Monday, September 25, 2017 Game Recap and Discussion [SPOILERS]

[Linear Gnome]

Also, what the hell judges on that "PRE" clue? I had "preparation" on that. How were all those negged? Judges on "preparation"?

It's what I said, so I'd give it to you. For a top-row clue, I think they should have either pinned the response better or been more lenient.

[TenPoundHammer]

Middle lady came completely unraveled in the second half of J! and never got her groove back.

No way was I getting "serial", "chariot", or "It's Always Sunny" in the top box.

Can't believe I missed Michigan. Again.

You mean Hunchback wasn't Hugo's only work? Color me surprised.

"Pre" for $400 was poorly pinned. That should not have been a triple neg with three "close but no cigar" answers. Why did "preventative" not fit the clue?

I couldn't even tell that thing was a bird, even when standing right in front of the TV. This is why I hate visual clues like this: it's very easy to have no goddamn idea what you're looking at.

[skullturf]

Am I the only one who was thrown off by the look of the statue? The sailor looked too modern for the 19th century and I had a tough time determining that the thing he was holding was a big bird.

Totally with you on that! but the rope around the neck was enough for me.

My thought process was similar. I couldn't make out exactly what the creature was (fish, bird, or what) but the rope around the neck was strongly suggestive of "that creature is weighing him down somehow, or being a burden." That together with "sailor" was enough to make it click for me.

[Ironhorse]

My thought process was similar. I couldn't make out exactly what the creature was (fish, bird, or what) but the rope around the neck was strongly suggestive of "that creature is weighing him down somehow, or being a burden." That together with "sailor" was enough to make it click for me.

That's pretty much how I got it as well. I went through an Iron Maiden phase in high school so it's definitely one of the British poems I'm more familiar with.

I was surprised Ichabod Crane was a TS.

I feel so bad for Anupama. Clearly you have to be smart to at least make it that far but she seemed to be hit with the fatal combination of nervousness and a nightmare board. Now you have sites like TMZ writing articles making fun of her for her Colorado Rockies answer, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

[dhkendall]

As someone who loves the sports categories, I was sorry to see that one come up today. The three answers we saw were ridiculously easy for someone who has even a marginal sense of NFL history. This may discourage future categories. Interesting that Allen played with the Raiders during 11 of their 13 seasons in Los Angeles, but none in Oakland.

That’s the thing, they may not have that “marginal sense of sports history”, I know I clammed the category at home.

[seaborgium]

No definition beginning with "an action" will be defining anything but a noun. "Preventive," "preemptive," and "preventative" all describe the action in the definition quite well ("precautionary" too, for that matter), but none of them are or could be defined as such an action.

[Ironhorse]

As someone who loves the sports categories, I was sorry to see that one come up today. The three answers we saw were ridiculously easy for someone who has even a marginal sense of NFL history. This may discourage future categories. Interesting that Allen played with the Raiders during 11 of their 13 seasons in Los Angeles, but none in Oakland.

That’s the thing, they may not have that “marginal sense of sports history”, I know I clammed the category at home.

Right; sports happens to be within my wheelhouse, but to others, questions on a category like Broadway or opera that would be on my personal nightmare board would be "trivially easy".

[TenPoundHammer]

I was surprised Ichabod Crane was a TS.

I think they all pavlov'd to "Headless Horseman" and then couldn't shift gears in time after it was negged. Exactly the same thing I did.

Also, even looking at that pic blown up, I still can't clearly discern that as a rope OR a bird. Apparently everyone else here has ridiculously sharp vision. Again why I hate these "the X seen here" FJ!s.

[Vowela]

No definition beginning with "an action" will be defining anything but a noun. "Preventive," "preemptive," and "preventative" all describe the action in the definition quite well ("precautionary" too, for that matter), but none of them are or could be defined as such an action.

Preventive and preventative can both be used as nouns, so if that was their reasoning for the neg, it's still bad.

[zerobandwidth]

I feel so bad for Anupama. Clearly you have to be smart to at least make it that far but she seemed to be hit with the fatal combination of nervousness and a nightmare board. Now you have sites like TMZ writing articles making fun of her for her Colorado Rockies answer, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Yeah, she is a super nice person and it's sad that she'll have to endure some Internet attention of this flavor for a while. Also, keep in mind this was the very first game of the taping session, so that was likely only adding to her nerves. I spent a lot of time chatting with her during the morning warmups and (very quietly, of course) between her game and mine. I'm sure if she'd been picked for a different game or maybe even just had a longer stint in the warmup game, things could have gone differently for her. Maybe not a win (That Ivan/Dennis duel was epic), but certainly not the descent that she had.

[hbomb1947]

No definition beginning with "an action" will be defining anything but a noun. "Preventive," "preemptive," and "preventative" all describe the action in the definition quite well ("precautionary" too, for that matter), but none of them are or could be defined as such an action.

Citation needed. A "pre-emptive" action can certainly be defined as an action taken to prevent a dangerous outcome, and since it's J! and the word "action" is in the clue you don't have to repeat it. The clue as written was poorly constructed by not being pinned.

[seaborgium]

This definition contains the exact quoted phrase. There's your pin. If you can find one for "preemptive" with the same phrase, I'll concede.

[This Is Kirk!]

Can't believe I missed Michigan. Again.

Don't feel bad. I missed that one, too. I said Montana.

[opusthepenguin]

This definition contains the exact quoted phrase. There's your pin. If you can find one for "preemptive" with the same phrase, I'll concede.

So you're saying it was a fair clue because we should all remember exact phrases from the dictionary? I mean, I don't think anyone's arguing that they didn't get their wording from some dictionary's definition of "precaution" somewhere. And I don't think anyone's arguing that some dictionary somewhere uses that exact wording for the several other words that would otherwise fit the clue.

[jwatcher16]

I'll try to stay clear of any Wagering Vikings today, they're probably all in a foul mood.

(No pun intended.)

"Wagering Vikings?" Haven't heard of them. Are they players Minnesota has cut?

[jwatcher16]

Very surprised to see two consecutive finals dealing with poets.. Ah well, better for me as I wrote Coleridge in the first five seconds and didn't look back to ensure my fifth straight correct final. Helped that we're reading Lyrical Ballads in English class right now!

Had a bad feeling at the top of the show that Ivan's wagering would be his undoing.

I suppose the backstop TS should have been a sign for what was to come with the NFL HOF category. My roomate and I got a good laugh. No problems picking up the LT there.

Hi there threearruda -
Glad you're aboard here! Hope you're enjoying "Lyrical Ballads"

I came here today to note I think there have been quite a few categories lately involving poets and/or poetry. Very cool for me as I write poetry and very much enjoy such categories even though I probably haven't read much of it at all after no longer being "in school."

BTW, do you follow the Wordsworthians? They (the Wordsworth Trust) tweet all kinds of things about all the Romantic poets - quotes, articles, blog posts, what happened on that date sometimes, and even PICTURES! One of the best pictures was of the actual engagement ring Keats gave to Fanny Brawne. You might enjoy their tweets.

And yes, I couldn't believe "backstop" was a ts and they couldn't come up with those NFL hall of famers - although to be honest, I had to really think on at least one to get it right...ya know, these "mature" brain cells sometimes take their time making connections.

[dinghammer]

I know it's inconsistent with the entire history of the show, but I'd have loved to hear a "be less specific" for Guernsey.

And speaking of the entire history of the show, how many times has a contestant responded with an adjective when the clue clearly (much more clearly than that clue) pointed toward a noun and had it been accepted? Or vice versa? (This is a rhetorical question: the answer is "very many".)

I'm definitely not a sports trivia person, but there are sports categories I can do well in. That wasn't one of them. Mean Joe Greene/Steelers was the only one I recognized as an affiliation I'd previously heard of.

Instaget FJ! and my first Monday get of the new season.

[seaborgium]

This definition contains the exact quoted phrase. There's your pin. If you can find one for "preemptive" with the same phrase, I'll concede.

So you're saying it was a fair clue because we should all remember exact phrases from the dictionary? I mean, I don't think anyone's arguing that they didn't get their wording from some dictionary's definition of "precaution" somewhere. And I don't think anyone's arguing that some dictionary somewhere uses that exact wording for the several other words that would otherwise fit the clue.

I didn't say it was fair, I said it was pinned because the clue was quoting verbatim (with quotation marks, to boot) from a dictionary definition of the word being clued. It's what I think of as a CYA pin: one that is in place only so TPTB have a solid excuse not to give credit for any other response that otherwise fits the (category and) definition. (Which is still not to say that I think any response that is only an adjective fits the definition, but I think "the clue was pinned" is a sturdier hill to die on.) I do think this type of pin, however, makes for lazy cluing and is an unsatisfying reason not to accept good-seeming responses. For example, if the clue had been the same but the category had been "PR"ESCHOOL instead of "PRE" SCHOOL, I likely would have responded with "prophylactic" and been in the same boat as hbomb (except for having responded with a word that has a noun definition). But given the definition I found, I'd grudgingly accept that no, "prophylactic" is not defined exactly as the clue quoted.

[seaborgium]

And speaking of the entire history of the show, how many times has a contestant responded with an adjective when the clue clearly (much more clearly than that clue) pointed toward a noun and had it been accepted? Or vice versa? (This is a rhetorical question: the answer is "very many".)

Agreed, but how many of the clues in question included a definition in quotation marks?

[jwatcher16]

My thought process was similar. I couldn't make out exactly what the creature was (fish, bird, or what) but the rope around the neck was strongly suggestive of "that creature is weighing him down somehow, or being a burden." That together with "sailor" was enough to make it click for me.

That's pretty much how I got it as well. I went through an Iron Maiden phase in high school so it's definitely one of the British poems I'm more familiar with.

I was surprised Ichabod Crane was a TS.

I feel so bad for Anupama. Clearly you have to be smart to at least make it that far but she seemed to be hit with the fatal combination of nervousness and a nightmare board. Now you have sites like TMZ writing articles making fun of her for her Colorado Rockies answer, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Oh, yeah, Ichabod Crane was a surprising TS. Although I wasn't SURE that character was the one, he is certainly who I would have replied/guessed.

And yes, I felt bad for Anapuama as well. I was glad to read the fellow who was actually there that day say she got many supportive hugs. Said she was super nice. (I enjoyed his input on this thread.) Shame on TMZ or whoever for making fun of her. She didn't have a good day, but doesn't deserve THAT!