Tuesday, July 19, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[Volante]

I watched the clue. i GOT the clue. i'm NOT an MD. Why are you making excuses for him? MD's are required to be able to read. That was a gift DD for any MD.

How would reading help? It was an audio clue.

From viewtopic.php?f=1&t=159

One important thing is that on a video DD, only the first part of the text appears on the clue monitor. So if you don't catch the ask in the question, you're SOL. And that's exactly what happened to Tom.

And I'm making excuses because my hope is, if I ever get on, and I make the same sort of obvious mistake otherwise easily handled from the comforts of home, that maybe someone else will defend my mitigating circumstances. (Incidentally, I did get the clue myself, but I was still worried until the reveal that I may have missed a key word, since the clue seemed to take the scenic route to get to the point.)

Bandicoot might be a good poll question. Did they have a crash TOM in it? Ones like that make me wonder what the hardest DDs of the season list would look like.

No Crash TOM, but they gave the name it originated from, Pandikokku.

[Samer]

And I'm making excuses because my hope is, if I ever get on, and I make the same sort of obvious mistake otherwise easily handled from the comforts of home, that maybe someone else will defend my mitigating circumstances. (Incidentally, I did get the clue myself, but I was still worried until the reveal that I may have missed a key word, since the clue seemed to take the scenic route to get to the point.)

I suppose "scenic route" is one way of putting it.

[omgwheelhouse]

The video DDs would have obviously been a lot easier with the question text on the screen. I was able to get both of them at home with no trouble, but I usually hate video clues, bad luck for Tom that he had to deal with two of them. On the first one he especially seemed to be lost in all the verbiage.

I bet Mark was happy to escape that one. I want to say that he showed he was beatable in this episode, but it could have just been that Tom really had a great game against him.

[hbomb1947]

If the Mass General DD had been clearer for Tom what was wanted then I have to think he would have been able to figure out mutations. Hitting that would have allowed him to bet less on the dreaded bandicoot DD that ended up costing him the match. Tom played well in so many ways.

Bandicoot might be a good poll question. Did they have a crash TOM in it? Ones like that make me wonder what the hardest DDs of the season list would look like.

IIIRC, there was no "crash" TOM. I agree that it was a difficult DD, and I had no chance on it (although if we're placing it in the context of the season, I feel it was nowhere near as difficult (if "difficult" is even the word) for the ludicrous "most famous small town in America" DD from several months back -- especially when considering the relative dollar levels of the two DD's). I do join Roger in requesting to MarkBarrett that this DD appear on the weekly poll. I also thought it sucked for Tom that he had to draw such a tough DD clue while Mark was given the easy-peasy Chernobyl one on a clue that was ostensibly at the same dollar level.

I also had no trouble at all on the "mutation" DD and while it was unfortunate (and surprising to me) that Dr. Tom missed it, I don't feel the need to speculate on why that occurred.

FJ was an instaget here. Because I've never read "Tale of Two Cities" I did consider switching to that one (since Napoleon came along shortly after the French Revolution, it made sense to me that he could have been mentioned in an epilogue); but I couldn't figure out who the "Alexander" would be in that scenario, and partly for that reason I stuck with my initial thought. (I actually have read "War & Peace," but about 13 years ago so I couldn't recall the contents of any epilogues that it may have had (although perhaps my one-time familiarity with the work helped me subconsciously).

[StevenH]

I can't remember for sure...was the text of the bandicoot clue shown? If it had been I think that seeing that word would have made it easier to get "bandicoot" out of it than it was just from hearing the word.

I definitely agree that Tom was a great player who caught some bad breaks. I have actually been impressed by all of Mark's opponents so far...they have put up respectable scores, considering Mark's scores.

If Mark makes the ToC then he should be dangerous in it. I like his 3/3 on FJs, even if they have been on the easy side. I thought that the boards that he has played on have not been very well-written, either, and a lot of the clues that he has clammed on have been pretty vague, so I am thinking that his game would only improve on better boards.

[alietr]

Count me among those who thought the phrasing of the mutations question was dreadful. After the clue was finished, I said "What is it they're looking for?"

Congratulations again, Mark. Not as easy as the first two times, eh?

[markrunsvold]

Count me among those who thought the phrasing of the mutations question was dreadful. After the clue was finished, I said "What is it they're looking for?"

Congratulations again, Mark. Not as easy as the first two times, eh?

Not nearly! Tom was smart as all get out, and he came to win. I thought I was toast on both of his Daily Doubles, because they came to me immediately. Pure luck that he was tripped up by both.

[jepkid97]

Does Mark ever smile? If I'd won that much money I'd be grinning from ear to ear!

Ashton Kutcher smiles enough for both of them.

So I'm not the only one who thinks he looks like Ashton Kutcher?

[--Pete]

Hi,

... War and Peace ...

... Oprah wasn't available to read the clues ...

Somehow, the juxtaposition of these two fragments seems appropriate.

--Pete

[dhkendall]

No Crash TOM, but they gave the name it originated from, Pandikokku.

Indeed, this is what made it insta for me (granted, I wasn't 100%, but I was more than confident enough to ring in) - pandikokku sounds a lot like "bandicoot", even though I didn't even know a bandicoot was a marsupial.

[--Pete]

Hi,

Proton a TS?

Video clues? OK, but does each have to be a feature length film? Parsing them to find the (usually trivial) question is often the main challenge.

War and Peace was a high school assignment, X41X* 47+ years ago. Other than that it had everybody in the Moscow (Russia or Idaho) telephone directory as a character and enough sub-plots for about two years of a prime time series, I don't remember much. Certainly not the epilogue, prologue, or whatever. However, from the clue, it made W&P a very likely candidate. The only other that came to mind A Tale of Two Cities, I'd reread about three years ago -- nothing about Napoleon or Alexander.

Looking forward to Wednesday's game. I think Mark might just be The Real Thing.

* Damn, I'm getting old.

--Pete

[Samer]

I have to admit I've never been a huge fan of J!'s science categories, but that category was just painful from start to finish.

[Paucle]

Does Mark ever smile? If I'd won that much money I'd be grinning from ear to ear!

Ashton Kutcher smiles enough for both of them.

So I'm not the only one who thinks he looks like Ashton Kutcher?

You and the judges who gave him first place in the Ashton Kutcher look alike contest!

Spoiler: show

(Ashton Kutcher was runner-up.)

[Bamaman]

The rerun episode FJ for today was about Dumas. With him on the brain I went with Count of Monte Christo for some reason.

I didn't like the hospital category. The clues were way too long and the wide shot of the machinery made it distracting.