Final Jeopardy: Animals (10-31-24)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (10/31/2024) in the category “Animals” was:
The Aztecs called this animal ayotochtli, meaning a “turtle rabbit” for its rabbitlike ears & its turtle-like shell
New champ, Joseph Carlstein, a grad student from Chapel Hill, NC, won $16,001 yesterday. In Game 2, his opponents are: Alicia Buffa, a translator from Montreal, Quebec; and Greg Jolin, system specialist & accountant from Raymond, NH.
Round 1 Categories: They Throw Serious Shade – A Question of Time – I’ve Got the Movie Title Munchies! – Salutations! – Manners Maketh… – The King’s Men
Greg found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “A Question of Time” under the $800 on the 6th pick of the round. He was in second place with $1,600, $200 less than Joseph’s lead. Greg bet it all and he was RIGHT.
In 2014 physicists sped up lithium ions to measure time dilation & gave new confirmation of this “special” theory show
Greg finished in the lead with $8,000. Joseph was second with $4,200 and Alicia was last with $1,400. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: October 31 – Bodies of Water – Hate-ful Quotes – U.S. Government – Rap Genres – The OED Says H-I
Alicia found the first Daily Double in “Bodies of Water” under the $1,200 clue on the 2nd pick of the round. She was in last place with $2,200, $5,800 less than Greg’s lead. Alicia made it a true Daily Double and she was RIGHT.
Cities on the shore of this lake include Babushkin, a stop on the Trans Siberian Railway show
Joseph found the last Daily Double in “U.S. Government” under the $1,600 clue on the 12th pick of the round. He was in last place with $3,400, $10,600 less than Greg’s lead. Joseph made it a true Daily Double and he was RIGHT.
In the 1930s this state eliminated a house of its legislature & the salaries of 90 out of 133 lawmakers show
Greg finished in the lead with $16,400. Joseph and Alicia were tied in second with $12,000. All clues were shown.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS AN ARMADILLO?
The Book of Creatures is an interesting website I came across with an entry for the ayotochtli (Nahuatl for armadillo), including these variants: Aiotochth, Aiochtochth, Armato, Contexto, Tatus. About the size of a cat, it is described as having “the snout of a mallard, the feet of a hedgehog, and a very long neck. It is covered by a segmented, lobster-like shell…. It protects itself with that shell such that neither its head nor neck are clearly visible, with only the ears sticking out.” Watch a short video of an armadillo turning itself into a ball.
The armadillo was also the correct response to the Final Jeopardy! clue in “Animals” on 5/18/2021
Joseph thought it was a hermit crab. He bet and lost his whole $12,000.
Alicia got it right. She bet $11,999 and finished with $23,999.
Greg also got it right. He bet $7,601 and won the game with $24,001. Greg Jolin is the new Jeopardy! champ.
A triple stumper from each round:
THE KING’S MEN ($1000) In 1605 the King’s Men performed “Volpone” by this dramatist who once killed another actor in a duel
BODIES OF WATER ($2000) Each year monsoon rains in this Asian country swell Lake Tonle Sap from 1,000 to 4,000 square miles
2 years ago: NONE of the players got this FJ in “NOVEL LOCALES”
This place from a 1933 novel lies in the Valley of Blue Moon, below a peak called Karakal show
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I had not commented, because I thought everyone else covered everything I might have said. But, I just saw an article online that raised a question. It was the alliterative phrase that they said started with the Navy. The response was “happy hour”. I thought alliteration was sounds, not spelling, and in this case, there’s a hard H, and a silent H – which, I did not realize at the time, are not the same sound.
So, as we are prone to be precise, am I wrong? In the article, people went to dictionary definitions, and they went to the etymology, which was from Latin. HOWEVER, all consonants in Latin are hard. Were it Latin, it would sound like “happy hower”, which we don’t say in English. Another example, with several differences, is “Julius Caesar” – since they didn’t have a J, the pronunciation would be “Iulius Kaiser” (like the German word for “emperor”, which is also the word for the ancient Roman).
Otherwise, my Nahuatl (which, of course, is less than trivial), was increased just that little bit by FJ. I was very impressed how Joseph and Alicia caught up to Greg near the end, and made it a game.
We only had 7 kids for Hallowe’en. Becoming less and less every year.
Jason, fwiw, I’ve seen people say that words that it’s wrong to say two words or names are alliterative if they begin with a vowel. I think that was about Ansel Adams.
All I know is whenever 2 words or names start with the same letter and I know the answer, I fully expect to see “alliterative” in the clue. 🤣
Terrific game once again, props to Alicia for hanging in there. Greg looked to be headed for a runaway early. Props to Joseph for knowing the state with the unicameral legislature. For a moment I thought he would draw a blank.
I know there are other shelled animals, but I thought all 3 would nail the armadillo, especially with Aztec in the clue to point out its origin. My sis-in-law has a whole collection of them (fakes).
Other than the Caspian Sea, which is technically a lake, isn’t Lake Baikal the only lake of significance in Russia? Just seemed too obvious for a DD clue.
A little disappointed no one knew the proper form of address for federal officeholders, and probably many local ones too.
Yes, Howard, Baikal is the go-to Russian lake. The only other Russian lake to be a clue answer is Lake Ladoga. I suppose any other Russian lake would be mentioned in the clue.
Forgot to mention that there are basically only two things you might do on a trampoline, yet no one took a shot at it.
It was another great game, and I did well above average. Well, I couldn’t knock the champion for picking ‘hermit crab’ in FJ as I went for ‘tortoise’. Anyways, one of us came up with the correct response.
Happy Halloween! This week we had 4 different winners, and they have all been men.
Happy Halloween!