Final Jeopardy: The Solar System (2-1-19)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (2/1/2019) in the category “The Solar System” was:
For a while in the 1840s, the French wanted to name this new discovery “Le Verrier” & the British wanted “Oceanus”
New champ Meghan Schulz, an environmental engineer from Bristol, PA, won $21,300 yesterday. In Game 2, she takes on these two players: Will Dawson, a tour guide from Washington, D.C.; and Karen Gieger, an accountant mom from Mobile, AL.
Round 1 Categories: What a Dad Wants – Stamps – 5-Letter “W”ords – She’s Got Away – New York State of Mind – Billy Joel
Will found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Stamps” under the $600 clue, with 2 clues worth $1,800 left after it in the same category. He was in the lead with $4,600, $400 more than Meghan in second place. He bet $2,000 and he was RIGHT.
A musician plays a guitar, exemplifying the Delta Blues, on the stamp honoring its 200th anniversary of statehood. show
That ended the round with Will in the lead at $6,600. Meghan was second with $4,200 and Karen was last with $2,600.
Round 2 Categories: Better Call Paul – Cities Through Time – Sulfur – Mo”V”Ies – Religious Literature – Anagram Pairs
Meghan found the first Daily Double in “Anagram Pairs” under the $1,200 clue, with a dozen clues still to go after it. She was in second place with $9,800 at this point, $6,000 less than Will’s lead. She bet $3,500 and she was RIGHT.
Japan’s capital, now & then. show
Meghan found the last Daily Double in “Sulfur” under the $1,200 clue. Only 3 clues worth $5,600 remained after it now. In second place with $13,300, she was only $100 behind Will’s lead. She bet $3,000 and she was RIGHT.
Before it meant “to add sulfur to rubber”, this verb just meant “to burn” show
Meghan finished in the lead with $16,300. Will was next with $13,800 and Karen was in third place with $11,800. A reversal (see below) put Will in the lead at $17,000.
ALL of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier is credited with locating Neptune, the planet discovered with mathematics, in 1846. He announced his findings to the French Academy on 8/31/1846 and they were later confirmed by German astronomer Johann Galle and published on 9/23/1846. This set off a dispute between Great Britain and France when British Royal Astronomer George Biddle Airy claimed that British mathematician John Couch Adams had already discovered the planet. Le Verrier’s claim prevailed and the men came up with names: Galle wanted Janus; Airy wanted Oceanus and Le Verrier thought it should bear his name. Some sources say he also suggested Neptune, the name that was officially adopted. All of these men have craters and what not named after them. The Guardian has an article on the dispute: “How the Brits put the spin on Neptune”
From 2011: DISCOVERIES ($2000) Only weeks after this planet was discovered in 1846, William Lassell discovered its largest moon, Triton
Karen bet $5,000 and finished with $16,800.
Meghan bet $14,800. That brought her up to $31,100.
Will bet $15,601 and won the match with $32,601. He is the new Jeopardy! champ.
Reversal: SULFUR ($1600) The amount of sulfur present determines the grade of this lamp fuel – Will said “butane.” Karen gave what they wanted– “kerosene.” Right before FJ, Will’s response was accepted because “some forms of butane are rated for their sulfur content.” Will was awarded $3,200 and that put him in the lead going into FJ.
A triple stumper from each round:
SHE’S GOT AWAY ($800) Love was rough on this medieval pair: their affair exposed, she fled to a convent & he was castrated & became a monk
CITIES THROUGH TIME ($2000) About 1,000 years ago, Casablanca was a village of these double-talk people
2 years ago: TWO of the players got this FJ in “Contemporary Authors”
His official website says, “It is forty years since I hung up my cloak and dagger” show
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Nobody answered my question from the other day. Who is more prestigious, Dorothy Parker or Gertrude Stein?
That must mean nobody knows, Albert. I don’t even know what you mean by prestigious.
A triple solver ended in a big payday and leader curses. Tough luck, but maybe Will could be the next 5-time champion. Anyway, I locked on who would win the Super Bowl and it’s the obvious Rams.
Seemed like someone said something to the players about going from top to bottom because of that Rama-Lama-Ding-Dong category yesterday. Alex said something like “we’ve been working out way down through the categories” before the “Anagram” DD.
The 5 Letter “W”ords category had a pattern of sorts though the third clue should have been about water.
LINK: 10 more clues from the match
I hope Jeopardy! talked to us about Larry Martin after the credits.
I didn’t see that but there’s a video on J!Buzz:
Jeopardy! Remembers Larry Martin
They didn’t mention his passing on air, but they will be mentioning him when the next TofC happens, presumably in Fall 2019.
Finally a triple solve, and another week finished with leader curses. Glad will got the money back after that reversal in the sulfur category. Furthermore, that clue should have been worded more clearly. Also isn’t Neptune one of the Greek gods from mythology John and VJ? I certainly thought Meghan would have won again but, maybe Will could build up on his win perhaps?
@Lou
In Greek mythology Neptune is called Poseidon. Same guy though.
All right, so the week has come to an end, a new month started and both on a positive note. All 3 got FJ, all 3 DDs solved and we have -again- a new champ. CONGRATULATIONS to Will for the win and the others for a correct FJ and a good game with impressive totals.
Looks we have a new champ every day, or when a player strings together 4, then the jinx is setting in and s/he crashes in game 5. The average “win streak” must be somewhere around 2 or even below for the season…. Tournaments are coming up and the last 5 game winner was in October (Alan Dunn). If this goes on, season 35 might turn out worse than #34. Hopefully not. The new TT winner will not bump anyone off because s/he will just fill the gap that Larry left when sadly he passed away. We still have six 4 game winners on the ToC list. Tournaments, summer break and before you know it it’s September with #36 and then November ,time for the ToC. J! scratched one already,sort of… But things will hopefully turn around. Kind of a close game, especially with the reversal. We might have 4 game winners (we still have SIX on the ToC list after all, J! won’t wait yet another year, will they?
Lest I forget by Sunday: CONGRATULATIONS also to VJ and JP for the correct prediction from Doris and me, I guess it was easier than I thought: “Oceanus”> (Roman) sea god Neptune. No overthinking.
Also: have an exciting and not too cold weekend everybody and enjoy the SB if you are into American football and also from New England!! The Dolphins never had a chance (again…)😢 Do we have any Rams fans in the FF family? I left my prediction for Sunday in the FF SB section. (Sorry, Tommy….)