Warning: This page contains spoilers for the November 28, 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 Literary Geography) for Tuesday, November 28, 2023 (Season 40, Game 57):
This state university’s Writers Workshop has had famous alumni who wrote about the state, like Jane Smiley & W.P. Kinsella
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Nick Cascone, an orthopedic physician assistant originally from Queens, New York (Yesterday’s total: $9,300)
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Dennis Chase, a biotech project manager from Palm Springs, California (Yesterday’s total: $3,000)
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Jen Jazwinski, a youth services librarian from Algonquin, Illinois (Yesterday’s total: $5,600)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
After a Triple Stumper Final Jeopardy in yesterday’s game, things are still very close and all three players can still absolutely win! While Nick’s lead over Jen is $3,700 on paper, that effectively becomes $1,850 when you realize that anything earned in the first two rounds today can be doubled in Final Jeopardy. (Of course, being a 2-day total-point final, yesterday’s scores get added to today’s scores to determine the overall champion.)
Something to keep an eye on: The attempt and buzzer stats in Game 1 of the final played out much differently than expected. Nick’s buzzer success dropped precipitously to just 31%, while Dennis didn’t have the most attempts, as he did earlier in the event (Jen led Game 1 with 45 attempts). I do have to assume that things might regress to the mean in both of those areas, which means that Nick should have a better time keeping his advantage, and Dennis could be prime for a charge. Of course, Jen could have gained a significant amount of confidence from how strong she was on the buzzer in Game 1.
In case you missed my Weekly Thoughts column on Saturday, I should remind everyone that I am booting up a new “Mailbag” column. If you’ve got any Jeopardy!-related questions that you’d like me to answer, email me at mailbag@thejeopardyfan.com—I’ll take the time to answer some questions every week!
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What is (the University of) Iowa?
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.)
One of the most prestigious university programs in the United States, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop is a graduate-level creative writing program at the University of Iowa. Jane Smiley’s Pulitzer-winning A Thousand Acres was set in Iowa, as was W.P. Kinsella’s Shoeless Joe (adapted into the film Field of Dreams.) More modern alumni of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop include National Book Award finalist Carmen Maria Machado, known for Her Body and Other Parties and In the Dream House.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Tuesday, November 28, 2023 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Writers’ Words; Seconds; Slinging Arrows; A Capital Idea?; The Department Of Homeland Security; Foreign Language)
Dennis and Nick had the best time of things early; Dennis had 7 correct responses before the break and Nick had the Daily Double! Both kept up their strong play after the interviews as Dennis had a small lead in this one after 30 clues.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Dennis 7 correct 0 incorrect
Nick 6 correct 0 incorrect
Jen 1 correct 0 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Nick wants to thank his coworkers, the J! staff, and his family.
Dennis wants to thank his family and friends.
Jen wants to thank her family and her community.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Dennis 13 correct 0 incorrect
Nick 10 correct 0 incorrect
Jen 4 correct 1 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Dennis $7,200
Nick $5,800
Jen $1,600
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Remember The Mane; Name That 1990S Year; Stardust; Flower Power; Peace, Love & Understanding; 4 N Language)
Jen got to the two Daily Doubles very early in this one. A correct response on the first one made things very close. However, an incorrect response on the second hurt her chances considerably. Dennis then went on a roll and held the overall lead with 7 clues to play. Nick then took the overall lead back on the second-to-last clue, and Dennis’ not attempting clue 30 (that went dead for a Triple Stumper) gave Nick the overall lead going into Final.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Dennis 22 correct 1 incorrect
Nick 19 correct 0 incorrect
Jen 11 correct 3 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 0 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Dennis $16,400
Nick $14,600
Jen $3,800
Jen and Nick gave correct responses in Final—Nick is going to the Tournament of Champions!
Tonight’s results:
Jen $3,800 + $3,800 = $7,600 + $5,600 = $13,200 ($50,000) (What is Iowa?)
Nick $14,600 + $14,600 = $29,200 + $9,300 = $38,500 ($100,000) (What is Iowa?)
Dennis $16,400 – $11,500 = $4,900 + $3,000 = $7,900 ($25,000) (What is SUNY??)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) SECONDS $600 (clue #9)
Nick 800 +1000 (Jen 800 Dennis 2600)
2) FLOWER POWER $1600 (clue #2)
Jen 2800 +2800 (Dennis 7200 Nick 5800)
3) STARDUST $1600 (clue #5, $29200 left on board)
Jen 6800 -5000 (Dennis 6000 Nick 7000)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 126
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Jen 5 2
Dennis 4 5 3 4
Nick 1 2 3*
DJ! Round:
Jen 3 4* 3 4*
Dennis
Nick 3
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Nick 2.25
Jen 3.50
Dennis 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:
Nick $14,200 Coryat, 19 correct, 0 incorrect, 29.82% in first on buzzer (17/57), 1/1 on rebound attempts (on 3 rebound opportunities)
Jen $7,600 Coryat, 11 correct, 3 incorrect, 21.05% in first on buzzer (12/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 1 rebound opportunity)
Dennis $16,400 Coryat, 22 correct, 1 incorrect, 40.35% in first on buzzer (23/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $38,200
Lach Trash: $10,000 (on 7 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $5,800
Player Statistics:
Jen Jazwinski, career statistics:
137 correct, 20 incorrect
6/7 on rebound attempts (on 15 rebound opportunities)
33.08% in first on buzzer (132/399)
8/11 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $16,800)
6/7 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $13,314
Dennis Chase, career statistics:
167 correct, 21 incorrect
6/6 on rebound attempts (on 21 rebound opportunities)
41.96% in first on buzzer (167/398)
5/8 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $3,600)
3/7 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $18,914
Nick Cascone, career statistics:
125 correct, 17 incorrect
6/7 on rebound attempts (on 24 rebound opportunities)
34.50% in first on buzzer (118/342)
6/11 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $10,200)
3/6 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $16,200
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Kudos to Jen for guessing on the last clue of Double Jeopardy, as a correct response would have improved her position significantly. (I wish Dennis would have guessed, though, as a correct response would have given him the lead without a significant downside.
- Today’s box score: November 28, 2023 Box Score.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Dennis $16,400 ($3,000) Nick $14,600 ($9,300) Jen $3,800 ($5,600))
Jen’s current score: $9,400
Jen’s maximum possible total: $13,200
Dennis’s current score: $19,400
Dennis’s maximum possible total: $35,800
Nick’s current score: $23,900
Nick’s maximum possible total: $38,500
Jen: If Nick bets to cover Dennis and is incorrect, he falls to $11,999. Thus, you need to bet at least $2,600. (Actual bet: $3,800)
Dennis: Limit your bet to $6,199 to stay ahead of Jen’s maximum possible total. (Actual bet: $11,500)
Nick: Standard cover bet over Dennis is $11,901. (Actual bet: $14,600)
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In the book, “Shoeless Joe”, the reclusive author is JD Salinger. JD Salinger was not happy about that, and in “Field of Dreams”, James Earl Jones plays the character, but he is a fictional reclusive author.
I assume Dennis would have been ruled incorrect if the state had been NY since he gave the university, not the state which was asked for.
or maybe I misread it – and they wanted the university – which in this case is just known as Iowa (as opposed to Iowa State).
MarkO, you didn’t misread it; they clearly asked for the state. Can’t say for sure if they would have ruled Dennis incorrect or not but I would think his answer was incorrect for not being the state. One other thing from your comment, though, it is the University of Iowa not Iowa State that has the Writers’ Workshop.
And I have to disagree cuz the way Andy (and the NYT) has the final answer, the correct response would clearly have referred to the University, not the state. Can we go to tape?
Yeah, I think you did, as did I! Fortunately, the U of I, as you note, is universally (within the state, anyway!) known as just “Iowa.” Have to wonder if this would’ve been harder if they’d gone in a different direction (made the category “Literary Alums, left out the “wrote about the state” part and just said something like, “famous alums include Vonnegut, Flannery O’Connor, and Rita Dove”?)
Upon further review, I have to agree with you that they were asking for the University rather than the state. It does say, “This state university’s Writers Workshop..” rather than “This state’s university…” The latter would have been asking for the state but the former is asking for the university.
I still say it is the University of Iowa, though, not Iowa State.
I don’t think MarkO was claiming it was ISU? He was just making the differentiation. BTW, there are three “state schools” in Iowa; the U of Northern Iowa (UNI) being the third.
Yes, I was not claiming it was Iowa State, I was just mentioning that there is more than one state school in Iowa, one of which is just commonly referred to as Iowa (which is a Big 10 school) and then there’s Iowa State, an incorrect answer, and a Big 12 school.
The correct response was clearly supposed to be the university, not the state since the clue read “this state university’s Writers Workshop” rather than “this state’s whatever”. In addition to where the possessive “apostrophe S” was, universities (and possibly other institutions and companies) have writer’s workshops, but the states themselves don’t.
I think the common bent toward thinking the clue referred to the state rather than the university was due to the category being ‘Literary Geography’ but the part of the clue pertaining to the state being written about was sufficient to place it in that category, but also what state a university is in is a matter of geography as well as name.
As Bruce said: Fortunately, the U of I . . . is universally (within the state, anyway!) known as just “Iowa.” I think that is true for most, if not all of the ‘University of WhateverState’ schools [example: University of Tennessee is known as ‘Tennessee’ (and UT), but Tennessee State University is known only as ‘TSU’], but perhaps it depends on which college in any state is bigger or better, their ‘University of ThatState’ or their ‘That State University’ because they all seem to have one of each. But, again, the university within Iowa that is called ‘Iowa’ is the University of Iowa, making just ‘Iowa’ a correct response even though the clue was NOT about THE STATE that the university being described is part of.
Kudos to Nick and Jen winning this game and congrats to nick on getting to the toc. The field of Dreams was a good book and a movie worth seeing despite the fact about the author being reclusive. I got Iowa for this one.
ugh, three missed FJ!s in a row. I had no chance at this one.
I knew immediately the correct response was “What is the University of Iowa?” and I have known these facts for such a long time that I no longer recall WHY I know them! [I never aspired to BE a writer.]
FJ! was easy for me because of W. P. Kinsella. In “Shoeless Joe” and “Field of Dreams” the man who builds the field is named Ray Kinsella. That lead me to Iowa.
Ditto! I didn’t know the author of the book Shoeless Joe (and actually didn’t remember that was the name of the book), but I did remember Ray Kinsella from the movie Field of Dreams and knew that he plowed the cornfield in Iowa. 🙂
As a baseball fan, I was familiar with W. P. Kinsella because of “Shoeless Joe.” Knowing that was set in Iowa made it easy to get this FJ. Similar to Gary’s experience.
Congrats to Nick and on to the ToC he goes! 🙂 Great 2 day final between these 3 champions!
Is there precedent for the situation in that Michael Jordan clue? I.e., multiple distinct correct responses (not just synonyms) and no indication in the clue that the correct response isn’t unique?
I don’t know if there’s a precedent, but yeah … there were six possible correct answers.
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