Today’s contestants are:

• Bryan, an assistant registrar, knocked over a young child with a sneeze;
• Dana, a sales manager, got married at the Franklin Institute; and
• Matt, a Ph.D. student, knows how Watson works. Matt is a six-day champ with winnings of $194,800.

Matt had over $10,000 before his opponents were on the plus side in his most impressive victory yet, entering FJ with $44,000 vs. $4,400 for Dana. Bryan ended DJ at -$1,200.

DD1 – $800 – HERE, THERE & EVERYWHERE – These 2 countries each border 14 other countries, including each other (Matt won $5,000 on a true DD.)

DD2 – $1,600 – A NOBEL LAUREATE WROTE THAT – His novel “Rites of Passage” echoed the survivalist theme of an earlier work about boys marooned on a remote island (Matt won $2,000 from his score of $15,600 vs. $1,200 for Dana.)

DD3 – $1,600 – IT’S ALL IN YOUR HEAD & HANDS – Appropriately, the skin on the edge of this facial feature is called the vermilion border (Matt won $2,000 from his score of $20,400 vs. $2,800 for Dana.)

FJ – WORLD CITIES – This Colombian port of 1 million people gets its name from Phoenician for “New Town”

Only Matt was correct on FJ, adding an eye-popping $30,000 to win with $74,000 for a seven-day total of $268,800. Only three players have recorded larger single-game wins: James Holzhauer (on numerous occasions), Roger Craig and Ken Jennings.

Pop culture problems: No one knew the Beatles song that includes “They’ve been going in & out of style, but they’re guaranteed to raise a smile” is “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”. Also, the players couldn’t identify a photo of the actor who played multiple parts in 1979’s “The Prisoner of Zenda”, Peter Sellers.

Correct Qs: DD1 – What are Russia and China? DD2 – Who was Golding? DD3 – What are lips? FJ – What is Cartagena?