Here are today’s contestants:
- Scott McCann, a math teacher from Germantown, Tennessee;
- Sarah Hartzell, an audiovisual archivist originally from Howell, New Jersey; and
- Adriana Harmeyer, an archivist from West Lafayette, Indiana. Adriana is a nine-day champ with winnings of $204,700.
Jeopardy!
OFF WE “GO” // FROM THE AD // NEW TO THE OED // THE DREADED OPERA CATEGORY // CLEANUP MEN // AKA
DD1 – $600 – THE DREADED OPERA CATEGORY – In Wagner’s opera about the Valkyries, there are 9 of them, led by this daughter of Wotan (Sarah lost $1,000.)
Scores at first break: Adriana $2,800, Sarah -$1,400, Scott $2,400.
Scores entering DJ: Adriana $3,400, Sarah -$600, Scott $5,000.
Double Jeopardy!
HISTORIC DESCENDANTS // AUTHORS BEFORE AUTHORING // OBSERVATORIES // CERAMICS // THE TITLE IS AN ADJECTIVE // A “K-A”
DD2 – $1,200 – HISTORIC DESCENDANTS – n 1812 a schooner called Patriot disappeared along with passengers that included this veep’s daughter Theodosia (Sarah added $2,000 to her total of $3,000.)
DD3 – $1,600 – AUTHORS BEFORE AUTHORING – During World War II he flew 60 combat missions as a U.S. Air Force bombardier… isn’t that crazy? Or maybe not (Adriana dropped $3,000 from her leading score of $9,000.)
Ardiana had just a slim lead over both opponents after missing DD3, but was able to extend the advantage a bit going into FJ at $14,400 vs. $10,200 for Scott and $5,400 for Sarah.
Final Jeopardy!
U.S. GEOGRAPHY – Of the 10 U.S. States with 2-word names, this one stretches the farthest south
Everyone was correct on this very simple FJ. Adriana added $6,600 to win with $21,000 for a ten-day total of $225,700.
Final scores: Adriana $21,000, Sarah $8,400, Scott $18,201.
Wagering strategy: We returned to a pattern we’ve seen too much of since regular games resumed, in which the player in second going into FJ overbets and forces themselves to be correct to have a chance to win if the leader misses.
Judging the writers: In the FROM THE AD category, the first two revealed clues were about specific name brand products. Then the bottom-row clue was something from the 90s, not about a name brand product, but “air conditioning”. No wonder the players had no idea what they were going for.
Correct Qs: DD1 – Who is Brunhild (Brünnhilde)? DD2 – Who was Burr? DD3 – Who was Heller? FJ – What is New Mexico?
