Warning: This page contains spoilers for the October 9, 2024, 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 Word Origins) for Wednesday, October 9, 2024 (Season 41, Game 23):
This word for one who cuts a trail comes from a name of a character in an 1840 novel
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Colleen Kelly, a girl-between-gigs from Melrose, Massachusetts
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Robert Franke, a data analyst from Sun Prairie, Wisconsin
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Mark Fitzpatrick, a content manager from Riverside, Connecticut (3-day total: $58,000)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Mark Fitzpatrick’s luck continues—even after commenting after win #2 that he felt his luck was running out—after he survived a Triple Stumper Final Jeopardy in yesterday’s matchup. Today, he goes for the important win #4 against Wisconsin’s Robert Franke and Massachusetts’s Colleen Kelly. Colleen should also get some Internet commentary tonight for being introduced as “a girl-between-gigs”.
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What is pathfinder?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2024 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
The Oxford English Dictionary cites the first use of the compound word “pathfinder” as being from the writings of James Fenimore Cooper, specifically the 1840 novel The Pathfinder, or The Inland Sea. The title Pathfinder in this case would be Natty Bumppo, Cooper’s hero of the Leatherstocking Tales. Soon thereafter, “The Pathfinder” also became the nickname of frontiersman John C. Frémont.
After Monday’s game, I am loath to comment again on the difficulty of Final Jeopardy so soon—and I need to preface this by saying, once again, that Alex Trebek would always say that the easiest trivia question is one that you know the answer to (and vice versa)—but I honestly believe that this Final Jeopardy clue could have used a reference to either Frémont, or even the Nissan car model, to bring its difficulty level down slightly. While it is nice to have a clue using fewer than 100 characters, you can make clues longer for a reason: do so!
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Wednesday, October 9, 2024 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: 41; Green Veggies; World Geography; Alliteration; TV Coupling; Medieval Notables)
Mark started well, but fell back to $0 after a missed Daily Double. He still led at the break, though, with scores sitting at Mark $2,400, Robert $1,000, and Colleen $1,000.
Statistics at the first break (15 clues):
Mark 7 correct 1 incorrect
Colleen 3 correct 2 incorrect
Robert 1 correct 0 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Colleen thought that getting The Call was similar to her pregnancy news.
Robert is a curler.
Mark once took a train trip from Germany to Denmark; the trip included a ferry.
Mark picked up 8 correct to extend his lead going into the second commercial break.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Mark 15 correct 1 incorrect
Robert 5 correct 0 incorrect
Colleen 3 correct 3 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Mark $5,400
Robert $2,600
Colleen $0
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: 41; Anatomy; “U” Know; Place The Book; Miscellany; Color Films)
Mark found Daily Doubles on consecutive clues early in the round, as he picked up a combined $7,000 and cruised to a runaway.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Mark 26 correct 2 incorrect
Robert 9 correct 1 incorrect
Colleen 10 correct 5 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 1 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Mark $23,600
Robert $6,200
Colleen $5,600
Today’s Final Jeopardy was a Triple Stumper; Mark is a 4-day champion, and he’ll go for win #5 tomorrow!
Tonight’s results:
Colleen $5,600 – $5,600 = $0 (What is a )
Robert $6,200 – $130 = $6,070 (What is ? Hi Eloise!)
Mark $23,600 – $0 = $23,600 (What is Pioneer?) (4-day total: $81,600)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) ALLITERATION $600 (clue #4)
Mark 2400 -2400 (Robert 0 Colleen 0)
2) ANATOMY $1200 (clue #7)
Mark 8200 +3000 (Robert 2600 Colleen 1200)
3) COLOR FILMS $1200 (clue #8, $25200 left on board)
Mark 11200 +4000 (Robert 2600 Colleen 1200)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: -28
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Mark 5 4 3 3*
Robert
Colleen
DJ! Round:
Mark 3 4 3* 3*
Robert
Colleen 3 4 3 4
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Mark 3.50
Robert 0.00
Colleen 3.50
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 1 (0.04 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Mark $21,400 Coryat, 26 correct, 2 incorrect, 40.35% in first on buzzer (23/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Robert $6,200 Coryat, 9 correct, 1 incorrect, 14.04% in first on buzzer (8/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
Colleen $5,600 Coryat, 10 correct, 5 incorrect, 26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $33,200
Lach Trash: $14,200 (on 14 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $6,600
Lead Changes: 4
Times Tied: 2
Player Statistics:
Mark Fitzpatrick, career statistics:
95 correct, 15 incorrect
2/2 on rebound attempts (on 14 rebound opportunities)
41.85% in first on buzzer (95/227)
7/9 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $21,200)
1/4 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $19,900
Robert Franke, career statistics:
9 correct, 2 incorrect
2/2 on rebound attempts (on 6 rebound opportunities)
14.04% in first on buzzer (8/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $6,200
Colleen Kelly, career statistics:
10 correct, 6 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
26.32% in first on buzzer (15/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $5,600
Mark Fitzpatrick, to win:
5 games: 64.338%
6: 41.394%
7: 26.632%
8: 17.134%
9: 11.024%
Avg. streak: 5.804 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Mark $23,600 Robert $6,200 Colleen $5,600)
Mark: Bet no more than $11,199. (Actual bet: $0)
Robert: Standard cover bet over Colleen is $5,001. (Actual bet: $130)
Colleen: In the battle for second, I would bet between $1,201 and $4,399. (Actual bet: $5,600)
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I guessed Bushwacker.
Me too
I haven’t read the book but there’s an old card game called Authors.
Famous authors and some of their writings.
And one of Cooper’s was The Pathfinder.
as a trail runner and ultra-marathoner, when I see the expression ‘cuts a trail’, I don’t think of someone creating a trail, but someone who is cheating by leaving the trail and not running the full switchbacks.
Also, there were already Native American paths, maybe even pretty much wherever needed back then, so a pathfinder of the time would likely literally be finding an existing path more than cutting a trail as that would be thought of now — though I suppose those paths would have to have been “cut” bigger to accommodate the white settlers’ wagons.
Five correct now in a row for me. Some so easy I double-thought my answer. Normally I get maybe 1 out of 5, although more likely 1 out of 8. Great ego boost. Thought of JFC immediately with the date and it was the only possibility out of the Leatherstocking tales. Been very pleased with the champs lately as well.
Nice streak MJ!
Huh. This one seemed to me to be too easy. Far too easy. As soon as I saw 1840 novel and trail cutter I went to James Fenimore Cooper and quickly went to one of Natty Bumpo’s many nicknames. (Hawkeye, the Pathfinder, the Long Carbine). Pretty deadly books and in the need to a great deal of editing for today’s readers, but not obscure… at least to me…
But then I am old… and took a lot of literature in High School and College.
I disagree with your characterization that ANY of the Final Jeopardys recently were “too easy.” For instance, Monday’s Final about the Coca Cola trade mark. That WAS easy, when you put the clues together. In my opinion, a “too easy” Final Jeopardy would be one were once the answer/clue was revealed you came up with the correct response without having to think much about it. Those are extremely rare.
Unfortunately today’s Final wasn’t any kind of easy for me. when the answer/clue was revealed I thought of Trail Blazer, but immediately knew it was wrong since trail was used in the answer/clue, and, nothing else came to mind. Of course when Ken revealed the correct response, and, something of it’s derivation, it made sense.
I came up with pathfinder in about 3 seconds. The year, author and the words “one who cuts a trail” did it. ❗
Pray tell, Gary, where was the author given to you? Certainly wasn’t in the clue.
I often think the same when someone says something like that. However, with this clue “James Fenimore Cooper and The Leather Stocking Tales” immediately came to mind, so GaryS could have been meaning that situation. However, in this case, my guess is that he meant that the clue saying it was a character in a novel let him know it was not a real person and he just simplified that by saying “author”.
That worked out for GaryS because he remembered Natty Bumppo and/or the correct nickname for him.
However, quickly thinking of “James Fenimore Cooper and The Leather Stocking Tales” AND “The Last of the Mohicans” (BUT no others books) had not done that for me as I could not remember any characters’ names. And I also had ‘Trailblazer’ stuck in my head.
My first thought when I read the clue was “Trailblazer” but knew that couldn’t be it because “trail” was in the clue. So, just needed a synonym for trailblazer and that was “pathfinder.” Don’t really see the need for reference to Frémont or the automobile as a synonym was easy to come up with. Took way less than 30 seconds to come up with the correct synonym. But then again, it might have to do with being old and familiar with JFC’s work.
I shortened it due to “trail” being in the clue and went with blazer. I agree with Andy, had Nissan been mentioned, I wouldn’t have leaned towards the Chevy!
To be honest, I think just changing “name” to “nickname” may have been good enough. My first thought was “Natty Bumppo”, but I knew that couldn’t be it because its not a single word, and I couldn’t think of a nickname for the character. I threw out “Deerstalker”, but I knew that was wrong. But for others, just that change the word may have steered them away from a proper name and to the correct answer.
I agree about saying nickname instead of name, but honestly, I don’t think they had entertained a thought about making it easier.
Pathfinder easy. You all need to read a lot more Westerns and early American novels. Some of them are great.
I couldn’t come up with it. Oh well. 0 for 3 for the week and 4 for 23 for season for a Batting Average of .174. That needs to improve! Shouldn’t have missed Coca Cola for sure.
Retro congrats to Mark on win #4 and now we have back to back 4 game winners, who will very likely be in the next ToC.
Til tomorrow and we see if Mark can get to win #5, have a great night! 🙂
Of course it was a runaway already, but I am glad that Mark won as his answer came closest since that was one of the nicknames (and book titles) of Natty Bumpoo.
Also, Pathfinder and Pioneer have both been NASA probes.