Monday, November 9, 2020 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

[MarkBarrett]

I don't doubt you, makes me wonder why the show would leave open the possibility of a player forgetting to write the verb.

It's happened several times (and no, I'm not going to hunt for them). The verb is unnecessary.

It happens today in the Tuesday ep. Sg does have experience on the show.

[talkingaway]

Archive playthrough:

Coryat $50,600 (55R, 1W)
DD 3/3
FJ

Broke 50k for the first time in a regular-play adult game, which I'm going to go ahead and say is in honor of Alex. Not a lot to kick myself over except forgetting the category plus misreading the clue in ACRONYMS $400 and saying "cookie".

Matched you with the personal-best 55 but came just shy of $50k. Usually not a good sign to see "word origins" in FJ, but I pieced this one together without much issue.

I also broke my regular play records for coryat, correct answers, DJ coryat, DJ correct answers, as well as records for coryat and correct answers for back to back episodes. Must have been an easy episode.

Put me down for hitting close to a high watermark for this episode, too. I had one game - 8255 - where I got 2 more clues right. And I think some of my blanks might have been just that I wasn't quite fast enough or clammed - this show lacked NHOs for me.

They all pre-write the "what is", "who is", etc. They are even told by staff on the show which beginning of the FJ to write. It wasn't like this originally, and I don't know when it started, but it's been the norm for a long time now.

No verb; they pre-write "Who" or "What" and nothing else.

I don't doubt you, makes me wonder why the show would leave open the possibility of a player forgetting to write the verb.

Has that happened and I didn't happen to notice?

Did someone's response look something like: Who Sean Connery?

If they give the "is/are", it can limit responses unintentionally. For example, in a music question where they're looking for a band, it can eliminate some - "Who is Genesis?", but "Who are the Beatles?". Of course, some of that also depends on if you're British or American - I think the Brits tend to call collective nouns and all band names as plural, so it would be "Who are Genesis?" to them.

Giving the "Who" vs "What" also eliminates some responses, but usually in a good way that would force a contestant to reread the clue: "What is Newton's Second Law?" vs "Who is Newton?".

[BrigadierSolo13]

Wow, my comment got quite a bit of traction. I was just expressing my concern for Ben as it seemed like he was scribbling a lot at the final bum BUM. Seemed a lot more than just a 6-letter word.

I have been aware for some time that the coordinators instruct you to prewrite "Who"/"What", as we do in my homebrew games with former J! contestants.

[triviawayne]

Giving the "Who" vs "What" also eliminates some responses, but usually in a good way that would force a contestant to reread the clue: "What is Newton's Second Law?" vs "Who is Newton?".

I originally found out from a former contestant about the pre-written part when there was a question about the Saints I misread, and didn't understand the accepted answer; and part of the explanation I got from that person was exactly this.

[opusthepenguin]

A few years ago, with a few words tweaked, "planetarium" would have been a plausible response for this FJ.

Excellent observation!

[opusthepenguin]

Giving the "Who" vs "What" also eliminates some responses, but usually in a good way that would force a contestant to reread the clue: "What is Newton's Second Law?" vs "Who is Newton?".

This became a crucial point back in 2015 when Scott Lord was negged for writing "Who is Scherazade?" Part of the discussion turned on whether the clue was asking for the name of the suite by Rimsky-Korsakov or the name of the character. If the latter, some were willing to concede that a broader range of spelling possibilities might be in play. Some boardies felt the clue was clearly looking for the suite, others that it was ambiguous, and others that it was looking for the character. Boardie Opal shrewdly pointed out that all the contestants began their responses with "Who", so they'd effectively been instructed to name the character not the suite.

In my view, Scott Lord's response should have been accepted and he should have gone on to a game 7. The decision effectively deprived him of an unknown number of thousands of dollars. And before anyone disagrees with my contention that he should have been credited, they should read my glory* here:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2954&p=177083#p177083

---------------
* "There's glory for you!" said Humpty Dumpty.
"I don't know what you mean by 'glory,' " Alice said.
Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. "Of course you don't—till I tell you. I meant 'there's a nice knock-down argument for you!'"
"But 'glory' doesn't mean 'a nice knock-down argument'," Alice objected.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master—that's all."

[morbeedo]

Excellent game!

Instaget Final and...a bit of déjà vu. Need to figure out where I saw this clue what seems like so recently

When there’s a video clue, do the contestants have the benefit of a text transcript on one of the monitors?

I was surprised to learn that Alex had passed but I made my peace with his departure when he announced his diagnosis a little over a year ago. I may not have made it to the stage in time, but I’m so grateful for the 2 live tapings I got to watch. RIP

The show must - and will - go on. I wish the Jeopardy! team the best during this difficult transition

[mujason]

The Final was quite similar to https://learnedleague.com/question.php?81&17&1

What type of institution is named for the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne from Greek mythology?

[twelvefootboy]

The Final was quite similar to https://learnedleague.com/question.php?81&17&1

What type of institution is named for the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne from Greek mythology?

Thanks for the digging. I had the same deja vu as morbeedo. LL81 was my rookie season, and I did not get it. I know nothing of the muses, but once I got off of the nona- prefix distraction, it floated to the top.

I might have had mixed emotions watching these zombie episodes, but the producer dude that told us AT wanted it this way, which made it OK. Now it is incumbent on us to enjoy the swan song and forget the circumstances.

As to all the archivist struggles with wording and syntax, I rarely use it and have no street cred, but I think the direct statement is best. Hopefully, viewers and fans will be around in ten years and want to quickly see where the legend intersected with a hope-to-be new legend. Make it easy to find, for everybody's benefit. The empathy is assumed.

[AFRET CMS]

When there’s a video clue, do the contestants have the benefit of a text transcript on one of the monitors?

The photo, graphic, or other component of the video clue shows up on the auxiliary monitor to the left of the main game board, while the clue text remains in its normal position on the board. There can be some distance between the text and the visual component, so it can feel awkward moving focus back and forth between the two.