Jeopardy! Season 41 (2024-2025)

[bad things are bad]

5 hours ago, Clanstarling said:

Billy Pilgrim - Slaughterhouse 5.

For some reason,  I thought he had appeared in other Vonnegut books too

[ams1001]

April 28:

67% / 77% / 70%

In J I missed one in The "Co." Co., Television, and Never Cease, two in Quotable Fictional Characters and Holding Space, and three in Wonders. In DJ I missed one in everything but the 1970s, where I missed two. Did not get FJ. I considered Stephen King (who google says is 6'4") and John Grisham (6'1"). Lee Childs never would have occurred to me.

TSes: (J had 5; DJ had 3 + 1 DD) I got hutch, Sysco/Cisco, basalt (DD), Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and gin & tonic.

Darn, I was rooting for Liam. The new champ said "please" after every selection and it was getting annoying.
 

[Katy M]

My answer to FJ was How on earth am I supposed to know that?????  

I got the missed clues of hutch and basalt.

Not a bad game, but I needed FJ to stay in the black.  

[illdoc]

17 minutes ago, Katy M said:

My answer to FJ was How on earth am I supposed to know that????? 

I've heard/read that anecdote several times. Besides, is "reacher" as a noun a common word? So it was obviously important.

[Browncoat]

25 minutes ago, Katy M said:

My answer to FJ was How on earth am I supposed to know that?????  

Same here.  I've never read anything by the author in question, and have no clue how tall anyone is.  

And the only TS I got were Ronco, Passepartout, hutch, and basalt.

[Prevailing Wind]

I never heard of Lee Child. I went with Michael Crichton, recalling he was ungodly tall (6'9")  Oops.

[ams1001]

8 minutes ago, Prevailing Wind said:

I never heard of Lee Child.

I've heard of Lee Child. I could not have told you what he wrote (other than the genre of crime thriller novels, which I don't read).

I've heard of the character Jack Reacher. I could not have told you who wrote him.

[gonzosgirrl]

How did they accept only 'Reba' as a correct response? Certainly she's the reigning queen of country, but she is not a one-name singer a la Cher or Madonna. Would they accept 'Taylor' or 'Mick', even if we knew who they meant?

45 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

Darn, I was rooting for Liam. The new champ said "please" after every selection and it was getting annoying.

Same. I'm glad he made the ToC.

[The Wild Sow]

Aw man - I knew it was the creator of Jack Reacher (obviously!) but blanked on his name!  Um…James Patterson…??…no, the other one!

LOL Tom Cruise is a terrible casting choice for Jack Reacher. Jack Reacher is  6-foot-5, not 5-foot-6!

Edited Tuesday at 02:37 AM by The Wild Sow

[possibilities]

I like the new champ. I could feel her momentum even when she was behind. It just felt to me like she was going to win. She does look young, though-- not quite as young as Liam, but in that ballpark. I wonder if they are truly casting younger people or if it's just a fluke.

I think I am enjoying aggressive players, lately.

[MrAtoz]

Best I could come up with was "Who is the guy who writes the Jack Reacher books?", which I suspect they would not have accepted.

The word "reacher" in the clue, and the reference to height, made it pretty obvious to me what they were getting at. Jack Reacher is described in the books as being ridiculously tall. That's why there was a lot of negative reaction from fans at the casting of Tom Cruise in the movie, who is famous for being ridiculously not tall.

Edited Tuesday at 01:08 PM by MrAtoz

[gonzosgirrl]

I got FJ from the 'reacher' part of the clue, though I have never, ever heard of this as a supermarket job. O/T but I liked Tom Cruise in the film, never having heard of or read the books before hand. Hopefully the 'fans' were appeased by the cast of the 6'3" actor in the Prime series.

 

Edited because my metric conversion was off a tad. :)

Edited Tuesday at 01:16 PM by gonzosgirrl

[30 Helens]

My only guess for FJ was Stephen King, because he’s tall. (He was also my pre-guess, so already stuck in my head.) The husband then pointed out the “reacher” part of the clue, which got me to Lee Child. Can’t take credit for it, though. I’ve never read anything by Lee Child, and didn’t see the Reacher movie, so it was just cultural osmosis for me.

Liam was really growing on me, and I’m sorry to see him go. I was also surprised— I thought he’d be around for a long time. I was happy for the new champ, though. She was cheerful and excited to be there, and I always appreciate a gutsy wager.

7 hours ago, possibilities said:

I wonder if they are truly casting younger people or if it's just a fluke.

Nah, it just seems that way because we keep getting older. 😉

[ECM1231]

15 hours ago, Katy M said:

got the missed clues of hutch and basalt.

 

Same. No clue as to FJ.

Did anyone wince at Ken's pronunciation of "valet"? I've only heard it the French way. I checked to see if I'd been mispronouncing it all these years, but nope. 🤷

[Clanstarling]

On 4/26/2025 at 3:41 PM, bad things are bad said:

For some reason,  I thought he had appeared in other Vonnegut books too

He might have, I've only read one Vonnegut book. 😊

[chessiegal]

30 minutes ago, ECM1231 said:

Did anyone wince at Ken's pronunciation of "valet"? I've only heard it the French way. I checked to see if I'd been mispronouncing it all these years, but nope. 🤷

According to Merriam Webster there are 2 pronunciations. I've heard both used.

Pronunciations of valet.

[Clanstarling]

13 hours ago, The Wild Sow said:

Aw man - I knew it was the creator of Jack Reacher (obviously!) but blanked on his name!  Um…James Patterson…??…no, the other one!

LOL Tom Cruise is a terrible casting choice for Jack Reacher. Jack Reacher is  6-foot-5, not 5-foot-6!

Amen. I never watched it because I just couldn't get over the casting. Though to be fair, I'm not fond of the casting in the tv series, even though the actor definitely fits the description. I guess there's no pleasing me.

2 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

My only guess for FJ was Stephen King, because he’s tall. (He was also my pre-guess, so already stuck in my head.

I was so convinced it was Stephen King (who, btw is 6 foot 4 inches - I just looked it up) that I missed the clue. Not sure I would have come up with Lee Child, even though I read many Reacher novels, since I haven't read him in awhile.

I'll miss Liam, I was rooting for him. But at least we'll see him again.

[MrAtoz]

2 hours ago, ECM1231 said:

Did anyone wince at Ken's pronunciation of "valet"? I've only heard it the French way. I checked to see if I'd been mispronouncing it all these years, but nope. 🤷

On Jeeves & Wooster, surely the gold standard for these sorts of things, both Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie always pronounced it as "VAL-it."

Something else I've also heard:

A VAL-it is a gentleman's personal servant.

A val-AY is someone who parks your car at a hotel.

Edited Tuesday at 05:37 PM by MrAtoz

[gonzosgirrl]

I've heard Vah-LAY and VAH-lay but I've never in my life heard it pronounced with a hard T sound (unless a person was trying to be funny or sound like a hick).

Fil-let and Fil-AY sure, maybe, but Val-it (Val-et), just no.

[chessiegal]

1 minute ago, gonzosgirrl said:

but Val-it (Val-et), just no.

I've heard it pronounced both ways, and as i linked to Merriam Webster above, they list both pronunciations.

[MrAtoz]

Here is the first scene of the aforementioned Jeeves and Wooster series. Notice Jeeves' entrance at about 1:40.

 

[Prevailing Wind]

Seems the Brits pronounce the T. I frequently hear it on all the Brit shows I watch on Britbox & Acorn.

[Driad]

For FJ I said Stephen King because I know he is tall.  

Sorting out the Child authors:  Lee Child is the pen name of James Dover Grant, a British author (whose books I have not read; maybe I should).  I mixed him up with Lincoln Child (whose height I do not know), the real name of an American author who has written several collaborations with Douglas Preston.  

I thought VAL-et was British (cf. Jeeves) and va-LAY was American or French.

[gonzosgirrl]

3 hours ago, chessiegal said:

I've heard it pronounced both ways, and as i linked to Merriam Webster above, they list both pronunciations.

LOL, Merriam Webster is wrong.

2 hours ago, Driad said:

I thought VAL-et was British (cf. Jeeves) and va-LAY was American or French.

Either of these emphases are okay. Pronouncing the 't' is not. :D

Edited Tuesday at 10:06 PM by gonzosgirrl

[Katy M]

My first thought was pinkerton, but I said no, he was around in the 1800s.  Elliott Ness?  Don't have anything better. So, wild guess for the win.  Whoo-Hoo.

I got the missed clue of ton.

I got the entire categories of good eats and leftovers. 

I did pretty well in the first round.  Horribly in the second, but I managed not to completely tank any categories.

[ams1001]

April 29:

63% / 60% / 61%

In J I ran Suffixes and Good Eats, missed one in Scientists, two Leftovers, and four in the Empire Strikes Back. In DJ I missed one in Her First Published Novel and "C.S.", two in Not-Quite Grammy-Winning Songs of the Year and 6-Letter Words with 4 Vowels, and three in Around the World and Ancient Architecture. 

Had no idea for FJ.

TSes: (J had 2; DJ had 3) I got Sydney (just guessing an Australian city), -ton, acacia.

Yay! I was rooting for Ben. I found his Opera On Tap chapter's Instagram and Facebook pages; was hoping to see him singing but there don't appear to be any videos.
 

[Browncoat]

I knew immediately who they wanted for FJ, but it took me a couple of seconds to get from Kevin Costner to the real name.  Yay, asterisk!

The only TS I got were -ton and acacia.

Ben was a machine tonight!

[30 Helens]

I’ve heard “VAL-et” many times, but only from a British person’s mouth. Otherwise, it’s always “Val-LAY”. Maybe Ken’s been watching a lot of BritBox.

I was excited to figure out FJ today, breaking a long drought. Pinkerton also crossed my mind briefly, but that was several decades too early for the clue.

[Shrek]

18 hours ago, Prevailing Wind said:

Seems the Brits pronounce the T. I frequently hear it on all the Brit shows I watch on Britbox & Acorn.

I'm British & have never used it by pronouncing it that way although I have heard it both ways.

 

19 hours ago, MrAtoz said:

On Jeeves & Wooster, surely the gold standard for these sorts of things, both Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie always pronounced it as "VAL-it."

Something else I've also heard:

A VAL-it is a gentleman's personal servant.

A val-AY is someone who parks your car at a hotel.

This is what I always thought. I've never had a personal servant so maybe that's why I don't say it with a -it.

 

[Clanstarling]

16 hours ago, ams1001 said:

Yay! I was rooting for Ben. I found his Opera On Tap chapter's Instagram and Facebook pages; was hoping to see him singing but there don't appear to be any videos.

There was something about him I immediately liked (not the Opera bit, though, it's not my cup of tea ). So I, too, was rooting for him. 

[proserpina65]

On 4/28/2025 at 7:32 PM, ams1001 said:

Did not get FJ. I considered Stephen King (who google says is 6'4") and John Grisham (6'1"). Lee Childs never would have occurred to me.

I remember the controversy about casting uber-short Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher so the character came to mind immediately given the "reacher" in the clue.  It took a moment me a moment to come up with the author's name but still would've had plenty of time to write it down.

On 4/29/2025 at 11:20 AM, ECM1231 said:

Did anyone wince at Ken's pronunciation of "valet"? I've only heard it the French way. I checked to see if I'd been mispronouncing it all these years, but nope. 🤷

In England they pronounce the t.

16 hours ago, Katy M said:

My first thought was pinkerton, but I said no, he was around in the 1800s.  Elliott Ness?  Don't have anything better. So, wild guess for the win.  Whoo-Hoo.

I wasn't sure about the date but was convinced Pinkerton was correct.  Oh well.

16 hours ago, ams1001 said:

Yay! I was rooting for Ben. I found his Opera On Tap chapter's Instagram and Facebook pages; was hoping to see him singing but there don't appear to be any videos.

That was a pretty cool story to this opera lover.

3 hours ago, Shrek said:

I've never had a personal servant so maybe that's why I don't say it with a -it.

You don't?  I thought everyone in Britain had a manservant. 😁

 

[ams1001]

2 hours ago, Clanstarling said:

There was something about him I immediately liked (not the Opera bit, though, it's not my cup of tea ). So I, too, was rooting for him. 

I'm not a big opera person, either, but opera in a bar would be interesting to see once or twice. But, yeah, he just seems like a likeable guy.

[Shrek]

2 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I remember the controversy about casting uber-short Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher so the character came to mind immediately given the "reacher" in the clue.  It took a moment me a moment to come up with the author's name but still would've had plenty of time to write it down.

In England they pronounce the t.

I wasn't sure about the date but was convinced Pinkerton was correct.  Oh well.

That was a pretty cool story to this opera lover.

You don't?  I thought everyone in Britain had a manservant. 😁

 

I have actually been asked in all seriousness "have you met the queen?"

I have never heard anyone in the U.K. pronounce it val-et, it's always been val-ay for the parking person, even when I've spent time with other British people on vacation I have never once heard anyone say val-et but then again I don't move in the sort of circles where someone would have an actual val-et.

Edited Wednesday at 07:14 PM by Shrek

[ams1001]

April 30 (how is April over already?):

70% / 53% / 62%

In J I ran Religion, Winemaker's Glossary (which is funny since I don't drink wine), and Exercise Your…, missed two in Vowel of Silence, three in Demons, and four in Stately Geographic. In DJ I missed one in Sun Songs and __ the __, two in Art Collectors, three in Historic Buildings and World Universities, and four in Literary Characters (please don't tell my college's English department!).

FJ was a near-instaget.

TSes: (J had 4; DJ had 11 + 1 DD) I got pine, Moll Flanders, take the veil (DD), Christie's, and Hermitage.

So I did a little more googling last night and found an old youtube channel under Ben's name with not much on it...but there is this...

 

[Katy M]

FJ was an instaget.

I got the missed clues of Howard's End, taking the veil, Moll Flanders, and Here Comes the Sun.

I got the entire category of demons wrong.

I should have gotten Evil, I saw the first season, I couldn't think of the word pagoda in time, and there was another one I knew and couldn't get out. I hate that.  

Getting FJ was the high point of the game because I lost $8K in each of the first 2 rounds.   I'm going to have to take out a big loan to pay off my  Jeoprady losses.

[ams1001]

7 minutes ago, Katy M said:

Getting FJ was the high point of the game because I lost $8K in each of the first 2 rounds.   I'm going to have to take out a big loan to pay off my  Jeoprady losses.

This is why I only count the number of correct answers and don't calculate how much money I'd have. (That and I was too lazy to figure out the formula to do it properly when I set up my scorecard.)

[Browncoat]

Archive game for me tonight.  Almost instaget for FJ.

And I got the TS of Columbia, pine, pagoda, Seasons In The Sun, Hermitage, Br'er Rabbit, Howard's End, and take the veil.

[bad things are bad]

Damn them for bringing up the execrable Seasons in the Sun. Terrible song and turns into an earworm for me 

[MrAtoz]

3 hours ago, bad things are bad said:

Damn them for bringing up the execrable Seasons in the Sun. Terrible song and turns into an earworm for me 

Have you ever heard the original French version, "Le Moribund" (which means "The Dying Man"), by the Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel? Much more bitter, much better orchestrated, almost a completely different song:

 

 

[proserpina65]

My parents never made my brother and me take vitamins as kids, so while I was aware of the existence of Flintstones vitamins, they weren't really part of my childhood and did not embed themselves in my brain.  All this to say I had no idea for FJ.

I had a mediocre first round but a better DJ round.  I did get 10 of the many stumpers/missed DDs: pine, Istanbul, Seasons in the Sun, the Hermitage, Christie's (it was either that or Sotheby's and I guessed correctly), Leiden (thank you, House Hunters International for that one), Brer Rabbit, Moll Flanders, Howards End and take the veil.  I might've gotten Michigan in the first round if I'd had sound but Fox 45 thought that was a good time to test the emergency broadcast system.  Why do they always do it during Jeopardy??

(Oh, and damn you, Jeopardy producers for putting that dickhead Yogesh on the same ep of Masters as my darling Brad.  You suck!)

[ams1001]

May 1:

73% / 60% / 66%

In J I ran Pain and English as a Third Language, missed one in For Rent, two in Famous Names and Movie Easter Eggs, and three in State Song Lyrics. In DJ I missed one in Cloud and Ends with "END", two in Emersonian Mind, Alliterative America, and Joking Around (I was just listening to an interview with Nate Bargatze last night, so that helped...), and four in French History.

Did not get FJ. I saw the Blue Man Group once, but it was outdoors (under a roof, but the sides of the space were open) and certain aspects didn't work very well in daylight...

TSes: (J had 3 + the DD; DJ had 5 + 1 DD) I got frozen shoulder (DD), Nature (DD), Red Cloud, and Magellanic Clouds (before Ben got it wrong, for the record).

[Katy M]

FJ was an instaguess.  What else would you use so much paint?

I got the missed clues of Red Cloud and Cable cars.

Better night than last night, but that's a pretty low bar.

[Browncoat]

Instaguess FJ for me tonight as well.  I tried to second-guess myself with STOMP, but couldn't remember paint in that one, so stuck with my first instinct.

I also got the TS of frozen shoulder, Nature, and cable cars.  I had a frozen shoulder in early 2020.  My physical therapy had to be cut short because of COVID, but I did manage to get it thawed.  

[30 Helens]

Yesterday’s FJ came to me pretty quickly. It was one of those occasions where the right thing either pops into your head or it doesn’t. Lucky for me, this one of the occasions when it did. As for today’s FJ, I have no idea. Mr. Helens is out of town, so I will be holding on to today’s and tomorrow’s episodes until he returns. See you on Monday!

14 hours ago, bad things are bad said:

Damn them for bringing up the execrable Seasons in the Sun. Terrible song and turns into an earworm for me 

I responded with a laugh emoji only because I experienced the same pain. And also, what was it with the ‘70s and death songs?? There was this one, “Billy Don’t Be a Hero”, “Honey” (“See the tree, how big it’s grown…), and others I can’t think of right now. It was quite the morbid decade.

PS- sorry if I just gave you more earworms.

8 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Oh, and damn you, Jeopardy producers for putting that dickhead Yogesh on the same ep of Masters as my darling Brad.  You suck!)

Oh, has that started? Did Yogesh beat Brad?? I don’t want to know. I guess that’s another thing I’ll find out next week. But as to your other points: 1) That’s my Brad. Don’t make me fight you. And 2) You are correct, they suck.

[ams1001]

7 minutes ago, 30 Helens said:

Oh, has that started? 

It started yesterday. Wednesdays at 9:00.

[Browncoat]

9 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

It started yesterday. Wednesdays at 9:00.

Which means I don't watch it live because I have to watch The Amazing Race live.   I probably won't watch Masters until tomorrow.

[kathyk2]

My sister lives in Apex NC so I called her to see if she knew Sam but she didn't.

[Ancaster]

12 hours ago, MrAtoz said:

Have you ever heard the original French version, "Le Moribund" (which means "The Dying Man"), by the Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel? Much more bitter, much better orchestrated, almost a completely different song:

 

 

Anything by Jacques Brel is going to be better.  I can't even listen to anything by him without weeping.

[chitowngirl]

1 hour ago, Browncoat said:

Which means I don't watch it live because I have to watch The Amazing Race live.   I probably won't watch Masters until tomorrow.

Masters is 2 games back to back and not like Celebrity Jeopardy with Triple Jeopardy added in. So you could watch the first game before switching over to TAR for a few weeks until that ends….