Final Jeopardy: American Authors (5-21-21)

Today’s Final Jeopardy question (5/21/2021) in the category “American Authors” was:

The year before his 1809 birth, his parents acted in “King Lear”, leading scholars to believe he was named for a “Lear” character

Quarterfinal No. 5 of the 2021 Tournament of Champions features: 5x champ Sam Kavanaugh, a teacher orig. from Carlton, MN; 4x champ Andy Wood, a writer orig. from Ann Arbor, MI; and 4x champ Veronica Vichit-Vadakan, a librarian from Portland, OR.

Round 1 Categories: Painting, Not the Art Kind – Also Known As – Prefixes – Stephen King Title References – 20th Century TV – 1921

Veronica found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Prefixes” under the $800 clue on the 11th pick of the round. She was in third with $600, $4,000 less than Andy’s lead. She bet $1,000 and she was RIGHT.

Originally attached to a word that ended “-netic” this 5-letter prefix now fronts words dealing with futuristic concepts show

WHAT IS CYBER?

Andy finished in the lead with $7,000. Veronica was second with $6,400 and Sam was last with $2,000. No clues went uncovered.

Round 2 Categories: She Sang It in a Movie – 2-Word Countries – Corporate Jargon – You’re in the Hole – Mythology – “T”-Pain

Sam found the first Daily Double in “2-Word Countries” under the $2,000 clue on the 2nd pick. He was in third place with $3,600 now, $3,400 less than Andy’s lead. He made it a true Daily Double and he was RIGHT.

Population 52 million, it has twice the people but 20 times the per capita GDP of its neighbor to the north show

WHAT IS SOUTH KOREA?

2 clues later, Sam landed on the last Daily Double in “Mythology” under the $1,200 clue. In the lead with $8,800, he had $1,800 more than Andy in second. He bet $4,000 and he was RIGHT.

Bellerophon tamed this creature and rode it in his fight with the Chimera show

WHO IS PEGASUS?

Veronica finished in the lead with $22,800. Sam was next with $20,400 and Andy was in third place with $7,400. No clues went uncovered.

Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHO IS EDGAR ALLAN POE?

David Poe, Jr. and his wife, Elizabeth, were both actors who are said to have appeared together only once in a production of “King Lear”. She played Lear’s daughter Cordelia. He played Edmund, the villainous illegitimate son of the Duke of Gloucester. Sometime thereafter (some sources say a year, some say two), the Poes had their second son, Edgar. In “King Lear”, Edgar is the first-born and legitimate son of Gloucester, whom Edmund wants to get rid of so it does seem a bit of a stretch. But who knows?

What we do know is Edgar Allan Poe achieved posthumous and everlasting fame for his poems, “The Raven” and “Annabel Lee”, that we see all too frequently on Jeopardy! Poe was also a master of the short story genre in both mystery and horror. These stories, such as “The House of Usher” and “The Pit and the Pendulum”, provided lots of work for 20th century filmmakers and actors like Roger Corman and Vincent Price.

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Andy went with English author Charles Dickens, born in 1812. That cost him $7,300 and left him with $100.

Sam got it right. He bet $2,401 and finished with $22,801.

Veronica chose Nathaniel Hawthorne, born in 1804. She lost her $340 bet and finished with $22,460. Sam Kavanaugh won the match and the last semi-finalist spot. Check the comments for the Wild Card winners and, as always, thanks to Richard for posting the lists.

2 triple stumpers from the first round:

STEPHEN KING TITLE REFERENCES ($800) A small area of Johnny Smith’s brain that has been damaged

1921 ($800) Alexander I became ruler of the kingdom of Serbs, Croats & Slovenes, which would soon be renamed this

More clues on Page 2

2 years ago: ALL of the players got this FJ in “Photo Sharing”

Publishing its first photo in 1889, today it has more than 4 billion likes & 100 million followers on instagram show

WHAT IS NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC?

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