Wednesday, October 9, 2013 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[Archivists]

Game Recap for Show #6683, 2013-10-09

CONTESTANTS
Amanda Graves, a writer from Whitinsville, Massachusetts
Theresa Warner, a graduate student of Spanish originally from Alton, Missouri
Jason Idalski, a web producer from Ypsilanti, Michigan (whose 1-day cash winnings total $25,599)

OPENING REMARKS
Alex: Thanks, Johnny. Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Before we get into today's game, just a reminder that all of this week, you have an opportunity to vote for your favorite "Jeopardy!" champion from our second decade on the air. You can do that on Facebook, on Twitter, or go to jeopardy.com. As you just heard, our champion, Jason, did very well on yesterday's program, and Theresa and Amanda are hopeful that they can do just as well for themselves today. Let's see what happens. Good luck. Here we go. Here are the categories, starting off with...

JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
TAKE IN (ALPHABETICAL) ORDER (5/5) (Alex: The first correct response will begin with the letter "A," the next one down with the letter "B," and so on.)
PARTS OF THE WHOLE (3/5)
THE CELEBRITY BOOK AISLE (5/5)
THE STATE DEPT. SUGGESTS YOU STAY HOME (2/5, including 1 missed Daily Double)
VARIETY OF VEG (4/5)
BIOSPHERE 2 (4/5) (Kelly of the Clue Crew: Biosphere 2 -- an enclosure once used to study human survival in space. Now it's helping us understand the Earth.)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Amanda: 9 R, 0 W
Theresa: 8 R, 1 W (including 1 DD)
Jason: 6 R, 0 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 6
Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $5,600



SCORES AT THE FIRST BREAK
Amanda: $2,800
Jason: $2,800
Theresa: $2,400

CONTESTANT INTERVIEWS



Alex: Congratulations and good news are in store for Amanda Graves. First, congratulations. You have just become a U.S. citizen.

Amanda: Yes, I have.

Alex: In a ceremony with just a few people or one of those impressive ones?

Amanda: Actually, the ceremony hasn't even happened yet, but I've been notified that I'm about to be sworn in.

Alex: Okay.




Alex: Now, Theresa Warner --graduate student of Spanish who had an opportunity to travel abroad to perfect her Spanish --where?

Theresa: Yes, I spent a semester in Mendoza, Argentina, in wine country, which was lovely. And I spent six weeks one summer in Madrid.

Alex: Okay. While you were in South America, you're in Argentina, did you have an opportunity to visit Iguazu Falls?

Theresa: I did. I went to both the Argentina and Brazil sides, actually. It was amazing. I love waterfalls.

Alex: That's on my bucket list. Should I do it?

Theresa: Definitely. Definitely.

Alex: Okay, thank you. I'll take your advice.




Alex: Jason Idalski is our champion. You competed in an international scrabble tournament. Where?

Jason: Malaysia.

Alex: What was the prize --first prize?

Jason: I think back then it was $25,000.

Alex: $25,000. Okay. One day's earning for you on "Jeopardy!"

Jason: That's true.

Alex: How well did you do?

Jason: I think I was 94th out of 108, but my friend told me to think of it as 94th out of 7 billion, so...

Alex: Good for you. That's a great way to look at it.

JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Theresa found the Daily Double on the 18th clue. Jason had $2,800, Theresa had $3,000, and Amanda was at $2,800. Theresa made it a True Daily Double, wagering $3,000.

THE STATE DEPT. SUGGESTS YOU STAY HOME $600: Hezbollah's "strong presence" & "shelling...from Syria" are reasons to avoid this country
(Theresa: What is Israel?)

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
VARIETY OF VEG $1000: Imperator,
Chantenay,
little fingers

THE STATE DEPT. SUGGESTS YOU STAY HOME $800: In Somalia the group al-this has "merged with al-Qaida" to wreak joint terror

THE STATE DEPT. SUGGESTS YOU STAY HOME $1000: Just north of Nicaragua, it has the world's highest murder rate

PARTS OF THE WHOLE $800: Handrails,
belt & flywheel,
display console
(Alex: Talking about something I don't use in my home -- [*].)

PARTS OF THE WHOLE $1000: F holes,
scroll,
12-inch endpin

BIOSPHERE 2 $1000: The biomes used to study biodiversity have names like desert, rainforest & this African grassland with scattered trees

SCORES AT THE END OF THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
Amanda: $4,400
Jason: $3,400
Theresa: $1,000

[Archivists]

DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
MASTERS OF TEXT (3/5)
IRISH LITERATURE (4/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
THE AMERICAN FRONTIER (2/2)
WEIRD TOP 40 HITS (1/5)
BUSINESS (4/4, including 1 correct Daily Double)
"AZ" USUAL (5/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Theresa: 8 R, 0 W
Jason: 6 R (including 1 DD), 0 W
Amanda: 5 R (including 1 DD), 0 W

Clues revealed: 26
Triple Stumpers: 7
Double Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $10,800



FIRST DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Amanda snagged the next Daily Double on the 20th clue. Jason had $6,600, Theresa had $6,600, and Amanda was at $7,200. Amanda wagered $2,800.

IRISH LITERATURE $2000: "The Boarding House" & "The Sisters" are 2 of the 15 stories appearing in this 1914 James Joyce collection

SECOND DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
It was Jason who snatched up the last Daily Double of the game on the 22nd clue. Jason had $7,400, Theresa had $6,600, and Amanda was at $10,000. Jason wagered $7,000.

BUSINESS $1200: If it used the founder's daughter's given name, this restaurant chain would be called Melinda's
(Alex: Less than a minute
to go now.)

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND
IRISH LITERATURE $1600: Prolific short story writer Frank O'Connor once served in the I.R.A. & on the board of directors of this playhouse

WEIRD TOP 40 HITS $800: It wasn't "Blue Velvet", but the song "The Days Of Sand & Shovels" also charted for this singer

WEIRD TOP 40 HITS $1200: In a top 40 classic from 1966 this "king of the road" warned us that "You Can't Roller Skate In A Buffalo Herd"

WEIRD TOP 40 HITS $1600: In 1967 "Don't Go Out Into The Rain (You're Going To Melt)" charted for this "I'm Henry The Eighth I Am" band

MASTERS OF TEXT $1600: On a positive note: DWBH (shall I sing it to you?)

MASTERS OF TEXT $2000: & on a final note, all I can say is, GR2BR

WEIRD TOP 40 HITS $2000: You'll be nibbling on bacon & chewing on cheese if you can name this beastly 1976 hit from the Captain & Tennille

SCORES ENTERING FINAL JEOPARDY!
Jason: $15,200
Amanda: $10,000
Theresa: $8,600

PREFINAL REMARKS
(After the Jeopardy! Round, Jimmy McGuire of the Clue Crew delivers a Footnote from Biosphere 2 at the University of Arizona.) Deforestation and climate change cause immense stress to our rainforests, and Biosphere 2 is in a unique position to provide the scientific community unparalleled access. The Biosphere 2 rainforest represents a model ecosystem that will shed light on how rainforests will respond to future climate change.

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
LITERARY LOCALES

VENUSIAN MONOLOGUES/MARTIAN CHRONICLES
Crush for first place.
Jason: Wager $4,801 to cover Amanda.
Amanda: You have the hope of surpassing Jason if you come up with the correct response. Bet at least $7,201 to force Jason to wager to win while also protecting your position from being usurped by Theresa.
Theresa: Your only hope of a win is that you're the only one to give a correct response, so bet $8,598 or so, leaving a few bucks behind in case someone wagers it all.

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
The creator of this title place said its name came from the letters labeling the last drawer of his file cabinet

FINAL SCORES
Theresa: $8,600 - $1,801 = $6,799 (What is Xanadu?) (2nd place: $2,000)
Amanda: $10,000 - $7,201 = $2,799 (What is Xanadu?) (3rd place: $1,000)
Jason: $15,200 - $4,801 = $10,399 (What is Zanadu?) (2-day champion: $35,998)
(Alex: [revealing Jason's response] No. "A" to "G;" "H," "N;" "O," "Z" -- [*] is the title locale.)

Total Potential Lach Trash: $16,400

GAME DYNAMICS


CORYAT SCORES
Theresa: $11,600, 16 R, 1 W (including 1 DD)
Jason: $9,400, 12 R (including 1 DD), 0 W
Amanda: $9,200, 14 R (including 1 DD), 0 W
Combined Coryat: $30,200

BATTING AVERAGES
Theresa: 16/59 = .271
Amanda: 14/59 = .237
Jason: 12/59 = .203
Team: 42/63 = .667

MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTING CLUES
VARIETY OF VEG $800: Smooth-leaf,
baby,
semi-savoy
(Amanda: What is cabbage?)
[Amanda's response was initially ruled incorrect but was deemed acceptable and overturned after the first break.]

BIOSPHERE 2 $200: (Jimmy of the Clue Crew reports from Biosphere 2 at the University of Arizona.) The rainforest is key to getting feedback of tropical ecosystems and the atmosphere under climate change. In the canopy, we're using the LI-COR 6400 to measure the effectiveness of this energy process in green leaves

BIOSPHERE 2 $400: (Kelly of the Clue Crew reports from Biosphere 2 at the University of Arizona.) Rain and temperature are varied to see how they impact subterranean productivity in rainforests. Root observation devices give researchers new understanding of the flow of this element, atomic number 6, in the ecosystem

BIOSPHERE 2 $600: (Jimmy of the Clue Crew reports from Biosphere 2 at the University of Arizona.) The site where the first Biospherians grew food now houses the world's biggest earth-science experiment, which will show how our land forms over time. It's called "L.E.O.", the Landscape this Observatory -- Darwin would be proud

"AZ" USUAL $1200: It's the color of the sky
seen here

THE AMERICAN FRONTIER $800: Nearly everyone on the frontier was affected by ague, basically this disease borne by mosquitos
[The end-of-round signal sounds.]

CORRECT RESPONSES
Lebanon
carrots
al-Shabab
Honduras
a treadmill
a cello
the savanna
Dubliners
Wendy's
the Abbey Playhouse
Bobby Vinton
Roger Miller
Herman's Hermits
don't worry, be happy
good riddance to bad rubbish
"Muskrat Love"
Oz
spinach
photosynthesis
carbon
evolution
azure
malaria

[jeff6286]

Literary Locales
The creator of this title place said its name came from the letters labeling the last drawer of his file cabinet.

Spoiler

What is Oz? All 3 players said Xanadu, though Jason spelled it Zanadu.

Jason Idalski: $15,200-$4,801=$10,399...now a 2-day champion with $35,998
Amanda Graves: $10,000-$7,201=$2,799
Theresa Warner: $8,600-$1,801=$6,799

[Bamaman]

A bleh game for me, but made up for it with an instaget FJ. Nice betting by all three players. First and second made the MSB and third bet to win on a sole get, but enough left to secure second if she and second both miss and maybe win f the leader makes a bad bet.

Interestingly, Dr Xanadu read a category on the rerun game. (Dr. J's third game).

[TenPoundHammer]

That Alphabetical Order category felt really tough. I whiffed with "appeal" on $200, had no idea on the middle three, and got expectorate.

I eat onions all the time, and have NHO those varieties. I also didn't know that spinach or carrots had varieties.

Parts of the Whole mostly eluded me. "Oh, that thing you pull the pin on and it explodes, what's it called?" $600 was my only get.

====

Aztec was my only miss in "Az".

They didn't know Roger Miller? For shame. I also picked up the Lach Trash on Muskrat Love. I knew Herman's Hermits but blanked on them, but couldn't name you a single Bobby Vinton song.

Text for $800, I had "For your" but couldn't get "amusement" to save my life. "Good riddance to bad rubbish" was a junk clue too.

My only get in Irish Lit was Beckett because I'd seen his name come up a billion times before.

====

"Literary locales. Wow, I am so not gonna get th—What is Oz?" Had it before he was done reading the clue. I remembered reading that on Snopes a long time ago. I still have no idea how they thought Xanadu would be right.

[thejeopardyfan]

That Alphabetical Order category felt really tough. I whiffed with "appeal" on $200, had no idea on the middle three, and got expectorate.

It was "acquit."

[TenPoundHammer]

That Alphabetical Order category felt really tough. I whiffed with "appeal" on $200, had no idea on the middle three, and got expectorate.

It was "acquit."

I know. I'm saying I said "appeal" instead.

[skullturf]

It was interesting that there was a Foxworthy immediately followed by a Fox in the celebrity books category.

The cabbage/spinach clue is one that I would have only rung in on if *both* of my opponents had answered incorrectly. After "cabbage" was ruled incorrect, I said, "It's gotta be either lettuce or spinach." (Of course, since cabbage was eventually ruled correct, then for all I know, lettuce would have been as well...)

I almost ran a category that had four triple stumpers! Unfortunately, I said "Muskrat Ramble" instead of "Muskrat Love" for the last one. I didn't "know" it -- it was a matter of extracting something buried deep inside my brain -- but I thought I would try to keep my streak alive in that category. (I've since looked it up, and Muskrat Ramble was indeed the title of *a* song, but it was a jazz song, and it was much earlier.)

FJ was an instaget for me, but only because I've read this exact anecdote before. I think that if you didn't already know this one, it would be a tough one to work out on the fly, especially under the studio lights. I wasn't too surprised to see it be a triple stumper.

Every contestant knew that it *somehow* related to letters near the end of the alphabet, but it might require a little extra mental "leap" to realize that it could be something *ending* with a Z. It's very easy to miss those little mental leaps in Final Jeopardy, and I've done it tons of times.

[Fishercat]

Does anyone use those texting abbreviations? I really don't like their random abbreviations categories.

The music one was suitably weird.

[Paucle]

Ran the Top 40 hits of the ones that they asked- can't remember if they got all 5 in.

I really thought that L Frank Baum anecdote was trivia nugget material. Guess not. Guess it helped it's been sitting in my grey matter since grade school (thank you, Childcraft.)

That Alphabetical Order category felt really tough. I whiffed with "appeal" on $200, had no idea on the middle three,...

I wonder if they were told they had to pick in order? Because if not, that seems like it'd be a good one to toss your opponents a curve ball. Bounce back and forth, and they may lose track of the letter you picked.

... and got expectorate.

With gets like that, you should expect to rate!

[soxfan99]

I wonder if bass would be acceptable for the "f holes, scroll, 12" end pin" question. It definitely has f holes, a scroll, and an end pin. They probably added the "12 inch" part to pin it to cello, but a child learning to play bass might use a shorted end pin. Judges?

[skullturf]

I wonder if bass would be acceptable for the "f holes, scroll, 12" end pin" question. If definitely has f holes, a scroll, and an end pin. They probably added the "12 inch" part to pin it to cello, but a child learning to play bass might use a shorted end pin. Judges?

Don't look at me; I didn't even clue in that it was a musical instrument. I was thinking something vaguely related to printing presses, but I remained clam.

[Dr. J]

FJ was something that is such a classic piece of trivia that I was quite surprised it was a TS. Hubby didn't know it instantly, but figured it out pretty quickly, too.

I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I got the Muskrat Love clue because my sister owned that album and I listened to it A LOT. (I was very surprised when I heard the original by America -- I assumed the Captain wrote it!) Man, did I want to be Toni Tenille

Congrats, Jason! I should have made you buy me another beer last night with all your winnings!

[jeff6286]

I wrote down Xanadu, but was pretty sure it was wrong, as it didn't even really fit the file cabinet thing. Plus I was thinking it wasn't even an actual title place, which seems to be correct. I tried to think of something starting with Z, which gave me The Prisoner of Zenda, but that didn't seem right either. I also tried to think of something ending with Z, thinking that the last file cabinet could be "W-Z", "U-Z", etc., but there was no way I was going to get as far back as "O-Z". Upon reveal, of course it makes perfect sense that the name only had 2 letters, but I just wasn't getting there, and don't recall ever hearing this one before.

Nice 2nd win for Jason. That big DD bet ended up winning him the game, in all likelihood, since he wouldn't have had such a big lead if he had made a small-to-medium bet on that one, and may very well have lost on the triple stumper.

[ElendilPickle]

FJ was something that is such a classic piece of trivia that I was quite surprised it was a TS. Hubby didn't know it instantly, but figured it out pretty quickly, too.

Congrats, Jason! I should have made you buy me another beer last night with all your winnings!

It was an instaget for me, too.

Congratulations again, Jason!

[Budphrey]

I wonder if bass would be acceptable for the "f holes, scroll, 12" end pin" question. If definitely has f holes, a scroll, and an end pin. They probably added the "12 inch" part to pin it to cello, but a child learning to play bass might use a shorted end pin. Judges?

I had the same thought. Anyone experienced with the bass viol?

Also, would "What is bob wahr" be an automatic neg? If so, would it be worth it?

[TenPoundHammer]

Ran the Top 40 hits of the ones that they asked- can't remember if they got all 5 in.

They did. "MacArthur Park" I knew from Dave Barry's take on bad songs. Interestingly, Waylon Jennings released versions of "The Days of Sand and Shovels" and "MacArthur Park" back-to-back. His take on "MacArthur Park" had a family group called The Kimberlys backing him, and they never had another hit.

I wonder if they were told they had to pick in order? Because if not, that seems like it'd be a good one to toss your opponents a curve ball. Bounce back and forth, and they may lose track of the letter you picked.

Don't "Take in order" categories usually tie each successive clue to the previous one somehow? I saw no such connection.

Every time they do "Take in order", I've always wondered what would happen if someone said "I'll do Take in Order for $600" just to screw with everyone. Would they stop tape and ask him to try again?

I didn't know what the F that "F holes" clue was talking about either. Then again, I'm an organist, and I didn't know that those things that change the sound are called "stops".

[Bamaman]

Anybody figure this one out who had never heard this story before?

[StevenH]

Anybody figure this one out who had never heard this story before?

I had never heard the story but somehow managed to come up with "Oz" at about 15 seconds. I was far from confident, and I feel like it might have come to me partly because "Oz" has come up before as a FJ clue.

[DHicton]

Xanadu... really?

Some of those weird song hits are among my favourites, and all of them were easy-peasy. But that could be because I'm no spring chicken.