Final Jeopardy: Mythology (4-8-24)

The Final Jeopardy question (4/8/2024) in the category “Mythology” was:

A peasant who became the king of Phrygia created this intricate problem that was solved in 333 B.C.

Today is the second final game of the Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament. The contestants are:Amy Schneider, a writer from Oakland, CA; Victoria Groce, a writer & television personality from Pittsburgh, PA; and Andrew He, a stay-at-home dad from Concord, CA.

Amy won last Friday’s game. The first person to win two games wins the Tournament.

Round 1 Categories: “A” to “A” Countries – Parenting – Aches & Pains – Working Hard, Hardly Working – Pop Culture Is Springing Out All Over – Slanguage

Amy found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Working Hard, Hardly Working” under the $800 clue on the 17th pick of the round. She was in the lead with $4,400, $600 more than Victoria in second place. Amy made it a true Daily Double and she was RIGHT.

This traditional term for Japan’s famously hard-laboring male office workers references both wages & gender show

WHAT IS SALARYMAN?

Amy finished in the lead with $8,800. Victoria was in second place with $6,800. Andrew was last with $3,000. All clues were shown.

Round 2 Categories: Novel Title Characters – Colleges & Universities – Consonant-Vowel X3 – A Secret Chord – David Played – It Pleased the Lord

Victoria found the first Daily Double in “Novel Title Characters” under the $800 clue on the 4th pick of the round. She was in the lead with $11,200, $2,400 more than Amy in second place. Victoria made it a true Daily Double and she was RIGHT.

The first name of this title character of a Defoe novel is an old word for a prostitute show

WHO IS MOLL FLANDERS?

Amy found the last Daily Double in “Consonant-Vowel x 3” under the $1,600 clue on the 17th pick of the round. She was in second place with $12,000, $18,000 less than Victoria’s lead. Amy bet it all and she was RIGHT.

Catholics hoping for special grace may pray this, said for 9 consecutive days show

WHAT IS A NOVENA?

Victoria finished in the lead with $37,600. Amy was in second place with $26,000. Andrew was last with $8,600. All clues were shown.

ALL of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHAT IS THE GORDIAN KNOT?

Gordias (or Gordius) was a peasant in Greek mythology. He became King of Phrygia after fulfilling an oracle’s prophecy that the first to ride into Phrygia on a wagon would be the new king. Gordias believed he owed this honor to Zeus, so he tied his wagon to the Temple of Zeus with a knot that, according to Ancient Greek historian Arrian, was really “several knots all so tightly entangled that it was impossible to see how they were fastened.”

In 333 B.C., Alexander the Great showed up intending to untie the Gordian Knot so he could fulfill another prophecy and rule all of Asia. Alexander realized he would get nowhere fast trying to manually untangle that mess. He drew his sword and cut through the knots. Thus, untying the Gordian Knot has come to metaphorically represent a difficult problem and Alexander’s approach is “thinking outside the box.” (However, Alexander’s method doesn’t always work, as all of us ladies know when it comes to untangling little knots in our necklace chains.)

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Andrew bet $8,000 and finished with $16,600.

Amy bet $11,601 to finish with $37,601.

Victoria bet $14,401 and won the game with $52,001. So Victoria and Amy have each won one game. One of them could end the tournament tomorrow with another win. Andrew could drag it out one more day if gets hold of those Daily Doubles tomorrow.

2 triple stumpers from POP CULTURE IS SPRINGING OUT ALL OVER:

($400) The only movie to pair Fred Astaire & Judy Garland is this holiday classic

($800) Asked to describe a perfect date, a pageant contestant in this film says, “April 25 because it’s not too hot, not too cold”

More clues on Page 2

2 years ago: TWO of the players got this FJ in “Current Television”

Fittingly, the last name of the family at the center of this drama is from French for “king” show

WHAT IS “SUCCESSION”?

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