Awesome / Only Connect

• Any time a team manages to solve a question in one of the first two rounds with only one clue, earning them the maximum 5 points for the question. (For example, in the 2013 Children in Need special, the Balding Team (Clare Balding, Clive Anderson, Sir Simon Jenkins) needed only "Republic of San Serriffe" to know the connection was "April Fools' hoaxes".) In a show based around making connections between things, figuring out that connection based on only one clue and nothing else to connect it to is very impressive indeed.
• Any time a team comes up with an alternate solution that still works for all the clues. As an example, during the Sequences Round, the Animal Lovers of series 17 were presented with "bow" and "pathy". They guess "n" as the fourth clue, suggesting that these were words with the first two letters removed that started with 'e' and another letter going down the alphabet ("elbow", "empathy", "en-?" and "eon"). The actual intended sequence was "Alphabetical homophones" with the third clue being "tropy" and the solution being a word with 'o' removed from the front ("l-bow", "m-pathy", "n-tropy", "o-vert"). However, given that the sequence the Animal Lovers offered also worked with the third clue ("entropy"), they were awarded the points.
• The Crossworders in general. All three members - Ian Bayley, Mark Grant, and David Stainer - routinely finish in the top ten to fifteen in both the European and World Quizzing Championships every year (all three have also gone on to win Brain of Britain and Bayley has a Mastermind title to his credit as well) , but Only Connect shows that they have lateral thinking skills to match their vast general knowledge. After taking victory in the first series, they returned to face and defeat series 2 champions the Rugby Boys (featuring Mark Labbett before he found fame on The Chase), then the University Challengers, then series 4 champions the Epicureans and just as a light cooldown, finished off a team of three Mastermind champions. In one of the hardest quizzes in the world of television, these three men have literally seen off the best of the best and with luck, will show up again.
• Gerard Mackay of the Wayfarers had an unforgettably musical Crowning Moment Of Awesome in Series 11, Episode 15. After correctly guessing the fourth in a music sequence (Spandau Ballet's "Gold" follows T'Pau's "China In Your Hand", Elkie Brooks's "Pearl's a Singer" and the Kaiser Chiefs' "Ruby" to create a string of wedding anniversaries), the following exchange occurs.
  Victoria: (addressing the String Section) Do you know the song "Gold", by Spandau Ballet?
  Nathan Aubrey (captain, String Section): "Gold, always believe in your soul"? We're not singing it though.
  Gerard: Oh, come on!
  Victoria: (mouth drops open with astonishment) Awww! Here (pointing at the Wayfarers), why don't we start over here and they can join in.
  • Cue a brief and near pitch perfect rendition of Spandau Ballet's seminal tune led by Gerard, unprecedented on Only Connect. Since then Victoria has regularly gotten singalongs going, but without the same level of success.
    • The final wasn't so awesome for Gerard, sadly. He and the Wayfarers met the String Section again... and lost.
• Hiring the British TV Quartet to play the theme tune live between questions in the Series 11 final is an awesome moment in itself.
  • Hiring the Swingles to sing the theme tune during the Series 13 final might have topped that.
• The 2019 Christmas special had a "Happy Hour"-theme, bringing back former contestants who shared alcoholic beverages as a hobby. One of them was Chris Quinn, who got the first-ever 5 point answer in Round 1 of Only Connect. So what does he do on the very first question? Figure out the first connection (non-alcoholic beverages) from a picture of Arnold Palmer for 5 points.