Tuesday, April 24, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

[Archivists]

Game Recap for Show #6362, 2012-04-24

CONTESTANTS
Andrea Korte, an editorial specialist from Washington, D.C.
Matt Johnson, a baker and philosophy instructor from Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Cindy Vanderbur, a health insurance contract specialist from Madison, Indiana (whose 1-day cash winnings total $17,999)

OPENING REMARKS
Alex: Thank you, Johnny. Welcome, everyone. Our champion Cindy probably doesn't remember too much of the specifics of yesterday's program. She was very nervous, but not so nervous that she wasn't able to dominate the game from start to finish. So she's the defending champion today as we welcome Andrea and Matt. Let's go to work, players. Good luck. Here we are. The Jeopardy! Round. And here we are with these categories...

JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
THE AFI LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD (4/5, including 1 missed Daily Double)
JUST DESSERTS (5/5)
ALL ABOUT ARTISTS (5/5)
WHO WANTS TO BE A BILLIONAIRE? (5/5)
SPEAKING HAWAIIAN (5/5)
ORE (4/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Cindy: 13 R (including 1 rebound), 1 W (including 1 DD)
Andrea: 8 R, 1 W
Matt: 7 R, 1 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 1
Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $200



SCORES AT THE FIRST BREAK
Andrea: $3,200
Cindy: $3,200
Matt: $1,800

CONTESTANT INTERVIEWS



Alex: North Korea is very much in the news this year. And this young lady, Andrea Korte, from Washington, D.C., is one of the few Americans to have visited that country.

Andrea: Well, not very far into the country. But I visited South Korea last march, and when I was there, I took a tour of the DMZ.

Alex: Oh.

Andrea: And it's a great tour. They bring you into a big conference room and they let you scatter around before telling you that, "Oh, hey, everyone over there on that side of the room..."

Alex: You're in North...

Andrea: "You're in North Korea."

Alex: Oh, yeah.

Andrea: But they let you come back, though.

Alex: Okay. And then they show you the flags that they had the big controversy over. We put a bigger--

Andrea: Yes. The battle of the big flagpoles, yes.

Alex: "My flag is bigger than yours."

Andrea: Yep.

Alex: "No, not today, 'cause we got a bigger--"

Andrea: Yeah.

Alex: Been there, done that.

Andrea: Yep.




Alex: Matt Johnson is from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It's kind of nice if you can work to pass a law about a holiday, right?

[Matt laughs.]

Alex: And you did that. Was it a holiday named for you?

Matt: Uh, I wish. No. Uh, it's a holiday--Lancaster was the capital of the nation for one day during the American Revolution.

Alex: Right.

Matt: So our friends did what every god-fearing American should do--we marched down to the mayor's house and demanded that he declare it a holiday, and then the next year, they passed a law to make it an official holiday, so...

Alex: So it's a local holiday?

Matt: It is.

Alex: And are, uh, all of the government offices closed on that day?

Matt: We're working on that right now.

Alex: Oh. Okay. With pay, of course!

Matt: Yes, yeah. That's right.

Alex: Yes, all right.




Alex: Cindy Vanderbur from Indiana is our champion. What's this about--you were once a chicken... tester, or taster in a lab?

Cindy: Yeah. I work--I live really close to Louisville, Kentucky, which is home of a pretty large chicken franchise restaurant thing.

Alex: Yeah?

Cindy: And, um, they have a taste test lab, where they bring people in to try all the new products and rate them.

Alex: Uh-huh.

Cindy: And for about a year, I got to--to work in that lab.

Alex: I hope you voted for the original recipe. The old original recipe. That was the--

Cindy: We never knew what was what.

[Laughs]

Alex: Yeah. I can tell. I can tell.

Cindy: I still don't know what's what.

Alex: The old recipe was the best one.

JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Cindy found the Daily Double on the 21st clue. Cindy had $5,600, Matt had $2,000, and Andrea was at $2,800. Cindy wagered $2,500.

THE AFI LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD $1000: 1990:
This director of epics like "The Bridge on the River Kwai"
(Cindy: I don't know, I'll say who is Billy Wilder?)
...
(Cindy: Aww, I should've got that!)

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
ORE $200: Processing 10 tons of ore yields one troy ounce of this, atomic number 79; no wonder it's so darned valuable
(Matt: Uh, what is uranium?)

SCORES AT THE END OF THE JEOPARDY! ROUND
Cindy: $5,700
Andrea: $4,200
Matt: $3,400

[Archivists]

DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND CATEGORIES
MAGAZINES (5/5)
LONGFELLOW (4/5)
WE'RE AN AMERICAN BAND (5/5)
"L" ON EARTH (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
A BYZANTINE CATEGORY (5/5, including 1 correct Daily Double)
THIS OR THAT (4/5)

THE RIGHTS & THE WRONGS
Cindy: 15 R (including 1 rebound and 1 DD), 1 W
Andrea: 10 R (including 1 DD), 0 W
Matt: 3 R, 2 W

Clues revealed: 30
Triple Stumpers: 2
Double Jeopardy! Round Potential Lach Trash: $2,800



FIRST DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
Cindy snagged the next Daily Double on the 6th clue. Cindy had $8,500, Matt had $3,400, and Andrea was at $5,000. Cindy wagered $3,500.

"L" ON EARTH $1600: It's the longest river in France

SECOND DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND DAILY DOUBLE
It was Andrea who snatched up the last Daily Double of the game on the 26th clue. Cindy had $21,200, Matt had $6,200, and Andrea was at $13,400. Andrea wagered $5,000.

A BYZANTINE CATEGORY $1600: After enduring for more than a thousand years, the Byzantine Empire finally fell to this one in 1453

TRIPLE STUMPERS IN THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY! ROUND
LONGFELLOW $800: Longfellow wistfully wrote, "Art is long, and" this "is fleeting"
(Cindy: What is life?)
(Matt: What is love?)

THIS OR THAT $2000: A bad football punt, or the long, straight anchor part connecting the crown & the ring

SCORES ENTERING FINAL JEOPARDY!
Cindy: $24,000
Andrea: $18,400
Matt: $6,200

FINAL JEOPARDY! CATEGORY
WOMEN'S FIRSTS

VENUSIAN MONOLOGUES/MARTIAN CHRONICLES
Three-quarters for first place. Shore's Conjecture.
Cindy: Wager $12,801 to cover Andrea. Or, you could try out a Shoretegic bet of $401.
Andrea: You'll want to wager between $5,601 (venusian) and $5,999 (martian), and you'll win the game if Cindy wagers enough and gets it wrong.
Matt: You can't really win on a Triple Stumper, so your best hope is if you're the only one to get Final right. Wager everything but a few dollars.

FINAL JEOPARDY! CLUE
In 1977 Juanita Kreps, the first woman on the board of the NYSE, became the first woman to head this Cabinet dept.

FINAL SCORES
Matt: $6,200 + $6,200 = $12,400 (What is Commerce) (3rd place: $1,000)
Andrea: $18,400 - $5,999 = $12,401 (What is Treasury?) (2nd place: $2,000)
Cindy: $24,000 + $12,801 = $36,801 (What is Commerce?) (2-day champion: $54,800)

Total Potential Lach Trash: $3,000

GAME DYNAMICS


CORYAT SCORES
Cindy: $24,600, 28 R (including 1 DD), 2 W (including 1 DD)
Andrea: $15,000, 18 R (including 1 DD), 1 W
Matt: $6,200, 10 R, 3 W
Combined Coryat: $45,800

BATTING AVERAGES
Cindy: 29/60 = .483
Andrea: 18/59 = .305
Matt: 11/58 = .190
Team: 58/63 = .921

MISCELLANEOUS INTERESTING CLUES
SPEAKING HAWAIIAN $1000: (Sarah of the Clue Crew stands on a hillside in Molokai, HI.) Molokai was left in isolation for centuries by the armies of Oahu & Maui; the priestly leaders on Molokai, known by this big Hawaiian term, were said to be able to pray their enemies to death

ALL ABOUT ARTISTS $200: This Presidential Medal of Freedom winner whose work is seen here got his first commission when he was 15

ALL ABOUT ARTISTS $600: This artist known for self portraits had a child by a young housekeeper & once declared bankruptcy

ALL ABOUT ARTISTS $1000: The last name of this Renaissance master whose work is seen here means "little barrel"

JUST DESSERTS $200: You don't have to go to Florida to enjoy this dessert

JUST DESSERTS $600: Shhh! A chocolate one of these is just out of the oven

THE AFI LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD $800: 1981:
This dancer who began his career in Vaudeville
(Andrea: Who is Gene Kelly?)

ORE $1000: When pitchblende, an ore of this element, goes to a mill, sulfuric acid is used to produce yellowcake
[Matt smiles broadly]
(Alex: Now's the time--you were just 5 or 6 clues too early.)

MAGAZINES $1600: Ansel Adams helped found this photography magazine named for an opening, as on a camera
(Matt: What is a shutter?)

MAGAZINES $2000: This editor of The Weekly Standard can also be seen on "Fox News Sunday"

CORRECT RESPONSES
David Lean
gold
the Loire
the Ottoman Empire
time
a shank
Commerce
kahuna
Norman Rockwell
Rembrandt
(Sandro) Botticelli
key lime pie
soufflé
Fred Astaire
uranium
Aperture
(Bill) Kristol

[jeff6286]

Women's Firsts
In 1977 Juanita Kreps, the first woman on the board of the NYSE, became the first woman to head this Cabinet department.

Spoiler: show

What is Commerce? Andrea said Treasury.

Cindy Vanderbur: $24,000+$12,801=$36,801...now a 2-day champion with$54.800
Andrea Korte: $18.400-$5,999=$12,401
Matt Johnson: $6,200+$6,200=$12,400

[bomtr]

I just played this off the archive, and I'm going to say this board was written just a wee bit too easy. I was 30/30 in J!, 28/30 in DJ! with both clams things I should have known in 'magazines' but couldn't access quickly enough, and an immediate correct response in FJ! Must have been a ton of buzzer battles, and if so, validates champ's buzzer skills. Should be a little more challenge than this, though. I'd like to be able to learn something on every board.

[Austin Powers]

The J round felt way too easy - any of the ores could have been $200 or $400 level it felt like. The hardest question was the Astaire/Kelly coinflip (but not really, Kelly's just a little too young to have been vaudeville).

DJ a lot better, very enjoyable questions and I thought the contestants fielded them well. I said "life is fleeting" for the Longfellow quote myself.

Not that it mattered, but IIRC the second place player's DD bet, as will be observed, was just enough to get her in range of a 2/3, but just enough to take her out of range of winning with a miss.

The champ looks good, though she did has some funny gaps - missing David Lean for example, which I suspect she knew deep-down.

[econgator]

Personally, I thought Matt should have been negged on his response of "Loving Spoonful" -- there's no 'g', but it made no difference.

FJ was instaget.

[TenPoundHammer]

J! wasn't easy for me at all. To wit:

* Ore for $200 seemed very vague even with the elemental number. Got the middle 3 with ease, but pitchblende didn't register.

* Didn't recognize any of the names in Billionaire from $400 down. Berlusconi is $400 material huh?

* Similarly, I knew 4 of the 5 names in AFI (all but $1,000), but couldn't name a single thing associated with any of those actors.

* Also, only 2/5 in Desserts. I've eaten none of those, of course.

* 4/5 in Hawaii, with my brain going out to lunch on Hula.

* 2/5 in Artists. NHO the guy at $1,000.

====

DJ! was just lolwut to me. Clammed on Details since I had NHO the magazine, and I always want to say "arpeture" instead of "aperture". I could've gotten some of the other clues, such as bat, Jackson 5, Gitchee Gumee, Atilla the Hun, etc., but I just wasn't firing on both cylinders.

Not even a WAG on FJ! Didn't know there was a Commerce department.

[Austin Powers]

"Piss easy" is a relative term, TPH. In your case you brain might need a solid kilogram of Flomax to get everything working.

[Austin Powers]

Btw Khosrow is Persian, okay, I guess, but really it's the Sassanid Empire.

[ACW]

Jeff, does mean you got FJ? I did
Didn't know it, but thought process: NYSE something business-related Commerce.

[jaxjags]

Anyone else think Matt looks like Paul Giamatti?

[Bamaman]

FJ wasn't really an instaget, but easy to piece together. NYSE does suggest business, but needed to run down the list.

We've never had a woman at Treasury or Defense and the first at state and Justice came later.

Perkins had been in Labor with FDR.

HUD and Transportation didn't make sense, given the NYSE TOM. Califano was at HEW, so that leaves Commerce.

[Magna]

Jeff, does mean you got FJ? I did
Didn't know it, but thought process: NYSE something business-related Commerce.

That was my initial take too. But then I talked myself out of it, based on an inkling that FDR had appointed a woman to that post, and talked myself into the actual cabinet department FDR appointed Francis Perkins to. :/

[thejeopardyfan]

Anyone else think Matt looks like Paul Giamatti?

I can see that.
Everybody, how would you wager on the final if you were Matt? It seems like kind of a tough situation to me, and a lot of guesswork as to what the second-place player will do. But I guess that's every day.

[Johnblue]

Boy, Alex made that story about "visiting" N. Korea seem lame. Easy boards; easy FJ. Nice to see very few TSs and a nice 2-day total for the champ.

[marpocky]

Boy, Alex made that story about "visiting" N. Korea seem lame.

That story made me jealous. I reserved a spot on a DMZ tour during a 13 hour layover in Seoul last summer, and at the last minute they had to change the day, causing me to miss out on it. I spent the day wandering around the city in the rain instead.

[cinemaniax7]

I just played this off the archive, and I'm going to say this board was written just a wee bit too easy. I was 30/30 in J!, 28/30 in DJ! with both clams things I should have known in 'magazines' but couldn't access quickly enough, and an immediate correct response in FJ! Must have been a ton of buzzer battles, and if so, validates champ's buzzer skills. Should be a little more challenge than this, though. I'd like to be able to learn something on every board.

It wasn't a tough board, but I'm impressed by the 30/30. I don't think I've ever managed to run the entire board. I've had 28 or 29 a few times, but never all 30. Now, that doesn't mean I couldn't get all 30 given enough time. But there's always a brief lapse in concentration or an oddly worded clue to trip me up.

[Johnblue]

I missed 3 in the dessert category which surprised me. But yes, the rest was easy.

I'd love to see Seoul/DMZ myself!

[Paucle]

I thought Matt should have been negged on his response of "Loving Spoonful" -- there's no 'g',

Oh good, I'm not alone. Hey, if unneeded Ss are neg-worthy, then so are unneeded Gs, yes?

Was bummed the Hawai'i category had no humuhumunukunukuapua'a.

[Magna]

Was bummed the Hawai'i category had no humuhumunukunukuapua'a.

Maybe it was served at the $800 clue.

Speaking of which, the "particular dish" clue was odd.

Spoiler: show

The "luau" in "luau chicken," "luau pork," etc. is taro leaves, not coconut milk.

Not to say it's an ungettable clue - just that it's kind of a weird way of asking it.