That’s what Mr. Trebek said at the beginning of this weekend’s rerun. (His point was that it was almost the new year, when this originally aired on 12-5-11.) This is noteworthy because it aired the Monday before I taped the show myself. (That is, the day I flew to L.A.) And it was super-sweet because my little sister and I watched it together, just like we probably did the day it originally aired. My Coryat this time was 24000 (24400 without negs), and I don’t have a record of what it was originally.
This week’s contestants, courtesy of the J! site:
Eugene Chuang of Boston, MA
Ben Christenson of Chicago, IL
Judy Cole of Concord, MA
Tom Hanson of Kent, OH
Caitlin Peruccio of Manchester, CT
Robin Raffer of Brooklyn, NY
Ravi Saxena of Chicago, IL
Henry Watkins of Atlanta, GA
And today’s contestants:
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| Renee Hennessee of Palm Desert, CA |
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| Andrew Moore of Buford, GA (He’s a test prep instructor!) |
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| Eric Maitland of San Diego, CA (What’s with this collar?) |
Eric defends for the first time today.
I have to wonder whether the writers were trying to trip up the contestants over the tongue-twisting category name Unique New York.
I was pleased about Children’s Books, but I was stumped, like the contestants, over “Stellaluna” and “Despereaux.” In fact I’d only gotten 4 right by the first break, but the contestants weren’t faring much better, and people seemed to chuckle when Mr. Trebek said “I think we’ll take a break.” Both Eric and Andrew had gotten 3 right and one wrong. Renee had gotten one right and one wrong.
Renee found the Daily Double of the round, in Talk about the Weather. She’d gotten 2 right since the break and had 800. Eric had gotten 5 right and had 3800, and Andrew had gotten 4 right and had 4200. Renee wagered 1000 on this clue that she over-complicated: “T.S. Eliot wrote ‘Under the brown’ one of these ‘of a winter dawn, a crowd flowed over London Bridge.” She waited til the last second to state the obvious.
Each contestant got one more right before the end of the round. Eric ended with 4000, Renee with 2000, and Andrew with 4400.
I was happy about Musicians’ Autobiographies. I knew this tweeted clue, having read the book in question.
The board-jumping Andrew found the first Daily Double of Double Jeopardy, in Geometry. Heck, I was happy about this category too! He and Renee had each gotten one right, and had 5200 and 2400 respectively. Andrew wagered 2000 on this clue: “All points on the surface of this geometric solid are equidistant from its center.” Andrew got it right.
Eric had a tough decision when he found the next Daily Double, in High Middle Ages. He’d gotten 5 right and one wrong since Andrew’s Daily Double, and had 9200. Renee got 3 right and one wrong and had 4400. Andrew got a whopping 9 right (and one wrong), and had then 17200. Eric wagered 4000 (probably more than I would have). This was the clue: “In 1054 the ‘Great Schism’ divided the power of the Catholic Church between these 2 cities, in east & west.” Eric got it right! Only then did Mr. Trebek say there was less than a minute to go.
I wonder if, like me, Eric learned this correct response from having watched Jeopardy! (from In the Dictionary): “According to the OED, in 1772 this word meaning ‘new word’ was a new word.” I think this is the episode I’m thinking of. I think Mr. Trebek mispronounced it, then made things right after the break. He mispronounced it at first today too, but so did Eric.
Two clues were left covered at the end. After Eric’s Daily Double, he got 2 right and one wrong. He ended the round with 15600. Renee had gotten 2 right and had 5200, and Andrew had gotten one right and had 19200.
The Final Jeopardy category was In the Newspaper. This was the clue: “Her pen name honored a wise woman from the Old Testament & a 19th century U.S. president.” I had to piece it out, but I got it. Renee and Eric were wrong, and lost 2000 and 4000 respectively. At least Eric made a joke and said his “Ruth Lincoln” was “very well-known.” I’m not sure Mr. Trebek got it. Andrew got it right and added 12001!
So Andrew was pretty impressive today. Here’s hoping he can keep it up.
My Coryat today was only 16400 (22600 without negs).