Tuesday, June 5, 2018 Game Recap and Discussion [SPOILERS]

[alietr]

C'mon, Leslie. Let the guy have his coop. I'm envisioning one designed like the "Jeopardy!" set with individual podium roosting areas. Daily Double Yolk, etc.

Give the woman a break; she just barely escaped getting out of there without even making bus fare.

[squarekara]

C'mon, Leslie. Let the guy have his coop. I'm envisioning one designed like the "Jeopardy!" set with individual podium roosting areas. Daily Double Yolk, etc.

Give the woman a break; she just barely escaped getting out of there without even making bus fare.

I grew up with backyard chickens (named after UCLA basketball players), and I wish we could have them where we live now. My brother and I would bring the chicks indoors to watch afterschool cartoons with us. Leslie's family should know such joy!

Plus, there's this kinda thing:

Spoiler

[heppm01]

WAGed Jay Gatsby based just on his connection to New York, 99% sure it would be wrong.

Marlboro Man is not a bad guess.

[This Is Kirk!]

The bit that threw me was "false mustache." I always assumed Poirot's 'stache was real. The only thing I could come up with (also) was the Monopoly Man.

The "obituary" indicates that this detail is from the last book, when Poirot is in a nursing home, so "false" is a bit of a distraction.
Unless you remember the peculiar old-fashioned use of "mustaches," the only help the clue provides is "vanity" and of course the 1975 "death" and obit. I remembered it after the reveal, but it's a long time ago... Kudos to those who recalled it from previous J! clues...
https://www.nytimes.com/1975/08/06/arch ... t-the.html

Seemed like a bit of a red herring unless you're specifically a Poirot fan. Seems like a little bit more was needed. Adding "Belgian" would have probably made it too easy, but maybe not.

[DBear]

Are the regular clue writers on vacation and the interns are doing the writing? It just seems like the clue quality has gone way down. Why wasn't A-ha accepted? And how the %^&#! are we supposed to get Hercule Poirot out of that hot mess of a FJ?

One of the most famous fictional characters - known for his vanity and moustache - from an author who sold some 2 billion books and you're bitching because it's not something you know.

Sounds like someone else around here.

Seriously though, it's no different from any garden variety FJ clue that would be well known to someone familiar with [fill in the artist/author here].

Look, jack, I know Hercule Poirot. I've read Agatha Christie. I'm saying how do you get that from the ^%*$^)! clue !
I'm saying the clues lately have been poorly written and not up to usual standards.

[DBear]

Are the regular clue writers on vacation and the interns are doing the writing? It just seems like the clue quality has gone way down. Why wasn't A-ha accepted? And how the %^&#! are we supposed to get Hercule Poirot out of that hot mess of a FJ?

One of the most famous fictional characters - known for his vanity and moustache - from an author who sold some 2 billion books and you're bitching because it's not something you know.

Sounds like someone else around here.

Seriously though, it's no different from any garden variety FJ clue that would be well known to someone familiar with [fill in the artist/author here].

Look, jack, I know Hercule Poirot. I've read Agatha Christie. I'm saying how do you get that from the ^%*$^)! clue !
I'm saying the clues lately have been poorly written and not up to usual standards.

Seemed like a bit of a red herring unless you're specifically a Poirot fan. Seems like a little bit more was needed. Adding "Belgian" would have probably made it too easy, but maybe not.

Why don't you get on your high horse to Kirk while you're at it?

[John Boy]

Are the regular clue writers on vacation and the interns are doing the writing? It just seems like the clue quality has gone way down. Why wasn't A-ha accepted? And how the %^&#! are we supposed to get Hercule Poirot out of that hot mess of a FJ?

Amen, and amen. If what they were going for was "ridiculously difficult clue that only Watson the computer would get," they nailed it.

Boo and hiss to this FJ.

[John Boy]

This was definitely one of the weakest games all season. Joe played okay, blowing 2 DDs which ranged from gettable to downright easy (Prince Henry the Navigator), and being part of many simple Triple Stumpers...only to finish with a monster lock. Like others, I'm happy Leslie finished in second at the end, as she ends up with more $2,000.

Are the regular clue writers on vacation and the interns are doing the writing? It just seems like the clue quality has gone way down. Why wasn't A-ha accepted? And how the %^&#! are we supposed to get Hercule Poirot out of that hot mess of a FJ?

One of the most famous fictional characters - known for his vanity and moustache - from an author who sold some 2 billion books and you're bitching because it's not something you know.

Sounds like someone else around here.

Seriously though, it's no different from any garden variety FJ clue that would be well known to someone familiar with [fill in the artist/author here].

Exactly. It was an instaget for me, and while I understand someone missing it, Agatha Christie and Poirot specifically come up on the show again and again and again.

Also, the most famous character of the highest-selling author in history, who has had countless large and small-screen movie adaptations over the decades is hardly obscure.

True, Christie and Poirot are quite well known.

But this clue basically says a fictional character who "died" 40 years ago. No reference to Christie, or inspector, or Belgian. if you got this clue, good for you. I stand by my first post. Ridiculous FJ.

[AFRET CMS]

Nothing for this final - put down Groucho Marx to have something with a mustache and yes, I know he was real.

But the mustache wasn't -- at least in the early days. In the classic Marx Brothers films, it was greasepaint smeared across his upper lip. He later grew a real mustache for "You Bet You Life" after he refused to use greasepaint on TV.

Since the clue referenced "false mustaches," one could be forgiven for Groucho -- especially if one of his famous characters like "Rufus T. Firefly" or "Otis P. Driftwood" had ever had an obituary printed as a prank.

As a side note, I'm not a major Christie fan, but came up with Hercule Poirot in the final seconds, and frantically scribbled "H. Piorot" as time ran out. Don't know if the hasty misspelling would have been accepted.

[opusthepenguin]

As a side note, I'm not a major Christie fan, but came up with Hercule Poirot in the final seconds, and frantically scribbled "H. Piorot" as time ran out. Don't know if the hasty misspelling would have been accepted.

Sorry, no detectives from Belguim allowed.

[AFRET CMS]

As a side note, I'm not a major Christie fan, but came up with Hercule Poirot in the final seconds, and frantically scribbled "H. Piorot" as time ran out. Don't know if the hasty misspelling would have been accepted.

Sorry, no detectives from Belguim allowed.

Not even when played by the inimitable Kenneth Branahg? You're a tough judge.

[Elijah Baley]

Are the regular clue writers on vacation and the interns are doing the writing? It just seems like the clue quality has gone way down. Why wasn't A-ha accepted? And how the %^&#! are we supposed to get Hercule Poirot out of that hot mess of a FJ?

One of the most famous fictional characters - known for his vanity and moustache - from an author who sold some 2 billion books and you're bitching because it's not something you know.

Sounds like someone else around here.

Seriously though, it's no different from any garden variety FJ clue that would be well known to someone familiar with [fill in the artist/author here].

Look, jack, I know Hercule Poirot. I've read Agatha Christie. I'm saying how do you get that from the ^%*$^)! clue !
I'm saying the clues lately have been poorly written and not up to usual standards.

Again - jack - they gave you that it was a fictional character who "died" in 1975 (i.e., "Curtain"), who had a mustache (fake or real, as they were in his early days) and that he was vain. That's more than enough for someone familiar with Poirot to get there instantly. It doesn't mean that everyone familiar with Poirot would get it. And again, I admit to saying that you sound a bit like TPH here because the writers didn't take you by the hand by adding "Belgian" and/or "detective" and/or "Agatha Christie" or whatever else might have made it even easier. I do agree that some of the recent FJ clues have been a little suspect - including repetitive categories, etc. - but I think this one was much easier - and clearer - than you make it out to be.

And sorry/not sorry if you can't handle a little ribbing when you're complaining about a clue that didn't require many "little grey cells" to get to the right response. It's not made with malice - just not letting you off for your comment that makes this out to be the writers' fault.

[MarkBarrett]

I'm seeing it about 7/24 here so 35% may the top end of the poll while I have no doubt it will be over 25%.

[Anachronism]

I felt FJ needed a TOM. I was trying to use the New York area and spent the next 29 seconds trying to remember the name of the Monopoly guy.

I was even looking up something related to Christie a couple of days ago, and it would never have occurred to me the mustache was notably fake. Was that mentioned in one of the major novels? Maybe the age vanity? Anyway, seems to fall into the category of clues related to current events that have an expiration date.

[Volante]

I was even looking up something related to Christie a couple of days ago, and it would never have occurred to me the mustache was notably fake. Was that mentioned in one of the major novels? Maybe the age vanity? Anyway, seems to fall into the category of clues related to current events that have an expiration date.

It was a real mustache until it wasn't; it's explained in Curtain.

[Anachronism]

I was even looking up something related to Christie a couple of days ago, and it would never have occurred to me the mustache was notably fake. Was that mentioned in one of the major novels? Maybe the age vanity? Anyway, seems to fall into the category of clues related to current events that have an expiration date.

It was a real mustache until it wasn't; it's explained in Curtain.

OK. So that explains a temporary excitement. A notable author releases a final novel that she wrote decades earlier, just before she dies. It's a bit like Harper Lee a couple of years ago, only Christie did this consciously and Lee apparently realized how bad Go Set a Watchman was and knew it shouldn't be published. But that's quite a specific detail for a character who was in dozens of novels.

The trivia itself is interesting, though the NYT is hardly what it was back in its day. I think it needs more 40 years later - more time than what had elapsed between when the novel was written and when it was published. But if it tests at 25-35%, then I'm surprised, but it's within the range of what works for Jeopardy. Personally, I don't like it when I think I have reasoned something out but wasted that effort. But my experience isn't definitive by any means.

[A drop of golden sun]

I felt FJ needed a TOM. I was trying to use the New York area and spent the next 29 seconds trying to remember the name of the Monopoly guy.

I was even looking up something related to Christie a couple of days ago, and it would never have occurred to me the mustache was notably fake. Was that mentioned in one of the major novels? Maybe the age vanity? Anyway, seems to fall into the category of clues related to current events that have an expiration date.

Sorry for my ignorance:
What's a TOM?

[AndyTheQuizzer]

I felt FJ needed a TOM. I was trying to use the New York area and spent the next 29 seconds trying to remember the name of the Monopoly guy.

I was even looking up something related to Christie a couple of days ago, and it would never have occurred to me the mustache was notably fake. Was that mentioned in one of the major novels? Maybe the age vanity? Anyway, seems to fall into the category of clues related to current events that have an expiration date.

Sorry for my ignorance:
What's a TOM?

http://www.j-archive.com/help.php#teaseoutmetric

[Ironhorse]

I wouldn't have pulled Poirot if they spotted me Agatha Christie.

This appears to be a major knowledge gap I'm shoring up right now by reading Christie's Wiki page.