Final Jeopardy: Poems (3-23-22)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (3/23/2022) in the category “Poems” was:
The title of this poem comes from a 1920 book that refers to its possible “restoration to fruitfulness”
New champ Mihir Nene, an engineer from Rochester, NY, won $24,999 yesterday. In Game 2, he is up against: Tim McCaigue, an app developer from San Diego, CA; and Nadège Aoki, a marine biology graduate student from Cambridge, MA.
Round 1 Categories: It’s All Gucci – Music as of Late – Food & Drink Homophones – Bright Lights – Big City – We Read It in the ’80s
Tim found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Big City” under the $600 clue on the 3rd pick of the round. He was in the lead with $400, $200 more than Mihir in second place. Tim bet the $1,000 allowance and he was RIGHT.
This Florida city named for a president has more people than Miami & Tampa combined show
Tim finished in the lead with $8,800. Mihir was second with $3,600 and Nadège was last with $3,000. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: It Happened in ’22 – Science & Nature – Triple the Double Letters – The Body Politic – Woman Movies – Incredibly Elf-centered
Nadège found the first Daily Double in “It Happened in ‘22” under the $1,200 clue on the 19th pick. She was in second place with $7,400, $8,200 less than Tim’s lead. Nadège bet $2,500 and she was RIGHT.
1922: This North African country gains independence from British rule with Fuad I as king show
Nadège got the last Daily Double in “Triple the Double Letters” under the $800 clue with 2 clues left after it. She was in second place with $7,900, $10,500 less than Tim’s lead. Nadège bet $2,000 but couldn’t come up with a response so she was WRONG.
For much of its history, the USSR was run by the Central this group show
Tim finished in the lead with a runaway $18,800. Mihir was second with $6,400. Nadège was last with $5,900. All clues were shown.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS “THE WASTE LAND”?
In his notes on his 1922 poem “The Waste Land”, T.S. Eliot acknowledged the influence of two books in particular: 1920’s “From Ritual to Romance” by Jessie L. Weston, and the earlier “The Golden Bough” by Sir J.G. Frazer. Eliot specifically noted that his poem’s title was suggested by Miss Weston’s book: “Not only the title, but the plan and a good deal of the incidental symbolism of the poem were suggested by Miss Jessie L. Weston’s book on the Grail legend: From Ritual to Romance (Cambridge)….” The phrase “the restoration to fruitfulness of a Waste Land” appears in Chapter II, “The Task of the Hero” in the second paragraph about Gawain.
Other notes: Jessie Weston also acknowledged J.G. Frazer’s influence on her work: “Without the guidance of The Golden Bough I should probably, as the late M. Gaston Paris happily expressed it, still be wandering in the forest of Broceliande!”
Nadège thought it was Joyce Kilmer’s 1913 poem “Trees”. She lost her $3,000 bet and finished with $2,900.
Mihir went with “a raisin in the sun,” a line from a 1951 Langston Hughes poem. Mihir bet nothing, remaining at $6,400.
Tim had no response. He lost his $2,000 bet and won the game with $16,800. Tim McCaigue is the new Jeopardy! champ.
A triple stumper from each round:
WE READ IT IN THE ’80s ($1000) He set the ’80s New York literary world on fire with “Bright Lights, Big City”
WOMAN MOVIES ($1600) This reclusive star’s last movie was 1941’s “Two-Faced Woman”, which came out when she was 36
2 years ago: TWO of the players got this FJ in “Fairs & Expositions”
To celebrate the 500th anniversary of a major event, Seville, Spain & Genoa, Italy both had expositions in this year show
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Mihir and Nadege were their own worst enemies, especially in double. All Tim had to do was not say anything, and let them dig their holes. That’s interesting, as his runaway didn’t come into effect until very late. It looked, to me at least, that Mihir and Nadege were just racing to see who could catch the button, and thinking they could come up with the response on the fly. That strategy didn’t work out.
And, the cherry on top was a really difficult final.
Another preëmption? without redemption?
Today & Tomorrow, truly a great sorrow.
That was indeed a tough FJ, but perhaps the contestants will do better tomorrow.
TS Eliot was one of my favorite poets.
Perhaps Tim can break the string of leader curses here as he has a good chance of winning more games
That was a tough final as we got a triple stumper. The poems weren’t nice to the contestants.