Wednesday, January 11, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[Archivists]

Game Recap for Show #6288, 2012-01-11

CONTESTANTS
Vinayak Thiagarajan, a strategy consultant from Chicago, Illinois
Katy Stigers, a college soccer coach from Bristol, Tennessee
Dan McShane, a baseball game logger from West Islip, New York (whose 3-day cash winnings total $40,401)

OPENING REMARKS
Alex: Thanks, Johnny. Welcome, everyone. He's won big, he's won small. What's going to happen today with our champion Dan? Katy and Vinayak are gonna have a great deal to say about that. So I'll wish all three of you good luck. I'll direct your attention to our board as we pop the dollar figures in and as we reveal these categories. First off...

JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
ART & ARTISTS (3/5)
TRAVEL (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
CELEBRITIES' MIDDLE NAMES (5/5)
CATHOLIC PRIESTS (4/5)
TITLE 9 (5/5)
COME "IN" (5/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Dan: 13 R (including 1 DD), 2 W
Vinayak: 10 R, 1 W
Katy: 4 R (including 1 rebound), 1 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 3
Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $2,000



JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Dan found the Daily Double on the 8th clue. Dan had $2,000, Katy was scoreless, and Vinayak was at $1,600. Dan made it a True Daily Double, wagering $2,000.

TRAVEL $600: This island's Mataveri Intl. Airport, the world's most remote, is serviced only by Chile's LAN Airlines
(Alex: Yes, Rapa Nui.)

SCORES AT THE FIRST BREAK
Dan: $3,400
Vinayak: $2,200
Katy: $1,800

CONTESTANT INTERVIEWS



Alex: Vinayak Thiagarajan is from Chicago, Illinois. When he found out he was going to be a contestant on Jeopardy!--called his sister, and... an amazing coincidence.

Vinayak: Yeah, I called her. She was in New York, uh, getting into a cab, and as I told her the good news, uh, she realized she was in the "Cash Cab".

[Laughter]

Vinayak: So, uh... [chuckles] quite a coincidence.

Alex: Terrific. That's great.




Alex: Katy Stigers is from Tennessee. She is a college soccer coach. Tell me the story about your daughter and the little mix-up regarding French toast.

Katy: I was, uh, gonna make her breakfast, was very proud of myself. I-I made, uh, made the toast. I thought I put cinnamon on it, was--was very pleased with my work, and then she wouldn't eat it. She kept demanding milk. She said, "No, yucky," refused to eat it. I was very offended. I said, "No, I'm not gonna make you something else for breakfast. This is what--this is what you have," and a few minutes later, I took a bite and realized I'd used cayenne pepper and not cinnamon. So I felt very bad. I did make her something different.

Alex: Do you still--did you continue making breakfasts for her after that?

Katy: I--I am very conscientious about my spice usage now.

Alex: Okay. Good.




Alex: Dan McShane is our champion, spent some time in Argentina as a student, doing what?

Dan: Yes, well, I was studying in Buenos Aires for the semester.

Alex: Great city.

Dan: Oh, yeah, it's beautiful, but, uh, I don't know, probably my favorite part, for spring break, a few friends and I went down to, uh, Patagonia. We got to travel around, see the sights. It was amazing.

Alex: Mm-hmm. Patagonia is nice.

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
CATHOLIC PRIESTS $1000: This spiritual "director" doesn't arrange your holiday, he helps young men pursue their calling to the priesthood
(Dan: What is an agent?)
...
(Alex: As opposed to a vocation counselor, which you have in high school.)

ART & ARTISTS $400: This Dutch master served as chairman of the Delft Artists' Guild from 1662-63 & 1670-71
(Vinayak: Who is Rembrandt?)

ART & ARTISTS $600: Aquarelle is a transparent, rather than opaque, type of this painting, as seen in Paul Klee's work "Quarry"
(Katy: What is fresco?)

SCORES AT THE END OF THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
Dan: $7,200
Vinayak: $5,000
Katy: $2,200

[Archivists]

DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
WANT ADS (4/5)
GO "SOUTH" (5/5)
I KNOW THAT WORD BACKWARDS & FORWARDS (5/5) (Alex: I know that word because it's a palindrome.)
MESOPOTAMIA (4/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
THE DE NIRO CODE (5/5)
AT THE CLEVELAND CLINIC (3/5, including 1 missed Daily Double)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Dan: 17 R (including 1 DD), 1 W
Katy: 5 R (including 1 rebound), 2 W
Vinayak: 4 R, 2 W (including 1 DD)

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 3
Double Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $3,600



FIRST DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Dan snagged the next Daily Double on the 19th clue. Dan had $20,000, Katy had $1,800, and Vinayak was at $5,800. Dan wagered $3,000.

MESOPOTAMIA $1600: Transcribed in the 1800s, the Behistun Inscription is the Rosetta Stone for this type of writing developed in Mesopotamia

SECOND DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
It was Vinayak who snatched up the last Daily Double of the game on the 30th clue. Dan had $25,800, Katy had $5,800, and Vinayak was at $8,200. Vinayak wagered $5,000.

AT THE CLEVELAND CLINIC $2000: (Jimmy of the Clue Crew reports from the Cleveland Clinic.) Robin Williams thanked the Cleveland Clinic team for his heart surgery, saying, after getting a replacement one of these from a cow, "the grazing's been fun"
(Vinayak: ...Um...)
(Alex: Vinayak?)
(Vinayak: What is a... stent?)

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND
WANT ADS $1600: In the June 3, 2011 paper: this country wants new president after bomb explodes in Ali Saleh's presidential palace
(Katy: What is Pakistan?)
(Vinayak: What is Tunisia?)

MESOPOTAMIA $1200: The epic poem of this Sumerian king includes an account of a great flood
(Katy: Who is Hammurabi?)

AT THE CLEVELAND CLINIC $800: (Sarah of the Clue Crew reports from the Cleveland Clinic.) "M.I." stands for myocardial infarction, or heart attack; "M.I." also stands for this innovative type of heart surgery with tiny instruments that can reduce trauma & complications
(Alex: Less than a minute to go, now, Dan.)

SCORES ENTERING FINAL JEOPARDY!
Dan: $25,800 (lock game)
Katy: $5,800
Vinayak: $3,200

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
FOOD ETYMOLOGY

VENUSIAN MONOLOGUES/MARTIAN CHRONICLES
Lock for first place; crush for second place.
Dan: Wager between $0 (venusian) and $14,199 (martian), and enjoy your victory.
Katy: Wager $601 to cover Vinayak.
Vinayak: You have the hope of surpassing Katy for second place if you come up with the correct response or if your opponent fails to. Bet between $2,000 and $3,198.

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
Keith Downey developed rapeseed into this cooking product, now a huge cash crop for farmers in Saskatchewan

FINAL SCORES
Vinayak: $3,200 - $2,601 = $599 (What is grapeseed?) (3rd place: $1,000)
Katy: $5,800 - $2,600 = $3,200 (What is vegetable oil) (2nd place: $2,000)
Dan: $25,800 - $4,200 = $21,600 (What is cooking oil?) (4-day champion: $62,001)
(Alex: [Revealing Katy's response] We can't accept that.)
...
(Alex: [Revealing Dan's response] No, that's too vague. The product is [*]--[*] oil, for "Canada" and "oil, low acid"...)

Total Potential Lach Trash: $5,600

GAME DYNAMICS


CORYAT SCORES
Dan: $23,000, 30 R (including 2 DDs), 3 W
Vinayak: $8,200, 14 R, 3 W (including 1 DD)
Katy: $5,800, 9 R, 3 W
Combined Coryat: $37,000

BATTING AVERAGES
Dan: 30/60 = .500
Vinayak: 14/59 = .237
Katy: 9/58 = .155
Team: 53/63 = .841

MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTING CLUES
TRAVEL $1000: You can buy samples of this fossilized resin at a museum devoted to it in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic
(Dan: What is silver?)

COME "IN" $1000: Paul Apak Angilirq was a producer as Canada's IBC, this Broadcasting Corporation
[Applause for Vinayak's run of the category]
(Alex: And the category belonged to you, and you're now in the lead as a result.)

THE DE NIRO CODE $2000: "Goodfellas": "The two greatest things in life" are "never rat on" these "and always keep your mouth shut"
[Applause for Dan's run of the category]

MESOPOTAMIA $2000: From the Assyrian for "height", this stepped structure was used as a temple by Mesopotamian cultures
(Dan: What is pyramid?)

AT THE CLEVELAND CLINIC $400: (Sarah of the Clue Crew stands outside the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.) The Cleveland Clinic pioneered group practice as opposed to private; the founding doctors had worked as a team in the first AEF unit in France during this war

AT THE CLEVELAND CLINIC $1200: (Sarah of the Clue Crew reports from the Cleveland Clinic.) Single-port surgery is an advanced method that mainly uses just one entry point; the Cleveland Clinic was the first hospital to extract one of these paired organs via the umbilicus

AT THE CLEVELAND CLINIC $1600: (Sarah of the Clue Crew reports from the Cleveland Clinic.) These files are fading into the past, as the clinic is on the forefront of "EMR", short for these, which are available to authorize doctors & personnel anytime, anywhere in the world

CORRECT RESPONSES
Easter Island
a vocation director
Jan Vermeer
watercolor
cuneiform
a valve
Yemen
Gilgamesh
minimally invasive
canola
amber
Inuit
your friends
ziggurat
World War I
a kidney
electronic medical records

[goforthetie]

What's with all these last-or-next-to-last-clue-of-DJ DD's going to the 2nd place contestant recently? Another botched wager, but thankfully it didn't matter this time.

Thankfully, FJ shouldn't get anyone complaining about fancy pants food today. Instaget, although it helped that I had occasion to look up the Snopes article on it just a couple weeks ago.

[JFanForever]

Did slightly better today than I did yesterday: 9 in the first round and 7 in the second. Had no idea what Final Jeopardy was. I am not good at all with food. Thankfully some of the studying and stuff I am looking up is working. Today there was a clue on the capital of Nepal and I got it. Just need to tackle other stuff now. Good game.

[okstater04]

Thankfully some of the studying and stuff I am looking up is working. Today there was a clue on the capital of Nepal and I got it. Just need to tackle other stuff now.

Good job - keep it up!

[xxaaaxx]

Once again, a 4700 DD wager was the smart move, but the contestant didn't figure it out in time (not that it would've mattered).

If, after some of the sub-30% FJs we've had recently, this one passes 80%, then I'm clearly doing it wrong. At least I guessed an oil; all the reveal elicited from me was a thunderous WTF...

[CyrusChan]

was it just me or was this one of the easier episodes to come out?

Dan did a nice job on the Deniro movies. DJ was a breeze with the "south's"

WHat would you guys have wagered if you were Vinayak? i think he should have gone for half of Dan's score and hope for a tie to come back tomorrow.

[Fishercat]

I was happy to be able to get it down to an oil, but I too went for Vegetable.

The tie bet would have been the smart one, I can only hope that if I ever make it on the show, I'm in the position to make that kind of wager.

[Tehshigelisok]

14/30, 10/30. Didn't get any of the $1000s in J!, and Valve was my only get on the entire right half of the DJ! board.

Did the Cleveland Clinic feel upside down to anyone else? I mean, "paired organ" at $1200, an easy acronym and then all they wanted on the DD was "valve"?

And for those wondering: yes, I got sous-chef.

FJ! was an instaget. All I saw was "rapeseed blah blah blah Sasketchewan". Rapeseed is an oil. Canola is short for Canada something. Bingo.

And I'll whip out the only Catholic joke I have. I played piano at a few Catholic services. I really liked the pastor — I mean, father, who added some dry wit to his sermon — I mean, homily. I didn't recognize a lot of songs in the hymnal — I mean, missalette, and I still think it's stupid that only Catholics can take Communion — I mean, Eucharist.

[DWS]

The wager should've been $4700 on the last DD, but as others have noted, it wouldn't have mattered.

FJ was an instaget.

[DBear]

rapeseed = canola is a Pavlov for me.
Ran "South" and "Mesopotamia". Can't believe no one got Gilgamesh.
Shut out on Cleveland Clinic.

[alietr]

I was able to connect rapeseed with canola oil, but had no idea that canola was a made-up word. I always thought there were little canolas around. The boards did seem pretty easy tonight.

[Doug527]

So am I correct in thinking this is the first time we've had back-to-back-to-back 4-timers? It's certainly not something that happens a lot.

This was a pretty good game for me; DJ! categories much more in my wheelhouse than J! (ran 3 in DJ!; none in J!). I defaulted immediately to the rapeseed-canola connection but couldn't figure out why it worked. I ended up going with rapini (broccoli rabe), because I was harping on the "rap". Should've known that was too easy for FJ! Sigh.

[CyrusChan]

How do you guys figure out Canola is an acronym? That has to be from previous knowledge.

From the clue, you can only infer something relating to cooking/culinary.

I have no idea with any oil and thought Canola was a scientific name or something.

[Austin Powers]

It was a story I was familiar with, so "Canola" was a very easy get in my house. I've seen it listed in Britain as "oilseed rape," so the need for a more commercial-friendly name is understandable.

This reminds me of a complaint I had last week, about the Trumbo novel final. There, mentioning Ron Kovic and Cindy Sheehan didn't add anything; they had already told us it was an anti-war novel.

Here, on the other hand, Saskatchewan is mentioned for a very good reason - to lead you to "Canada," and hopefully, Canola.

[Tehshigelisok]

I think I actually learned Canola = Canadian from a previous Jeopardy! clue.

[Turd Ferguson]

was it just me or was this one of the easier episodes to come out?

Dan did a nice job on the Deniro movies. DJ was a breeze with the "south's"

I thought the DeNiro category was ridiculously easy, especially for DJ! $1600 for a movie where he speaks Italian, especially while ID-ing it as a sequel? What else was it going to be, Analyze That? Last time they did a DeNiro quotes category, Godfather Part II was a $600 clue, without it being specified as a sequel.

I had thought that I'd read about the Canola-Rapeseed connection in a somewhat recent thread on the Sony Board, though perhaps it was somewhere else.

[opusthepenguin]

My brain mutinied at least twice during the DJ round. I couldn't come up with the name of the Persian Gulf. I was picturing it on the map, knew I knew the name and had even mentioned it on New Year's Eve in connection with an anecdote I was telling. Totally blanked.

Then we get to a film involving Billy Crystal and my brain said, "That's easy! Danny DeVito was only in one film with Billy Crystal. Throw Momma from the Train! Ta da!" Sigh.

Ok, judges, how about a ruling for the missus? In WANT ADS, when they were asking for "this type of scientist, like [Max Planck and Stephen Hawking]". She said "quantum scientist." I say give it to her. It's hard to see how the Jeopardy judges could neg that, though I'd be a little more sure if she'd said "quantum physicist".

[boson]

I like my Chilean sea bass fried in canola, served with mahi mahi and orange roughy on a bed of kiwi. It's really good at that place in Kitchener Ontario.

[thejeopardyfan]

Thankfully some of the studying and stuff I am looking up is working. Today there was a clue on the capital of Nepal and I got it. Just need to tackle other stuff now.

Good job - keep it up!

This!
I thought Vinayak's wager was not that bad, under pressure like that. He would've had more than twice Katy's total and still had a chance in the Final.
Surprised no one's complained here yet about the "Communion wine" clue in Catholic Priests. ("Precious Blood"?!?)
By the way, I notice you guys are doing multi-quote. Can someone teach us how to do that, please?