This programming note: due to personal obligations, the posting of the recaps over the next several days might be spotty at best. Thanks.

Jeopardy! recap for Wed., May 23 – Introducing today’s contestants:

– Tara, a structural engineer from Denver, CO, who gets away from her cubicle once in a while;
– Luke, a strategic communications associate from Bronxville, NY, who called out his lying teacher, who insisted it was all true; and
– Josh, a network engineer from North Little Rock, AR, who is a football fan (of the non-U.S. variety). Josh is a five-day champ with winnings of $117,319.

Josh took a long, long time to get rolling, but he was finally able to take the lead back from Luke with a correct response to DD3 very late in DJ. Going into FJ it was Josh with $17,000, Luke at $13,400 and Tara with $5,400.

DD1 – YOU’LL UNDERSTAND IT BETTER – Virgil’s “omnia vincit amor” is this saying in English about the power of the heart (Luke won $1,000 on a true DD.)

DD2 – BAND MATH – Frankie Valli’s “Seasons” times Linda Perry’s “Non Blondes” (Luke won $3,000)

DD3 – DIMES – A new design for the dime was released on January 30, 1946, which would have been this man’s 64th birthday (Josh won $4,800)

FJ – GREEK MYTHOLOGY – This pair who accompanied their father into battle were called Timor & Formido, “fear” & “terror,” by the Romans

Only Josh was correct on FJ, picking up $9,801 to win with $26,801 and a six-day total of $144,120. Note that Luke hurt his winning chances by betting almost everything, while Tara, who bet $0, should have wagered at least $1,800 to give herself a chance if correct, Luke made a wagering error and both opponents missed.

Triple Stumpers of the day: A surprising number to choose from, including:

– Having “Murder by the butler” in the clue not leading them to the 4-word mystery cliche “The butler did it”;
– “You talkin’ to” actor who was in “Meet the Parents”, Robert De Niro;
– Dave Clark times Ben Folds equals 25;
– The “last good war” was World War II; and
– No one heard of the yellow-bellied sapsucker.

Judging the writers: The literally told the players to “Take the Category in Order”, but after picking clues, the contestants still immediately jumped to other categories. Lesson for the writers – don’t tell the contestants how to play the game.

Correct Qs:

DD1 – What is “love conquers all”?
DD2 – What is 16?
DD3 – Who was FDR?
FJ – Who are Phobos and Deimos? (Tara provided some laughs with “Bert and Ernie”.)