THE new season of Torbay Quiz League started last Wednesday with the 14 competing teams divided into two divisions, Grenville and Hawkins.

In the general knowledge quiz, the Grenville season openers included the in-house Devonport Arms derby, with the B team 'travelling' to the A team and recording a 43-26 victory.

First conferring gave the B team a slight advantage but a complete A team blank on Agatha Christie left their B colleagues with a big advantage which they never surrendered.

Torquay Rugby Club started the campaign with a comfortable win at the Royal B. All square after first conferring, the Royal also failed to score with Agatha, leaving them 10 points adrift after two rounds. The Royal were unable to claw back any points over the subsequent sections, and the Rugby Club claimed the points by 44-32.

The third scheduled match at the Crown and Sceptre did not take place when their opponents from the Bickley Mill were unable to raise a team.

The closest of the Hawkins games was between Paignton Sea Anglers D and the Royal A. After an eight-all start, the Royal led to the halfway stage. The D Anglers tuned into the 'same word, different meanings' round, unlike the Royal who struggled to a single bonus, and were holding a two-point advantage with only the final round to negotiate. Unfortunately for the Anglers the Royal picked up on the connections in the questions and roared through to a 37-34 victory.

Meanwhile in Stoke Gabriel, the A Anglers were battling it out with the Castle Inn. The hosts took an early lead and the A Anglers were unable to catch them all night. The 'same word, different meanings' round left the A Anglers with a mountain to climb in the face of a full house of prime responses, plus two bonus points, to the Castle.

The Devon Dumpling travelled to Churston Golf Club Wytookays in the division's other game. Having already fallen behind in first conferring, the Wytookays were another team to suffer from going second in the Christie round, losing the section 8-1 and finding themselves 11 points down overall. Wytookays gained a little ground in winning the 'same word' section 7-2, but the Dumpling were too far ahead and took the game 44-28.

In the sports quiz, the specialists moved into the hot seats — at venues which boast such specialists. At other pubs a spot of seat-shuffling was all that was required before kicking off with the sport questions.

The Devonport Arms teams both brought in different faces for the sport rounds. The B team faces brought bewilderment to the proceedings, while the A team faces brought answers, and lots of them. The B team tottered through the rounds, watching the A lads disappear into the distance as they romped home to a 29-12 victory, which gives them an early lead at the top of Grenville.

At the Royal B, the hosts took a six-point lead out of round one, which advantage they built on throughout their match against Torquay Rugby Club. By the end of round four, the Royal B had sailed to a 23-14 win.

The Devon Dumpling lead the way in Hawkins after their one-sided 34-5 defeat of Churston Golf Club Wytookays. Wytookays failed to score until the conferring round, by which time they were already 21 points adrift. The Royal A are in third place, but only after a hard-won 26-23 win against Paignton Sea Anglers D. The Royal led throughout the game, but were never more than a single question ahead of a D Anglers side which incidentally owed over half of its total to top scorer Clive Hayward.

The tightest scrap of the evening took place at the Castle Inn in their match against Paignton Sea Anglers A. The Castle ultimately went down 19-22, but had held the lead until the halfway mark. Neither team excelled in the conferring section, but the A Anglers took a single-point lead out of it, which they extended in the last round.

TONIGHT'S FIXTURES:

Grenville Division: Bickley Mill v Devonport Arms A; Devonport Arms B v Royal B; Torquay Rugby Club v Preston Conservative Club.

Hawkins Division: Royal A v Castle Inn; Paignton Sea Anglers A v Churston Golf Club Wytookays; Railway Inn v Paignton Sea Anglers D.