Final Jeopardy: Time (5-23-25)
The Final Jeopardy question (5/23/2025) in the category “Time” was:
Eponymously named & in use for more than 1,600 years, it was based in part on concepts from the Greek mathematician Sosigenes
3x champ Brendan Liaw, a recent graduate & stay-at-home son from Vancouver, British Columbia, has now won $59,398. In Game 4, his opponents are: Jim Carpenter, a retired music professor & conductor from Charlotte, VT; and David Crockett, a Congressional liaison from Washington, D.C.
Round 1 Categories: Surgery – Sports Mascots – Eponymous Capital City Airports – Definitions of Legal Terms – “Green” Day – Wanna Be an American Idiom
Jim found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Wanna Be an American Idiom” under the $1,000 on the 18th pick of the round. He was in last place with $800, $2,400 less than Brendan’s lead. Jim bet $1,000 and he was RIGHT.
Its original sense had to do with dissolving metals to determine gold content; now it means an ultimate proofshow
Brendan finished in the lead with $5,200. David was second with $4,000 and Jim was last with $3,800. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Remembrance of Things Past – Magicians – “S” is for Small – Country, Music – A Literary Category – Pop Culture Gems
Brendan found the first Daily Double in “‘S’ is for Small” under the $1,600 clue on the 12th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $12,000, $2,200 more than Jim in second place. Brendan bet $5,000 and it sounded like he said “scent”. That was WRONG.
From the Latin for “spark”, it’s a tiny amount; add -ting & it describes something that’s sparkling show
Brendan found the last Daily Double in “Pop Culture Gems” under the $800 clue with 6 clues left after it. He was in last place with $8,200, $4,200 less than David’s lead. Brendan bet it all but didn’t get all the words in the title right so he was WRONG.
Colin Firth played Vermeer in this 2003 film show
Jim finished in the lead with $13,400. David was second with $12,800. At negative $1,600, Brendan was out of the game at this point. All clues were shown.
Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS THE JULIAN CALENDAR?
I found a very interesting brief history of calendars on a Temple University page, which says that many different
calendars are in use on the planet today. “Yet, the basis of all calendars,” it is pointed out, “are the observed periodic motion of the Sun and the Moon across the skies….One year is 365.24219878 days and one lunar month is 29.530589 days long.” Romans were using a calendar based on a 365-day year until Julius Caesar found out about the Alexandrian calendar during his Egyptian campaign. It featured a 4-year leap year cycle, and was much more accurate than the Roman calendar. Caesar employed the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes to help create what became the Julian calendar. Introduced in 46 B.C., “the Julian calendar was so good that it accumulated only one day error in about a hundred years.”
However, that discrepancy kept growing and by 1582, Pope Gregory XIII chose Naples astronomer Aloysius Lilius to design what became the Gregorian calendar. See Wikipedia’s list of countries that use the Gregorian calendar, with the dates it was adopted.
David crossed out chronometer but didn’t have enough time to finish sundial. He lost $3,999 and finished with $8,801.
Jim got it right. He bet $12,200 and won the game with $25,601. Jim Carpenter is the new Jeopardy! champ.
A triple stumper from each round:
SPORTS MASCOTS ($400) How did the White Sox mascot get this name? Well, he’s left-handed & was born on the side of Chicago where the Sox play
($1000) The Banana Republic is the preferred vacation destination for this hairy mascot of the Phoenix Suns who debuted in 1980
2 years ago: NONE of the players got this FJ in “GROUPS IN HISTORY”
The third-most famous group that invaded Britain in the 5th century, they gave their name to the continental part of Denmark show
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Missed most of the game again. I did see the 2nd DD and got it just in time. Really didn’t know Final, but I did say Julian calendar as a wild stab. I made the same mistake as Brendan on that last DD. He really should not have gone all-in on it.
Knew the White Sox and Suns mascots; Vonn’s surgery; the street magician; Jose Marti airport city.
Shouldn’t the answer to the $1000 airport clue be Beirut and not Lebanon? Also, there are two $2000 stumpers listed under Magicians.
True, Howard. Ken said “right, Lebanon” right after David answered it so I went with that. 😲 Fixed everything!
Brendan suffered two self-inflicted wounds. One was “green”, and the other “small”. I wonder if it was fatigue.
In any case, I was 2/3 on DD (I also said “Girl with THE Pearl Earring”), and got FJ. Actually, I thought that this final was rather easy. At least it was straightforward.
About 50 percent on TS.
Congrats to Jim for nailing FJ! for the win. I really thought it would stump everyone!
I hoped Brandon would at least make 4 games, but he ran out of steam today and was taking it kinda hard. When Brandon got that “S” is For Small DD, Ken had to throw in that the “Country, Music” category helped Jim catch up to the lead. I really don’t like it when Ken does stuff like that. It feels mean-spirited and Brandon’s attempt at a smile came off more like a grimace.
Oh well, maybe Ken can still work in one more stay-at-home son joke on Monday in his intro.
Brendan is the first player to finish in the lead after Round 1 and had 20 correct responses and not make it to FJ! He unfortunately got both daily doubles incorrect and his reign ended on a sour note. But he played well today and he fought well. He still played a strong game today and there is a good chance we will be seeing Brendan again in the Alex Trebek stage for next year’s postseason in 2026.