Happy Tuesday! Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Nobel-Winning Novelists) for Tuesday, May 25, 2021 (Season 37, Game 172):
Falsely accused of murder, a character in his 1948 novel becomes “tyrant over the whole county’s white conscience”
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s contestants:
Kevin Walsh, a story analyst originally from Williamstown, New Jersey
|
Veronica Vichit-Vadakan, a librarian from Portland, Oregon
|
Ryan Bilger, a graduate student from Macungie, Pennslyvania
|
Andy’s Pregame Thoughts: Ryan easily had the strongest performance in the quarterfinals, a performance which catapulted him to being named the tournament favorite at this point by the prediction model. His biggest challenge, though, might be right here in the semifinal against Veronica, who put up a stellar performance in her quarterfinal. This match will absolutely have fireworks in it. I’m looking forward to watching it!
I would also like to remind readers of this site: the actions of some “fans” during this tournament, towards both Ryan and other fans, have been completely inappropriate. Once again: you do not need to post every single last thought that comes into your head on the Internet for all to see. Harassing other fans, especially impersonating others in order to do so, is also so completely beyond the pale that I am giving serious thought to removing the ability to comment on this website at the end of this Tournament because of it.
PSA: The best way to keep COVID-19 at bay (and keep Jeopardy! producing new episodes) is for everybody to get their vaccinations as soon as they are able to. When wearing a mask, ensure that your mask covers both your nose and your mouth.
Are you going on the show and looking for information about how to bet in Final Jeopardy? Check out my new Betting Strategy 101 page!
(Content continues below)
Correct response: Who is William Faulkner?
More information about Final Jeopardy: (The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2021 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
The passage comes from William Faulkner’s late-1940s work Intruder in the Dust, which details a murder of a white man (and the wealthy African-American farmer accused of the murder). Many of the race relations issues brought forth in the book have still not been resolved in 2021; judging by what I have read about this book online, it seems to be a book that a number of people need to read.
In 1949, Clarence Brown adapted the book into a film, a film reviewed by Ralph Ellison as “the only film that could be shown in Harlem without arousing unintended laughter, for it is the only one of the four [major 1949 films that were set in Jim Crow America—Pinky, Home of the Brave, and Lost Boundaries were the other three] in which Negroes can make complete identification with their screen image.”
We have many new offerings at The Jeopardy! Fan Online Store! Proceeds from the sale of the “Doctor Oz’s Fast-Acting Snake Oil Elixir” T-shirt are being donated to The Trevor Project:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Tonight’s results are below!
Scores going into Final:
Veronica $16,000
Ryan $13,600
Kevin $3,000
Tonight’s results:
Kevin $3,000 – $3,000 = $0 (Who is Baldwin?)
Ryan $13,600 + $2,402 = $16,002 (Who is Faulkner?)
Veronica $16,000 + $15,400 = $31,400 (Who is Faulkner?) (Finalist)
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Ryan $7,400
Veronica $2,600
Kevin -$1,400
Opening break taken after: 15 clues
Daily Double locations:
1) CAPITAL HILLS $1000 (clue #17)
Ryan 2000 +2000 (Veronica 2200 Kevin -1200)
2) THE FINEST OF FINE ARTS $1200 (clue #2)
Veronica 4200 +4200 (Ryan 7400 Kevin -1400)
3) MEDICAL MILESTONES $1200 (clue #11, $19200 left on board)
Ryan 11000 -5000 (Veronica 11600 Kevin -200)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 155
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 188 (1.09 per episode average), 2 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Veronica $13,000 Coryat, 15 correct, 1 incorrect, 26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 5 rebound opportunities)
Ryan $17,600 Coryat, 25 correct, 2 incorrect, 38.60% in first on buzzer (22/57), 2/3 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Kevin $3,000 Coryat, 7 correct, 5 incorrect, 21.05% in first on buzzer (12/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
Combined Coryat Score: $33,600
Lach Trash: $13,400 (on 12 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $7,000
Ryan Bilger, career statistics:
175 correct, 13 incorrect
6/10 on rebound attempts (on 26 rebound opportunities)
40.71% in first on buzzer (160/393)
10/11 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $42,600)
6/7 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $19,600
Veronica Vichit-Vadakan, career statistics:
137 correct, 15 incorrect
8/12 on rebound attempts (on 36 rebound opportunities)
32.31% in first on buzzer (126/390)
5/7 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $8,200)
5/7 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $14,914
Kevin Walsh, career statistics:
159 correct, 27 incorrect
5/8 on rebound attempts (on 29 rebound opportunities)
36.38% in first on buzzer (163/448)
6/7 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $13,400)
3/8 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $13,650
Andy’s Thoughts
- This was a game with multiple turning points. Clue #16 of the Jeopardy! round was the first, when Veronica said “Palantine” and not “Palatine” for the Roman hill. The other two were the two Daily Doubles in Double Jeopardy!
- Remember the following two considerations as well: firstly, Veronica is a librarian; secondly, the highest semifinal total gets to pick first in both games of the final. That certainly explains Veronica’s Final Jeopardy! bet.
Contestant photo credit: jeopardy.com
When commenting, please note that all comments on The Jeopardy! Fan must be in compliance with the Site Comment Policy.
If you are going to quote any information from this page or this website, attribution is required.
This FJ clue shouldn’t be too difficult for champions of this caliber. There were only a handful of Nobel-Winning American novelists back then, and of these only Faulkner was dealing with the issue of race relations in the South. An older contestant might be at a slight advantage here, so I’ll be very surprised if Kevin doesn’t get this right.
Faulkner was the only american novelist I can think of since he actually wrote stories about dealing with race relations. I am really hoping kevin will get this right but I will be surprised too if he misses this. This category shouldn’t be too difficult. Furthermore, This could be a two girl and one guy final for thursday and friday to determine the big winner.
I thought Harper Lee, but I knew ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ was much later.
Nice to see Veronica win today. Really liked her play last Friday. Too bad Sam ‘spoiled’ the chance for an all-female final (would that have been a first?), but the Final so far looks very evenly matched, but still very wide open. Wonder if the judges might have relaxed or slightly bent their rule about contestant selection for the semis and may have kept the women and men in separate piles when drawing names to try and ensure that there was one woman in each semi-final game, and they weren’t all on one or two shows. Still has been heavily male-dominated from looking at past tournaments. The only sad part with the third final is that only one of those three can move on. But even an extra 5 or 10k for getting this far is not bad. Best of luck to the ones still in contention. And Buzzy has done a great job. Gonna make it tougher to choose a new host.
So much for the previous comments about Kevin having the fj advantage!
Now, onto the game. Great game indeed! Veronica is sneaky good and I was touched that she was emotional at the end. Would love to see her win.
Excited for the big duel tomorrow…too bad only one can make it!
The “county” was the clincher here. The Compsons and the Snopeses all hail from the same fictional county with the improbable aboriginal name in Mississippi. I cannot reproduce it from memory.
So proud of Veronica! I’ve been rooting for her and looking forward to her coming back. So happy for her 🙂
Yoknapatawpha County. One of the very great fictional places in all literature. But I believe Faulkner made up the name.
This was a very emotional game. You could see Veronica tearing up after she had won. Ryan knew that the Daily Double he missed was a crucial point of the game. He was praying when he got Final Jeopardy hoping Veronica would miss. You can see the emotion at the end when he lost.
Did you notice Ryan at the end, when the host is supposed to have chit chat with the contestants? Ryan still had his head down in his hands. To me, having watched him, I’m not surprised, but, it still struck me as poor sportsmanship. Then again, I thought that it was drama when he leaned on the side of the dais for the polio DD – just looked forced, to me.
But, to add to Andy’s point, I said that the FJ clue was right up Veronica’s alley, with her being a librarian.
I saw a young man who played his heart out and was devastated by the outcome – not poor sportsmanship.
Jason:
You know what I said about “not everything you think needs to be posted online”?
This is one of those prime instances.
I pulled a reverse Carl Sagan and read the clue as “this”, not “his”. But I still had the wrong author.
Yes, I agree that the clue could have been more carefully written. I knew right away they were talking about Faulkner, then I thought 1948? Which Faulkner novel was written in 1948? Upon rereading the clue, I realized that it said “his” and not “this.”
Congratulations to Veronica! She kept her poise after missing the Palatine question in Jeopardy, then got the Sleeping Beauty Daily Double question correct in Double Jeopardy.
I was surprised that Ryan knew Salk but not Sabin. These guys are usually mentioned in the same breath. More of a Boomer question I suppose. A worthy champion who just had an off-day. It happens.