Final Jeopardy: Poets (2-19-15)

The Final Jeopardy question (2/19/2015), in the category “Poets” was:

On completing the “Deathbed” edition of his great work, he wrote, “L.ofG. at last complete– after 33 y’rs of hackling at it.”

New champ Christina McTighe won $21,600 in yesterday’s game, when she was the only player to get Final Jeopardy! She goes for a second win today against: Diana Zinser, from Berwyn, PA; and Sam Osborne, from Lake City, FL.

Round 1: Sam found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Nice Beard” under the $800 clue before the first break. It was the 5th clue chosen and he was in the lead with $1,000, $800 ahead of Diana in second place. He made it a true Daily Double and he was RIGHT.

This playwright would have needed a major barbering to get rid of that beard. show

Christina finished in the lead with $4,800. Diana was second with $4,400 and Sam was last with $4,200.

Round 2: Sam found the first Daily Double in “‘W’orld Cities” under the $1,600 clue. He was in the lead with $8,600, $3,000 more than Diana in second place. He bet $2,000 and guessed Watertown. That was WRONG.

This Irish City on the Suir River is an export center for fruit, meat &, of course, fine crystal. show

Sam found the last Daily Double in “Revolutionary War Figures” under the $2,000 clue. In the lead with $9,400, he was $2,200 ahead of Diana in second place. He bet $2,200, and he was RIGHT.

In March 1775 he told the Second Va. Convention “We have done everything that could be done to avert the storm.” show

Sam finished in the lead with $13,200. Christina was next with $7,600 and Diana was in third place with $7,200.

TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHO IS WALT WHITMAN?

In a letter written several month before his death to his friend and later biographer, Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke, Whitman said: “L. of G. at last complete– after 33 y’rs of hackling at it, all times & moods of my life, fair weather & foul, all parts of the land, and peace & war, young & old– the wonder to me that I have carried it on to accomplish as essentially as it is, tho’ I see well enough its numerous deficiencies & faults”

From Selected Criticism: Walt Whitman Archives: “Copyrighted in 1891, published in 1892, the 1891–1892 so-called Deathbed edition of Leaves of Grass… was the ninth published during Whitman’s lifetime to be entitled Leaves of Grass, and is therefore sometimes referred to as the ninth edition… the 1881 Leaves of Grass established the order, arrangement, and essential texts of the poems, the Deathbed edition was not, as is sometimes stated, simply a reprinting, with additional materials, of the 1881 Leaves, since Whitman later made a number of revisions to that volume—minor, to be sure, but revisions nonetheless.”



Diana got it right and doubled her score to $14,400.

Christina got it right, too. She doubled her score to $15,200.

Sam wrote down “Life of,” evidently going for a title. He lost his $2,500 bet and finished with $10,700. So Christina McTighe retains her title and now has a 2-day total of $36,800.

FJ Results: 2-19-15

During the chat, Christina talked about being grounded as a child and forbidden to read a book for an entire summer. Alex found that to be a strange punishment but Christina explained that she was a nerd back then. She borrowed books from friends and read them under the covers with a flashlight. “A sneaky nerd,” Alex observed.

2 years ago:: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “Italy”

The Italian word for “shadow” is used as a local variation on the name of this region midway between Rome & Florence. show

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21 Responses

  1. VJ says:

    Finishing Sam’s thought for him… I guess he was going for a poet’s biography. There are several books on The Life of Goethe. Last time we saw a clue on Goethe was in early January, but it had to do with a frankfurter, not poetry 🙂

    @John, Der Erlkönig in German with an English translation is on my poetry site LINK

  2. Cece says:

    Nice win by Christina. Congrats!

    The FJ was too easy — L of G as part of the clue? C’mon! And even then, one of the contestants misunderstood the clue. No matter. It was a good game.

    • VJ says:

      I don’t want to see another Walt Whitman clue for at least 26 weeks.

      • Cece says:

        LOL!! I hear you.

      • VJ says:

        LOL! I should have said 23…

        Dear Jeopardy! Cluewriters,

        Please give the 23 Skidoo
        To Walt Whitman clues

      • jacob ska says:

        @vj, 26 weeks? How about 52 weeks?

        • VJ says:

          I can dig it. And I would be very pleased to see an equal lack of Dickinson and Keats clues. Just took a cursory glance through past clues and they have had clues on all of these poets in the past.

          Pablo Neruda
          A.E. Housman
          Arthur Rimbaud
          Ezra Pound
          Aleksandr Pushkin
          Alan Seeger
          Gwendolyn Brooks
          Robert Herrick
          Henry Lawson

          They even had a couple of clues on Hilaire Belloc. I think everyone should read Matilda

    • jacob ska says:

      CeCe when you watch fj trying to be a correct response you realize how fast 30 seconds can fly by.

      That’s a lot of pressure imo. It’s a case of either you know it or not. Not much time to try to reason it out. Sam played a good game but done in by fj.

      • Cece says:

        You’re right, Jacob. It’s a lot easier to think straight from the comfort of our couches at home. I just thought it was an easy enough clue to finally get a TS. Oh well. 🙂

  3. jacob ska says:

    There were a few ts that left me baffled in this game.

    1) Wake Forest University location? Winson-Salem NC.

    2) Mona Lisa Overdrive author? Wm. Gibson.

    3) Elon Musk, Founder/CEO SpaceX and Tesla Motors, discussing how he was inspired by this series by Isaac Asimov? Foundation Series.

    4) Photo of founder and retired CEO of C-SPAN? Brian Lamb.

  4. john blahuta says:

    i stand corrected.
    3/12 for the week.

    • jacob ska says:

      You also owe me an apology for saying I’m too optimistic. I called it on 2 correct predictions on fj. 🙂

      Anyway, nice close finish for this game.

      • john blahuta says:

        ok, for today! i don’t know if you heard the saying when you were in germany:
        “eine Schwalbe macht noch keinen Sommer” =”one swallow does not make a summer”.
        just kidding…

        in general you ARE too optimistic since you apply your higher standards to the players. THIS i really believe though. 🙂

        • jacob ska says:

          Believe me, I have no higher standards and yes I do remember hearing the phrase you refer to when I lived in Germany.

          Read my comments on 4 ts that baffled me today. They are common knowledge. No higher standards there.