BigDaddyMatty wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2019 12:08 am
What a brilliantly, beautifully constructed FJ! clue.
The clue:
FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
In a 1947 collection he solved 12 mysteries, including “The Cretan Bull” & “The Girdle of Hyppolita”
I'm not a big fan of the clue, mainly the word "collection". Was it a compilation of previous years of work? Did Christie (J! Pavlov) write 12 books in a year? 12 chapters? How do we know the "he" was contemporary to 1947? Were the titles metaphors, or the actual 12 Labors?
I decided I'd rather miss with the Hercules TOM over the mystery writer TOM. Got my wish.
"What kind of meteorological device can be either mercury or something you've never heard of?" in the second box was some nasty negbait.
Irony alert: It's possible that most people never heard of an aneroid barometer, but prior to the smart phone era, that's the only kind they've ever seen. That Father's Day gift weather station, or all? analog displays are based on them? Aneroid barometers. Older people might have seen an actual mercury barometer in a science lab. And now, aneroid barometers are obsolete except for their use as eye candy. The little (2mm x 2mm) Barometric Pressure Sensor in your cell phone can tell you what floor you are on in a shopping mall.
(more):
According to my cell phone app (Physics Toolbox).(I don't know how to embed images):
Operating Principle
The barometer contains a small cavity filled with gas that is entirely enclosed. The top side of the cavity is covered with a membrane that has a network of resistors embedded within it. As the pressure increases or decreases, the membrane changes shape. As a result of the change in shape, the resistors in the membrane undergo changes in crystal structure, which then changes their resistivity. Changes in the resistance across the membrane are interpreted as changes in atmospheric pressure.
(In other words, a transducer circuit with a captive reference source)
This was a teachable moment the J! writers missed.
Steve has dodged two scares with a TS and a solo get. Sad for Reid, and I do blame the syntax of the clue for making it seem like a possible compilation of works of any age.
Disclaimer - repeated exposure to author's musings may cause befuddlement.