Today’s contestants:
(from left to right; Jesse Cuevas, Ricky Kreitner, Marie Braden)
Jesse was back after his third win yesterday. Today’s Jeopardy round had a magazine theme with categories like Reader’s Digest and “Bon” Appetit. I like the theme but the clues were rough on me. At the first break, Ricky and I had 200, while Jesse had 3400 and Marie had 2200. I answered often, but just not correctly! (It appears responding correctly is critical to success on the show.)
One of the tough (no, tricky) categories was Time. A sample clue: “180 minutes after noon.”* That was the 200 clue and one of the easier ones. Jesse found the Daily Double in that category. He wagered all of his 2000 on this clue: “4 dozen minutes after 3:15 p.m.”* I was looking up as I was considering it in my mind, and I think that’s why I responded with the correct minutes but the wrong hour. Jesse got it right. I did get the next one in the category right: “1800 seconds before 8:11 a.m.”* Ricky got that one, too.
I had turned things around and was sweeping Car and Driver when time ran out with two clues left in the category. Sample clue: “Marty McFly went ‘Back to the Future’ in this make of car.”* Jesse had 5600 at the end of the round, Ricky and I had 2200, and Marie had 2800.
Ricky chose to start the round in Bible Book Names, and he seemed to like the category. Marie found the Daily Double there. Ricky had 3800, Jesse had 6400, Marie had 4400, and I had 6200. I’ll give you a sample clue before the Daily Double: “12 letters: Why?! Why didn’t I buy Microsoft when it hit the market in 1986?! And wearing that Speedo?! What was I thinking?!”* Get it? So the Daily Double was: “6 letters: Learned Hand, Joseph Crater (once ‘the most missingest man in America.’)”* I don’t get the clue at all, but Marie got it right.
Ricky found the next Daily Double, in Country Clubs. This was the clue: “Members of this club formed in 1993 include Latvia, Lithuania, and Luxembourg — Sorry, Libya, you’re not invited.”* He could not come up with it, and lost 4000 of his 5400. Ouch. And at that point, there was less than a minute left in the round. Ricky ended the round with 3400, while Jesse had 12400, Marie had 14800, and I had 15800.
The Final Jeopardy category was No. 1 Hits. I like this category! This was the clue: “Topping the charts on October 20, 1962, this novelty song is the only no. 1 hit to have the ‘electrodes’ in the lyrics.”* Marie and Jesse got it right, but Jesse had not written enough of the correct response to be acceptable. He lost 10800. Marie added 10000 to her total, and is your new champion!
*3 p.m., 4:03 p.m., 7:41 a.m., DeLorean, Lamentations, Judges, European Union, Monster Mash