Monday, December 15, 2014 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[Archivists]

Game Recap for Show #6961, 2014-12-15

CONTESTANTS
Rex Marzke, a user interface designer from Houston, Texas
Alysha Rooks, a writer originally from New Orleans, Louisiana
Ryan Pensyl, an Army officer originally from Shamokin, Pennsylvania (whose 2-day cash winnings total $32,000)

OPENING REMARKS
Alex: Thank you, Johnny. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Nice to have you with us once again today. We wrapped up last week on a high note with the Captain enjoying a big win. But what's going to happen today as he faces these two challengers, Rooks and Rex? The two "R"s have arrived. Good luck to all three of you. Here we go into the Jeopardy! Round. And these are the categories that I hope you'll enjoy today...

JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
THE END OF THE BOOK (3/5)
____ & ____ (4/5) (Alex: Each correct response joined by an ampersand.)
WEBSITES (4/5, including 1 missed Daily Double)
THE ART OF RELIGION (4/5)
NEW YORK IN THE MOVIES (5/5)
I'LL BE "BACK" (5/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Rooks: 13 R, 3 W (including 1 DD)
Rex: 6 R (including 1 rebound), 0 W
Ryan: 6 R, 1 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 4
Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $3,000



SCORES AT THE FIRST BREAK
Rex: $3,600
Rooks: $1,600
Ryan: $1,200

CONTESTANT INTERVIEWS



Alex: Rex Marzke from Houston, Texas, is not only very bright, he is a rocket scientist.

Rex: Yes.

Alex: An original rocket scientist working where?

Rex: I originally was a contractor with NASA. We worked on space station. I worked on Mission Control. I worked on some orbital mechanics.

Alex: Well, now that we no longer send up those space shuttles, what are you guys doing?

Rex: I design websites now.

[Laughter]

Alex: Well, that's go--about rocket science, I suppose?

Rex: Unfortunately not. I'm doing driver's license renewals.

Alex: Oh.

[Laughter]

Alex: I liked you better when you were a rocket scientist.

Rex: Yeah.

[Laughter]




Alex: Alysha Rooks is a writer, and she and her fianc got married accidentally?

Rooks: Yeah, accidentally. Uh, it turns out that the common law marriage laws in Colorado are pretty lax. So, we got married when my fiancé handed me the phone and said, "Could you please speak to my wife?" to the cable company. Seriously. That's it. That's all it took.

Alex: That's all it took?

Rooks: That's all it took. We were already living together. We'd fulfilled all the requirements. So, we just had to hold out ourselves as husband and wife. It's fast.

Alex: I'm going to have to remember that one.

[Laughter]

Alex: Okay.




Alex: Captain Ryan Pensyl. Army captain. Where have you served?

Ryan: I have served--I was, uh, stationed in Germany, and then when I got picked up for West Point, I went to the West Point prep school, of Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, followed by four years at West Point. 3 1/2 years at fort Stewart, Georgia. Deployed to Iraq from there, and then a year in Korea. And then I've been at Fort Hood since 2011. And from there, I've deployed to Afghanistan.

Alex: Well, thank you for your service. Let's go on here.

[Applause]

JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Rooks found the Daily Double on the 30th clue. Ryan had $2,600, Rooks had $5,200, and Rex was at $4,000. Rooks wagered $2,000.

WEBSITES $1000: This literature-based website was named for a title scrivener
(Rooks: What is Scribd?)

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
THE END OF THE BOOK $400: Imprisoned, Raskolnikov has a long wait until he can again be with his beloved Sonia
(Alex: And that book is Crime and Punishment.)
(Rooks: Of course it is.)
(Alex: Rooks, back to--oh, of course, yes.)

THE END OF THE BOOK $1000: Lying sick in bed, Adam gives his son Caleb his blessing by saying the Hebrew word "timshel"
(Rooks: What is Exodus?)
...
(Alex: You're still in the lead, Rooks.)
(Rooks: I'll take it.)

____ & ____ $600: You boys played that first half like you didn't even know the plays! Let's go back to these 2 letters!

THE ART OF RELIGION $1000: Titian portrayed Mary ascending to heaven, also known as this Christian doctrine
(Ryan: What is the assuntion? What is the ascension?)
...
(Alex: It's not the ascension. It's [*].)

SCORES AT THE END OF THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
Rex: $4,000
Rooks: $3,200
Ryan: $2,600

[Archivists]

DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
GO FOURTH BY NAME (1/3)
PARKS (4/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
THE WALLABY (5/5)
POP CULTURE RELATIVES? (4/5)
ANCIENT SCIENCE (4/5)
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY PAGE 1,001 (4/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Rooks: 10 R (including 1 rebound and 1 DD), 2 W
Rex: 6 R (including 2 rebounds), 0 W
Ryan: 6 R, 2 W

Clues revealed: 28
Triple Stumpers: 6
Double Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $10,800



FIRST DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Rooks snagged the next Daily Double on the 23rd clue. Ryan had $7,400, Rooks had $8,400, and Rex was at $10,400. Rooks wagered $2,000.

PARKS $1600: It took workers months in 1880 to transport this 69-foot shaft from a Staten Island dock to Central Park
(Alex: All right, with less than a minute to go now.)

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY PAGE 1,001 $2000: Emulsifier found in egg yolks & used in a wide variety of products

POP CULTURE RELATIVES? $1200: A "Star Trek" captain & a TV style expert

ANCIENT SCIENCE $2000: Insects are covered in book 11 & botany in books 12-19 of this Roman scholar's "Natural History"

PARKS $2000: The 105-year-old Looff Carousel in this Washington city's Riverfront Park is housed in a building remaining from Expo '74
(Ryan: What is Seattle?)

GO FOURTH BY NAME $2000: After steering Egypt toward sun-worshipping monotheism, Pharaoh Amenhotep IV took this "A" name

GO FOURTH BY NAME $1600: After Napoleon's army invaded this nation in 1807, its king Charles IV was forced to abdicate
[The end-of-round signal sounds.]

SCORES ENTERING FINAL JEOPARDY!
Rex: $10,800
Rooks: $10,400
Ryan: $7,400

PREFINAL REMARKS
(Before the first break, Kelly Miyahara of the Jeopardy! Clue Crew delivers a Footnote about Sony Pictures' Annie.)
Little Orphan Annie, the spunky girl with a heart of gold, began as a 1924 comic strip. During her 85-year newspaper run, she appeared on radio, the Broadway stage, and now in a new movie version of the musical opening this week.

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
POETRY

VENUSIAN MONOLOGUES/MARTIAN CHRONICLES
Four-fifths for first place.
Rex: Wager $10,001 to cover Rooks.
Rooks: You're faced with a legitimate choice in strategy. You can either choose to cover Ryan, hoping that you give the correct response and Rex doesn't, in which case you'll want to wager $4,401 to cover Ryan's doubled score, but no more than $9,600 if you want to top Rex on a Triple Stumper; or bet up to $2,999 and win if both Rex and Ryan miss Final.
Ryan: If you think Rooks is going to wager to cover you, try wagering less than $1,400 to beat Rex and Rooks on the Triple Stumper; or, if you think Rooks is going to wager small in hopes of a Triple Stumper, wager between $3,001 (venusian, to top a $0 wager by Rooks) and $7,400 (martian, which may win in some cases but may also risk dropping you from second to third place if you get Final wrong).

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
The narrator mistakes the presence of this title creature for the wind & later calls it prophet

FINAL SCORES
Ryan: $7,400 - $7,400 = $0 (What is an albatross) (3rd place)
Rooks: $10,400 + $8,012 = $18,412 (What is the raven?) (New champion: $18,412)
Rex: $10,800 - $13 = $10,787 (What is the Dragon) (2nd place)
(Alex: [To Rooks] By Edgar Allen Poe. "'Tis the wind and nothing more!")

Total Potential Lach Trash: $13,800

GAME DYNAMICS


CORYAT SCORES
Rooks: $12,000, 23 R (including 1 DD), 5 W (including 1 DD)
Rex: $10,800, 12 R, 0 W
Ryan: $7,400, 12 R, 3 W
Combined Coryat: $30,200

BATTING AVERAGES
Rooks: 24/60 = .400
Ryan: 12/58 = .207
Rex: 12/58 = .207
Team: 48/63 = .762

MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTING CLUES
NEW YORK IN THE MOVIES $200: The "I'll have what she's having" scene in this romantic comedy took place at NYC's Katz's Deli
(Rooks: What is... oh, Sleepless in Seattle?)

NEW YORK IN THE MOVIES $400: (Hi. I'm Quvenzhané Wallis.) In an updated version of a beloved musical, I play this title girl as a foster kid--it's the hard knock life with Miss Hannigan in Harlem
(Alex: You're out of the hole just like that.)

I'LL BE "BACK" $600: It's extremely acrobatic, considering it's a 40-ton creature

WEBSITES $200: This nature magazine's web page about the Vumbi lions of the Serengeti is purr-fect

THE ART OF RELIGION $600: (Alex reads from the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia, PA.) In his composition two right hands, Rodin noticed a similarity to a Gothic arch, & so he named the piece for this type of grand Catholic church

POP CULTURE RELATIVES? $400: Homer & Marge's older daughter & Nick Lachey's ex-"Newlywed" wife
(Ryan: Who is Jessica Simpson?)
(Alex: Need more than that.)
(Ryan: Who is Jessica Simpson-Lachey?)
...
(Rooks: Let's go with "the writers were bored"--PAGE 1,001 OF THE DICTIONARY for $400.)

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY PAGE 1,001 $1200: Abbreviation for a semiconductor diode that converts applied voltage into light
(Rooks: What is LCD?)

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY PAGE 1,001 $1600: Swiss-born modernist architect
[Rex stumbles over the pronunciation of the correct response, trying several variants.]
(Alex: That's close enough for us.)

THE WALLABY $1200: The Qantas Wallabies are a team that plays in the Australian league of this sport
(Rooks: What is, uh, Australian football?)

PARKS $400: Tranquillity Park in this Texas city was built to commemorate the 1969 Apollo 11 Moon landing
(Alex: Rex is upset now because you got in ahead of him.)

CORRECT RESPONSES
Bartleby
Crime and Punishment
East of Eden
"X"s & "O"s
the assumption
Cleopatra's Needle (the obelisk accepted)
lecithin
Patrick & Martha Stewart
Pliny the Elder
Spokane
Akhenaten
Spain
the raven
When Harry Met Sally
Annie
a humpback whale
National Geographic
a cathedral
Lisa & Jessica Simpson
LED
Le Corbusier
rugby
Houston

[jeff6286]

Poetry
The narrator mistakes the presence of this title creature for the wind & later calls it prophet.

Spoiler

What is the Raven? Ryan said albatross; Rex said dragon.

Rex Marzke: $10,800-$13=$10,787
Alysha Rooks : $10,400+$8,012=$18,415...now a 1-day champion with $18,415
Ryan Pensyl: $7,400-$7,400=$0

[grindcore]

That's what happens when the show turns into Family Feud-esque buffoonery. We leave a DD uncovered. No good.

Just about instaget FJ. panicked for a second and thought it was the telltale heart.

[floridagator]

That was a crazy game. The alliterative contestants posted decent scores, but there was too much chatter and banter going on (read: >0). FJ was pretty easy but no instaget for me. What is the longest a champ has held on for so far this season?

[TenPoundHammer]

Has a contestant ever gone by their last name on the screen before?

16 and 14 = two really good rounds for me. Even with an unusually high neg count of four.

Got all but quarterback in "Back" (pick the most obvious one… yet somehow, "running back" was more obvious to me) and everything but "back to X's and O's" in Blank & Blank.

Also NHO: Bitcoin, Bartleby. I knew LinkedIn but was blanking on the name.

My mom got the Lach Trash on East of Eden, but I got no Lach Trash of my own.

Only 3/5 in Wallaby. Precalled "marsupial" and was happy to see Rocko show up, but I didn't know where New Guinea is. Also thought that the rugby clue was horrible negbait for Australian Rules football.

Took a few seconds of thought, but I got this FJ! right.

[Lumosityfan]

That was a crazy game. The alliterative contestants posted decent scores, but there was too much chatter and banter going on (read: >0). FJ was pretty easy but no instaget for me. What is the longest a champ has held on for so far this season?

So far, the most amount of games anyone has won in a row this season is 4 with Catherine Hardee.

[econgator]

Also thought that the rugby clue was horrible negbait for Australian Rules football.

Yeah. If you're not a fan of both (or all 3, I guess. The Wallabies are Rugby Union, but Rugby League is pretty big in Australia, too), it's an easy mistake to make.

A completely lucky guess on FJ, but I'll take it.

[Abraxas]

This was a good game for all three players, especially for Rooks (Alysha) who had the sole FJ get. I don't recall any previous J! contestant ever choosing to be called by his or her last name, as Alysha Rooks is doing. I got 30 clues correct including X's and O's, Bartleby, and lecithin, but not FJ.

[Bamaman]

Dr. Oz went by his last name and title, but that's a special case.

I agree the jibber jabber was a bit much. I like players having fun, but not at the expense of clues, especially a DD.

No chance for me on FJ.

[CrunchyTaco]

This is a game where I wish the Jeopardy! editors would edit out the extraneous chatter, like they would in the first round of a tournament, so we can get through all of the clues.

[clprez]

Poetry
The narrator mistakes the presence of this title creature for the wind & later calls it prophet.

Spoiler

What is Beowulf? Ryan said albatross; Rex said dragon.

Rex Marzke: $10,800-$13=$10,787
Alysha Rooks : $10,400+$8,012=$18,415...now a 1-day champion with $18,415
Ryan Pensyl: $7,400-$7,400=$0

I thought it was

Spoiler

The Raven

[econgator]

Poetry
The narrator mistakes the presence of this title creature for the wind & later calls it prophet.

Spoiler

What is Beowulf? Ryan said albatross; Rex said dragon.

Rex Marzke: $10,800-$13=$10,787
Alysha Rooks : $10,400+$8,012=$18,415...now a 1-day champion with $18,415
Ryan Pensyl: $7,400-$7,400=$0

I thought it was

Spoiler

The Raven

It was. I fixed it.

[TenPoundHammer]

How the heck did you get Beowulf and The Raven mixed up?

[NoName84]

We leave a DD uncovered. No good.

When did that last happen in a regular game?

[cheezguyty]

We leave a DD uncovered. No good.

When did that last happen in a regular game?

September 30

[Category 13]

I really liked all three contestants, and I thought this was a good game. There are numerous reasons for a board to be left unfinished. I didn't notice enough extraneous chatter to fully lay the blame on that.

In my living room, it sounded like Ryan may have given the correct response before he said "ascention" (sp). But Alex didn't hear him (?), so he was given the chance to change his answer to a wrong one.

The Spokane instead of Seattle clue seemed like neg-bait. I nominate it for the weekly poll.

Pretty good FJ clue. I couldn't come up with it.

[ElendilPickle]

In my living room, it sounded like Ryan may have given the correct response before he said "ascention" (sp). But Alex didn't hear him (?), so he was given the chance to change his answer to a wrong one.

Pretty good FJ clue. I couldn't come up with it.

I also thought he said assumption first, and I also couldn't come up with FJ.

[econgator]

In my living room, it sounded like Ryan may have given the correct response before he said "ascention" (sp). But Alex didn't hear him (?), so he was given the chance to change his answer to a wrong one.

I also thought he said assumption first

As did I.

[jeff6286]

Oops, I accidentally left my own terrible guess at FJ in the post instead of replacing it with the correct response. For some reason my mind immediately went to epic poems, like Beowulf or Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and it looked like the champion did the same thing. The Raven never entered my mind until it was revealed as a response and then it was completely obvious that it was correct. I couldn't seem to remember if Beowulf was a guy or a creature in that story. I was pretty sure it was wrong but couldn't come up with anything better before time was up. As I suspected, Beowulf is the hero, Grendel is the monster. somewhere in my mind I knew that.