So what have your Coryat scores been so far this week? Don’t forget to post them for a chance to win either Jeopardy! for Wii, a signed copy of Stephen Baker’s Final Jeopardy: Man vs. Machine and the Quest to Know Everything, or a Jeopardy Challenger. (Your choice.)
Yesterday I couldn’t really keep track of my score. First, the show was “joined in progress” a few minutes in, which I suspect, but can’t confirm, had something to do with a school shooting that took place in Omaha yesterday. I started to keep track of my score then, but then there were little unexplained gaps in the show, so I didn’t see everything.
Here are today’s contestants:
 |
| Steve Gratz (Plans to use his winnings to travel!) |
 |
| Maureen Abell |
|
|
| Dan Jensen (Watched TV for 50 hours for charity! And looks just like a kid I went to grade school with!) |
Is it just me or has Steve been ssssllllooooowwww to select clues every day he’s been on? It seems to be a
trend among older contestants.
At the first break, Steve had 1200, Dan had 3600, and Maureen had 2600. The Daily Double was found by Dan after the first break in France France Revolution. He had 7200, Steve had 2600, and Maureen had 3800. Dan wagered 1500 on this clue: “Robespierre’s committee of public safety controlled this period of the revolution that saw 30,000 executions.”* I slam-dunked this one, and so did Dan.
After the Jeopardy round, Steve had 2200, Dan had 9300, and Maureen had 4800.
In Double Jeopardy, Steve started on a roll after getting this one right that the other two missed, in Language of Origin: “Jai Alai.”* Incidentally, I missed ALL of the clues in that category. Then Steve got the next two clues right, THEN found the Daily Double, all in Physics. Even though he’d gotten those first two in the category right, he mentioned that he did not take physics. (I didn’t either.) He then wagered 2000 of his 13000. Dan had 8100 and Maureen had 2200. This was Steve’s clue: “Fluid dynamics can be divided into hydrodynamics, the study of fluids in motion, and this study of gases in motion.”* Steve did miss this one, but I believe it was the only one he missed in the category. I got it right. Later in the round, though, Steve suffered by missing at least three in a row.
Maureen found the next Daily Double, in Seasonal Quotes. She had 3600 while Dan had 9700 and Steve still had 11000. She wagered 2500 on this clue: “T.S. Eliot wrote that it was the ‘cruellest month…stirring dull roots with spring rain.'”* This one’s been on Jeopardy! many times, and that’s the only reason you need to know it, I think. Maureen got it right, too.
Did you guys know this triple-stumper in Nicknames?: “This writer was known affectionately as ‘The Concord Rebel’ and ‘The Poet Naturalist.'”*
At the end of the round, the game couldn’t have been much closer. Mr. Trebek described it “extremely close.” Steve had 10200, Dan had 11300, and Maureen had 10500. The Final Jeopardy category was
Worldwide Media. This was the clue: “The name for this news agency means ‘peninsula,’ referring to the Arabian peninsula.”* All three contestants got it right. I left the “a” off the end – I want to know what you think: Acceptable? Wrong? Let me know. I asked on the
Jeopardy! message boards, and only person has responded so far. He said, “Wrong.” I’m dying to know if it would’ve been accepted on the show.
Anyway, wagers were obviously going to be critical with the scores as close as they were and with everyone getting it right. Steve wagered only 1101, which put him ahead of Dan by a dollar at the moment. Maureen wagered 10000, putting her in the lead. But Dan wagered 9701, which was enough to win even if Maureen doubled. Dan looked pleased with his win, which is one reason I like him. I want to see what he can do tomorrow.
My Coryat score today was 17800. Steve’s was 12200, Dan’s was 10600, and Maureen’s was 9600. My Coryat score from Tuesday was 18800. Genaro Lopez‘ was 8600. Alex Marchyshyn’s was -1600. Steve Gratz’ was 13200. (I got this info from j-archive.com, to whom I am always grateful!)
*Reign of Terror, Basque, aerodynamics, April, Thoreau, Al Jazeera
