Thursday, November 3, 2011 Game Recap & Discussion [SPOILERS]

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whoisalexjacob
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Re: Thursday, November 3, 2011 TOC Game Recap & Disc(SPOILER

Post by whoisalexjacob »

Congrats, Roger! Dream game!
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Re: Thursday, November 3, 2011 TOC Game Recap & Disc(SPOILER

Post by alietr »

I still say Kara reminds me of Liz Murphy.
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Re: Thursday, November 3, 2011 TOC Game Recap & Disc(SPOILER

Post by billiej »

alietr wrote:I still say Kara reminds me of Liz Murphy.
Yes, I can see that.
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Re: Thursday, November 3, 2011 TOC Game Recap & Disc(SPOILER

Post by chuck5982 »

Congratulations Roger! Watching this game was just like old times! Good luck in the semifinals!
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Re: Thursday, November 3, 2011 TOC Game Recap & Disc(SPOILER

Post by seaborgium »

heisman65 wrote:Me too, DK! It's actually my favourite feature of the Coryat system. On another note, in the Translation category, was "beaucoup" necessary avec le "merci" or is merci good on its own?
The clue said something about it being extra polite, so I'm pretty sure it had to be there.
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Re: Thursday, November 3, 2011 TOC Game Recap & Disc(SPOILER

Post by Volante »

I got the FJ at probably the 20 second mark. I suppose 'European' and 'island' in the clue got me to focus on the Mediterranean more than anything, so after wasting time with Malta I thought of Cyprus and Greece came instantly after thanks to the 'culture' part. I definitely feel like I lucked out on picking the right area of the globe though.
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Re: Thursday, November 3, 2011 TOC Game Recap & Disc(SPOILER

Post by alietr »

There was something about the phrase "share a common European culture" that led me away from Europe.
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Re: Thursday, November 3, 2011 TOC Game Recap & Disc(SPOILER

Post by RCraig »

alietr wrote:There was something about the phrase "share a common European culture" that led me away from Europe.
Yeah, me too (obviously)! (More on that later)

Thanks for all the kind words, everyone!

Right now, I'm psyched to watch John-Joon-Tom duke it out. Peace!
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Re: Thursday, November 3, 2011 TOC Game Recap & Disc(SPOILER

Post by Turd Ferguson »

goforthetie wrote:Poor Brian. First he gets to play against a juggernaut, and then he gets bushwhacked* by an insane FJ, which was both convoluted and almost impossible to tease out. Congrats to Kara for getting it, but it probably won't do her much good.
My thoughts exactly... if I were Brian or Kara, I might wonder what I'd done to offend TPTB. I came up with the same FJ! response as Brian -- I read the clue as if they were looking for two non-European countries with the same European ancestry, so was doomed right away. Re-reading the clue, I guess the key thing to have taken from it was that few (if any) former colonies would be described as sharing a "common culture" with their mother countries (or with other former colonies). IMO it was too easy to focus on the other parts of the clue to notice the suggestion that both countries are European (or very close to it).

Would it have been "too easy" if they'd uncluttered the clue and just asked for two European countries whose highest peaks share the same name? I'd still have had no clue, but could have at least made a "decent guess".

Anyways, this was a fun episode to watch, and there's little I can say about Roger's impressive performance that hasn't been said already. I had high "expectations", but even those were exceeded. I wonder how much Roger's semi-final opponents found out about how this game went before playing him - the <$20K total would seem good, though not at all reflective of how dominant he was.

Also, as has been noted elsewhere, there doesn't seem to be anything incorrect about Kara's "threesome" response. J! accepts "alternate responses" all the time... why not here? I'd loved to have heard Alex explain that score correction. I hope Kara does advance, I do like her playing style.
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Re: Thursday, November 3, 2011 TOC Game Recap & Disc(SPOILER

Post by seaborgium »

Besides the fact that the word "three" (or the numeral 3) showed up in the clue, the circumstances described in it also don't automatically imply a threesome. Had the clue said "might form" instead of just "form," I'd be advocating for crediting Kara too.
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Re: Thursday, November 3, 2011 TOC Game Recap & Disc(SPOILER

Post by alietr »

Turd Ferguson wrote:Also, as has been noted elsewhere, there doesn't seem to be anything incorrect about Kara's "threesome" response. J! accepts "alternate responses" all the time... why not here? I'd loved to have heard Alex explain that score correction. I hope Kara does advance, I do like her playing style.
I don't remember the wording, but I'm pretty sure it was an A>B>C>A sort of thing, which describes a love triangle, not a threesome.
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Re: Thursday, November 3, 2011 TOC Game Recap & Disc(SPOILER

Post by Volante »

Turd Ferguson wrote: Would it have been "too easy" if they'd uncluttered the clue and just asked for two European countries whose highest peaks share the same name? I'd still have had no clue, but could have at least made a "decent guess".
Well, I know if they went that route, I doubt I would have gotten it. 'Culture' drove home the Greece/Cyprus nail in my mind.
Also, as has been noted elsewhere, there doesn't seem to be anything incorrect about Kara's "threesome" response. J! accepts "alternate responses" all the time... why not here? I'd loved to have heard Alex explain that score correction. I hope Kara does advance, I do like her playing style.
I don't have the exact clue in front of me, but I believe the relationship likes went as such in the clue: A -> B -> C -> A
A threesome has more...reciprocity than the clue let on.
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Re: Thursday, November 3, 2011 TOC Game Recap & Disc(SPOILER

Post by alietr »

"If Andy yearns for Brenda & Brenda cares about Charlene who pines for Andy, the 3 of them form one of these."

I'd neg threesome.
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Re: Thursday, November 3, 2011 TOC Game Recap & Disc(SPOILER

Post by HugoZ »

alietr wrote:"If Andy yearns for Brenda & Brenda cares about Charlene who pines for Andy, the 3 of them form one of these."

I'd neg threesome.
Not if you append the customary fortune cookie addendum to the clue.
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Re: Thursday, November 3, 2011 TOC Game Recap & Disc(SPOILER

Post by jkbrat »

alietr wrote:There was something about the phrase "share a common European culture" that led me away from Europe.

Same here; I immediately jumped to the Caribbean.

Oh, so many islands from which to choose ... Went with France/Martinique, but didn't feel that good about it since I knew there were so many other alternatives and I had no basis on which to eliminate any of them (not having [yet??] memorized all the highest peaks of all the island countries; silly me!).

So short of simply knowing that the highest peak on Cyprus is named Mt. Olympus (and then taking a wild guess as to which European country would be most associated with the name Olympus :roll: ), I think this was a pretty tough get without a fair bit o' luck (like choosing to start your search in the Mediterranean vs. anywhere else).
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Re: Thursday, November 3, 2011 TOC Game Recap & Disc(SPOILER

Post by Volante »

jkbrat wrote:
alietr wrote:There was something about the phrase "share a common European culture" that led me away from Europe.

Same here; I immediately jumped to the Caribbean.

Oh, so many islands from which to choose ... Went with France/Martinique, but didn't feel that good about it since I knew there were so many other alternatives and I had no basis on which to eliminate any of them (not having [yet??] memorized all the highest peaks of all the island countries; silly me!).

So short of simply knowing that the highest peak on Cyprus is named Mt. Olympus (and then taking a wild guess as to which European country would be most associated with the name Olympus :roll: ), I think this was a pretty tough get without a fair bit o' luck (like choosing to start your search in the Mediterranean vs. anywhere else).
It's possible they were explicitly trying to up the difficulty by trying to make European seem less important a location tool. A little sleight-of-TOM.

In of itself, "Cyprus+Greece, Mount Olympus, similar culture" seems like it should be obvious in retrospect, or at least have a glimmer of recognition. (An "Ooooh" moment rather than a leiderkranz inducing "WTF?!") But a clue of "These two European countries share not just a common culture but also the same name for their highest peak" narrows the reticule too much for a TOC FJ. (Would make a good normal FJ though.)

I think everyone circling the globe trying to find what island goes with which European country might just have been what they were going for.
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Re: Thursday, November 3, 2011 TOC Game Recap & Disc(SPOILER

Post by dhkendall »

HugoZ wrote:
alietr wrote:"If Andy yearns for Brenda & Brenda cares about Charlene who pines for Andy, the 3 of them form one of these."

I'd neg threesome.
Not if you append the customary fortune cookie addendum to the clue.
I definitely agree here, which was my thought when I heard them neg Kara, the clue (for a G-rated show - or was this one rated PG, I didn't notice ... ) didn't imply any sexual activity; I think that was the sole thing keeping Kara's answer from being correct.
jkbrat wrote:I think this was a pretty tough get without a fair bit o' luck (like choosing to start your search in the Mediterranean vs. anywhere else).
Something tells me this clue will make it into the "Tough FJs of the Quarter" poll, and do well.
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Re: Thursday, November 3, 2011 TOC Game Recap & Disc(SPOILER

Post by hbomb1947 »

dhkendall wrote: Something tells me this clue will make it into the "Tough FJs of the Quarter" poll, and do well.
For me right now, it's neck and neck with the "United Nations" clue. Not sure which one I would vote for if faced with the poll today.

So, here is an article by Kara in which she discusses this game.

http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/t ... -bits.html

Interestingly, she writes, "My score of $6,012 didn’t seem like enough money to get me into the next round . . . . At that point, though, I could do nothing but sit and watch the next three quarter-final games to see if $6,012 was enough to get me through to the semi-final round." (emphasis added)

I wonder if she's implying that things didn't end up as they seemed . . .
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Re: Thursday, November 3, 2011 TOC Game Recap & Disc(SPOILER

Post by TriviaBug »

dhkendall wrote:
TriviaBug wrote:If anyone had any doubts about you being the cream of the crop
And he's not just talking about the colour of your suit, either! *rimshot* :mrgreen:
Am glad you don't do stand-up anymore! :D
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Re: Thursday, November 3, 2011 TOC Game Recap & Disc(SPOILER

Post by alietr »

If you go back and look at the official group portrait on Jeopardy's TOC site, Kara's comment is making a lot more sense ...
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