Final Jeopardy: Phrases from the Ancient World (11-7-22)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (11/7/2022) in the category “Phrases From the Ancient World” was:
Cicero wrote that a tyrant ordered this to be hung from the ceiling “by a horse-hair”; his guest begged to leave
In the last quarterfinal match of the 2022 Tournament of Champions the players are: Zach Newkirk, an attorney from Arlington, VA; Jessica Stephens, a statistical research specialist from Nashville, TN; and Sam Buttrey, an associate professor of operations research at the naval postgraduate school from Pacific Grove, CA.
Round 1 Categories: Valleys – That ’70s or ’80s Show – Dance – “D” in Science – Get a Handle on It – In the NATO Phonetic Alphabet
Sam found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “‘D’ in Science” under the $600 clue on the 10th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $3,400, $3,200 more than Zach in second place. He put it all on the line and came up with deoxose. That was WRONG.
Knowing what the D in DNA stands for should tell you this noun, the sugar found in DNA. show
Sam finished in the lead with $8,000. Zach was next with $2,200 and Jessica was in third place with negative $1,400. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Vice Presidents – A Crash of Symbols – Brit Bits – 13-letter Words – In That Novel – Herbal & Spicy Names
Sam found the first Daily Double in “Brit Bits” under the $1,600 clue on the 8th pick. He was in the lead with $8,400 now, $1,800 more than Zach in second place. He bet $2,000 and he was RIGHT.
One of the oldest records at the National Archives in London is this record of William the Conqueror’s 1066 survey of England. show
4 clues later, Zach found the last Daily Double in “In That Novel” under the $2,000 clue. In second place with $8,000, he had $1,000 less than Sam’s lead. He bet $7,000 and guessed “The Bridge Over the San Luis Rey”. That was WRONG.
High-ranking Father Latour passes away in a Santa Fe cathedral. show
Sam finished in the lead with a runaway $19,600 and Zach was next with $5,200. At negative $5,800, the game was over for Jessica. All clues were shown.
BOTH contestants left in Final Jeopardy! got it right.
WHAT IS THE SWORD OF DAMOCLES?
According to History.com, the Roman philosopher Cicero made the “sword of Damocles” tale popular in his book “Tusculan Disputations” (45 B.C.) In Cicero’s story, the tyrant of Syracuse in Sicily, Dionysius II, was hated by many for his ruthless ways. As a result, he lived in constant fear of dire retaliation and assassination.
However, a member of the court named Damocles admired the king for his riches and power. Dionysius decided to give Damocles a demonstration of what his life was really like. He set Damocles up with the royal treatment while, at the same time, suspending a sword from the ceiling directly over Damocles’ head. A single strand of horsehair was all that held the deadly object in place. Damocles changed his mind about ‘having everything’ in a hurry. “The parable later became a common motif in medieval literature, and the phrase ‘sword of Damocles’ is now commonly used as a catchall term to describe a looming danger. Likewise, the saying ‘hanging by a thread’ has become shorthand for a fraught or precarious situation.”
Zach bet $528 and finished with $5,728.
Sam didn’t bet anything and won the last semifinal spot with the $19,600 he already had. Zach and Jessica won $5,000 each. Tomorrow, there will be an exhibition match with Amy Schneider, Matt Amodio and Mattea Roach. That’s being done so no one misses a semifinal game because of Election Day preemptions.
A triple stumper from each round:
VALLEYS ($1000) Full of biblical sites, Israel’s Jezreel Valley is bounded to the west by this mount with Haifa on its slopes
HERBAL & SPICY NAMES ($1600) Samuel L. Jackson played this Jedi with an amethyst-bladed lightsaber
2 years ago: ALL of the players got this FJ in “Political Speeches”
At the 2004 DNC, Barack Obama used a fairly new metaphor, saying, “pundits… slice & dice our country into” these 2 types of states show
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Ken marked himself, to me, as the right successor to Alex with the “As Dean Martin would have said, that’s a moray” last season. Simply put, Mayim does not have “that”. If she injects an aside, it sounds forced and not spontaneously erudite.
As for this game, I was hoping for Zack, but, Sam was right on it. It was still a low scoring affair. I could not suss out who was “the cooler”. I don’t think Sam will make it out of the semis, though.
I did not put 2 and 2 together, vis-à-vis election night coverage. Now, that makes sense!
Ken is the best host and hand-picked by the legendary Alex himself.
So show respect for our founding father and please don’t insult the amazing and greatest player of all time, Ken Jennings.
Whoa! This was definitely not the type of match I anticipated watching. I don’t think Jessica ever was out of the red. She let the fact that her opponents were faster on the buzzer cause her to ring in when she was uncertain of correct responses. Not a good idea imo.
He is arrogant, self-effacing and egoistic. Get rid of him.
Can we get rid of Ken Jennings who thinks he’s superior to everyone?
Dump Ken
You’re kidding, right? He’s the perfect host for Jeopardy.
And then there were 9.
I think you meant to say that Jessica didn’t get out of the red and she tried to take some chances and it didn’t work out for her.
Well, I don’t know why you think that. Maybe that’s what you meant to say. I am just pointing out to you that she was not a victim.
I feel bad for Jessica our Second Chance winner from week 1. She took a lot of swings and was in the red for all 60 clues in the game. That is one of the worst performance we ever seen and she became the victim winding up in the red and not to have a rematch with Matt Amodio.
Jessica just could not beat Sam on the buzzer, Kevin, but that does not make her a victim. I mean, she didn’t get in the red because Sam beat her on the buzzer. She got in the red for guessing on clues she didn’t know the answers to. When she saw how that was going, she should not have buzzed in on clues she wasn’t sure of.
Yeah I would agree. You would only use the guessing strategy as a last resort for clues that you are not sure of. But I am happy that sam and Zach got this final. Congrats to Sam moving into the semifinals. I feel bad for Jessica as well.