Final Jeopardy: Poets (1-27-20)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (1/27/2020) in the category “Poets” was:
A Dartmouth dropout, he received 2 honorary degrees from Dartmouth– in 1933 & 1955
New champ Heather Nelson, a middle school math teacher from Lake Oswego, OR, won $7,799 last Friday. In Game 2, she is up against: Sarah Frontiera, a graduate student from Santa Monica, CA; and Cheyenne Simmons, a baker & entrepreneur from Albany, NY.
Round 1 Categories: Buddhist Temples – Novels by Chapter Title – Phrase History – Public Television – Inspiring Women – The 2019 Forbes Global 2,000
Heather found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “2019 Forbes Global” under the $800 clue, with 10 clues to go after it. She was in the lead with $5,000, $3,800 more than Sarah and Cheyenne, tied in second place. She bet $2,000 and she was RIGHT.
These 2 6-letter aircraft makers topped the Aerospace section on the list. show
Heather finished in the lead with $6,200. Sarah was second with $3,600 and Cheyenne was last with $1,200.
Round 2 Categories: The Middle Ages – Wrap It Up! – Around the World – Dangerous Colors – Hit Music of Today – “M____T” Promises
Heather found the first Daily Double in “Dangerous Colors” under the $800 clue, with 10 clues to go after it. She was in the lead with $10,600 now, $600 more than Cheyenne in second place. She bet $2,000 and she was RIGHT.
Copper sulfate helped produce Scheele’s this color, which gave some Victorians arsenic poisoning from wallpaper. show
Sarah found the last Daily Double in “Wrap It Up!” under the $1,600 clue on the very last clue of the round. In the lead with $16,000, she had $2,600 more than Heather in second place. She bet $4,000 and she was RIGHT.
This 4-letter seaweed that wraps us sushi is actually a type of red algae. show
Sarah finished in the lead with $20,000. Heather was next with $13,400 and Cheyenne was in third place with $11,200.
Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
Robert Frost’s New England connections are well-known. Properties where he resided in New Hampshire and Vermont have been designated National Historic Landmarks. Frost won the first of 4 Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry for “New Hampshire”, his 1923 collection of poems that included “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”. Ironically, he wrote it in Vermont, after leaving New Hampshire.
From Dartmouth Alumni Magazine: under “Education: Attended Dartmouth for part of one year; attended Harvard 1897-99; never graduated from any college, but more than 40 colleges and universities-— including Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton and Oxford– awarded him an honorary degree” Here’s one of the Frost’s quotes on there: “I said when I was getting my honorary degree that it was funny the way I had got to be ‘educated by degrees.'”
Cheyenne thought it was Walt Whitman (died in 1892). She lost her $7,500 bet and finished with $3,700.
Heather went with Thoreau (died in 1862). She lost $2,199 and was left with $11,201.
Sarah got it right. She bet $6,801 and won the game with $26,801. Sarah Frontiera is the new Jeopardy! champ. “That’s a nice payday to start the week,” Alex said.
A triple stumper from each round:
NOVELS BY CHAPTER TITLE ($600) By Dickens: “Knitting”
THE MIDDLE AGES ($1600) Before Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 800, he was dubbed king of these people
2 years ago: ALL of the players got this FJ in “The 1960s”
It was already a crime to alter one of these; a 1965 law passed 393-1 in the house criminalized burning one too. show
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My favorite line from the late Robert Frost has to be “Good fences make good neighbors” from “Mending Wall” (1914). Many-a-time I recall Dad walking the boundary lines of our New Hampshire farm, repairing the stone walls every spring and mending the gaps with other material. We never had any problems with the neighboring farmers, because we shared the same interest in maintaining our mutual borders.
I watched the inauguration in 1961 of Kennedy (for whom I voted) and remember Frost reciting a poem. It wasn’t until just a few years ago that I learned that because of the glare of the sun, he couldn’t read his poem “Dedication” written for the occasion, instead reciting from memory his “The Gift Outright” from 1942. Good quick thinking. Frost was considered rather a liberal for his time, although I don’t think he is so considered now. Much the same thing with Carl Sandburg. Although Sandburg was actually born in the same state he is most identified with.
I don’t see the connection with 1933-1955?
@Mike, it also tells you that he was a prominent 20th century poet
Here’s something else you may find interesting:
Why Do Colleges Hand Out Honorary Degrees
As VJ alluded to, Dartmouth points to New Hampshire, which points to New England. The years 1933-1955 point (obviously) to the early to mid 20th century. So the clue can be read “Which early to mid 20th century poet is closely associated with New England?”. A very prototypical FJ clue where two or three facts are presented, requiring a couple more facts for the contestants to deduce immediately, and then a good educated guess, knowing the writers are trying their best to make the answer as easy as possible (if you know the facts).
What was the connection between the years 1933/1955 given in FJ and Frost?
@Akosua, Dartmouth College awarded him the honorary degrees. That’s in New Hampshire, a state that Frost is closely associated with
What is the earliest broadcast time for Jeopardy. It comes on at 7:30 EST.
@Scott, in Houston (where I live) it comes on at 11:30 a.m. CST
The earliest time I know of before that is 9:30 a.m. in Montgomery, Alabama, also CST
I had no idea on either Double Jeopardy Round Daily Doubles.
Poetry, along with musical theater, seems to be one of those categories contestants continually struggle with in FJ.
Heather had a good head start but Sarah was pretty quick on the buzzer today. One of my favorite poems from frost was the road not taken. Congrats to Sarah on her win. I hope she could build up a run of her own to end January. By the way VJ, what was your favorite poet that grew on you?
Yes, congrats to Sarah on the big DD bet and getting Final right, too.
As for poets, idk, Lou, I’d say the poets I have a big soft spot for are the ones who wrote for children, like RLS, Edward Lear, Hilaire Belloc and Eugene Field. I like a lot of poems by so many different poets though. Sometimes, they aren’t even the ones the poet is most famous for — my favorite Poe poem is “El Dorado”
Me too, Lou. I like Sarah, and the looks of her.
For a good part of the show, I could see Sarah clicking frantically and repeatedly, often a split-second too late. (I know that feeling all too well.) But she got the hang of it and took the lead late. She nearly made a possibly fatal error on the last DJ clue by betting 4K, which would have put her in 2nd place had she been wrong.
Why the two ladies answered Thoreau and Whitman is beyond me. Both lived in the 19th century and would not have rec’d degrees in 1933 and 1955. I read about Frost dropping out of college very recently, which turned my likely guess into a sure thing.
@Howard, my theory on why the ladies picked Whitman and Thoreau is because they are the other likely suspects for lit and/or poetry clues, having popped up ad nauseam in the past. 🤣🤣
That being said, most folks don’t think of Thoreau as a poet. He did write poetry though but, in my humble opinion, it’s pretty awful.
The last Monday three females competed on the show (overall) was on November 19, 2018 (that was the Teen Tournament finals in which Claire Sattler won). The last Monday three females competed on the show (regular play) was on December 31, 2012. The last Monday three females competed on the show in the month of January (regular play) was on January 22, 2007.