Recent Coryats:
originally 3-9-12: an owie 10600. The first time I played, my Coryat was 10400!
I could’ve done a fist-pump of my own when the 3-13-12 episode reran on a recent weekend. My Coryat this time was 28800. The first time I played it was 20800!
originally 3-14-12: 26400. The first time I played my score was 29400!
Now, there was some um…concern (okay, on my part) that my episode would be replaying on an upcoming weekend like these I just watched again. Well it’s not gonna happen. The reruns will go from like March 15th to April 11th, thus skipping March 28th.
Now for some season 25 Coryats:
originally 1-23-09: 28000 (31400 without negs)
originally 1-26-09: 22600 (23800 without negs)
originally 1-27-09: 16000 (22200 without negs). I accepted “Champions Tour” for “Seniors Tour.” I hope that’s all right.
originally 1-28-09: 25000 (29400 without negs)
Speaking of seniors, there’s a thread over on the Sony boards about the defunct “Seniors Tournament.” I saw my uncle who’s like 64 over the weekend, and he told me about how he’s tried out for Jeopardy! a few times and hasn’t made it. I encouraged him to keep trying, but he demurred, giving an objection similar to that of my friend a few weeks ago. What do you guys think – should that tournament be brought back? These are bright people that I wish would try out because I think they’d do well.
And briefly: Last week I mentioned that I’d gotten a clue from following the blog of a woman who once left a comment here. While I was looking for blog at that time to link to it, I saw she was giving away a book on another blog of hers. Well, I won! Hooray! She says she has more giveaways coming, so you might want to check it out.
Today’s contestants:
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| Stephanie Jass of Milan MI |
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| Meredith Lowmaster of Quincy MA |
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| Jan Walkenhorst of Lincoln NE |
Although Jan is the Husker, Stephanie, as you can see, was sporting red and black today. I knew a Lincoln resident was appearing soon thanks to the hometown howdy page, but I was quite surprised to see her today. I’d been checking the Journal Star’s website faithfully – The paper’s TV guy contacted me before my appearance, and a small article printed the day my episode aired. I was hoping to ask the writer to pass my contact information to Jan so I could ask her for a Q & A. This doesn’t bode well…
By the time Jan found the Daily Double in the Jeopardy round, the last clue before the first break, I found myself saying, “Go Jan!” (She looked good too, in my opinion.) She’d gotten 4 right and had 2200! Stephanie too had gotten 4 right but also 2 wrong, and had 0. Meredith had gotten 3 right and had 1800. Jan wagered 1200 on this clue in Quotable Notables: “To Ptolemy I, he said, ‘There is no royal road to geometry’, & he should know.” Unfortunately Jan missed it. I got it, and I swept the category. I’m saying I swept “Occ”-upy Jeopardy!, but I gave not-quite-the-same responses for these 3 clues:
- “I’m jealous — more letters come to my house addressed to this person than to me.” (I said “previous occupant.”)
- “Cousin to the copperhead, it lives in southern swamps.” (I said “moccasin,” but I think I’d have given the whole response if prompted.)
- “Staph is short for this infectious bacterium & easier to say too.” (This one’s iffy. I know they said “bacterium.” I said “staphylococci.”)
There were 8 clues left when Mr. Trebek gave the less-than-a-minute warning, and 3 were left covered. Stephanie got a whopping 10 right since the break/Daily Double, and had 6400. Jan had gotten 2 right and had 2400. Meredith had gotten one right and had 2600.
Jan found the first Daily Double of the next round, 5 clues in. She’d gotten one right and had 3600. Meredith had gotten 2 right and had 3800. (The other clue was a triple-stumper.) Since it was so early I nearly pled with Jan from my laptop stand, please make it a true Daily Double! (Man, the entry in that link was published the day after I got The Jeopardy Call. Memories.) Jan wagered just 1600! 🙁 The category was A Novel Death. I’d never have gotten this but Jan had no trouble: “This title guy dies ‘withered, wrinkled, and loathsome of visage.'” I’m gonna keep this in mind when it’s time for the final: Jan would’ve had 7200 instead of 5200 had she gone all in.
Meredith found the next Daily Double, in Astronomy. She’d gotten 3 right and one wrong since Jan’s second Daily Double, and had 5000. Jan had gotten one right and had 6800. Stephanie had gotten 4 right and 1 wrong and had 10000. I was pleased when Meredith wagered 4000! This was the clue: “In March 1930 its discovery was announced at Lowell Observatory in Arizona.” As Andy said yesterday, Fortune does favor the bold. Meredith got it right.
I swept Formerly Married.
There were 3 clues left covered when the round ended. Stephanie had gotten 5 right since Meredith’s Daily Double and had 16400. Jan had gotten 3 right and one wrong (costly at 2000) and had 7200. If she had wagered it all on her Daily Double and had not negged, I believe she’d have 11200. I wonder how her Final Jeopardy wager would’ve changed, in that case. Meredith still had 9000. Mr. Trebek said, “For the first time in uh…recent memory” it was not a runaway for Stephanie.
The Final Jeopardy category was Countries & Populations. This was the convoluted clue: “If it were a nation, a state with a 2-word name in this country
would be the world’s 6th most-populous at 200 million.” I got it right, and I might add I’m a little surprised it wasn’t a triple-get. For me it came down to this: What populous country is made up of states? Heck, what country at all is made up of states? I have to say though I’d probably be panicking if I were up there, because this clue took some time to unravel. Jan didn’t get a right response, and she wouldn’t say what she was even trying to write. Mr. Trebek said, “New Zealand, New Jersey…?” She lost 4200. Now, if I may: If Stephanie wagered 1601 to cover Meredith if Meredith doubled, and if Stephanie got it wrong, Stephanie’d still have more money than Jan would have if Jan doubled. (Talk about convoluted?) Huh, I know another Lincoln woman who’d been in this same situation. But if Jan had wagered more on that Daily Double…
Anyway, Meredith got this clue right. She added 7000. I have to wonder how she chose this wager. I might try to track her down for a Q & A. Stephanie, then, got it wrong too and maybe misunderstood the clue, because she wrote “Outer Mongolia.” Mr. Trebek said if she wagered more than 400 “we’re gonna have to say goodbye.” (He took this one hard, it seems!) Stephanie lost more than 400 (2400), making Meredith your happy champion. Jan, for her part, looked just as happy as if she had won!
Here’s an update to the ol’ ToC list:
1. Monica Thieu $100,000 (College Champion)
2. Patrick Quinn $100,000 (Teacher’s Champion)
3. Jason Keller $213,900 (9 wins)
4. Stephanie Jass $149,570 (7 wins)
5. Joel Pool $116,800 (6 wins)
6. Dave Leach $98,054 (6 wins)
7. David Menchaca $115,503 (5 wins)
8. David Gard $84,700 (4 wins)
9. Dan McShane $62,001 (4 wins)
10. Patrick Morrison $80,701 (3 wins)
11. Francis Lansangan $78,401 (3 wins)
12. Matt Samberg $61,402 (3 wins)
13. Andy Baggarly $60,402 (3 wins)
14. Stephanie Fontaine $54,500 (3 wins)
15. Joey Falco $53,999 (3 wins)
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16. Erin Zweiner $53,399 (3 wins)
17. Beau Henson $51,203 (3 wins)
18. Margaret Swanson $48,000 (3 wins)
19. Claudia Gray $45,202 (3 wins)
20. Dan Adkison $37,400 (3 wins)
21. Jacob Silverman $35,998 (3 wins)
22. Jessamine Price $26,803 (3 wins)
These were my triple-stumpers today:
- In Make Me a Drink, Barkeep: “Another of these, starin’ slowly cross the bar: 1 1/2 oz. Patron, 1/2 oz. grenadine, 3 oz. orange juice.”
- In Living in Tents: “The dwelling sometimes called a wickiup is called this ‘w’ord in the Abenaki language.” This is the only one Stephanie didn’t get in the category.
- In Astronomy: “On the moon, Hell, Billy & Julius Caesar are these.”
- Also in Astronomy: “The magnitude of Algol, a binary star, changes every 69 hours as the fainter star does this, passes in front of its pal.”
Now that I know today’s outcome, if Jan declined to be interviewed by the Journal Star I’d like to know why. I’d be crowing about my performance. I only would’ve selected and responded a little more briskly, and I’d have wagered more on Daily Doubles.
Despite the 6 covered clues, my Coryat today was 30200; 32400 without 2 negs. (That’s not very many for me.)