Tuesday, January 10, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[dhkendall]

I did enjoy Bryan's personality, though, which I thought brought some quirky fun to it.

Same here. I didn't think much of him at first, but his comments around the DD reminded me of my all-time favourite player, Bob Harris. (His reaction after the DD was icing on the cake.)

I despised the Jonathan Swifties category...but I think that's because until the $800 clue I was thinking they were Tom Swifties. Oops.

I despised the category because I didn't know what a Johnathan Swiftie is (quotes by J. Swift?) - am barely aware of Tom Swifties myself. At least ($800?) had a TOM to help ...

Did anyone else pre-call "Fur Elise" after the clue was read but before the music started?

Actually, I'm surprised no one has pointed out yet that the Beethoven piece is "Für Elise" (note the umlaut), and technically doesn't belong in the category. Come on, there are pedants on this board far more pedantic than I! Why must I carry the pedantry torch? (Oh, and yes, I got the answer before the music)

Judges' ruling: on the J! round DD: "pelvis" was given", how would "hip bone" have fared (keeping in mind I don't think BMSes are issued on DDs)?

[amorris525]

Was cool to see someone from my hometown. Nice try, Bryan.

Also managed to get FJ somehow!

[CyrusChan]

FJ may not have been an insta-get, but it was awfully close. I saw the clues and thought, "Peter, Peter, Peter," and right as the music started "Peter the Great" came to me.

Did anyone else pre-call "Fur Elise" after the clue was read but before the music started?

Yep just like Manila

[iowabelle]

I have to agree, I'm not good at those word games and the Capital Sounds Like category either.

I couldn't figure out why Alex thought the FJ was hard. What else could it have been? I wasn't sure on the date of the founder's birth but nothing else came to mind (probably a good thing that I was a Western Civ TA for 3 years).

[Paucle]

Did anyone else pre-call "Fur Elise" after the clue was read but before the music started?

No, I pre-called it when it hadn't shown up yet in the first 4

[bomtr]

Judges' ruling: on the J! round DD: "pelvis" was given", how would "hip bone" have fared (keeping in mind I don't think BMSes are issued on DDs)?

If I am judge, I would not accept 'hip bone' for 'it's not one bone, it's these five bones:...' on the face of it, but especially since 'hip bone' is defined as either the ilium or three of the five listed.

[vellore]

I must echo Alex's enthusiasm. That game was a lot of fun to watch, competitive throughout, and featuring three players it was easy to like. Hard to know who to root for. Loved Bryan's "This is gettin' fun!" Was disappointed, though, in the lack of response to the Jonathan Swift category...

Said Louis XIV for FJ, thinking of Saint Louis.

[econgator]

Question: Should Bryan have been negged when he responded "Who is Cohen?" It's my impression that that particular actor's surname is "Baron Cohen," and the "Cohen" response is rather like responding "Who is Smith?" for Michael Nesmith.

Should it be negged? Yes. Has it ever been? Not that I can see. Twice before "Cohen" has been accepted.

[JoshuaRQI]

Judges' ruling: on the J! round DD: "pelvis" was given", how would "hip bone" have fared (keeping in mind I don't think BMSes are issued on DDs)?

No credit since they were talking about the sum of the hip bones and, for instance, the sacrum, which together make up the pelvis.

Loved Type A. Favorite clue of the episode. I didn't get it though, should have sounded it out. I was just sitting there thinking, "I must have misunderstood the clue somehow."

I enjoyed the personalities, even the muttered "Trebek..."

[MarkBarrett]

I'm in the club for no music needed on the Elise clue. The other precall I had was Sacha Baron Cohen in Comics Strip. The category came up and I knew Borat would be in there. A momentary blank had me unable to think of his name and I needed that clue in the third box as it took me that long to think of his name in time.

Future FJ alert: His new movie will be The Dictator as I saw trailers over the weekend. I predict some kind of Chaplin overlap clue down the road.

The misses on the Gropius clue? Yes, please beat me on the buzzer first on those to make the rebound more valuable.

What did I think of Swifties and Capital? 0/5 and 2/5 for 2000 out of 9000. Yes, Manila should have been first over Bern in valuation.

The FJ clue year had me rush to the right spot. Everything fit and I was done.

Any sci-fi fans get a V/Morena Baccarin/Anna vibe from Jennifer?

[Leaper]

Question: Should Bryan have been negged when he responded "Who is Cohen?" It's my impression that that particular actor's surname is "Baron Cohen," and the "Cohen" response is rather like responding "Who is Smith?" for Michael Nesmith.

Should it be negged? Yes. Has it ever been? Not that I can see. Twice before "Cohen" has been accepted.

Not to mention "Dreyfus" being accepted for Julia Louis-Dreyfus. But with the dash, that's probably more obviously incorrect.

[butler77]

I guess I am going to have to make a trip to the library and say "Well Done" to Jennifer.

[cheezguyty]

This was the first time that three consecutive champions have each won at least 3 games since Alison Stone Roberg's third win on July 26, 2010. I wasn't able to find an instance of three consecutive champs winning at least 4 games apiece in the Archive, though there were a couple of near misses:

• 4-time champion Richard Kolostian lost to a challenger named Adam Taxin, who won 3 games before falling to 5-timer Michael Arnone 11 years ago yesterday.
• The day after Dan Melia retired, Fred Ramen began a 5-game win streak of his own; just after that we had a third straight 1998 ToCer in Pam Mifflin, but she could only eke out 3 wins.
• After an impressive fourth win, Lyn Payne lost a tight match to Stephen Heuser, who went and lost the next day to Wes Ulm. Wes won 4 games of his own (3 with locks) before blanking on Panama hat and allowing challenger Arthur Phillips to start his road to 5 wins.
• Had Stephen Mitchell won his fourth game on March 5, 2001, it could have been 4-timer Sid Moore Jr. losing to 4-timer Stephen Mitchell losing to 5-timer Rick Knutsen, followed immediately by Raj Choudhary winning 4 games!

[opusthepenguin]

Any sci-fi fans get a V/Morena Baccarin/Anna vibe from Jennifer?

Well now I do.

While watching, my son pointed out the similarity between Bryan and Beaker on The Muppet Show. That made his already enjoyable performance even better. Too bad we won't see him again.

[opusthepenguin]

What a horrible Double Jeopardy round! I need a ruling from the judges to find out just how horrible. Bryan's response of "neoclassic" was ruled correct for the type of architecture being shown. I just said "classical". Any architecture mavens know whether that's acceptable?

Mrs. Penguin also requests a ruling. 'GOING TOO "FUR"' had the clue "Rolled up, like a flag or a boat's sails". She said "furl" rather than "furled". Is this one of those things where the judges wouldn't care or one where they'd insist on the proper tense?

Nice to see a Bloom County clue. Kind of sad it was in the hardest slot.

[billy pilgrim]

I got hung up on the wording of FJ."" Named for both..." I mean if the guy was named for a saint they both have the same name by definition. So i was thinking what both? Am i missing something? Bah ba bah bababa. CRAP.

[billy pilgrim]

Any sci-fi fans get a V/Morena Baccarin/Anna vibe from Jennifer?

Well now I do.

While watching, my son pointed out the similarity between Bryan and Beaker on The Muppet Show. That made his already enjoyable performance even better. Too bad we won't see him again.

What they have the same sweater? Or was it the crazy eyes?

[opusthepenguin]

While watching, my son pointed out the similarity between Bryan and Beaker on The Muppet Show. That made his already enjoyable performance even better. Too bad we won't see him again.

What they have the same sweater? Or was it the crazy eyes?

Both those things played a part. Mannerisms. Body language. It all added up. It's one of those things that has to be pointed out, but then you can't unsee it.

[Wimple]

Any sci-fi fans get a V/Morena Baccarin/Anna vibe from Jennifer?

Well now I do.

While watching, my son pointed out the similarity between Bryan and Beaker on The Muppet Show. That made his already enjoyable performance even better. Too bad we won't see him again.

He reminded me of Jon Cryer (two and a half men).

[marpocky]

I went 3/5 on Jonathan Swifties. Not sure what you guys thought was so hard about them.

Loved the Capital City category, but I think the "Type A" clue would have gone better with a reference to the personality type. Can Berra was horrible though.