Introducing today’s contestants:

– Heather, an engineer from Texas, collects wind-up toys and prefers the dragon;
– Justin, an alcohol lawyer from California, is in-house counsel for an expanding potent potable company; and
– Sam, a teacher from Minnesota, knows all about the Minneapolis Zombie Pub Crawl. Sam is a two-day champ with winnings of $46,000.

Sam and Heather were in a tie at $16,400 when Heather missed DD3, helping Sam show the way into FJ with $17,200 vs. $14,800 for Heather and $6,800 for Justin.

DD1, $1,000 – LET’S MAKE A NEW DEAL – In the NRA of the New Deal, the “R” stood for this (Sam lost $1,400 on a true DD.)

DD2, $2,000 – DESERT-POURRI – This sea is the western border of the Arabian Desert (Sam won $7,400 on a true DD.)

DD3, $2,000 – TAKE ME TO YOUR LIEDER – This Vienna-born composer was only 17 when he wrote “Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel” & changed the lieder game in 1814 (Heather lost $2,000. At the time she was tied with Sam at $16,400 and there were five other $400 clues remaining. Given how badly the players were struggling with the category, I might have just bet the $5 minimum and hoped to win the late buzzer battle.)

FJ – WORD ORIGINS – 19th c. boots made with India rubber made one quieter, leading to this slang term for one whose job involves surveillance

Sam and Justin were correct, with Sam adding $12,401 to win with $29,601 for a three-day total of $75,601.

Wagering strategy: For the second straight game, we saw a player in a close second place with more than twice of third place knock themselves out of contention with a huge wager. In this situation, the player in second should bet small enough to lock out third and take the win if first misses and makes the standard cover bet.

That’s before our time: No one knew the 1968 “Killymipics” referred to the Olympic exploits of a legendary performer in the sport of skiing.

Correct Qs:
DD1 – What is Recovery?
DD2 – What is the Red Sea?
DD3 – Who was Schubert?
FJ – What is gumshoe?