Thursday, November 19, 2015 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[Abraxas]

Alex was powerful today! We'll see if his big lead holds up tomorrow. I had 33 correct responses including three triple stumpers: bathroom; vagrant; and Victoria & Albert. I also got FJ.

[econgator]

Was anyone else miffed that they counted Matt's response of "itinerant" for the "vagrant" clue incorrect? I don't remember the exact wording of the clue, but it seems like it should've been accepted.

i·tin·er·ant

noun
1.
a person who travels from place to place.

Itinerant is not from the French for "wanderer", but from Latin.

[heelsrule1988]

[9021amyers]

I was shocked that FJ was a TS. Granted there were two possible answers, but I thought The Count of Monte Cristo was pretty obvious and should have occurred to someone.

Two possible answers? I came up with three during the think music, and they all turned out to be wrong!

(That would be The Man in the Iron Mask, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, and The Phantom of the Opera.)

[SteelyPat]

This is the best thing.

Final was definitely a coinflip between thinking "whose facial appearance would be a particular thing to note" for Man in the Iron Mask and "who was gone somewhere for a long time under harsh conditions to where it would have affected his looks" for Count of Monte Cristo. I have no idea where I would have landed by the end of the music. Really entertaining game.

[dhkendall]

Well good to know my Lestat was so far out of left field it's in right field (but not that kind of right, still horribly, horribly wrong.)

[harrumph]

If Matt had hit FJ this would be a different story.

[MinnesotaMyron]

If Matt had hit FJ this would be a different story.

If my grandma had wheels, she might be a Razor scooter.

[goatman]

Was anyone else miffed that they counted Matt's response of "itinerant" for the "vagrant" clue incorrect? I don't remember the exact wording of the clue, but it seems like it should've been accepted.

i·tin·er·ant

noun
1.
a person who travels from place to place.

Clue specified French word origin.

i·tin·er·ant
Origin
late 16th century (used to describe a judge traveling on a circuit): from late Latin itinerant- ‘traveling,’ from the verb itinerari, from Latin iter, itiner- ‘journey, road.’

va·grant

Origin
late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French vagarant ‘wandering around,’ from the verb vagrer .

47R 4Goats, went Man in Iron Mask, vacillated back & forth over Edmond Dantes "The Count of Monte Cristo" as I know how much AT loves that book, but gosh darnit, what a lousy TOM-less clue!

Took a lotta LT: Hampton Court 'Easement' = the bathroom; Alibris (I buy from them a lot!); azALEa; New Horizons Pluto flyby (correctly pronounced plural form!); Proteus syndrome of elephant man; Victoria & Albert namesakes; unhyphenated; Sagittarius A* = black hole. I'd have been inclined to bet nothing and preserve my score from all the Lach trash for day 2... very gratifying to see Alex Jacob commanding these boards! Go AJ, Go!

[hbomb1947]

Was anyone else miffed that they counted Matt's response of "itinerant" for the "vagrant" clue incorrect? I don't remember the exact wording of the clue, but it seems like it should've been accepted.

i·tin·er·ant

noun
1.
a person who travels from place to place.

Itinerant is not from the French for "wanderer", but from Latin.

Also it would be messy (and unprecedented?) for the points to be restored to Matt after Game 1 has ended, because he could well have bet those additional funds in FJ had they been available to him.

An interim WTG to OMG!!!!!!!!! He played an Alex game, right down to not caring about the FJ. And his DD wagers and buzzer dominance should have come as no surprise (nor did his last-second response on the Blume DD) . Matt and Kerry did their best to hang in there, but those FJ misses for them are costly. BTW, I wonder what all those twitter and Facebook idiots who have called Matt unsportsmanlike were thinking when Matt applauded for Alex after Alex nailed his $15,400 TD.

And yes, a comeback is absolutely possible. Alex didn't help himself when he had a few bad negs right after succeeding on his ginornmous DD.

There was a lot of LT in this game. The combined Coryat was relatively low (most of Alex's gaudy dollar total coming from his DD's, for example). I was especially surprised that New Horizons was a TS, as it was in the news so recently.

I got the FJ. My first thought was The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but that seemed too easy for a TOC final. But with time to spare during the think music, The Count of Monte Christo came to me.

I know it was only a top-of-the-board clue, but the North Pole clue in the DJ round doesn't make any sense to me. The clue read, "This location of Santa's workshop has a zip code, 12997." First of all, to fit within the category ("'North' and 'South' America"), they must have been referring to the town North Pole, Alaska (and surrounding area), whose zip code is 99705 -- not 12997 as given in the clue.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Pole,_Alaska

The latter zip code belongs to Wilmington, NY.

And the North Pole, which is the site of Santa's workshop, is not part of North America (it lies in the middle of the Arctic Ocean) and doesn't have a zip code at all. Indeed, it's uninhabited.

ETA: the clue would have been better worded along the lines of "This Alaskan town, zip code 99705, shares its name with the location of Santa's workshop."

ETA: you don't need to be clairvoyant to foresee a weekly poll question that asks if respondents answered tonight's FJ with The Man in the Iron Mask.

[Leander]

I was shocked that FJ was a TS. Granted there were two possible answers, but I thought The Count of Monte Cristo was pretty obvious and should have occurred to someone.

Two possible answers? I came up with three during the think music, and they all turned out to be wrong!

(That would be The Man in the Iron Mask, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, and The Phantom of the Opera.)

Seemed unlikely to me to call the Hunchback or the Phantom "heroes"

[floridagator]

I know it was only a $200 clue, but the North Pole clue doesn't make any sense to me. The clue read, 'This location of Santa's workshop has a zip code, 12997." First of all, to fit within the category, they must have been referring to the town North Pole, Alaska (and surrounding area), whose zip code is 99705 -- not 12997 as given in the clue.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Pole,_Alaska

The latter zip code belongs to Wilmington, NY.

There is a well-known tourist attraction in Wilmington called Santa's Workshop. Remember the show's east coast bias.

And the North Pole, which is the site of Santa's workshop, is not part of North America (it lies in the middle of the Arctice Ocean) and doesn't have a zip code at all. Indeed, it's uninhabited.

Not true. Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, and many elves and at least nine reindeer live there.

[econgator]

I know it was only a top-of-the-board clue, but the North Pole clue in the DJ round doesn't make any sense to me. The clue read, "This location of Santa's workshop has a zip code, 12997." First of all, to fit within the category ("'North' and 'South' America"), they must have been referring to the town North Pole, Alaska (and surrounding area), whose zip code is 99705 -- not 12997 as given in the clue.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Pole,_Alaska

The latter zip code belongs to Wilmington, NY.

http://www.northpoleny.com/#!direction/c10hf

[hbomb1947]

I know it was only a $200 clue, but the North Pole clue doesn't make any sense to me. The clue read, 'This location of Santa's workshop has a zip code, 12997." First of all, to fit within the category, they must have been referring to the town North Pole, Alaska (and surrounding area), whose zip code is 99705 -- not 12997 as given in the clue.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Pole,_Alaska

The latter zip code belongs to Wilmington, NY.

There is a well-known tourist attraction in Wilmington called Santa's Workshop. Remember the show's east coast bias.

That is, of course, irrelevant, as Wilmington doesn't fit the category.

[heelsrule1988]

This is the best thing.

"MATT JACKSON HOLD MY (you know)"

[JonathanHenke]

Flipped a coin and it came down on the wrong side, but Matt and Kerry had it, too, so I don't feel so bad.

I flipped a coin, too — my coin had the man in the iron mask on one side and the phantom of the opera on the other.

[JayK33]

I can probably look this up, but holy crap, Alex's Daily Double wager! Was it the largest ever?

Not sure if this should count, but Bob Beers from Season 4 bet $10,000 on a Daily Double, which, when adjusted to today's doubled dollar values, would be $20,000.


Congrats to Alex on an impressive win today! Matt can definitely pull off a comeback tomorrow but I think most people would still go with Alex at this point. On the flipside, Matt can very well stay in third place. That would be a surprise.

[whatisbishkek]

I know it was only a $200 clue, but the North Pole clue doesn't make any sense to me. The clue read, 'This location of Santa's workshop has a zip code, 12997." First of all, to fit within the category, they must have been referring to the town North Pole, Alaska (and surrounding area), whose zip code is 99705 -- not 12997 as given in the clue.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Pole,_Alaska

The latter zip code belongs to Wilmington, NY.

There is a well-known tourist attraction in Wilmington called Santa's Workshop. Remember the show's east coast bias.

That is, of course, irrelevant, as Wilmington doesn't fit the category.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Pole,_New_York

[Vermonter]

Great, great game by Alex, but it was particularly nice (though unsurprising) to see that Matt and Kerry were not put off by the huge lead and clawed their way back.

By the way, I've already compiled all of the two-day comebacks from third place and from second place.

[jeff6286]

I know it was only a $200 clue, but the North Pole clue doesn't make any sense to me. The clue read, 'This location of Santa's workshop has a zip code, 12997." First of all, to fit within the category, they must have been referring to the town North Pole, Alaska (and surrounding area), whose zip code is 99705 -- not 12997 as given in the clue.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Pole,_Alaska

The latter zip code belongs to Wilmington, NY.

There is a well-known tourist attraction in Wilmington called Santa's Workshop. Remember the show's east coast bias.

That is, of course, irrelevant, as Wilmington doesn't fit the category.

Super classy response, Hbomb. Try this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Pole,_New_York

Santa's Workshop is in the hamlet of North Pole, in the town of Wilmington, NY.