Final Jeopardy: Historic Phrases (9-10-25)
The Final Jeopardy question (9/10/2025) in the category “Historic Phrases” was:
In 1914 Belgium’s queen gave this phrase a political meaning, saying one had descended between her & Germany
New champ Ian Morrison, an airline ramp agent orig. from Aurora, CO, won $22,009 yesterday. In Game 2, he takes on these 2 players: Paolo Pasco, a puzzle writer orig. from San Diego, CA; and Leslie Oakerson, a financial services manager from Red Bank, NJ.
Round 1 Categories: Finish Him! – A Stone Quarry – Presidential Doin’s – TV Reboot Camp – A Quick Workout – The World of Downton Abbey
Paolo found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Presidential Doin’s” under the $600 clue on the 18th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $1,200, $1,600 less than Leslie’s lead. Paolo made it a true Daily Double and said Truman. That was WRONG.
Gave the “Atoms for Peace” speech at the U.N., came up with a doctrine after the Suez Crisis show
Ian finished in the lead with $4,000. Leslie was second with $3,600 and Paolo was last with $2,400. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: Hope Geography is Your 4-Te – She Wrote That – From the National Weather Service Glossary – In Concert – Media Anniversaries – Anagrams of Each Other
Paolo found the first Daily Double in “She Wrote That” under the $2,000 clue on the 10th pick of the round. In the lead with $9,600, he had $6,000 more than Ian and Leslie, who were tied in second place. Paolo bet $3,300 and sheepishly said Dickinson. That was WRONG again as it had been earlier on the $600 clue in the same category.
“He is jubilant as a flag unfurled–/oh, a girl, she’d not forget him./My own dear love, he is all my world,–/& I wish I’d never met him” show
Paolo got the last Daily Double in “From the National Weather Service Glossary” under the $1,600 clue on the 14th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $8,700 now, $6,700 more than Ian in second place. Paolo bet $2,100 and he was RIGHT.
I: “A line connecting points of equal pressure” show
Paolo finished in the lead with $14,800. Ian was second with $10,000 and Leslie was last with $1,200. All clues were shown.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHAT IS AN IRON CURTAIN?
Sometimes I can’t find what I’m looking for. Today, that was the exact quote from Elisabeth, Queen of the Belgians, who married Belgium’s King Albert II in 1900. Elisabeth was born in Bavaria in 1876. When Germany invaded Belgium in 1914, she was expected to side with her German relatives or to remain neutral. The best info I found on her quote comes from BookReadFree.com (Pg. 13 of Max Cryer’s “Common Phrases”): “Between [Germany] and me there is now a bloody iron curtain”.
Cryer notes that prior to this, iron curtain “had no political implications, being merely the name for the fireproof safety curtain found in traditional theaters.” Interestingly, I found that in 1914, British newspapers were serializing E. W. Hornung’s “The Ides of March” (an A. J. Raffles story), which has an iron curtain in it. I rather imagine that’s where Queen Elisabeth (who knew English) came across the phrase.
Leslie got it right. She bet $1,000 and finished with $2,200.
Ian thought it was a dark cloud. That cost him $7,991 and left him with $2,009.
Paolo got it right, too. He bet $5,201 and won the game with $20,001. Paolo Pasco is the new Jeopardy! champ.
2 triple stumpers from HOPE GEOGRAPHY IS YOUR 4-TE:
($1600) Of the 4 quarters of the old city of Jerusalem, the one with a national name, not a religious one
Many early Chinese immigrants to North America came from the four counties in the delta of this precious southern Chinese river
2 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “ARTISTS”
On October 26, 1886 he said, “The dream of my life is accomplished… I see the symbol of unity & friendship between 2 nations” show
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I was 2/3 on DD, and got FJ.
I had to chuckle at Jennie Jerome, because my hospital when I was in med school was at the corner of Henry Street in Brooklyn, while her house was just down the block! It had an historical marker on it, but I do not recall if it is a National Historic Landmark.
Howard, even though it was 30 years ago, was the Jeopardy! set cold? I always tend to think it is, as you rarely see anyone with short sleeves (Amy Schneider being an exception). Not to be crass or crude, but, I think Leslie showed it.
Paolo was running away with the game till Ian made a valiant charge in the late stages. Ultimately, he blew Final so it was for naught. Until Ian came back, both he and Leslie were stuck in reverse.
Helped to know the Suez Crisis was in 1957 which made that DD easy. 3rd one was pretty much a gimme. Kept my perfect FJ record intact for the new season, although I really thought it was Churchill. And I’m old enough to know the Robert Stack character. Wasn’t too hard to figure out the ill-fated couple in the She Wrote That stumper.
On the Jeopardy FB page last night, I mentioned that the Queen clue was easy and right up my alley. One of the likes I got was from none other than Ian Morrison, the only player to get it right.
Faye Dunaway read that whole poem in the 1967 movie co-starring Warren Beatty
Hmmmm………..I thought that some of the clues were rather tough in today’s game. Anyways, regarding the FJ, I thought that the phrase in question might have been pertaining to Mata Hari. Whatever the case, I couldn’t come up with anything.
We almost got our first DD wipeout of the season.