In case you’re interested, here’s a link to results from the Scrabble tournament Andy is helping direct in Albany, NY. He says you can find players’ names there at 1 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday. A Jeopardy! champ’s name will catch your eye!
I sat down to watch the 4-2-09 rerun on GSN Thursday morning (I expected it to air Wednesday), but it wasn’t on my list of recordings. I assume it aired and I missed it. That’s especially troublesome because I double-checked, as always, at the beginning of the week. But here is a season 25 Coryat:
originally 4-3-09: 22400, but it felt lower. 26000 without negs.
Today’s contestants:
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| Nichole Mancone of Providence RI |
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| Sandip Amin of Matteson IL |
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| Paula Menasche of Coral Gables FL |
Yesterday, Nichole became a champ for the first time. (By the way, does it bug anyone else how Mr. Trebek says “Nee-cuhl”?) She was off to a fast start today, getting 8 right before the first break. She had 5200 at that time. Paula had gotten 2 right and had 1000, and the handsome Sandip had gotten 3 right and one wrong and had 400.
Nichole found the Daily Double of the round shortly after the break, in Holidays & Observances. She had gotten one right and now had 5800. Paula had gotten one wrong and had 600. Sandip had gotten 2 right and had 1000. Nichole wagered 2000 on this clue: “At the beginning of each term, Supreme Court justices work one week, then get Monday off for this.” The right one crossed my mind, but I rejected it. 😛 That emoticon looks happier than I was about it! Nichole got it right.
I also rejected the corrected response on this next clue in the same category: “November 29 is Nellie Tayloe Ross Day in this state where she served as governor.”
I did get this triple-stumper in Self-Help Books: “Misquoting Robert Frost didn’t stop this M. Scott Peck book from spending years on the bestseller lists.”
Nichole didn’t need any help by the end of the Jeopardy round. She’d gotten 5 right and one wrong since her Daily Double and was whipping ’em with 10800. Paula had gotten 2 right and one wrong and had 1200, and Sandip had gotten one right and one wrong and had 800.
Where you a little surprised how Mr. Trebek pronounced van Gogh? In a Final I watched recently, it sounded more like “van Gock.”
Sandip went suddenly from I Love L.A. to Italian History for 1600, and he found the first Daily Double there. He had gotten 3 right and had 3600. Paula had gotten 2 right and had 2400, and Nichole had gotten one wrong and had 9600. Sandip wagered it all. I would have too, although I don’t feel confident in the category. And it made me a little nervous that we hadn’t seen any clues in the category yet! Here is the clue: “The Etruscans’ territory extended roughly south to this river, where the hero Horatius stopped them at the bridge.” I was super-proud to get this right, guess though it was, almost like it was a triple-stumper. Unfortunately Sandip guessed wrong.
I’m accepting “law” for this one in What Degree Did They Get? (Can’t they come up with a better name for the category?): “1986: Elena Kagan gets no argument from Harvard.” A friend who considered law school tells me they are the same thing. I said what Sandip did on the next clue, in the same category: “1935: The first college degree of James van Allen of ‘belt’ fame.” I’m gonna put this one on the poll if I do one.
The show cut off abruptly – very much so – after 18 Double Jeopardy clues, for a report on the fiscal cliff followed by a speech by Mr. President. That itself felt like dropping off a cliff (I have to assume). The show never did come back, but Brian now posts episodes for boardies whenever they ask.
And speaking of the cliff, my mom tells me she saw her Congressman at Mass today. Not unusual, except now?!? I can’t believe any Congressman would be home and not in Washington at a time like this. I’d be afraid to show my face anyway.
Despite missing the “van Allen” clue, Sandip moved over to Starry Night. He’d just gotten one right and was working his way out of the hole. He got one right there, but then Paula did and the next clue was the Daily Double. Mr. Trebek said before she wagered, not that she noticed, that there was about a minute to go in the round. There were 6 clues left on the board after the Daily Double. Paula had gotten 4 right since Sandip’s Daily Double and had 7600. Persistent Nichole had gotten 5 right and had 15600, and Sandip had gotten 2 right and 2 wrong and was in the red 400. Paula wagered just 1000 on this clue: “Other than the sun, the 1st star surface directly photographed was Betelgeuse, the shoulder of this constellation.” I thought this was an easy one. Paula got it right too.
Unfortunately for Sandip, 2 of the next clues were triple-stumpers. Maybe if they hadn’t been we’d have had enough time to see more clues. But there were 3 left when the round ended. Nichole had gotten one right since the Daily Double and had 17200. Paula had 8600, and Sandip was in the red then, 400. Mr. Trebek pointed out that Nichole had exactly twice what Paula did.
The Final Jeopardy category was American Authors. Is it just me or has literature been extra-prevalent on the show lately? I’m not complaining. In fact I like it. This was the Final clue, which I thought was another easy one: “In 1886 he said, ‘My books are water; those of the great geniuses is wine. Everybody drinks water.” Paula got it right and did the right thing if she wanted to win in this scenario, which is wager everything. Nichole got it wrong, but you’d think she’d wager nothing to guarantee her win, right? Even if it was shared. But no, she inexplicably wagered 5000, causing her to lose. This is extra-baffling because the coordinators talk about this very scenario in their spiel as they’re preparing contestants. They do, however, also implore contestants not to play to tie.
My Coryat today was only 18800 (24800 without negs).
Happy new year, everybody. Your present from me is Alistair Bell‘s Q & A, on Monday!
