Wednesday, June 11, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[Archivists]

Game Recap for Show #6858, 2014-06-11

CONTESTANTS
Sari Laufer, a rabbi from New York, New York
Darren O'Connor, a police officer from Norfolk, Virginia
Molly Lalonde, a pediatric nurse practitioner student from Nashville, Tennessee (whose 4-day cash winnings total $53,300)

OPENING REMARKS
Alex: Thank you, johnny. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. It's quite a mouthful at the beginning of the program. Pediatric nurse practitioner student. She's our champion and she's a good player even though she hasn't had much luck in the Final Jeopardies. But, Darren and Sari, you've got to accumulate a lot of money going into Final jeopardy! if you want to replace her. Believe me. Good luck. Here we go. And these are the categories today...

JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
YOUR HORROR-SCOPE (5/5)
A POTPOURRI OF HISTORY (4/5)
RECORD OF THE YEAR GRAMMYS (5/5)
SCANDINAVIAN FIRST NAMES (4/5)
THE NATO PHONETIC ALPHABET (3/5)
A "TON" OF CITIES (3/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Sari: 9 R (including 1 DD), 0 W
Darren: 8 R, 0 W
Molly: 7 R, 0 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 6
Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $3,000



SCORES AT THE FIRST BREAK
Sari: $3,200
Molly: $2,000
Darren: $1,600

CONTESTANT INTERVIEWS



Alex: Sari Laufer is a rabbi from New York and also a new mom who has picked an interesting name for her newborn son.

Sari: Indeed. My husband and I had differing opinions but we agreed on the name Jacob, uh, but the difference came in the nickname which is Coby.

Alex: Coby. So it has nothing to do with Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers?

Sari: Well...no, technically not. But my husband, the enormous Lakers fan, did not complain with the Israeli nickname of Coby.

Alex: Okay, good for you. You worked it out.

Sari: We did. It was a nice compromise.

Alex: That's great.




Alex: Darren O'Connor is a police officer from Norfolk, Virginia. One of the most popular series on television in recent years was Law & Order: SVU, Special Victims Unit. And that, I understand, is the kind of cases that you deal with all the time.

Darren: Yes, mainly sexual assaults, family violence, and child abuse.

Alex: How long have you been doing it?

Darren: Uh, the police department 13 years, 9 years at the bureau.

Alex: Okay.




Alex: Molly Lalonde is our champion. What's this about you being rescued by search and rescue when you were a kid?

Molly: Yeah, well, I grew up in Nevada, um, in Reno, and we would go out in the desert with my dad occasionally, and one day we got stuck. Um, had to spend the night, sleep in our car, and then search and rescue had to come tow us out.

Alex: How did they know about you? Did you have cell phones?

Molly: No, we had some friends with us, and their families ended up calling, so...

Alex: Okay. They're not home yet and they were supposed to be here.

Molly: Yeah, exactly.

JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Sari found the Daily Double on the 19th clue. Molly had $2,000, Darren had $1,800, and Sari was at $3,600. Sari wagered $1,200.

A "TON" OF CITIES $800: This North Carolina city got its present name in 1913, & not for 2 brands of cigarette

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
A POTPOURRI OF HISTORY $400: Vlad III (that's the impaler) built the fortress of this Romanian city to try to hold back the Turks

THE NATO PHONETIC ALPHABET $200: I'd like to thank the Motion Picture Academy for this letter
(Alex: You thank the Motion Picture Academy for an [*]. The letter is "O.")

A "TON" OF CITIES $400: You'll find Transylvania U. & Henry Clay's old home, now a museum, in this city

A "TON" OF CITIES $600: We hope you're on the Wright track to identify this city

THE NATO PHONETIC ALPHABET $600: A nation of one billion can't hold back this letter, the only one that's a country

SCANDINAVIAN FIRST NAMES $800: "Pippi Longstocking" author Lindgren

SCORES AT THE END OF THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
Sari: $5,800
Molly: $4,800
Darren: $4,800

[Archivists]

DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
THE HULK, SHAKESPEARE SCHOLAR (4/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
TRANSPORTATION (5/5)
BIRD ORIGINS (5/5)
FAMOUS VOICES (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
CZECHS MIX (4/5)
2-"TO"-2 (5/5) (Alex: Each correct response will be made up of 6 letters but the "to" will come right in the middle.)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Darren: 11 R, 0 W
Sari: 10 R, 0 W
Molly: 7 R (including 2 DDs), 0 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 2
Double Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $2,800



FIRST DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Molly snagged the next Daily Double on the 4th clue. Molly had $6,400, Darren had $4,800, and Sari was at $6,600. Molly wagered $4,000.

THE HULK, SHAKESPEARE SCHOLAR $1600: Hulk relate to trust issues of this title guy, but calling his wife "a strumpet" over line for Hulk! Wife is angel figure!

SECOND DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
It was Molly who snatched up the last Daily Double of the game on the 11th clue. Molly had $11,200, Darren had $6,000, and Sari was at $7,800. Molly wagered $2,000.

FAMOUS VOICES $1200: In his 1988 autobiography, he dispelled the allergy rumor but said that he wasn't really fond of carrots
(Molly: Who is [*] [pronounced "blangk"]?)
(Alex: [chuckles] Yes, [*] [pronounced "blank"].)
(Molly: "Blank". Okay.)
(Alex: He was not French.)
[Molly chuckles]

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND
THE HULK, SHAKESPEARE SCHOLAR $2000: Gloucester blindness symbolic in how he deal with Edgar; Hulk reflect on own family after this play

CZECHS MIX $800: In 1968 liberal thinker Alexander Dubcek became first secretary of this party; in 1970 he became a forest inspector

SCORES ENTERING FINAL JEOPARDY!
Darren: $22,400
Sari: $15,400
Molly: $14,000

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
CAPITAL CITY WORDPLAY

VENUSIAN MONOLOGUES/MARTIAN CHRONICLES
First equals second plus half of third. Stratton's Dilemma.
Darren: Wager $8,400--wagering any more risks falling behind Molly's wager of $0.
Sari: Risk all $15,400 for the win or tie if you give the correct response (and provided Darren doesn't wager to cover by $1). You are in Stratton's Dilemma, calling for a wager of more than $12,600 (to shut out Molly) or less than $1,400 (risking the possibility of being passed from behind by Molly). Go with the smaller bet if you believe a Triple Stumper is more likely than a singleton miss by Darren.
Molly: Anticipating that Darren will wager for the tie rather than to cover by $1, and that Sari will wager everything, you should bet nothing, and you will tie for the win on the Triple Stumper.

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
Ending in the same 2 letters, these 2 are capitals of a nation that covers a continent & of a nation reaching onto 2 continents

FINAL SCORES
Molly: $14,000 - $0 = $14,000 (What are Moscow + ?) (2nd place: $2,000)
Sari: $15,400 - $7,001 = $8,399 (What are Istanbul &) (3rd place: $1,000)
Darren: $22,400 - $8,000 = $14,400 (What) (New champion: $14,400)

Total Potential Lach Trash: $5,800

GAME DYNAMICS


CORYAT SCORES
Darren: $22,400, 19 R, 0 W
Sari: $15,000, 19 R (including 1 DD), 0 W
Molly: $10,800, 14 R (including 2 DDs), 0 W
Combined Coryat: $48,200

BATTING AVERAGES
Darren: 19/58 = .328
Sari: 19/59 = .322
Molly: 14/60 = .233
Team: 52/63 = .825

MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTING CLUES
THE NATO PHONETIC ALPHABET $1000: Yentl asked this letter, "can you hear me?"
(Alex: [*]. "P," yes.)

FAMOUS VOICES $1600: This gravel-voiced singer/actor released the albums "Closing Time", "Mule Variations" & "Rain Dogs"

CZECHS MIX $2000: (Kelly of the Clue Crew shows a map on the monitor.) In September 1938, this land in Czechoslovakia, then containing a large population of German descent, was handed over to Germany to appease Hitler

CORRECT RESPONSES
Winston-Salem
Bucharest
Oscar
Lexington, Kentucky
Dayton
India
Astrid
Othello
Mel Blanc
King Lear
the Communist Party
Canberra & Ankara
Papa
Tom Waits
the Sudetenland

[jeff6286]

Capital City Wordplay
Ending in the same 2 letters, these 2 are capitals of a nation that covers a continent & of a nation reaching onto 2 continents.

Spoiler

What are Canberra and Ankara? Molly said Moscow and ?; Sari said Istanbul and ?; Darren had no guess.

Darren O'Connor: $22,400-$8,000=$14,400...now a 1-day champion with $14,400
Sari Laufer: $15,400-$7,001=$8,399
Molly Lalonde: $14,000-$0=$14,000

[Bamaman]

Nice late run by Darren to take a solid lead going into FJ. I surprised myself with a fairly quick get there as I usually hate word play FJs.

Interesting wagering situation. If Darren's MSBIW is a dollar below Molly's pre-FJ score, so he should offer a tie. In Molly's spot a zero wager was the right move. In the rabbi's spot I'd be tempted to bet zero with that category but an all in bet is also a good move in case Molly does bet something and with the chance he offers a tie if he does the math beyond just topping second's doubled score.

Then neither of the top two cover the trailers. Sorry to see Molly go, too bad she picked the wrong year to be a four time champ.

[dhkendall]

Glad to see the Thurl Ravenscroft Grinch/Tony the Tiger link in the voices one as that's my favourite "OMG that guy does both those voices" story. Or was my favourite, it was surpassed a few weeks ago when I learned that the same person does the original voices of - get this - Boris Badenov and the Pillsbury Doughboy (complete with the "hoo hoo!")

Surprised FJ was a TS. "Country that covers a continent"? While not completely true (IMHO, but I can see where others would argue otherwise, even though they're wrong) since Australia's continent also includes the Pacific island nations (at least Jeopardy!-wise, have they not asked what continent New Zealand or Fiji is in before?), it's really the only one that can conceivably fit the bill, and also while the list of "countries that span two continents" seem to have only three members in the Jeopardy! book - Russia, Turkey, and Egypt - (even though, again, I see the list as quite a bit longer, including countries like Indonesia, the USA, and Colombia, since continental divisions are arbitrary in many/most cases), it shouldn't require the full 30 seconds to figure out.

From my uninformed perch, it seems the winner made a savvy wager? but maybe that's just my "it's a good wager because it won the game" bias, I'm sure the Vikings can set me straight and sacrifice this naive virgin to their god Wagor.

[TenPoundHammer]

Lach Trash: Oscar, Dayton, Bucharest. Ran Horror-Scope and 2 "To" 2.

I knew "China" wasn't the C in the NATO alphabet, and I keep thinking India is a lot less populous than one billion.

Three 0/5's in DJ: Hulk, Transportation, and Czech.

Surprised that Optimus Prime wasn't a TS.

Nation that covers a continent = Australia = Canberra. Nation that spans two continents? Turkey = Ankara. Took me about 5 seconds. How the heck did none of them even have Canberra right?

Holy crud, did I really get two TS FJ!s right in a row? Go me.

[zakharov]

Only got half the FJ right (Canberra).

Trash on "O" and Communist Party. Not a lot of trash to be had here!

That was a really fun game. I was rooting for the rabbi, but hey.

[geolawyerman]

Instaget FJ-got Canberra, then Ankara. Not wagering properly could hurt Darren down the road, but he was very impressive today.

[xxaaaxx]

Surprised FJ was a TS. "Country that covers a continent"? While not completely true ...it's really the only one that can conceivably fit the bill

That's the part that kills me. It was instaget for me, but I can understand missing FJ. But no one got at least Canberra? Moscow at least satisfied part of the clue, but Istanbul? I honestly don't know what to say. And this after what was IMO the best game in a WHILE (though considering some of their later gets, the Communist and Bucharest TSes were...strange). Oh well.

[esrever]

Three strong players and a great game up until FJ.

Picked up Lach trash: "Bucharest", "Oscar", "Dayton", "India", "Astrid", "Communist"

Got FJ. Thought of Canberra first, then Ankara. (Possible poll question?)

[Leander]

Pretty surprised FJ was a triple stumper, although I thought it was a poorly worded clue. The capitals and countries are not obscure, IMO. Canberra was automatic, my first thought for the 2 continent country was Russia, my second was Turkey = Ankara. Took about 10 seconds.

[skullturf]

Surprised that Optimus Prime wasn't a TS.

I'm a North American male born in 1974, which means that I was a boy aged 10 to 13 when the Transformers cartoon show was on TV, which means it would be impossible for me *not* to get that.

I had a very good game, and I was pleased to cap it off by getting FJ correct. I was slightly surprised to see it be a triple stumper on the show, but then again, it's probably a good example of one of those clues that's much easier on your couch than in the studio.

With these wordplay and "puzzle" type clues, there can be a brief moment of panic when you try to "decode" the clue. I could see that maybe being worse in the studio. When I saw "covers a continent", the very first countries to pop into my head were Russia and China, but then I realized, "No, not just occupying a lot of a continent -- occupying *all* of a continent. Australia it is."

It also helped that I tend to think of Turkey as the "classic" example of a country that spans two continents, even though there are others.

[Bamaman]

Czech political party in 1968. What else could it be but the Commies?

I got Ankara first, thanks to knowing Turkey is bicontinental. The but about covering a continent confused me at first and thought if Russia, but since they also fit the other half of the clue, I realized it meant an entire continent and it was a quick trip down under for the win.

[lisa0012]

Pretty surprised FJ was a triple stumper, although I thought it was a poorly worded clue. The capitals and countries are not obscure, IMO. Canberra was automatic, my first thought for the 2 continent country was Russia, my second was Turkey = Ankara. Took about 10 seconds.

Ditto. Moscow was clearly not going to have a match (unless Krakow was a capital, but it's not). Easy jump to Turkey.

[BADuBois]

Congrats to Darren for a strong win, and for his wise bet.

I can see why the FJ was a triple-stumper. I didn't think it was particularly well-written, and I saw it in today's NYT. Had to read and re-read it a few times to puzzle it out, and then to get the answer... but it sure as heck took more than thirty seconds!

[dnbguy]

Lach Trash on Bucharest, Oscar, India, King Lear. Instaget FJ, though I'm not sure "these two capitals share the same two last letters" is a particularly interesting piece of wordplay. Nevertheless, country spanning an entire continent = Australia -> Canberra, country in two continents = Turkey -> Ankara.

[hbomb1947]

Instaget FJ-got Canberra, then Ankara. Not wagering properly could hurt Darren down the road, but he was very impressive today.

That was exactly how I insta-got that FJ.

I was surprised there was no prompt on "Ramses," the way that clue was worded. ("A great builder, this pharaoh of Egypt's 19th dynasty sealed peace by marrying a Hittite princess"). There were 11 Egyptian pharaohs who had a coronation name of Ramses, including two in the 19th dynasty; so merely giving that name is like responding "Louis" to a clue that asks for a king of France. "Ramses the Great" would be sufficient, IMO, but not just Ramses. I can understand why they wouldn't expect a BMS to get most contestants to even Ramses the Great; but if the writers were looking for just the first name, I think the clue should have been worded differently.

[doihavetoreally]

Finally a good game
...very impressive debut by the guy.

[chalupabatman786]

Less than insta-get for me; I thought the wording was very confusing.

Vermonter can correct me, but I thought it was poor wagering from 1st and 2nd. Shouldn't 1st wager to tie, and 2nd go either 0 or all-in?

[mxc_takeshi]

33 out of 60. Horror: 3/5 Potpourri: 4/5 Records: 5/5 Scandinavian: 3/5 NATO: 0/5 (confused about letter and word ; knew Zulu but said Z so I didn't count it) "Ton": 4/5
Hulk: 2/5 Transportation: 2/5 Bird: 1/5 Voice: 3/5 Czech: 2/5 2 to 2: 4/5

Lach trash: "Bucharest", "Lexington" (nearby, lived there in college, so a gimme for me), "Dayton"

Instaget FJ. I'm surprised that no one at least said an Australian city, and I knew Istanbul wasn't Turkey's capital.