(New because I used a similar title once before). 😉
Today’s contestants:
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| Henry Doering of Palm Springs, CA |
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| Stephanie Fontaine of Arlington, VA |
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| Susan Cohen of Belmont, MA |
I was sort of pulling for Susan today for the not-very-good reason that it would make my posting schedule less complicated. You see, I found Susan and asked her if she’d answer some questions after her appearance. I heard back Monday – it wasn’t a yes or a no, but a question of her own. I haven’t heard back but I sort of expect to. If she won today, I’d do her interview next week, which would be nice because only today – that is, after their episodes – I got yeses from two people: Leslie and Chris, whose episode I missed due to a recording failure. For the same reason I also wish Chris had won yesterday. I’m not complaining. I’m grateful for the responses and I’ll accommodate everyone, including you. BIG thanks to Andy for interviewing Chris himself, at the 11th hour.
I did also kinda want Susan to win because I wonder what her anecdote for Mr. Trebek would’ve been Monday. I’ve never seen one like today’s – She said she turned out an invitation to be on the show twice because she didn’t think she had anything interesting or funny to say during her interview. When Mr. Trebek said she could’ve asked him a question, she asked him one of the many the coordinators ask contestants: “Tell me the craziest thing that happened to you when you were traveling.” Mr. Trebek said, “It hasn’t happened yet.” Mr. Trebek was on his game today. I have to wonder whether Susan turned down the invitations after being given the list of questions to promote good anecdotes? If I do hear back, I’ll ask her.
The game started out weird with a triple-stumper in the 200 spot, in Starting Words: “On May 17, 2010 Meryl Streep spoke at this graduation ceremony at Barnard College.” It was the first of many times today Mr. Trebek looked at the contestants like, “Are you guys silly?” I got this one, happily. The very next clue, in the 400 spot, was the Daily Double, which prompted Mr. Trebek to say, “Well, we’re starting off in a strange way.” Stephanie had found it. To continue the strangeness, she wagered 800 (?) on this clue: “To begin a process, or to admit a pledge into a college fraternity.” For some reason she seemed to have two-three times the usual amount of time to respond, but that worked for me because I’d not have gotten it otherwise. She didn’t get it.
By the way, do you guys think it’s weird the way Mr. Trebek pronounces “ice cream”? (That was a category.) He’s done it before. I can’t explain what it is. Maybe the way he says just “cream.” I’d never heard of this; have you?:
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| Top off a Japanese meal with these golf-ball-sized ice cream treats wrapped in soft dough. |
This clue in The Webs of Websites was all right with me: “YouTube & Blogger are part of this company, the No. 1 search engine.”
At the first break, Henry and Susan had answered 4 correctly, and Henry had 2 negs. Stephanie had answered 3 correctly. She and “Henry!” (how he spelled his name) had 1200 apiece, and Susan had 2200.
Just after the break, Susan got 4/5 in Jimmy’s on Top. Did anyone else think this category would feature the Clue Crew’s Jimmy?
Deconstructing the Nursery Rhyme was sort of a lucky one for me – I’d just been doing a crossword puzzle with a nursery rhyme theme while watching Wimbledon. I went 2/3.
Mr. Trebek gave his less-than-a-minute warning with six clues left. At the end of the round, Stephanie’d gotten 4 right since the break and negged once for a total of 3200. Henry’d gotten 3 right but 2 wrong and had 1800. Susan had gotten 5 right and 1 wrong and had 3600.
I remember I got this response in News of the 2010s once before on Jeopardy!, only because I’d just watched her in a debate: “She ended her presidential campaign right after the 2012 Iowa caucuses.” The next clue in the same category was the Daily Double, which Henry found. Mr. Trebek said he had “just forged into the lead.” He’d already gotten 7 right since the round started and had 10600. Stephanie and Susan had each gotten 1 right, and each had 4000. Henry wagered 2000 on this clue: “In January 2012 this Mideastern president vowed ‘an iron hand’ against protests.” Neither Henry nor I got it.
I liked this clue in Color TV because I love to repeat Hermey’s quote: “Hermey the elf wanted to be a dentist in this 1964 classic Christmas TV cartoon.” Incidentally, I think this was over-valued at 2K, especially since “Murphy Brown” and “The White Shadow” came before it. ?!?
Susan found the next Daily Double in If It Ain’t Baroque…. She’d gotten 4 right and 1 wrong since Henry’s Daily Double, and had 6800. Stephanie too had 4 right and 1 wrong, and had 8000. Henry’d gotten 2 right and had 11400. Susan casually wagered 2000 on this clue: “Edward Hopper captured the isolation of urban life in this 1942 masterpiece depicting a diner that’s open late.” She got it right, and Mr. Trebek gave the less-than-a-minute warning, once again with 6 clues left. I could not believe that Henry negged on the last clue of the round when he had the edge with 11400 to the girls’ 11200 each. He didn’t give a response. Stephanie had gotten 3 more right since Susan’s Daily Double. Susan had gotten 2 right and 1 wrong, and Henry had the 1 neg.
The Final Jeopardy category was Opera Characters. The clue: “In a play subtitle she’s called ‘The Chinese Sphinx’; in a later opera her suitor calls her ‘Principessa di Morte.'” I thought about this the whole time and finally, like Henry, said “Aida,” which is wrong. He lost 5000. I’d never have said the correct response, but Stephanie did. She doubled her score! She must’ve been very confident in the category. Susan got it wrong and also lost 5000. So Stephanie won for the second time. We’ll see her Monday.
My Coryat today was 19600 (23000 without negs). Recent Coryats:
originally 10-13-08: 22000 (25600 without negs)
originally 10-14-08: 12400 (18000 without
negs)
originally 10-15-08: 24200 (30000 without negs)
originally 10-16-08: 20600 (24400 without negs)