Final Jeopardy: American Musicians (1-31-24)

The Final Jeopardy question (1/31/2024) in the category “American Musicians” was:

Also an author, this singer who had 5 top 40 hits in the 1970s was called the “Pirate Laureate”

Today’s Champions Wildcard contestants are: Michael Menkhus, a data analyst from Kansas City, MO; Erin Portman, a high school English teacher from Naperville, IL; and Ron Cheung, an economics professor from Lakewood, OH.

Round 1 Categories: The English Past – Platforming – Silent H – A Square Meal – The State’s Most Populous County – Questionable Movies

Ron found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Silent H” under the $800 clue on the 7th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $3,200, $1,600 more than Michael in second place. Ron made it a true Daily Double but didn’t have a clue so he was WRONG.

From the Dutch for “permission”, it’s a leave of absence granted to a member of the military show

WHAT IS A FURLOUGH?

Michael finished in the lead with $7,400. Ron was in second place with $2,800. Erin was last with $600. All clues were shown.

Round 2 Categories: The English Past Tense – Opera – Business & Finance History – Tech Talk – Mountains of Literature – Artful Rogers

Michael found the first Daily Double in “Opera” under the $1,600 clue on the 6th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $10,600, $4,200 more than Ron in second place. Michael bet $2,000 and tried Bertolt Brecht. That was WRONG.

Benjamin Britten composed the music for an opera based on this sailor who shared Ben’s initials show

WHO IS BILLY BUDD?

Ron got the last Daily Double in “Tech Talk” under the $2,000 clue on the 19th pick of the round. After a scoring adjustment (see below), Ron’s second place total increased to $9,600 so he had $3,000 less than Michael’s lead. Ron bet $3,000 and guessed haptics. That was WRONG.

This word, from the Greek for “life” & “measure”, enabled Apple to introduce face ID on the iPhone X show

WHAT IS BIOMETRICS?

Michael finished in the lead with a runaway $17,800. Ron was in second place with $8,200. Erin was last with $2,600. All clues were shown.

TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHO IS JIMMY BUFFETT?

Jimmy Buffett (1946 – 2023) was a popular “trop rock” singer famed for his unabashed love of the simple life, often depicted as hanging out in the tropics, booze and cheeseburgers. “Margaritaville” was Buffett’s signature song and became the name or part of the name of various products and businesses associated with him. Buffett was dubbed Key West’s “Pirate Laureate”, possibly inspired by his 1974 song “A Pirate Looks at Forty”, although that song is really about his friend Phil Clark, a modern-day pirate of sorts.

Jimmy Buffett wrote a number of books from novels to a popular cookbook with the punny title, “Jimmy’s Buffet”, and a “Cheeseburger in Paradise” recipe, which was also the title of another hit song. Buffett’s autobiography, “A Pirate Looks at Fifty” made him the 6th author to have a No. 1 on both the New York Times fiction and non-fiction lists. The other 5 are Ernest Hemingway, Dr. Seuss, John Steinbeck, William Styron and Irving Wallace.

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Erin got it right. She bet it all and doubled her score to $5,200.

Ron went with Bob Dylan. He didn’t bet anything so his score remained $8,200.

Michael got it right too. He stood pat on his runaway score, winning the game with $17,200. So we’ll be seeing Michael Menkhus, Juveria Zaheer and Andy Tirrell for the next 2 days while they duke it out in the finals.

Reversals: THE ENGLISH PAST TENSE ($800) This irregular past tense verb can mean completely tired out & exhausted – Ron said “worn” but Ken rejected it in favor of “spent”; the judges decided that worn was A-OK so Ron got his $800 back plus $800 more for a correct response.

($400) This irregular past tense verb is what I did to start our game of whist – Ron’s “lead” reply was rejected and Erin got it with “dealt”. The judges reversed that ruling too, awarding Ron $800.

A triple stumper from each round:

QUESTIONABLE MOVIES ($600) In this 1962 film former child star Bette Davis lives in a crumbling Hollywood mansion with her invalid sister

ARTFUL ROGERS ($2000) This B-movie maven of “Attack of the Crab Monsters” fame filmed “The Little Shop of Horrors” in 3 days

More clues on Page 2

2 years ago: ALL of the players got this FJ in “Countries of the World”

The only nation in the world whose name in English ends in an H, it’s also one of the 10 most populous show

WHAT IS BANGLADESH?

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