Fiendishly hard Only Connect question that left contestants stumped

09 February 2024 , 19:30

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Only Connect is one of the trickiest quiz shows on TV (Image: BBC/RDF Television/Rory Lindsay)

You'll need to be a genius to work out this devilishly difficult question.

Of all the quiz shows that grace our TV screens every afternoon, one of the most notoriously tricky ones is BBC Two's Only Connect - where contestants must summon all of their brain power to work out what links various clues. The clues can often be incredibly obscure, and finding the tenuous link between them isn't always easy.

One question asked on a 2023 episode of the quiz show left contestants completely baffled. The question was even passed over to the opposing team, who were unable to find the real link between the clues. So do you think you could work it out?

The quiz question left the contestants stumped

In the episode, the team 'Stitchers' were confronted with a question in which they were given three clues, as well as one clue that was covered up with a question mark. They not only had to work out what linked the three clues together, but also had to state what the covered up clue would say.

The three clues read: "3 in Cambridgeshire, 2 in Staffordshire, 1 in Hertfordshire."

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The team were completely stumped by the three clues they were given, and had no idea what the connection was. While they toyed with the idea of the link being the number of universities or the number of military bases in each county, they were unable to settle on an answer. Eventually, they guessed "0 in Buckinghamshire" - which was incorrect.

Can you work out what the right answer would have been? We're about to tell you, so if you want more time to think about it, don't scroll any further.

Answer

After the Stitchers got it wrong, it was passed over to the opposing team, Gunners, who entered '0 in Rutland' as their answer. This was a correct answer, and host Victoria Coren Mitchell told them they could have also had '0 in Dorset' as an acceptable answer too.

But what connects them? Gunners believed it was the number of cathedrals in each county, but it turned out this was incorrect too. In fact, the connecting link was 'English counties by number of cities'. Cambridgeshire is home to Cambridge, Ely, and Peterborough, Staffordshire has Stoke-on-Trent and Lichfield, Herfordshire has St Albans, and there are no cities in either Rutland or Dorset.

Did you manage to get both a correct missing clue and the correct link? Let us know in the comments.

Zahna Eklund