Jeopardy! Season 38 (2021-2022)

[Clanstarling]

46 minutes ago, Trey said:

Like @blueray posted up above, I know nothing of Sam Smith and that clue meant nothing to me.

I did know about Sam Smith, and was really ticked off when an article by a major news publisher discussing their pronoun change used he/him throughout the article.

BUT, I only focused on their face during the clue and did not notice the misgendering. Unfortunately, even though I recognized them, I could not come up with their name.

Edited March 5, 2022 by Clanstarling

[ams1001]

14 hours ago, blueray said:

I was shocked when that was a category then of course Ukraine was one of the answers (so was Georgia). Both are countries that have been attacked by Russia. I didn't notice the date appearing anywhere, so I was thinking that they should have done something. And yes, having Ken film a clip would have been nice. 

 

14 hours ago, secnarf said:

I also didn't notice the date appearing anywhere, but I am not exactly known for paying close attention/looking at the screen while watching.

The date appeared at the top left while Ken was reading the clue.

2 hours ago, blueray said:

So I never heard of Sam Smith, no idea who that is. So I just googled them. And pictures came up of a singer, recent concerts, etc but nothing about gender at all. So I clicked on Wikipedia and you have to go all away "personal" to even see anything about this. So my hot take is the person writing this category question, may have been like me (clueless about this artist) but with no time or reason to research their personal life. So we get a gender listed wrong and it is to late to fix.

I have heard of Sam Smith (and got the clue correct, though if the category hadn't spotted me the "Sam" I probably wouldn't have), and I vaguely recall reading/seeing something about their pronouns around when they announced it, but I'm only remembering that now as I'm reading the comments here (nor did I remember the prior J! clue about it). The only other thing I can think of is that the clue referred to 2015 when they presumably still used "he" but that's kind of a stretch and not a good reason to use the wrong pronoun. 

13 hours ago, Bastet said:

I was surprised by the Tin Man TS, that none of the other two even guessed with one character ruled out. 

I have a feeling they hadn't registered the theme of the category (elements) yet, which I hadn't either until after that clue (though I did get it right).

[Leeds]

2 hours ago, Clanstarling said:

 

I did okay, but no FJ for me. I focused, unfortunately, on Dostoevsky's own work. Not that I would have gotten to Don Quixote at all.

Me too, and once Raskolnikov leapt into my brain, wielding his bloody axe, he wouldn't leave.

[HyeChaps]

Ken remarked that Margaret made good money for an afternoon’s work. This reminded me that they, indeed, record a week’s worth of episodes in a day. Margaret won four games in one day. Exhausting!

[Mean Machine]

All this talk of Sam Smith makes me think of the great sportswriter who authored one of my favorite books.  Every few years I develop a crush on a Jeopardy contestant and boy do I have one on Margaret.

 

[DrSpaceman73]

7 hours ago, Trey said:

It was nice that they put the date on the clue, for those who don't know the game is taped in advance. However, it was a simple geography question, so nothing offensive or political was intended.

Like @blueray posted up above, I know nothing of Sam Smith and that clue meant nothing to me.

I did get FJ but it was strictly a guess.

Yeah I noticed the date timestamp and found it a bit odd to be asking in the midst of all this but more coincidental than anything. It wasn't controversial in any way. 

 

No more so at least than the oft recognized way lots of celebs have seemed to die around the time they are mentioned on jeopardy.  

They are 60 clues a day, 300 a week, around 1200 a month, there are bound to be some topics like this that pop up just by chance. 

[Prevailing Wind]

7 minutes ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

They are 60 clues a day, 300 a week, around 1200 a month, there are bound to be some topics like this that pop up just by chance. 

61, if you count FJ.  ;-)

[proserpina65]

On 3/3/2022 at 8:18 PM, 853fisher said:

I doubt I could have come up with the capital of Sicily in 30sec even if I'd made that connection.

I said Naples because I knew they had (still have, I think) a huge organized crime problem, but given a few seconds more, I'd have come up with Palermo because that's where the word "mafia" comes from.

On 3/4/2022 at 10:55 AM, Welshman in Ca said:

I've never heard of Roy G. Biv until 1 minute ago.

I'm American and I'd never heard of it until someone talked about it here.  My teachers did not do acronyms or mnenomics when I was in school.

On 3/4/2022 at 7:30 PM, ams1001 said:

Margaret is so polite.

She's slow as molasses and talks too much.  But she's not the worst champion we've had this season.

[853fisher]

Margaret's comments about how British TV is received in the US made me laugh. We used to watch "Are You Being Served?" on PBS after church Saturday nights. One joke about "Mrs. Slocombe's pussy" and any American show would have been turned off and never spoken of again, but because they had British accents, innuendo and sex farce became Culture. It's still a favorite show and those Saturday nights are treasured memories, but highbrow it wasn't!

Somebody should've told Clay that, unlike the SAT, there is a guessing penalty!  I get the connection to his job, but I find adults who still bring up their high school standardized test scores as points of pride vaguely pathetic, so I didn't mind seeing him sink after that.  He deserved to finish last for "Reza Pahlavi announced a change of name from this to this...'What is India?'" alone.

Margaret's wagering strategy is probably her biggest area for potential improvement if she does return for the ToC, and I'd like to see her there.  Good luck to Maureen tomorrow.  She's from the same part of NH as my mother's side, which I rarely see in national anything, so it was nice to see her do well.

[illdoc]

15 minutes ago, 853fisher said:

Somebody should've told Clay that, unlike the SAT, there is a guessing penalty! 

What I want to know is, if you've already gotten a perfect score on the SAT, why do you take it again?????? He said that he got a perfect score twice on the SAT (plus once on the ACT and once on the PSAT). 

As to Margaret's wagering...if she had bet only what she needed to (7901, double Maureen's score plus 1), she would have won (4399 to Maureen's 2200). 

[ams1001]

I did so well in J!, ran French Cooking Terms, Presidential Rhyme Time, and Phrase Farming, missed one each in Mountains and Initialisms, and two in Book to TV, for 87%.

In DJ I did just about half as well, 44%. My best category was Science and I only got three.

Got half of FJ, Lake Nicaragua. 

I got the missed clues of gratin, pig in a poke, mirepoix, Iman, and Freud (though they probably would have made me give the first name, which I didn't know, in my living room the last name was enough).

Sorry but Maureen was bugging me. Do we need to say "please" every time we pick a clue? Sorry to see Margaret go.

[ByaNose]

Why didn’t she bet enough to still win if needed? Also, the new winner was very annoying. She extended her Final Jeopardy answer into a five minute stint. I’m guessing it will be a one off. That said, I didn’t know the answer or even where to begin. 

[TazDevil]

Margaret acts like someone is holding a gun to her head and forcing her to play Jeopardy.

[Katy M]

We all know geography isn't my thing so I said Victoria and Tanganyika, which I'm sure are nowhere near each other, LOL.

I got the entire category of Presidential rhyme time right.

Other than that I had about as good a night as the contenstants.

[Browncoat]

I only got half of FJ tonight, too, and the same half that Margaret got.  

TS/missed DD I got include mirepoix, gypsum, and wyvern.  I said Mecca for that one -- would that have counted, or did they need the Grand Mosque?

Not that it mattered in the end, but Clay should have been counted wrong for Daylight Savings Time.  It's Daylight Saving Time.

[Katy M]

15 minutes ago, ByaNose said:

She extended her Final Jeopardy answer into a five minute stint.

That probably happened because they had extra FJ time due to only having two contestants playing.

[possibilities]

It's nice to see more female winners lately.

I found Maureen amusing. I give her credit for making a joke for FJ when she didn't know the answer.

 

[853fisher]

1 minute ago, Katy M said:

We all know geography isn't my thing so I said Victoria and Tanganyika, which I'm sure are nowhere near each other, LOL.

They're reasonably near each other, actually!  I believe Lake Tanganyika forms part of the western border of Tanzania (mostly with the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Lake Victoria forms part of the northern border (mostly with Uganda).  It wouldn't be implausible to think it might cover 10% of its area too.  I think that's actually a pretty good guess.

I, on the other hand, said Lake Titicaca and Lake Maracaibo.  Only about 1800 miles between northern Venezuela and southern Peru.  Practically right next door!  ;)

[possibilities]

But wasn't the category Central America? I had no idea, so I'm not in any position to criticize, but Tanzania and DRC are in Africa, so wouldn't be eligible.

[stonehaven]

I had to laugh at Ike's Yikes....I am sad to see the champ go but glad another woman won...

I also noticed that someone phrased a question "Isn't it the....?" 

[Moose135]

16 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

Not that it mattered in the end, but Clay should have been counted wrong for Daylight Savings Time.  It's Daylight Saving Time.

Yes! I was paying attention, because so many people get it wrong. Also, in "3-Letter Initialisms" I was surprised they accepted his "Oh My God" rather than "OMG" since the latter is actually a 3-letter initialism...

[zoey1996]

32 minutes ago, TazDevil said:

Margaret acts like someone is holding a gun to her head and forcing her to play Jeopardy.

Not anymore. I commented to Mr. Zoey that I wondered if she bet that much so she’d lose. Strategically, she could have wagered just enough to win if Maureen had gotten the answer and bet it all.

[ams1001]

23 minutes ago, 853fisher said:

I, on the other hand, said Lake Titicaca and Lake Maracaibo.  Only about 1800 miles between northern Venezuela and southern Peru.  Practically right next door!  ;)

I had Lake Nicaragua, and the only other lake I could think of in that general part of the world was Titicaca...but I also know that's in South America.

I knew the capital of Nicaragua is Managua but I didn't know it was also a lake.

8 minutes ago, Moose135 said:

Also, in "3-Letter Initialisms" I was surprised they accepted his "Oh My God" rather than "OMG" since the latter is actually a 3-letter initialism...

Yeah I don't think that should have counted. The category read to me as it was asking for the initialism.

[Katy M]

20 minutes ago, possibilities said:

But wasn't the category Central America? I had no idea, so I'm not in any position to criticize, but Tanzania and DRC are in Africa, so wouldn't be eligible.

How embarrassing.  Yes, I know those two lakes aren't in Central America.  I have a bad habit of not focusing on the category. Had I done that, I probably would have just stared at the screen for 30 seconds going, uhhhhh?  

5 minutes ago, zoey1996 said:

Not anymore. I commented to Mr. Zoey that I wondered if she bet that much so she’d lose. Strategically, she could have wagered just enough to win if Maureen had gotten the answer and bet it all.

This may have been a case of this is something she's always wanted to do, but she found she didn't really like it.  So, she figured, she would just start betting everything on FJ no matter what.  She'd either lose, or win more money per game.  Win-win.

[ByaNose]

3 minutes ago, zoey1996 said:

Not anymore. I commented to Mr. Zoey that I wondered if she bet that much so she’d lose. Strategically, she could have wagered just enough to win if Maureen had gotten the answer and bet it all.

I think some people want to be on tv or are more comfortable in doing so. Margaret always looked scared of…..something. She might have known all the answers but wasn’t tv ready and wanted to get the hell out of there. It’s such hard thing to know not just the answers but be ready for lights, camera, action. I often think if I went on Wheel of Fortune (more my speed) I’d bomb because I’m not that person who wants to be on tv. That said, I’d do The Price is Right because it’s easier and I might get lost with the other contestants. LOL!!!!,

[Katy M]

14 minutes ago, stonehaven said:

I also noticed that someone phrased a question "Isn't it the....?" 

It's a question. But, it didn't matter because it was the wrong question.

[GreekGeek]

30 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

 

Not that it mattered in the end, but Clay should have been counted wrong for Daylight Savings Time.  It's Daylight Saving Time.

I think we had this come up before. It is technically Daylight Saving, but Daylight Savings has become so commonplace that it was OK by me that Clay was ruled correct. He did rub me the wrong way bragging about his test scores, but I guess it's forgivable given that standardized tests are his profession.

My only TS's tonight were gratin, and Mecca if you didn't need to include "Great Mosque." I got stuck on "roux" and didn't think of "mirepoix."

[ECM1231]

1 hour ago, 853fisher said:

 

Somebody should've told Clay that, unlike the SAT, there is a guessing penalty!  I get the connection to his job, but I find adults who still bring up their high school standardized test scores as points of pride vaguely pathetic, so I didn't mind seeing him sink after that.  

Is it terrible of me that I laughed and laughed? 

[ABay]

Guate and Mala, like Buda and Pest.

Edited March 8, 2022 by ABay
Autocorrect. Grrr.

[853fisher]

47 minutes ago, Katy M said:

How embarrassing.  Yes, I know those two lakes aren't in Central America.  I have a bad habit of not focusing on the category. Had I done that, I probably would have just stared at the screen for 30 seconds going, uhhhhh?  

I should have said "a great guess...other than the category," I suppose.  Signed, the one who also forgot we were spotted "Central America." ;) 

48 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

Yeah I don't think [omg] should have counted. The category read to me as it was asking for the initialism.

I can't cite any specific examples off the top of my head, but I feel they're consistently inconsistent on things like this, and it does my head in.

[Prevailing Wind]

I thought of the Panama Canal - 3 sets of locks, two lakes (yeah, doesn't fit the rest of the clue) so I said "Gatun Lake and...."  I've since looked it up - Miraflores just wouldn't come to my mind. And once I decided it was the Panama Canal, there was no other option. LOL.

I had just been watching America's Test Kitchen on PlutoTV and they did an extended commentary on Mirepoix, so I got that one easily.

[zoey1996]

26 minutes ago, Prevailing Wind said:

I had just been watching America's Test Kitchen on PlutoTV and they did an extended commentary on Mirepoix, so I got that one easily.

I made homemade chicken noodle soup a couple of weeks ago, and started with mirepoix, so that was easy for me too. Also knew Pig in a Poke and a couple more that I don’t remember now.

[secnarf]

2 hours ago, Browncoat said:

 

TS/missed DD I got include mirepoix, gypsum, and wyvern.  I said Mecca for that one -- would that have counted, or did they need the Grand Mosque?

I am not sure about "Mecca" as that is the city. Maybe a BMS?

I had said Kaaba, not sure if that would be accepted either - I might have missed the precise wording of the clue, but recognized the photograph shown as a photo of the Kaaba.

I googled mirepoix after coming across the term for the first time a few days ago, so got that one!

[Bastet]

I wish Margaret had won again, as I was enjoying her run (and enjoyed her after-the-fact realization on mirepoix, a TS that surprised me a bit), but Maureen played a good game.  And I got a fantastic laugh out of Maureen's response of "Ike's yikes" instead of "Dwight's frights"!

But I quibble with accepting Daylight Savings Time; as noted, it's an incredibly common error, but it's Daylight Saving Time, no S.  Maybe it's one those situations where something has been said incorrectly so frequently for so long it's now deemed correct.  But it bugs.

I had a great first round, getting everything except for two TV shows (and thank you, cultural osmosis, for the three I got, as I've never seen any of them).

In DJ, even though the contestants didn't uncover all the clues in three categories, I still managed not to run any of those.  In fact, the only category I ran in the round was science.  But I only missed two each in biographies and towers (for the $2000 clue, I just said Mecca, which I assume does not count) and one each in the rest, so I was having a great game heading into FJ.

When I first looked at FJ, I didn't have it, but I reasoned my way to it.  Lake Nicaragua was the first lake to spring to mind.  Knowing that's the largest lake in Central America, I figured I was in the right country and that was one of the answers, but I couldn't think of another Nicaraguan lake.  So I thought, well, maybe there's a lake named after a city, let me guess one of the cities, and tossed out Lake Granada, but then I had the vague memory that's another name for Lake Nicaragua.  So I went with Managua next, and Lake Managua sounded right, but I wasn't positive.  And I doubt I'd have sussed that all out in time under game conditions.  But, here at home, I got it.

Edited March 8, 2022 by Bastet

[ams1001]

28 minutes ago, secnarf said:

I had said Kaaba, not sure if that would be accepted either - I might have missed the precise wording of the clue, but recognized the photograph shown as a photo of the Kaaba.

The clue was "One of the tallest buildings in the world, the Makkah Royal Clock Tower, is part of a complex adjacent to this holy site." If it were up to me I'd accept it.

29 minutes ago, Bastet said:

I had a great first round, getting everything except for two TV shows (and thank you, cultural osmosis, for the three I got, as I've never seen any of them).

Same here. Didn't even know Hi Fidelity was a TV show (I've seen the movie, though, so I got that one). Never heard of the Mysterious Benedict Society, and couldn't come up with Dopesick.

[kathyk24]

Geography is my worst subject so I would have bet nothing. Margaret is Twitter and she is gracious to the fans. She posted a link to an interview in her local paper. I learned she was Archie Manning's niece. I'm surprised Ken didn't ask her about that.

[SomeTameGazelle]

1 hour ago, Bastet said:

But I quibble with accepting Daylight Savings Time; as noted, it's an incredibly common error, but it's Daylight Saving Time, no S.  Maybe it's one those situations where something has been said incorrectly so frequently for so long it's now deemed correct. 

The distinction to me seems very arbitrary and I see no reason why usage should not permit them to accept either savings or saving in this case. How could a contestant reasonably know that the "correct" form is Daylight Saving when Savings is so well-attested? 

Wikipedia led me to this argument from the Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style that savings should be accepted as preferred.

If they wanted to only accept saving they should word the clue to ensure that savings is truly not possible. Sometimes they lard the clues with unnecessary word lengths or descriptions like alliterative or colorful that render synonyms unacceptable.  If there's no specific law or statute that would pinpoint the form, maybe they would have to resort to that type of thing.

 

Edited March 8, 2022 by SomeTameGazelle
Repetition

[Cotypubby]

4 hours ago, 853fisher said:

I, on the other hand, said Lake Titicaca and Lake Maracaibo.  Only about 1800 miles between northern Venezuela and southern Peru.  Practically right next door!  ;)

That’s nothing compared to my answer of Lake Titicaca and Lake Havasu. 😅 Just a short 4,500 miles apart. Not sure why I thought Lake Havasu was in South America… 🤦‍♀️

[South]

I took Clay’s bragging, as an ACT tutor, to be in reference to the perfect scores of 4 of his tutees.

[30 Helens]

3 hours ago, GreekGeek said:

It is technically Daylight Saving, but Daylight Savings has become so commonplace that it was OK by me that Clay was ruled correct. 

Me too, because I’ve always heard it referred to as “Daylight Savings”. I never even knew there was a singular version until just now.

”No no, I’m playing my own game.” Margaret was a little odd, maybe, but she was funny. Bad at wagering, though. 

[853fisher]

39 minutes ago, South said:

I took Clay’s bragging, as an ACT tutor, to be in reference to the perfect scores of 4 of his tutees.

Hmmmm, I guess that's possible.  But if his way of communicating that is to say "yeah, I am the only person that I'm aware of who has 4 perfect scores on the high school standardized tests," it's a good thing there's not an essay portion anymore or his pupils would be in terrible trouble!

[GreekGeek]

4 hours ago, 853fisher said:

Hmmmm, I guess that's possible.  But if his way of communicating that is to say "yeah, I am the only person that I'm aware of who has 4 perfect scores on the high school standardized tests," it's a good thing there's not an essay portion anymore or his pupils would be in terrible trouble!

Yes, it does make sense that's he's referring to his students and not himself. It would get rid of the puzzlement expressed upthread that someone who got a perfect score the first time would ever take the test again. But he should have been clearer. Oh well, it's far from the first time someone didn't express themselves well when being interviewed.

[Browncoat]

I *should* have gotten pig in a poke, having recently watched European Vacation.

[Trey]

12 hours ago, 853fisher said:

He deserved to finish last for "Reza Pahlavi announced a change of name from this to this...'What is India?'" alone.

That was bad enough but I thought his guess of Wyoming for this clue

Quote

Folks in what's now this state thought March 2, 1836 was a good day to declare independence from Mexico

was far worse.

I noticed the Savings Time error but didn't think it mattered since that is the phrase so commonly used.

Clay also mispronounced or garbled a few answers - that is very much something I would do so I don't judge him harshly for that.

I really liked Margaret and Maureen; too bad they both couldn't move on.

I did get Lake Nicaragua but forgot Managua even though both lakes have been mentioned on the show before.

[DrSpaceman73]

7 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

Me too, because I’ve always heard it referred to as “Daylight Savings”. I never even knew there was a singular version until just now.

”No no, I’m playing my own game.” Margaret was a little odd, maybe, but she was funny. Bad at wagering, though. 

Nope it's daylight saving.  As Gary cole reminds us on veep, it's neither possessive nor plural.  

Also one of the ones in the 3 letter category he gave them whole answer and they accepted it, surprised. 

I thought he meant HE got a perfect score on all those tests but maybe he did mean his students. Considering some on his answers, I would bet it was his students. Not that jeopardy correlates with sat/ act perfectly but some of his answers as pointed out were just bad.  

[DrSpaceman73]

10 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

I thought of the Panama Canal - 3 sets of locks, two lakes (yeah, doesn't fit the rest of the clue) so I said "Gatun Lake and...."  I've since looked it up - Miraflores just wouldn't come to my mind. And once I decided it was the Panama Canal, there was no other option. LOL.

I had just been watching America's Test Kitchen on PlutoTV and they did an extended commentary on Mirepoix, so I got that one easily.

The 'Panama' canal was originally supposed to pass through lake Nicaragua but it was moved to Panama after concern for volcanic activity in Nicaragua and a whole lot of politics.  It's all in a path between the seas, a thorough but tedious book about the canal.  

[Prevailing Wind]

29 minutes ago, Trey said:

That was bad enough but I thought his guess of Wyoming for this clue

was far worse.

 

(I wonder why you can't quote a quote.)  I thought when he said "Wyoming" he thought he was still in the "second letter Y" category.

[Mindthinkr]

Firmly on team Daylight Saving Time here. I got mirepoix, Corcovado, Freud, The Great Mosque (at home I added in Mecca), and Iman. Forget FJ. I need to study up on my geography. I will miss Margaret, but happy for Maureen. 

[ECM1231]

1 hour ago, Prevailing Wind said:

(I wonder why you can't quote a quote.)  I thought when he said "Wyoming" he thought he was still in the "second letter Y" category.

Yes! I was scratching my head at that one but then thought perhaps, as you did, that he was confused and thought he was still in the 'second letter Y' category. I also may have misunderstood him b/c I thought it was HE who got the 4 perfect ACT & SAT scores. His sorry performance did not reflect that. 

I only recently discovered this thread. After years of not watching Jeopardy I started watching again. You guys are smart, is all I will say. Sometimes I surprise myself, though, when I get an answer right that seems to stump all of them. 

[illdoc]

1 minute ago, ECM1231 said:

I also may have misunderstood him b/c I thought it was HE who got the 4 perfect ACT & SAT scores.

I actually think he said "I'm the only person that I know of who got 4 perfect scores"---which to me would indicate it was he himself (not his tutees) that got the scores.