Jeopardy! recap for Fri., Feb. 23 – Introducing today’s contestants:

– Mary, a human rights officer from New York, NY, who did the Thriller dance with 99 zombies;
– Kate, a blogger from Los Angeles, CA, who is inspired by Harry Potter to spread light; and
– Alan, an administrative assistant from Seattle, WA, who felt good about a reversal by the judges. Alan is a one-day champ with winnings of $15,201.

Alan was in control most of the way but never could get a comfortable advantage as Kate stayed in close pursuit. Going into FJ it was Alan with $16,755, Kate at $12,500 and Mary with $6,400.

DD1 – ROUGH WATERS – In 2016 the waves at Mavericks in this “lunar” California bay were gnarly, dude, like totally hitting 50 feet (Kate won $1,500)

DD2 – MUSEUMS – It was completed under Ferdinand VII in 1819 & opened as The Royal Museum of Painting (Mary won $2,000)

DD3 – CHESTER A. ARTHUR – On his last day in office, Arthur nominated this ex-President for the retired list of the Army with full pay (Alan won $555 – given that there were two clues left worth $3,600 and he had a $3,700 lead at the time, he could have considered a wager of less than $100. This turned out to be a moot point as time expired before the last two clues were revealed.)

FJ – MODERN WORDS – In 1994 Wired Magazine described this 4-letter word as an idea leaping “from mind to mind…as viruses leap from body to body”

For the third straight game, FJ was a Triple Stumper, which would have worked out for Kate if she had followed basic wagering strategy and made a small bet. Instead, she wagered $10,000, enabling Alan to hang on after he dropped $8,246 to win with $8,509 and a two-day total of $23,710.

Pavlov of the day: “South African cape” = Cape of Good Hope.

This day in Trebekistan: Perhaps in reaction to yesterday’s 10-leftover game and knowing there was a sponsored video category, Alex thankfully got right to the game and kept the contestant chit-chat brief.

Judging the judges: They shouldn’t have reversed themselves on a clue about parlay cards for which Alan said “let it ride”. I’ve never heard of parlay cards being referred to with that term, and in casinos “Let It Ride” is a poker-based game that has nothing to do with parlay cards.

Correct Qs:

DD1 – What is Half Moon Bay?
DD2 – What is the Prado?
DD3 – Who was Grant?
FJ – What is meme?