Final Jeopardy: 20th Century Books (3-28-24)

The Final Jeopardy question (3/28/2024) in the category “20th Century Books” was:

TIME mentioned “cruelty & enforced conformity” when summing up this novel with a “stonily silent narrator”

Today’s Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament contestants are: Sam Kavanaugh, an educator from Minneapolis, MN; Chuck Forrest, a lawyer from Marino, Italy; and Monica Thieu, a postdoctoral scientist from Atlanta, GA.

Round 1 Categories: LGBTQ+ Writers & Their Works – Hop on the Interstate – Free for All – 2-Word Pop Culture – Alphanumerics – Definitions from the Devil’s Dictionary

Sam found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Hop on the Interstate” under the $600 clue on the 18th pick of the round. He was in last place with $400, $3,400 less than Monica’s lead. Sam bet $1,000 and said Cleveland and Cincinnati. That was WRONG.

Columbia is about midway between these 2 same-state Midwest cities that squared off in the I-70 World Series in 1985 show

WHAT ARE KANSAS CITY & ST. LOUIS?

Monica finished in the lead with $8,200. Chuck was in second place with $2,600. Sam was last with $200. All clues were shown.

Round 2 Categories: British Explorers – Art Terms – Science – Round Here – Tough Vocab – Hip-Pop

Sam found the first Daily Double in “Art Terms” under the $1,600 clue on the 2nd pick of the round. He was in last place with $200, $8,000 less than Monica’s lead. Sam bet $2,000 and he was RIGHT.

Jean Arp coined this term for Alexander Calder’s inert sculptures, often made from sheet metal show

WHAT ARE STABILES?

On the very next pick, Sam found the last Daily Double in “Science” under the $1,200 clue. In last place with $2,200, he now had $6,000 less than Monica’s lead. Sam bet $2,200 and he was RIGHT.

Devised by a 19th century German scientist, this scale measures a mineral’s resistance to abrasion show

WHAT IS MOHS HARDNESS SCALE?

Monica finished in the lead with $13,800. Sam was in second place with $12,000. Chuck was last with $10,200. All clues were shown. Chuck was awarded another $800 before Final Jeopardy! on a reversal (see below).

NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHAT IS “ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST”?

Chief Bromden is the “stonily silent narrator” referred to in TIME magazine’s description of Ken Kesey’s novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1962). A long-time patient in an Oregon mental hospital, Chief Bromden pretended to be deaf and mute. Nurse Ratched and her staff bought his act and, consequently, Bromden got the proverbial earful when they often talked freely around him. Ratched is determined to keep the patients under her thumb and will go to extremes to accomplish that. Enter Randle McMurphy, who pretended to be crazy to get out of a prison work farm stretch. Chief Bromden relates what happened when McMurphy challenges Nurse Ratched’s authority. There’s a 6-minute summary on YouTube if you want to familiarize yourself with the novel.

“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” was made into a 1975 film that won 5 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Jack Nicholson) and Best Actress (Louise Fletcher). 6’7″ Will Sampson played Chief Bromden. He is the one who flies over the cuckoo’s nest.

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Chuck thought it was “Lord of the Flies”. He lost $4,801 and finished with $6,199.

Sam went with “1984”. That cost him $4,400 and left him with $7,600.

Monica also had “1984”. She lost $8,201 and finished with $7,599. That made Sam Kavanaugh the winner and the 7th semifinalist. As Ken said, there are 2 more quarterfinal matches to go.

Reversal: SCIENCE ($400) Eccentricity measures how much this planetary path deviates from a circle – Chuck buzzed in with “ellipse”, but Ken was looking for “orbit”. The judges decided Chuck’s response was A-OK and he got his $400 back plus another $400 for being right.

A triple stumper from each round:

FREE FOR ALL ($800) The Wilmot Proviso, which wanted no slavery in newly acquired Mexican lands, was a precursor to this political party

HIP-POP ($2000) Hip-hop artist Chris Rivers is the son of this “Big” guy born Christopher Rios, the first Latino solo rapper to go platinum

More clues on Page 2

2 years ago: ALL of the players got this FJ in “Disney Characters”

In the source material from more than 3 centuries ago, her name was Badr al-Budur, “full moon of full moons” show

WHO IS JASMINE?

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