Today’s contestants:
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| Tom Brown |
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| Carl Aveni |
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| Chloe Horning |
Tom came into today as a two-day champion.
The day started off slow for me, as I only got this one right in Authors, the first category chosen: “While attending Lisbon Falls High School in Maine, this horror author published a newspaper, the Village Vomit.”
However, I got two triple-stumpers in the next category, Musicals by Character, and wound up sweeping it. Here are the triple-stumpers: “Emile de Becque and Ensign Nellie Forbush.” (Carl said The Pirates of Penzance and Chloe said HMS Pinafore. ???) And “Aunt Eller Murphy and Laurey Williams.”
When Carl found the Daily Double in The Western Hemisphere, he had 3400, Tom had 400, and Chloe had 0. Carl wagered 1500 on this clue: “A monument dedicated to the men who lost their lives on the USS Maine stands in this capital’s Parque del Maine.” I hate to admit I probably wouldn’t have gotten this right if it hadn’t been for Mr. Trebek’s pronunciation. He sounded just like a friend I had who came from this country. Carl got it right, too.
At the end of the round, Tom had 2000, Chloe had 4000, and Carl had 5300. But Tom started the Double Jeopardy round strong, and he led with 8600 when he found the first Daily Double in Are You Perhaps French? Chloe had 6000 and Carl had 7700. Tom wagered 2000 on this clue: “Luc Montagnier identified the AIDS virus while working at the institute named for this 19th century Frenchman.” Tom and I got it right.
Tom found the next Daily Double, too, which I thought was much more difficult. The category was Bible Book Bindings. The idea is to put a word related to the Bible between two other words, and the result is kind of a before-and-after. An example from the show: “Hey ____ Law.” Tom had 11600 when he found this Daily Double, Chloe had 6800 and Carl had 6900. This was the clue: “Prime _______ Racket.” Tom and I couldn’t come up with it, and I wouldn’t have: What is a “_______ racket”?
The last clue of the round was a triple-stumper, and I got it right. In fact I swept the Greek Letters category. This was the clue: “Ancient Romans would’ve read this one as 11.”
The scores were close going into the Final. Tom had 12800, Chloe had 10400, and Carl had 13700. The Final category was 19th Century Music. This was the clue: “Lyrics to an 1868 tune by this man began, ‘Guten abend, gut nacht, mit rosen bedacht.'” I wouldn’t have gotten this one, because I wasn’t thinking of composers. Tom and Carl guessed the same thing, and it was wrong. Chloe was the only one to get it right, and that’s why she won today. Tom lost 8001 and Carl lost 11901. Chloe added 3600, and she is the new champ.
Is it just me or have the contestants seemed less-than-strong recently? Chloe, for example, seemed to answer frequently even when she didn’t seem sure that she was right.
My Coryat today was 27400. Carl‘s was 12800, Chloe’s was 10400, and Tom’s was 15200. Here are my Coryats from earlier this week:
5-24: Gay Haubner 5200 Tom Brown 10200 Matt Neville 8800 Me 17800
5-25: James Ma 16200 Amy Ruberg 12400 Tom Brown 14200 Me 26000
