THERE WAS DISASTER for UCD and Maynooth last week, as neither university managed to make it through the qualifying rounds of Challenging Times, the RTE/Irish Times quiz for third level colleges.

UCD, who departed last year's competition in the first televised round against Tralee RTC, failed to make it even that far this year and must now be content to watch from the sidelines as others attempt to stop UCG, winners for the past two years, from making it three in a row.

Another notable omission from this year's competition will be the King's Inns, as the budding barristers failed to complement their legal knowledge with knowledge of the world around them. The Inns achieved one of the highest scores in the first round of last year's competition, but failed to make the grade this year.

The Royal Irish Academy of Music, competing for the first time, put up a good fight but failed to hit the right notes, while Limerick and Dundalk RTCs, the Shannon College of Hotel and Catering Management and Colaiste Mhuire also failed to make the final 16.

Challenging Times is now entering its seventh year, with Kevin Myers once again at the helm as question master. Previous winners include UCG (twice), UCC (twice), and Maynooth (also twice).

The 16 teams competing in the televised rounds include UL UCC UCG, DCU, the University of Ulster and, lo and behold, TCD. In common with a number of Challenging Times teams through the years, the TCD team boasts at least one member returning to the fray for a second time. In the past, DCU and Cork RTC have also counted among their number team members who were taking a second bite of the cherry.

Once again, the RTC sector is particularly well represented and it can only be a matter of time before one of them takes the overall title. Carlow, Tallaght, Waterford, Cork, Tralee and Sligo all made it through the qualifying rounds, as did the DIT. The three other teams still in the competition are the Garda College, Mary Immaculate College in Limerick and the Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy.

This year's season of Challenging Times will start recording on November 25th, with up to four programmes per day being recorded. The first edition will be televised early in the New Year.

E&L, in association with Encyclopaedia Brittanica, will be giving away sets of the encyclopaedia in a competition to coincide with this year's series of Challenging Times. Further details will be carried in E&L in the near future.