourth. Will it happen again or will it be a straight path to victory for one of them? One last regular show of 2022, fingers crossed!

Progress:
QF1 (15 December): Tom Stevenson (#1) vs Lewis Castling-Morey (#8) (121- 44)
QF2 (16 December): Edward Byrne (#2) vs Steven Etherington (#7) (105 - 34)
QF3 (19 December): Quinn Bartlett (#3) vs Daren Barnes (#6) (108 – 73)
QF4 (20 December): Alan Young (#4) vs Joe Dobinson (#5) (83 - 99)
SF1 (21 December): Tom Stevenson (QF1 Winner) vs Joe Dobinson (QF4 Winner) (129 - 95)
SF2 (22 December): Edward Byrne (QF2 Winner) vs Quinn Bartlett (QF3 Winner) (107 - 73)
GF (23 December): Tom Stevenson (SF1 Winner) vs Edward Byrne (SF2 Winner)