Warning: This page contains spoilers for the September 14, 2023, game of Jeopardy! — please do not scroll down if you wish to avoid being spoiled. Please note that the game airs as early as noon Eastern in some U.S. television markets.
Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category World Capitals) for Thursday, September 14, 2023 (Season 40, Game 4):
In English, name of 1 of the 2 4-letter capitals with the same first & last letter, one in the N. & one in the S. Hemisphere
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Hari Parameswaran, a hardware engineer from Cupertino, California |
Jill Tucker, an operations manager from Mulino, Oregon |
David Maybury, a magnetics engineer originally from Richmond, Virginia |
Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Today and tomorrow, the three players who won Monday, Tuesday, and yesterday—Jill Tucker, David Maybury, and Hari Parameswaran respectively—return for a 2-game total-point battle for a spot in the new Champions’ Wildcard event taking place later this fall. Of our three players, one interesting commonality is that none of the three was strongest on the signalling device in their respective quarterfinals. As it was, though, David had the most number of attempts, with 45. (Hari had 42, while Jill had just 37). Hari has the most room for improvement, being able to signal on only 38% of his attempts. Today and tomorrow will be very interesting!
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What are Oslo (Norway) or Apia (Samoa)?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2023 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
Of the 13 world capitals whose English names have the same first & last letter (Hmm. I wonder if that could turn into a Complete the List category…), two of them are just four letters in length: Oslo, the capital of Norway, and Apia, the capital of Samoa.
The entire 2-day match could come down to how aggressive contestants are daring to be on this category, in addition to whether or not they are able to pull a correct response on this and if they’ve compartmentalized the list of world capitals well enough to pull within 30 seconds. (Oslo is definitely the easier of the two.)
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Thursday, September 14, 2023 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Reconstruction; Let’S See How You Do With American Football; The Ohio Universities; Biology; The 2023 Time 100; Let’S “See”)
David picked up 9 correct before the first break to jump out to a big lead after 15 clues. While Jill got to the Daily Double, David still had a commanding lead after 30.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
David 9 correct 0 incorrect
Hari 2 correct 0 incorrect
Jill 2 correct 1 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Hari has his mom in the audience and is happy she could come.
Jill is the third champion from her initial game.
David got advice to “be joyful” from Mattea Roach and rowan ward.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
David 15 correct 1 incorrect
Jill 7 correct 1 incorrect
Hari 5 correct 0 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
David $9,400
Jill $2,800
Hari $2,200
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Reconstruction; Pop Culture; Alliterative Geography; Hip-Hop Literary References; Speechify”Ing”; Such Colorful Language!)
Double Jeopardy saw both Jill and Hari get to the Daily Doubles; both used them to pull back into contention! Things were close going into Final!
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
David 25 correct 2 incorrect
Jill 15 correct 2 incorrect
Hari 13 correct 2 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 0 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
David $17,000
Jill $13,600
Hari $9,600
Jill was the only one to determine the show’s intended interpretation of this clue, and she got the northern hemisphere capital to hold a big lead going into tomorrow’s decider!
Tonight’s results:
Hari $9,600 – $8,000 = $1,600 (What is Doha?)
Jill $13,600 + $6,000 = $19,600 (What is Oslo?)
David $17,000 – $10,272 = $6,728 (What is Lisl?)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) THE OHIO UNIVERSITIES $800 (clue #20)
Jill 1000 +1000 (David 7800 Hari 1600)
2) ALLITERATIVE GEOGRAPHY $1600 (clue #2)
Hari 2200 +2200 (David 9400 Jill 2800)
3) POP CULTURE $2000 (clue #11, $19600 left on board)
Jill 4800 +4800 (David 14200 Hari 8400)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 300
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
David 5 4 3 4 5 3 2 1 3 4 5 2
Jill 3 5 3 4*
Hari 4 4 5 5
DJ! Round:
David 1† 4 5 4
Jill 5*
Hari 5 4* 3† 2† 3 5
† – selection in same category as Daily Double
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Jill 4.00
David 3.44
Hari 4.00
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 0 (0.00 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Jill $10,600 Coryat, 15 correct, 2 incorrect, 22.81% in first on buzzer (13/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
David $17,000 Coryat, 25 correct, 2 incorrect, 45.61% in first on buzzer (26/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Hari $9,000 Coryat, 13 correct, 2 incorrect, 24.56% in first on buzzer (14/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $36,600
Lach Trash: $9,600 (on 7 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $7,800
Player Statistics:
David Maybury, career statistics:
71 correct, 6 incorrect
2/2 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities)
40.35% in first on buzzer (69/171)
2/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$1,800)
2/3 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $18,533
Jill Tucker, career statistics:
47 correct, 7 incorrect
4/4 on rebound attempts (on 12 rebound opportunities)
24.56% in first on buzzer (42/171)
4/5 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $10,200)
3/3 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $11,533
Hari Parameswaran, career statistics:
45 correct, 11 incorrect
0/1 on rebound attempts (on 9 rebound opportunities)
29.34% in first on buzzer (49/167)
2/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $200)
1/3 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $11,267
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Because anything earned in the main game tomorrow can be doubled, Jill has an “effective” lead of $6,436 over David and $9,000 over Hari.
- In Jill’s interview today, Ken very surprisingly referred to the initial 2004 J! Archive definition of “superchamp” (meaning “someone who won 6 or more games”) and not the show’s more recent definition (“someone who won 10 or more games”.) Whether this was just a slip-up by Ken or a change in the show’s definition is as yet unknown.
- As much as fans will claim a potential alternative interpretation of this clue, Oslo/Apia are the only pair that fits all aspects of the clue. However, I will have more to say this weekend in my “Weekly Thoughts” column.
- No wagering suggestions will be posted today as today was not a deciding game.
- Today’s box score: September 14, 2023 Box Score.
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Thank you!
Just a random thought/question… In the long run is doing the second chance and champions wild card tournament saving the show a lot of money cash payout wise? I’m not sure how much the winners each week will get but it seems like this way on average they are saving at least 75k each week. Maybe I’m way off on my math too lol and it all evens out.
Aaron:
I don’t know where your numbers are coming from.
In the past, the average regular-play week would give away about $115,000, including consolation prizes.
They may be saving $30,000 a week by doing Second Chance, but certainly not $75,000.
Ken mentioned that the winner the Second Chance final would recieve $35k. I prsume that this an guarantee, that if the winner earns more than that in game play, he/she would recieve that.
And,NOW I understand that the winners of each week of Second Chance will be competing in the “Champions Wild Card” competition, to held sometime “later this fall,” probablt tHE IDEA that that Second Chance winner would be in ina field, wasn’t clear to me before. The “Champions Wild Card” was said to be held “later this fall.” Prsumably after the AMPTP and WGA finally settle, I read where bargining is set to resume next week. Lets hope that they are successful f
Champions Wild Card begins October 2.
Dang, it’s a good thing they didn’t want both of them 🙄. How many people are going to remember the capital of Samoa?
Definitely glad they only wanted one of these, as Samoa’s is not one that immediately comes to mind (and as for the “Complete the List”, I can come up with a few more off the top of my head, but definitely wouldn’t get to half, probably). But I’m back on the win train after dropping yesterday’s.
Well they aren’t paying out for the winner on the first 4 games each week so that’s where my numbers come from. I was basing mine off of a 100k week assuming each winner made 20k on average. Maybe that’s a bit high but I feel the 30k is a tad low too
You’re failing to note that second and third place in the two-game final get more than just the consolation prize.
Hence my not sure what the winners receive part comes into play. I’m guessing 30k for the winner then 10 and 5 for first and second. So maybe closer to a 50k savings?
Last season it was $35k–$20k–$10k. This information is very much publicly available on J! Archive — there is no need to go “I’m guessing”.
Ahh roger that then you are correct
I think this question is poorly written, as I took it to mean both capitals started and ended with the same letter. I knew Apia, and I wracked my brain to think of a four letter capital in the northern hemisphere that started with an “a”. Never thought of Oslo.
I went the other way – thinking of Oslo almost immediately, but then mentally looking around South America, southern Africa and Aust/NZ before giving up, never thinking of venturing into the smaller South Pacific island nations. I think Oslo came to mind so quickly because I’ve recently been watching (and enjoying) “People of the North” on PBS Create as they travel around Norway.
Misread the clue and thought the two capitals shared the same first letter and they shared the same last letter. So, I randomly guessed Rome, it being a four letter capital.
I’ll go into more detail this weekend in my “Weekly Thoughts”, but I suspect this is going to be an issue coming up a lot in the short term.
I just want to add my agreement with those above who interpreted the clue to be asking for two four-letter capitals with the same first and last letters. It’s perfectly correct to interpret it that way.
Considering your interpretation lacks a correct response, I’d hesitate to say your interpretation is “perfectly correct”.
This would have been a different story in the 1980s though, recalling a FJ during James Holzhauer’s original run.
I believe I mentally recalled that FJ which contributed to my misreading today’s.
(Edit, forgot about the hemisphere part just now)
John, I think a better description of that interpretation would be “perfectly reasonable” but I get your point calling it “perfectly correct” within the 30 seconds given to solve the clue, i.e. thinking you JUST DON’T KNOW the correct capitals (or cannot think of them fast enough) would probably be a more likely thought than “I must be interpreting it wrong in the first place”.
For me the requirement for only one city made me think that PROBABLY they were not in any way referring to any PAIR of cities with any spelling commonalities beyond being 4 letters, but with so many factors given and it being a FINAL JEOPARDY, I can see why someone would “in the moment” assume the most difficult interpretation rather than the EASIEST interpretation.
Reading the more info section, I went and played the “Capitals of the World” quiz on Sporcle (link at bottom) Got 187 out of 197, including all eleven of the “first and last letter the same” capitals longer than four letters. (I won’t list them below so as not to spoil readers.)
I approve of the statement about Ken’s use of “superchamp” — I took note of that as well.
I also appreciate the clarification of something I wondered after last weekend: whether the new Questionist column would complement the Weekly Thoughts here, or replace them. It looks like it’s the former. I thought as much, as I figure the Questionist column will largely include recap material from the daily posts here. (And there were no new games to recap last week.)
https://www.sporcle.com/games/g/worldcapitals
I got this immediately with ‘Oslo’ because I’ve loved that name since I first heard of it decades ago. However, I had to read through the clue several times to convince myself that only one name was required.
I feel that the “one in the N. & one in the S. Hemisphere” addition was a deliberate obfuscation implying that if you think of one then start thinking of the opposite hemisphere for the other one.
It never occurred to me that they might be wanting two capitals that begin with the same letter as each other and end with the same letter as each other, but if I had, I would have discarded that idea because I would also have thought that for THAT they would’ve surely wanted BOTH names (especially since it doesn’t take that long to write two 4-letter words).
I would even say that “name of 1 of the 2 4-letter capitals” was also a deliberate obfuscation because “name of a 4-letter capital” is just as true, just as valid, but would serve to prevent some of the most likely misinterpretations — that both names are required for the response or that any capital city name that “fits the basic description” must also have some kind of beginning/ending spelling commonality with another capital.
Luckily, I interpreted today’s Final! clue as the writers intended it. I realized that they were looking for 1 of 2 capital cities. And that that city must start and end with the same letter. And that that city must be spelled with 4 letters. The misleading part of the clue was “in English.” I guess the writers were thinking of something like: Rome vs. Roma, in Italian. Or, Vienna vs. Wien, in Austrian German. But that threw me off, because I immediately thought of “Oslo” for my answer. And “Oslo” is the same in English and Norwegian. I find that confusing. Oh, well…
I think the phrasing of the clue is fine, as it would be more natural to use the plural if the two capitals had the same first and last letters as each other — or perhaps use the clunkier “same first letter and same last letter as each other”.
It’s the clue itself I don’t like. I’m not fond of needle-in-a-haystack FJs in general. This one is particularly brutal, as what seems like a helpful hint — focusing on the much smaller haystack of the Southern Hemisphere — would probably lead the vast majority of contestants to be doomed.