Tuesday, September 16, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[jeff6286]

I guessed Amsterdam for FJ, figuring it was closer due to being close to the North Sea vs. the inland Brussels. Didn't realize it was further north.

I guessed Amsterdam too in a coin flip over Brussels, came up the wrong way. Using an online distance calculator, Brussels is 200 miles from London, Paris 211, and Amsterdam 222. Giving the population as one million safely rules out Paris, so then you just have to either know which one is slightly closer to London or know that Brussels has over a million people while Amsterdam has 813K. Tough clue.

[FireAntsDefense]

$13,050 for me on my Play Jeopardy iPhone app.

Bill had the game won even before the last Daily Double was revealed at the end of DJ!

So, JeopardyBill, may I begin by congratulating you on becoming the new champion! You made the Nittany Nation proud tonight with your victory.

The Nittany Nation will be tuning in again tomorrow as you defend your title. WE ARE!

PENN STATE! Thank you for the kind words!

South Carolina is proud, too. Say hey to Rush's and Flight Deck for me!

[TenPoundHammer]

Lach Trash: Persian, flood light, astronaut.

Missed only Le Sportsac in Brands. Ran Anagrammed Bodies of Water.

Somehow I knew Harry Chapin but not the Temptations or James Brown. As you may have guessed from my signature, my music knowledge is a bit patchy.

She's Had Some Work Done was tricky to me. Insulation in the attic was quite literally over my head at $200; NHO acoustic tile; and trimmed Americans with Disabilities Act into American Disability Act, which confused me enough to clam on distressed.

Buildings and websites can get "facelifts"?!? Huh?!?!?

0/5 in Ghostbusters, Reading, and Africa.

"Okay, start at Lisbon and go north. Madrid, Paris… nah, those still feel too far away. What's the next country north of France? Netherlands, I think. Amsterdam? Why not." For some reason I keep thinking Belgium is next to Denmark, because the only "good" exchange students we had were from those countries.

Eyeballing it on the map, it looks to me like London/Brussels and London/Amsterdam is a real toss-up in length unless you've got an extremely good eye for that kind of thing. What's the best way to narrow this down?

[clprez]

Ugh, this was not a good night for me. Lowlights include "bolo" for "bola" and Cat Stevens for Harry Chapin. Ran the anagrams and went 3/5 on Ghostbusters despite never having seen it, though. Amsterdam was my FJ guess.

Wow, bolo and Cat Stevens for me, too. I think the title "Cat's in the Cradle" put Cat in my head.

The reason I guessed Brussels over Amsterdam is that when I went backpacking through Europe in the pre-Chunnel days, the ferry took us to Belgium from England, so I figured that after France, it was the closest country.

[lincoln23]

The reason I guessed Brussels over Amsterdam is that when I went backpacking through Europe in the pre-Chunnel days, the ferry took us to Belgium from England, so I figured that after France, it was the closest country.

I guessed it was Brussels because in my own backpacking days I took a train from Paris to Brussels to get a $99 Peoples Express flight from Brussels to NYC, and so I figured Brussels was probably closer than Amsterdam. And yes, my backpacking days were a while ago. I believe Lindbergh may have been the pilot on that Peoples Express flight.

[doihavetoreally]

Congrats Bill. Lucked out by not considering Amsterdam.
Seemed like a tough game (compared to yesterday). Thought the"reading " category in DD was tough.

[JimGunn]

Same mistakes as you guys: Bolo, Cat Stevens and Amsterdam in FJ for me too.

[sarah0114]

Bill, we had to pause the game to look up your publications so my Religious Studies grad student husband* can check them out. He wants to know if you ever go to the American Academy of Religion conference. We are rooting for you tomorrow!

* As opposed to all my other husbands who are not Religious Studies grad students.

[Johnblue]

I found his choice of studies to be interesting too. How many RCs could there have been in the antebellum South? Nicely played game for the most part. I liked Elizabeth but her DD bet just killed her game. Good luck tomorrow, Bill!

[psgola]

Man, those were some hard categories for me. Best Category was African History 3/5.

Lach trash: Americans with Disabilities Act

FJ: Got that wrong too, guessed Amsterdam.

[Woppy T]

There wasn't anything specifically nothing that the questions had to be about the first film, right? Or was there something in the clue itself?

Besides the reference to the blu ray, the category was underlined, indicating a title. They were referring to a specific film, in which the baby did not appear. Writers stink.

[Shaymin]

I sort of backed into Final by thinking "It's got to be a low country, and I think Amsterdam has way more than a million people... Brussels?" Turned out to be right, so yay for me. Though did it look like the ladies spelled Brussels with two Ls to anyone else (Brussells)? I figured it didn't matter because Bill had a lock game, but figured the judges would be hard on that one especially after the ADA clue.

Congrats to Bill for a good win and a solid-in-retrospect FJ bet.

[nserven]

Copenhagen for FJ, Jim Croce for "Cat's in the Cradle." Congrats, Bill!

[MarkBarrett]

Bill - Was there an edit surrounding Elizabeth's Super Bowl story? It seemed like there was some kind of jump there at the end.

Congrats for debuting with a lock.

**************

I will be kicking myself over this FJ, as I had Brussels but switched to Lisbon at the last second because I am bad at picturing maps in my head.

I can't kick myself, but one more Lisbon here as I am not just bad, but terrible at picturing maps in my head. My thinking was Chunnel connects to France. Paris has over 1,000,000 for sure. Next to France is Spain and Portugal. Madrid must have more than a million. I wrote Lisbon.

If I would have had the common sense to head north of France my instincts tell me I would have guessed Amsterdam over Brussels so a miss no matter what I did.

Well done by the players to go 2/3 on it.

[jeff6286]

I sort of backed into Final by thinking "It's got to be a low country, and I think Amsterdam has way more than a million people... Brussels?" Turned out to be right, so yay for me. Though did it look like the ladies spelled Brussels with two Ls to anyone else (Brussells)? I figured it didn't matter because Bill had a lock game, but figured the judges would be hard on that one especially after the ADA clue.

Congrats to Bill for a good win and a solid-in-retrospect FJ bet.

Misspellings in FJ don't lead to an incorrect ruling unless they clearly change the pronunciation. Brusels, Brussels, Brusells, Brussells, any of those would be fine, and I'm sure someone could come up with a more creative or exotic spelling that the judges would also accept.

[This Is Kirk!]

I struggled tonight. Tough boards for me. Also mark me down for another "Amsterdam" FJ guess.

[Golf]

Having grown up on Ghostbusters, I thought 4 of the 5 questions they asked were atrocious.

In the first round the anagram category was free money, could not believe it was saved for last. This is usually an indicator of poor preparation.

Kudos though to the former champ for going TDD when it was necessary. Yes, the later DD wager was poor but at least she played to win.

Overall was not thrilled with the clue quality tonight, but that's subjective I suppose.

[OrangeSAM]

Congrats, BIll.

The first thought when I saw the Orwell DD was, "Don't say doublespeak," which of course Elizabeth did.

No problem on FJ!

[AdamAnt]

Pretty tough board for me tonight. The only thing I remember about Ghostbusters as a kid was eating it for lunch.

I said Harry Champman for Cat's in the Cradle. I wonder since it sounds somewhat similar to Chapin if it would have been ruled correctly.

For some reason I thought Denmark was just off the coast of the UK and said Copenhagen. I guess this means I shouldn't travel through Europe without a map.

[dhkendall]

$13,050 for me on my Play Jeopardy iPhone app.

I'm guessing the iPhone app doesn't use the Coryat method ...

Somehow I knew Harry Chapin but not the Temptations or James Brown. As you may have guessed from my signature, my music knowledge is a bit patchy.

Better than mine, I don't recognize your quote at all (and I have a quite eclectic iPhone, where pressing "shuffle" might get you Katy Perry, followed by Haydn, followed by Bloodgood, followed by AC/DC followed by Claude Roget d'Lisle, followed by the theme for the A-Team....)

I could have sworn "bolo" was the answer, and was going to come here to ask. Guess that one's genuinely wrong.

Good job Bill!