And now the British Open…

     …which in real-life ended on the same day as the Tour de France!
     We’re kickin’ off a brand-new week! I don’t know if you saw this week’s commercial on the Jeopardy! site, but when I looked for it this morning it sorta faked me out about today’s episode. See what I mean…
     Today’s contestants:

Liz Frost of Issaquah, WA

Andy Baggarly of Palo Alto, CA

Kate Mosesso of Chicago, IL

     A Twitter friend was just asking me, what’s up with all the British stuff on Jeopardy! lately? I hadn’t really noticed, but the first category introduced today? The Queen’s English. I swept it! And to continue with British stuff, I got this triple-stumper in Numerical Novel by Characters: “Sydney Carton, Charles Darnay.” My sister loves to recall how it was the last book ever assigned to me in high school, and I just couldn’t find the desire to read it. (Sorry, Mrs. Hofeditz.) Andy left the category after that one. A mistake…?
     Andy and Kate went back and forth with correct responses at first, but he wound up answering 9 (5400) to her 3 (1200) by the first break. Liz had answered once (600), and there were no negs yet.
     I got this triple-stumper in Macadamia: “The way growers usually tell that macadamias are ripe is they wait until the nuts do this.” Kate answered the next clue, then went back to Numerical Novel by Characters. That last clue of the category was the Daily Double. She had answered one right since the break, as had Andy. She had 2000 and he had 5800. Kate wagered 1000 on this clue: “Aureliano Buendia & the ghost of Prudencio Aguilar.” I’d heard something about this on the radio today, but I didn’t get it and wouldn’t have. Kate got it.
     At the end of the round, Andy had gotten 4 right since Kate’s Daily Double and had 7200. Kate had gotten 2 right and had 4400. Liz had gotten 5 right and had 4200.
     I was a little surprised they didn’t ask for a “be more specific” on this clue in Movie Fighters: “He spent 4 years training to play ‘Irish’ Micky Ward in ‘The Fighter.'” Andy selected so quickly it was almost like he was afraid Mr. Trebek was going to ask.
     When Liz found the first Daily Double in Official Languages, she’d gotten quite a few clues, 8, and had 11400. Andy had gotten 3 and had 10800. Kate had gotten 3 as well, and had 7200. Liz wagered 2000 on this clue: “Haiti: French & the Haitian type of this vernacular language.” She and I got it right.
     I said “a brick short” on this clue in Crazy Talk: “Delivering 99 rectangular blocks of baked clay when you should have had 100.” I didn’t count mine when they barely accepted Andy’s “a brick short of a load.” (Mr. Trebek said “a full load.” Andy found the other Daily Double in the round, in Sculpture. He’d regained the lead, having gotten 3 right since Liz’s Daily Double. He had 16000 to Kate’s 9200 (2 right) and Liz’s 11800 (1 right and 1 wrong). He too wagered 2000 on this clue: “In 2011 the scales went missing from a statue representing this in front of Lousiville’s Metro Hall.” He sputtered “Libra” and Mr. Trebek said “no,” but apparently he said “justice” in time, and was ruled correct.
     There was one category left, Scottish Rulers. Three were triple-stumpers, including this one I got and thought was over-valued: “In 1072, at about age 12, Duncan II was sent as a hostage to this Norman king, who kept him for several years.” Liz got one of the other two, and Andy got the other. Andy had 18800, Kate had 9200, and Liz had 12200. The Final Jeopardy category was Political Literature. This was the clue: “The key message to this title figure in an Italian work is ‘It is far safer to be feared than loved.'” I slam-dunked this one, having read about it in Mental Floss when I was preparing to be on the show myself. Kate missed it and lost everything. Liz got it and added 8000! But Andy too got it right and added 5601. He wins, and gave a little fist-pump.
     My Coryat today was 21400 (29000 without negs).
     So will Andy the blogger alter the ToC list tomorrow after Andy the contestant has played??