Jeopardy! recap for Fri., Jan. 26 – Introducing today’s contestants:

– Melissa, a baker and barista from Spokane, WA, whose daughter knows that Jeopardy! “is mommy’s quiet time”;
– Jennifer, a freelance writer from Los Angeles, CA, who has a groin kick that Alex wants no part of; and
– Rachel, a fire lookout from Bend, OR, who apparantly has attractive dirty feet and does a good impression of Forrest Gump’s mom. Rachel is a five-day champ with earnings of $75,000.

Very good three-way battle that saw Jennifer lose the lead on DD3, which was the next-to-last clue, but get it back on the final clue, so she showed the way into FJ with $11,600 vs. $10,200 for Melissa and $9,600 for Rachel.

DD1 – THE THING’S A PLAY – Literally, this Arthur Miller title is a clay melting pot (Jennifer won $1,000)

DD2 – CHARACTERS IN MYTH – Cupid’s lover, she loses Cupid for a time after disobeying his request to not seek his identity (Rachel lost $1,000)

DD3 – CREDITORS & PREY- Aristotle & Cato the Elder opposed this 5-letter practice characterized by high lending rates (Jennifer lost $1,000)

FJ – CHILDREN’S LIT – Introduced in 1945, she claimed to have the middle names Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Efraim’s Daughter

Only Jennifer was correct on FJ and the close scores worked to her favor, as she bet $8,801 to win with $20,401, while we’ll see Rachel again in the Tournament of Champions. Note that by betting nearly everything, Rachel gave up her chance at a possible Triple Stumper win from third place.

Triple Stumpers of the day: The players all missed the news about well-publicized recent events involving Cuba and Wikileaks.

That’s before our time: No one knew the WJM-TV newsroom was a setting for The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Correct Qs:

DD1 – What is “The Crucible”?
DD2 – Who is Psyche?
DD3 – What is usury?
FJ – Who is Pippi Longstocking?