Let’s meet today’s contestants:
- Matt, a Ph.D. student, has an issue with a big escalator;
- Elizabeth, a middle school teacher, helps prepare students for college; and
- Josh, a traffic engineer, was a caddy for Carlton Fisk. Josh is a three-day champ with winnings of $66,405.
Outstanding contest in which the score was tied with two clues remaining, Josh missed a $400 clue then time ran out, leaving Matt in the lead with $20,200 vs. $19,800 for Josh and $12,400 for Elizabeth.
DD1 – $800 – EXODUS TELLS US… – “I will smite all thy borders with” these creatures: “and the river will bring forth” them “abundantly” (Matt won $1,800 on a true DD.)
DD2 (video) – $1,200 – EUROPEAN PENINSULAS – (Shown is a map highlighting an area of western France below the U.K.) The name of this French region that protrudes into the Atlantic has a name related to the land to its north (On the first clue of DJ, Elizabeth moved into second place by winning $3,400 on a true DD vs. $7,400 for Matt.)
DD3 – $1,200 – MATH IN THE OLD DAYS – Their numerals weren’t handy for arithmetic, so ancient Romans did most of their calculating on this device (Josh won $6,000 from his total of $9,000 vs. $7,400 for Matt.)
FJ – AFRICAN MONARCHS – Some devotees of this emperor who died in 1975 trace his lineage to King Solomon & the Queen of Sheba
Matt and Josh were correct on FJ, so Josh’s miss on that last $400 clue of DJ proved to be decisive. Matt doubled up to win with $40,400.
Musical miscues: For the two lowest-price clues in SING “OUT”, no one knew Ed Sheeran’s “ruminative” 2015 Song of the Year “Thinking Out Loud”, or a 2018 hit by The Weeknd, “Call Out My Name”.
Judging the writers: In the above-mentioned category, the writers apparently thought a clue about the Beatles song “We Can Work It Out” was most difficult and deserved to be in the bottom row.
Cluereader corner: Robin shared that on SportsCenter, they would time their commercial breaks so they could watch Final Jeopardy!
Correct Qs: DD1 – What are frogs? DD2 – What is Brittany? DD3 – What is abacus? FJ – Who was Haile Selassie?