Anyone who thinks Nan meant to lock Kristina out with her wager and simply added a dollar instead of subtracting it didn't notice she went for $15,001 for no reason yesterday. Today she merely went for $20,001, I believe without any regard to Kristina's score. It just so happens that $20,001 is the lowest amount you shouldn't go for when you have a $10,000 lock lead, as Nan did.
I also came up with "cerebral," with a little trepidation since the cerebrum isn't exactly detectable by skull measurements. But it was eight letters and the closest fit otherwise. If the clue had said "compound word," that would have been a significant push in the right direction.
Coryat: $27,200
41 R/3 W
DD: 1/3
FJ:
LT: undergraduate, Waylon Jennings, World Health Organization
I thought of egghead and brainiac before scrawling headwise at the end of the Think Music. I was far too focused on the cranium to ever have a chance at highbrow.
BigDaddyMatty wrote: ↑Wed Oct 25, 2017 6:38 am
I was far too focused on the cranium to ever have a chance at highbrow.
Same. Spent the think music literally rubbing my head for inspiration. Cerebral was the best I could come up with. I think of the brows as being part of the face so never ventured there.
This Is Kirk! wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2017 11:18 pm
Egghead was the first thing to come to me. Good thing they specified the number of letters because that led me back to the well and I came up with "highbrow" about halfway through the think music.
Same here. Though it was probably more in the 20-second range. That period when panic is beginning to set in.
Kristina needed to get FJ right to have a chance (because $3,400 is less than twice the difference between 1st and 2nd). Her wager gave up any chance of winning against rational wagers from her opponents.
rjaguar3 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 25, 2017 10:05 am
Kristina needed to get FJ right to have a chance (because $3,400 is less than twice the difference between 1st and 2nd). Her wager gave up any chance of winning against rational wagers from her opponents.
Given that Nan had a lock over her, Kristina had no chance of winning against rational wagers from her opponents. But being that a rational wager from second place is an unpredictable occurrence and that the first place cover wager occurs reliably enough, Kristina was certainly still in a winnable position... until she locked in her wager.
This etymology does make sense, I suppose, but disappointingly the OED doesn't discuss the phrenological origins of highbrow. Some sources on the net say the earliest usage is from 1875 (without actually quoting it), but the OED's earliest is from 1884-
1884 L. Troubridge Diary July in J. Hope-Nicholson Life amongst Troubridges (1966) xii. 169 Mr. Hope had suggested that we would be at some highbrow part of the Exhibition—looking at pictures I think.
Some might be pleased to read this illustrative quote that the OED uses-
1998 K. Lette Altar Ego xvii. 157 Julian, on the other hand, is a highbrow... The guy's a poetry-quoting brainiac.
My own response was Eggheads. I knew it didn't quite work, but seems about as likely to be phrenological as the real response...
The OED's definition of Egghead, by the way, is-
grindcore wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2017 6:50 pm
"Highbrow" comes from phrenology? Brutally difficult FJ in my opinion. Cerebral was my guess but I know it didn't feel right.
Agreed. Ridiculous degree of difficulty. I had "longhair" even though I was pretty sure phrenology had to do with head but not hair. As they say, any answer better than no answer.
Another vote for eggheads, though I knew that they were looking for an adjective. Yes, highbrow seems logical enough in retrospect, but no way was I going to get there in 30 sec. not at all surprised to see it as a TS, but was a bit shocked that they weren't counting letters (in Nans defense, it appeared that she was hastily scribbling it in st the end of Think music)
My brain must have been completely out to lunch this whole game, as I struggled to a degree I almost never do. Don't know why, but this was one game I was really glad not to be standing at one of the podia. Woulda looked, well, anything but highbrow.
PS Collecting Michelin stars??? Really??? I didn't know that was even a thing.
My brother-in-law collects Michelin tires, but I know he's pretty lowbrow.
John Boy wrote: ↑Wed Oct 25, 2017 11:21 am
PS Collecting Michelin stars??? Really??? I didn't know that was even a thing.
I predicted her loss because she sort of corrected Alex. He asked what was the highest number of stars they'd seen at a restaurant and suggest "four?" She said, "Three, the top. Yeah." I'm surprised Alex wasn't familiar enough with the Michelin system to know it only goes up to three.
John Boy wrote: ↑Wed Oct 25, 2017 11:21 am
PS Collecting Michelin stars??? Really??? I didn't know that was even a thing.
I predicted her loss because she sort of corrected Alex. He asked what was the highest number of stars they'd seen at a restaurant and suggest "four?" She said, "Three, the top. Yeah." I'm surprised Alex wasn't familiar enough with the Michelin system to know it only goes up to three.
It's a weirdly naïve question even if you're not sure of the top number. I suppose you could make it a rule only to go only to one-stars, but surely the best way of "collecting" them would be to go to the top restaurants...
grindcore wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2017 6:50 pm
"Highbrow" comes from phrenology? Brutally difficult FJ in my opinion. Cerebral was my guess but I know it didn't feel right.
Agreed. Ridiculous degree of difficulty. I had "longhair" even though I was pretty sure phrenology had to do with head but not hair. As they say, any answer better than no answer.
Well, not everyone...
"Elen sila lumenn omentielvo...A star shines on the hour of our meeting."
grindcore wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2017 6:50 pm
"Highbrow" comes from phrenology? Brutally difficult FJ in my opinion. Cerebral was my guess but I know it didn't feel right.
Agreed. Ridiculous degree of difficulty.
Really? If you know what phrenology is--and I would expect most Jeopardy! contestants would--then it comes down to running through a list of words fitting the definition. I know this is always difficult, especially under pressure, but I don't think it was outrageously difficult.
I know it's easy to pooh pooh the difficulty level of clues you, yourself got correct, but this one didn't seem extraordinarily difficult to me.
I said egghead first, but not enough letters so went to cerebral.
Husband couldn't come up with anything better so he agreed it must be cerebral: oops...
"Highbrow" was never going to be considered, by either of us.
grindcore wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2017 6:50 pm
"Highbrow" comes from phrenology? Brutally difficult FJ in my opinion. Cerebral was my guess but I know it didn't feel right.
Agreed. Ridiculous degree of difficulty.
Really? If you know what phrenology is--and I would expect most Jeopardy! contestants would--then it comes down to running through a list of words fitting the definition. I know this is always difficult, especially under pressure, but I don't think it was outrageously difficult.
I know it's easy to pooh pooh the difficulty level of clues you, yourself got correct, but this one didn't seem extraordinarily difficult to me.
I think it's more an issue of "highbrow" not being a word in use much these days. I've heard of it but I honestly don't think I've heard it used in at least 30 years or more. Add the fact that "cerebral" has 8 letters and generally fits the clue (if not perfectly) and it's easy to come up with the wrong answer - or none at all. So, it's a fair clue but you may be selling yourself short for getting it.
grindcore wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2017 6:50 pm
"Highbrow" comes from phrenology? Brutally difficult FJ in my opinion. Cerebral was my guess but I know it didn't feel right.
Agreed. Ridiculous degree of difficulty.
Really? If you know what phrenology is--and I would expect most Jeopardy! contestants would--then it comes down to running through a list of words fitting the definition. I know this is always difficult, especially under pressure, but I don't think it was outrageously difficult.
I know it's easy to pooh pooh the difficulty level of clues you, yourself got correct, but this one didn't seem extraordinarily difficult to me.
IMO, I think the difficulty lies more in the time crunch than the actual clue. If it was an LL clue, it'd be fine. But with 30 seconds, if you get your train of thought on the wrong track, you've lost (I myself spent too much time trying to shove an extra letter into erudite, then variants of cranium, skull, etc.)
grindcore wrote: ↑Tue Oct 24, 2017 6:50 pm
"Highbrow" comes from phrenology? Brutally difficult FJ in my opinion. Cerebral was my guess but I know it didn't feel right.
Agreed. Ridiculous degree of difficulty.
Really? If you know what phrenology is--and I would expect most Jeopardy! contestants would--then it comes down to running through a list of words fitting the definition. I know this is always difficult, especially under pressure, but I don't think it was outrageously difficult.
I know it's easy to pooh pooh the difficulty level of clues you, yourself got correct, but this one didn't seem extraordinarily difficult to me.
I wouldn't say extraordinarily difficult, but I predict under 30% on our poll.
I think it is difficult because the definition given in the clue was rather vague - allowing words like Egghead(s) and cerebral to seem close enough to count. Both have something to do with the head and its shape (kinda). In writing the clue I might have made the definition a bit clearer: "This 8-letter word meaning 'that part of culture appealing to intellectuals' originated with a phrenology concept"
Word origin clues that require me to count letters are hard: I don't think of words that way, so I have to come up with a possible answer then count the letters. This slows me down to a crawl and only allows a few potential answers to be considered in time.