Final Jeopardy: Historic Letters (10-25-23)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (10/25/2023) in the category “Historic Letters” was:
A letter from him begins, “On the thirty-third day after I had left Cadiz, I reached the Indian Ocean”
The Champions Wild Card quarter-finals continue today with these three champs: Carlos Chaidez, a civil engineer from Burbank, CA, Emily Sands, a project manager from Chanhassen, MN; and Phillip Howard, a naval officer from Santa Clarita, CA.
Round 1 Categories: Produce – Disney Park Songs – Water under the Bridge – Book ‘Em, Dan-O – On the “Road” Again – Better Ask for Directions
Carlos found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Water Under the Bridge” under the $1,000 clue on the 18th pick of the round. He was in last place with $1,000, $3,400 less than Phillip’s lead. Carlos made it a true Daily Double and he was RIGHT.
Beneath the Vasco da Gama Bridge in Lisbon: this river show
Phillip finished in the lead with $6,400. Carlos and Emily were tied in second with $4,200. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Produce – Also on the Monopoly Board – Fill in the Blank Canvas – She Blinded Me with Science – Wasn’t that an ’80s Thing? – See “nn”
Emily found the first Daily Double in “She Blinded Me with Science” under the $1,600 clue on the 2nd pick of the round. She was in second place with $5,400, $1,000 less than Phillip’s lead. Emily bet $5,000 and she was RIGHT.
Dorothy Hodgkin’s Nobel Prize in chemistry was for her work on this vitamin, whose deficiency causes pernicious anemia show
Emily got the last Daily Double in “Fill in the Blank Canvas” under the $1,200 clue on the 6th pick of the round. She was in the lead with $12,000 now, $5,600 more than Phillip in second place. Emily bet $4,000 and she was RIGHT.
A group portrait by Rembrandt: “The ____ ___ (the Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq)” show
Emily finished in the lead with $25,200. Carlos was second with $13,400 and Phillip was last with $9,200. All clues were shown.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHO IS CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS?
Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain on 8/3/1492 in search of a western route to Asia. The plan was to establish a direct trade route to the Asian spice markets and thereby reap significant profits. Upon his return to Spain on the Ides of March in 1493, Columbus wrote to his patrons, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, referring to coming into “the Indian Sea” on the 33rd day. An excerpt of the letter is on Gilder Lehrman.org. Columbus persisted in his belief that he had reached the Indian Sea. When it was proven that he had instead found a completely different region of the world, the particular area he wrote about eventually became known as the West Indies.
As for the direct trade route to Asia, that would have to wait until 1498, when Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama sailed around the southernmost tip of Africa and really did reach the Indian Ocean.
Phillip thought it was Marco Polo. He lost $800 and finished with $8,400.
Carlos crossed off Vasco in favor of Magellan. He bet and lost his whole $13,400.
Emily also went with Marco Polo. She only lost $1,601, leaving $23,599, which was more than enough to win today’s game and snag a spot in the semi-finals.
A triple stumper from each round:
BOOK ‘EM, DAN-O ($1000) Lemony Snicket should know this novelist penned “Adverbs” & “Watch Your Mouth”
FILL IN THE BLANK CANVAS ($2000) Francisco Goya: “The 3rd of ____, 1808”
2 years ago: TWO of the players got this FJ in “19th Century Supreme Court Decisions”
The first “self-evident” truth in the Declaration of Independence was quoted & found not to apply to this plaintiff show
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Oh, and, I knew it wasn’t Vasco de Gama, because he was in the clue about the river earlier in the game.
I immediately thought Columbus, who thought he’d reached India. Then unfortunately came to my senses when I saw Cadiz and said Magellan. Rats!
When I saw the clue, I immediately thought of these lines from Good Timin’:
🎶 Who in the world would have ever known what Columbus could do
If Queen Isabella hadn’t hocked her jewels in 1492? 🎶
and that song’s been playing in my head on and off all day! 🤣
The one I remember is “Columbus sailed the ocean blue, in 1400 and 92.”
I said “Magellan”. Oh well!
Did Phillip wear his SEAL trident his first time? I don’t recall.
Funny thing, the Lemony Thicket author was a question on MasterMinds today! It flipped out around, with his name given, and looking for Lemony!
Also, MM had a question about the “longest river entirely in France”. I got that right, because of Jeopardy!
Thanks to VJ for the vidcap. The same “smudge” appears in the shot is Phillip from 3 years ago, on the left lapel. The trident he wears is small. His first appearance was before I started posting on FF. I said to my wife then, if he’s a Navy officer, but in civilian clothes, he’s UDT/SEALS. However, there’s someone about a sailor saying he is that, but not wearing his uniform. Back in the 1980s, the NSA director, VADM John Poindexter, when testifying before Congress, and after, when he lost his NSA job, and reverted to Rear Admiral (in the US military, to be a 3 or 4 star officer, you have to have a specific job for it. Leave the job before retirement, you go back to your prior rank), he didn’t wear his uniform, although he does have it on in his official USN photo. An admiral not wearing his uniform? That just sounds wrong.
Did anyone else think the final was kinda easy? I guessed Columbus but didn’t think it could have been anyone else.
My first choice was Columbus, but then I changed it to Marco Polo, and then to Magellan.
And we got our first triple stumper of the week since today’s FJ wasn’t kind to anybody.
I was hoping that Carlos Chaidez would redeem himself from that William Tell Overture fumble 3 years ago, but unfortunately, he couldn’t do it.