First, recent Coryats:
originally 4-11-11: 21400 The first time I played, my score was 13600.
originally 12-25-08: 24600 (29200 without negs)
originally 12-26-08: 17800 (just 18800 without negs)
originally 12-29-08: 20000 (26800 without negs đ )
originally 12-30-08: 33800! 35600 without negs.
originally 12-31-08: 17800 (20400 without negs)
In case you were wondering, tomorrow’s the last day to turn in responses for the Summer Hiatus Challenge. Here’s a reminder of the rules. I’ll post the final overall standings among people I’m watching, as soon as they’re in. No one I’m following has made it into the SHC Tournament of Champions – yet.
And now it’s my pleasure to bring you my first recap of the new season.
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| Penny Citrola of East Meadow NY. My closed-captioning described her as an “English language Tudor.” |
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| Veronica Mance of Chevy Chase MD. This woman blinked so long I had to rewind 3, maybe 4 times to get her picture. |
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| Dan Elg of Wheaton IL. This guy reminds me of Peter Gallagher. |
Penny was a one-time champion at the beginning of this episode. The show had something of a rocky start with this second clue in Talk Show-pourri: “Are you there, America? It’s this female comedian & bestselling author with a late-night talk show on E!” Penny said Margaret Cho, Veronica said Joan Rivers (I did too), and Dan said Ellen DeGeneres. They were all negged, but at the first break Mr. Trebek accepted Joan Rivers and also gave Dan 400 back as if he’d never rung in. Then on this next clue, a triple-stumper, I said “Oprah”: “On her talk show, this comedienne just might fulfill your dreams with her ‘Swaggin’ Wagon.'”
At the first break, after the changes were made that I talk about in the previous paragraph, Penny and Dan had each gotten 5 right, and Penny had one neg. Veronica had gotten one right. Penny had 1400, Veronica had 400, and Dan had 3800. These were still the scores when Dan found the Daily Double of the round, in Singapore. The first clue after the break was a triple-stumper that got me too, about “Twilight.” Dan wagered 1500 on this clue: “Named for the woman in whose garden it was discovered, the Vanda Miss Joachim, the first hybrid of this plant grown in Singapore, is the country’s national flower.”
I would not have gotten this clue right had it not been for the picture. Dan missed it.
I got this next clue, a triple-stumper in His ‘Do: “Hair-wise, Steven Seagal is famous for this, which has its own Facebook page.”
Mr. Trebek gave the less-than-a-minute warning with 4 clues left, and we saw them all. Penny had gotten 7 right since the break and had 5000. Dan had gotten one right and one wrong and had 1500. Veronica had got 2 right and one wrong and had 1200.
I got this first clue of Double Jeopardy right, a triple-stumper in “&” Magazines: “Harvard & Stanford tied for first in this magazine’s ranking of best business schools for 2013.”
Then the round got a little sticky for me. I swept True Daily Doubles if you’ll accept “Oliver North” for this clue: “November 3, 1986: Micronesia gets its independence from the U.S. & a magazine breaks the news of this scandal.” For me to sweep I’d also need you to accept “Tet Offensive” for this clue: “March 29, 1971: A jury recommends death for Charles Manson & Lt. William Calley is convicted for his role in this event.” I don’t know; that might be stretchin’ it.
I managed to get 4/5 right in Indiana Jones even though I’ve never seen the movie. So that includes this triple-stumper: “In ‘Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,’ Indy finds that this country’s Nazca lines offer answers to his quest.”
Dan found the first Daily Double of the round in Physicists. He had 5500, Veronica had 3200, and Penny had 11000. Dan had gotten 5 right since the break. Veronica had gotten 2 right, and she and Dan each negged once. Penny had gotten 5 right. Dan wagered 3500 on this clue: “In 1797 Henry Cavendish began a measurement of gravitation popularly known as an effort to weigh this.” Dan and I got it wrong.
Mr. Trebek gave the one-minute warning then with a whopping 14 clues left on the board. In other words, Veronica and Dan had better get a move on! I was happy to see Dan dive for the higher-value clues with time running short.
This clue was just weird to me, as I had the right response in my head but ruled it out because I didn’t think it fit! In An Antonym of…: “Insincere or evasive in speech, 5 letters; it’s also a male first name.” This was a triple-stumper, which wasted more time for Veronica and Dan. Veronica did get the next clue right, and it was the last one of the round. Like me, Veronica ended the Double Jeopardy round with 4400. Penny had 11000 and Dan had 3600.
The Final Jeopardy category was Presidential Children, and this was the clue: “1 of his 5 sons was born in New Brunswick, Canada.” I was sure – sure – I had this right before Mr. Trebek was done reading the clue. But no. Dan got it right and added 3597. Veronica missed it and lost 4300. Penny missed it too and lost 2000, but of course we’ll see her tomorrow. How long will she last, do you suppose?
My Coryat today was 20200, which I don’t think is that bad considering 9 clues were left covered! For fun I adjusted my score as if all 30 clues were seen and I’d performed the same way, and my Coryat would’ve been 23800 when rounding to the nearest hundred dollars. I’d have gotten 39 instead of 33 right, rounding to the nearest whole number.