Thursday, November 24, 2005 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

[Robert K S]

Game Recap for Show #4879, 2005-11-24

CONTESTANTS
Wendy Stancer, a database administrator from Walnut Creek, California
Ben Davis, an investment specialist from Fort Mitchell, Kentucky
Bill MacDonald, an attorney from Bonita Springs, Florida (whose 2-day cash winnings total $23,399)

OPENING REMARKS
Alex: Thank you, Johnny. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our show. Wendy and Ben, newcomers, good to have you here. Bill, nice to see you again. If you're all ready, let's get into the first round of play--the Jeopardy! Round. Where will that one Daily Double appear, in which of these categories?

JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
NATIVE AMERICA (4/5)
EUROPEAN EATS (5/5)
FOLK ETYMOLOGY (3/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
PLAY (5/5)
THAT FUNKY MUSIC (4/5)
DWIGHT BOY (5/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Bill: 13 R (including 1 DD), 2 W
Wendy: 8 R (including 1 rebound), 2 W
Ben: 5 R, 0 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 4
Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $3,200

Wendy presented Bill's biggest challenge this round, but he was strong from the beginning, going 4/5 in FUNKY MUSIC and snagging a tough DD on the 20th clue.

SCORES AT THE FIRST BREAK
Bill: $5,600
Wendy: $1,000
Ben: $400

CONTESTANT INTERVIEWS

I'LL TAKE A STAB THAT THAT TRIP WAS ON AVERAGE DOWNHILL

Alex: Wendy Stancer is from computer country, Walnut Creek, California. And I understand you have ridden your bicycle from San Francisco to Los Angeles, not just once, but twice--

Wendy: That's correct.

Alex: --but not in the other direction.

Wendy: Not back. They were charity rides to raise money for AIDS services.

Alex: And how did you get back home?

Wendy: Oh, I flew, so did the bicycle.

Alex: Do you have one of these expensive bicycles, because the bikes that Lance Armstrong uses, for instance, those kinds of bicycles they can run into the thousands, am I right?

Wendy: Mine is not in the thousands, but yes, those do.

Alex: You've got the $47.50 Schwinn special?

Wendy: Not quite that low-end.

Alex: Okay.


THE LOST CARTOGRAPHER'S SPOUSE

Alex: Ben Davis is from Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, he's an investment specialist, but he doesn't have a good sense of direction, I understand. You managed to get lost in every city you've visited?

Ben: Every major city I've been to, including D.C., L.A., and Paris.

Alex: How do you manage to get lost?

Ben: Native ability. We just somehow, "Oh, that's supposed to be our exit." We turn off and, no, it's not. The amazing thing is my wife makes maps for a living.

Alex: Okay.


WAY TO DEAFEN THE MIXER BOARD ENGINEER

Alex: Bill MacDonald is our champion. Now he's married, and on your first date with the woman who was to become your wife, what did you do? Sort of an unforgivable sin. I want to hear the details.

Bill: Well, I--I stole her purse. It was by accident, but we--

Alex: Right!

Bill: We met in town and she was driving me back to my house, and we had such a good date, she passed me her purse to hold on to when she was going out of the parking lot, and I just forgot that I was holding it. And I walked into the house clutching the purse and thinking what a great date that was and, "AHHHH!" And I ran, threw the door open--

Alex: You just scared the living daylights out of me. Did you scream that loud at your house?

Bill: I did. I did.

Alex: Did you go through the purse before returning it to her? Come on, fess up.

Bill: No. No, but it did ensure me a second date.

Alex: You sneak, you.

JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Bill found the Daily Double on the 20th clue. Bill had $4,800, Ben had $400, and Wendy was at $400. Bill made it a True Daily Double, wagering $4,800.

FOLK ETYMOLOGY $1000: To get this word for a smelly varmint, we anglicized the French for "feline that eats poultry"

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
THAT FUNKY MUSIC $1000: The opening of this "Kool" funk classic about an L.A. district is heard here
(Alex: And that is[*].[*]. Bill, let's go somewhere else.)

FOLK ETYMOLOGY $600: This 10-letter word we use for someone ending his bachelorhood is partly from an alteration of guma, "man"
(Wendy: What is groomsman?)

FOLK ETYMOLOGY $800: Our word "cutlet" for a thin slice evolved from the French cotelette, a little one of these body parts
(Bill: What is a wing?)

NATIVE AMERICA $800: With close to 650,000, this state leads the U.S. in number of Native Americans, followed by Okla. & Arizona
(Wendy: What is Alaska?)

SCORES AT THE END OF THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
Bill: $9,400
Wendy: $3,400
Ben: $2,600

[Robert K S]

DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
RELATIVITY AT 100 (4/5)
YOUR LIFE ON THE BIG SCREEN (3/5) (Alex: We want to you to name the subject of each biopic in...)
TENNESSEE FOR YOURSELF (3/5, including 1 missed Daily Double)
OPERA (2/3, including 1 correct Daily Double)
FORBES' TOP EXECUTIVE SALARIES (4/5) (Alex: ...for 2005.)
"D"-RIGEUR (4/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Bill: 12 R (including 1 rebound and 1 DD), 0 W
Ben: 5 R, 2 W (including 1 DD)
Wendy: 3 R, 0 W

Clues revealed: 28
Triple Stumpers: 7
Double Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $10,400

Bill locked this game up so tight, his opponents could only nod in agreement when Alex mentioned as much at the end of the DJ! Round. With this being his third lock in his three games, Bill is on a roll.

FIRST DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Ben snagged the next Daily Double on the 19th clue. Bill had $16,600, Ben had $7,000, and Wendy was at $5,000. Ben wagered $4,000.

TENNESSEE FOR YOURSELF $1600: Following his 1992 death, this author was returned to his roots at his boyhood home in Henning, Tennessee
(Ben: Who is Shelby Foote?)

SECOND DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
It was Bill who snatched up the last Daily Double of the game on the 28th clue. Bill had $20,200, Ben had $2,200, and Wendy was at $7,000. Bill wagered $2,000.

OPERA $1200: In a Richard Strauss opera, the princess sends one of these to her cavalier--hence the title
(Alex: The other Daily Double. Here's your chance to do yourself a world of good. Nobody even close to you, Bill. A $13,000 lead. Big cushion.)
(Bill: Yeahhhh...)
(Alex: It's OPERA, a favorite category of yours.)
(Bill: I'll bet $2,000.)
(Alex: I thought you were going to say $2.)
...
(Alex:[*]. Der Rosenkavalier.)

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND
YOUR LIFE ON THE BIG SCREEN $1600: 2005:
"Cinderella Man"
(Alex: That was heavyweight champ[*].)

YOUR LIFE ON THE BIG SCREEN $2000: 1973:
"Papillon"
(Alex: The Frenchman's name was[*].[*].)

RELATIVITY AT 100 $1600: Section I.1 of the June 1905 relativity paper defines the use of these everyday devices within stationary systems

"D"-RIGEUR $2000: This lord known for a relationship with Oscar Wilde declared, "I am the love that dare not speak its name"

TENNESSEE FOR YOURSELF $2000: In 1991 this former Tennessee governor became President Bush's Secretary of Education
(Alex: Also ran for president later,[*].)

FORBES' TOP EXECUTIVE SALARIES $800: This former head of Paramount can spend a lot at Ticketmaster & his Home Shopping Network with his $156 mil. from IAC

OPERA $400: Act I of this "airborne" Wagner work includes a tenor aria about a sailor returning to his sweetheart

SCORES ENTERING FINAL JEOPARDY!
Bill: $22,200 (lock game)
Wendy: $7,000
Ben: $2,200

PREFINAL REMARKS
Alex: And that does it. You wind up at $22,200, Bill. You are right now uncatchable. Ben has $2200, Wendy $7,000.

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
HISTORIC NAMES

VENUSIAN MONOLOGUES/MARTIAN CHRONICLES
Lock for first place; lock for second place.
Bill: Wager between $0 (venusian) and $8,199 (martian), and enjoy your victory.
Wendy: Wager between $0 (venusian) and $2,599 (martian), and enjoy 2nd place.
Ben: You've no hope of catching up... unless Wendy does something stupid. So risk $2,199.

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
In 2005, the 700th anniversary of his execution, his 5-foot sword was displayed in N.Y. as part of a Tartan Day celebration

FINAL SCORES
Ben: $2,200 + $2,199 = $4,399 (Who was William Wallace) (3rd place: $1,000)
Wendy: $7,000 + $2,599 = $9,599 (Who was William Wallace?) (2nd place: $2,000)
Bill: $22,200 + $8,199 = $30,399 (Who was William Wallace?) (3-day champion: $53,798)

Total Potential Lach Trash: $13,600

(Cheryl of the Clue Crew delivers a Footnote about relativity at 100 after the Final Jeopardy! Round.) All the complex mathematics in the theory of relativity emerged from a question the young Einstein asked himself: "What would the world look like if I rode on a beam of light?" The way he answered that question changed science forever.

GAME DYNAMICS


CORYAT SCORES
Bill: $17,600, 25 R (including 2 DDs), 2 W
Wendy: $7,000, 11 R, 2 W
Ben: $6,200, 10 R, 2 W (including 1 DD)
Combined Coryat: $30,800

BATTING AVERAGES
Bill: 26/60 = .433
Wendy: 12/58 = .207
Ben: 11/59 = .186
Team: 49/63 = .778

MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTING CLUES
THAT FUNKY MUSIC $600: The man who replaced Aaron Burr as vice president shares his name with this funkmeister

FOLK ETYMOLOGY $200: Cater-corner became kitty-corner after people stopped using "cater" to mean this number
(Alex:[*] is right. Good girl.)

EUROPEAN EATS $200: (Jon of the Clue Crew toasts from behind a spread of meats at a dinner table in Gdansk, Poland.) In Polish vocabulary, you may not know "piwo", beer, but you probably know the word the word for this type of sausage

EUROPEAN EATS $400: (Kelly of the Clue Crew helps herself to an all-you-can-eat in Stockholm, Sweden.) This classic Sweedish spread wouldn't be complete without plates of sill, herring that is often pickled

EUROPEAN EATS $600: (Sarah of the Clue Crew enjoys a stew-like dish in Moscow, Russia.) Poet Yevtushenko said he worked on the principle of this dish: throw beets, carrots, cabbage in--what's important is the taste

EUROPEAN EATS $800: (Cheryl of the Clue Crew points out some finned edibles in Tallinn, Estonia.) This small fish with the name of a nursery rhyme character is big in Estonia, especially smoked

EUROPEAN EATS $1000: (Jimmy of the Clue Crew chows down in Gdansk, Poland.) They're a sort of Polish ravioli, and here in Gdansk, they taste just like Matka used to make
(Bill: What are latkes?)

FORBES' TOP EXECUTIVE SALARIES $1200: Lew Frankfort totes a big handbag for the $86.5 million he earned from this leather accessory co.
(Ben: What is Gucci?)

CORRECT RESPONSES
polecat
"Hollywood Swingin'"
bridegroom
rib
California
Alex Haley
a rose
Jim Braddock
Henri Charriere
clocks
Lord Alfred Douglas
Lamar Alexander
Barry Diller
The Flying Dutchman
William Wallace
George Clinton
4
kielbasa
a smorgasboard
borscht
sprat
pierogi
Coach

[AWSOP]

Congratulations, Bill on making "Jeopardy! Website Immortality" (the $50,000 list). Although after seeing your first DD wager, I think that you should have used Ray Walston as your avatar instead of Robert Stack.

When you were about to make your Opera DD wager, for a second I thought that you would put yourself at risk and I was thinking "surely you can't be serious" so maybe Rex Kramer was the best choice.

[heelsrule1988]

Wow. Bill, you're definitely making us all proud. Way to represent the boardies!!! Also, that true Daily Double got me going nuts. I like your riskiness.

After a nice night for me yesterday, I dropped down to $2,000 tonight. What can I say, I played like a turkey tonight*.



*I apologize for the lame Thanksgiving pun. I couldn't resist, though.

[hbomb1947]

Bill, congrats on another dominating performance.

Query: when is the last time that a contestant had 3 consecutive games with a "lock" going into FJ?

[LizLackey]

Originally Posted by hbomb1947

Query: when is the last time that a contestant had 3 consecutive games with a "lock" going into FJ?

Jason Richards had four at the beginning of October.

[Budphrey]

This game showed a new dimension to Bill's style. In his first two games he built a cushion then mainly watched as his opponents didn't quite manage to get any serious runs going on a couple of minefield-style DJ! boards.

Thursday, on the other hand, Bill took an assertive hand in staying well ahead even as Ben and Wendy mounted respectable runs while staying clam when appropriate. Had Ben lucked out with his bold Daily Double move, the game would likely have been tighter -- although Final Jeopardy apparently would have won the day for Bill anyway.

My apologies for referring to you in third person, and let's see what you brought for Friday's game!

[RobertHutchinson]

I didn't get to see this episode because of football, so I just now "played" it at J-Archive. WOW, did I do poorly.

I haven't congratulated Bill yet in any thread, so I'll do so here. Here's hoping WCTV manages to show the correct episode tonight.

[AustinPowers]

Couple of thoughts on the questions.

I thought the relativity category was inartfully done. The "clock" discussion is pretty well known, much like the twin paradox, but they managed to obscure it; I'm sorry but I haven't read Einstein's original paper so I wouldn't know what was in section X whatever. Just ask about the freakin' clocks. I also don't like the "star system" question in the same category. Would Proxima Centauri, the actual closest star, been acceptable? This could have been avoided by simply mentioning that the "system" is trinary, or simply asking for the nearest star.

Second, the reason it's called a polecat isn't because it has this French name origin. There's an actual mustelid called a polecat, and that's where its name comes from. We call skunks "polecats" because they have similar coloration to this European weasel-like creature.

I thought the Barry Diller TS reflected a certain Hollywood myopia; apparently Oracle is considered worth $2000, but studio execs are obvious and only worth $800.

And once again, everyone is hideously scared of opera.

[GnashEquilibrium]

Originally Posted by AWSOP

Congratulations, Bill on making "Jeopardy! Website Immortality" (the $50,000 list). Although after seeing your first DD wager, I think that you should have used Ray Walston as your avatar instead of Robert Stack.

I liked the wager. If successful, it almost forces the opponents to play recklessly in DJ; if unsuccessful, it is basically a 3-way tie at half-time. Well worth the risk, considering how valuable it is to lock the game before FJ.

[John Boy]

Belatedly, best of the holidays (those just completed and those upcoming) to all you boardies out there, and all you care about.

God bless us all.

[Rex Kramer]

As y'all might have guessed, this was the game where I finally loosened up, and it was a lot of fun.

I was so pleased to be in a position to make a true Daily Double wager -- seeing as my opponents were both at $400, the benefits seemed to outweigh the risks, and, being a cryptic crossword puzzle editor, I felt confident going on cocky about the "Folk Etymology" category. I thought I was really lucky to encounter the situation and had to jump on it.

One interesting note to Jeopardy! aspirants: there were at least two questions in this puzzle that I got on account of studying. I'd actually made up a clue similar to the George Clinton one while studying my vice presidents, and brushing up on Opera had put Der Rosenkavalier close at hand (close at mind?) when the question came up. So there definitely are advantages to brushing up on certain key categories, in my experience.

Rex

[plasticene]

OPERA $1200: In a Richard Strauss opera, the princess sends one of these to her cavalier--hence the title

It's a good thing "Richard Strauss" and "cavalier" were good enough hints to prompt the intended response, since the clue has the plot all wrong.

The Marschallin (I've never heard her called "the princess", although apparently she is one) doesn't send a rose to anybody. Baron Ochs is the one who sends the rose, and the recipient is his intended bride Sophie. The "cavalier" of the rose, the Marschallin's lover Octavian, is chosen by the Marschallin (at Baron Ochs' request) to deliver the rose to Sophie.

I have to admit, it's simpler to make up a new plot than to fit anything like the real one into a Jeopardy! clue.

[slam]

I guess this is one case where near ignorance is bliss. Being an opera ignoramus, I got "rose" immediately only because "Der Rosencavalier" rang a bell.

[bpmod]

Originally Posted by slam

I guess this is one case where near ignorance is bliss. Being an opera ignoramus, I got "rose" immediately only because "Der Rosencavalier" rang a bell.

But I guess total ignorance isn't. I was nowhere near it.



Brian