Final Jeopardy: Natural Geographic Features (9-25-19)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (9/25/2019) in the category “Natural Geographic Features” was:
Timely for 2018, in 1866 Mark Twain wrote of this landmark’s “sputtering jets of fire” & “heat from Pele’s furnaces”
18x champ Jason Zuffranieri, a math teacher from Albuquerque, NM, has now won $502,096. In Game 19, he is up against: Ted Berg, a sportswriter from New York, NY; and Gairen Wallace, a technology consultant from Goffstown, NH.
Jason will tie David Madden’s 19-game streak if he wins today.
Round 1 Categories: New Diner Slang for Sandwiches – Getting to the Airport – Stadium Stuff – The French & Indian War – You Did It! – “Man” Up
Ted found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “‘Man’ Up” under the $400 clue, with 5 clues left after it. He was in second place with $4,800, $2,800 less than Jason’s lead. He bet $3,000 and he was RIGHT.
It’s the last word of a historic utterance made July 20, 1969. show
Ted finished in the lead with $8,000. Jason was second with $7,800 and Gairen was last with $3,800.
Round 2 Categories: Swear in the Bible – Signs & Symbols – Books About China – World Capital Birthplaces – Words From Native American Languages – Non-Geneva Conventions
Jason found the first Daily Double in “Books about China” under the $2,000 clue on the 11th pick. He was in the lead with $12,200 at this point, $1,200 more than Gairen in second place. He bet $5,000 and he was RIGHT.
Nixon’s famed trip is covered in “On China”, a look at Sino-U.S. relations by this former Secretary of State. show
Jason found the last Daily Double in “Non-Geneva Conventions” under the $1,600 clue, with a dozen clues left after it. In the lead with $19,200, he had $7,600 more than Ted in second place. He bet $4,000 and he was RIGHT.
The 1786 Annapolis Convention on interstate commerce pointed up the weakness of these, leading to another convention next year. show
Jason finished in the lead with $30,400. Ted was next with $13,200 and Gairen was in third place with $11,800.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
Pele is the Hawaiian goddess of fire, volcanoes, lightning and wind. Legend says she lives in the Halemaʻumaʻu crater at the summit of Kilauea, the most active Hawaiian volcano. Obviously, it is a legend that Mark Twain was acquainted with when he wrote the 1866 letter containing the phrases in the clue.
Eruptions from the Kilauea volcano caused major destruction on the island of Hawaii for several months in 2018. The aftermath of the disaster is still in the news. This Popular Mechanics article relates one unexpected beneficial result.
Gairen went with “Old Faithful.” That cost him everything but $1.00.
Ted came up with Mt. Vesuvius. He lost his $10,401 bet, finishing with $2,799.
Jason had the same response as Gairen. He bet nothing this time and won with the $30,400 he already had. His 19-day total is $532,496. Next challenge: a 20-game tie with Julia Collins.
2triple stumpers from the last round:
SIGNS & SYMBOLS ($1600) A symbol of the Mormon faith is the angel Moroni with one of these in his mouth
NON-GENEVA CONVENTIONS ($1200) Banning trade in many plants & animals, CITES is the convention of international trade in these
2 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “American Women”
A collection of her writings includes letters to her famous husband & articles like “Eulogy on the Flapper” show
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Had Holzhauer still been champion, this would have been his record breaking 75th win had he still been there and won.
Ted is making a scare for our champion after the J! round, but Jason bet NOTHING in FJ! and stays where he is. He and Gairen got it wrong because Old Faithful spurts only water and Ted got it wrong because it’s a volcano BUT Mark Twain never lived to see that 79 AD eruption. I think you have to guess what volcanoes are prominent in that year given, @VJ. But as far as I concerned, Jason needs to be very careful when his opponents made very big wagers.
Two weeks into this season, only one game played with the entire board (as in, no unplayed clues left) and Triple Stumpers is the cause for that.
@John Christian, I think the key to at least getting to the right place for that clue, if you couldn’t recall the 2018 news reports, was knowing that Pele is a Hawaiian goddess.
And Ted is, as what Alex Trebek said, “on the wrong part of the world”.
Are we ever gonna have our first FJ! triple solve of season 36?
I hope we do. SHAME ON YOU, WHOEVER PUT THAT TRIPLE SOLVE CURSE! SHAME ON YOU!
Well, the challengers sure made it a bit tougher than usual for Jason today! Lucky he had a runaway. The spelling of the FJ answer turned out to be a non-issue after all.
LINK: 11 more clues from the game
I think that was a good strategy today on Jason’s part betting nothing. But still, old faithfulis a geyser in Yellowstone national park.