Jeopardy! recap for Mon., Jan. 25

 Here are today's contestants:

- Elliott, a writer, whose grandmother did "not great" on Art Fleming's Jeopardy!;

- Madeline, a digital marketing manager, worked at the Metropolitan Museum in New York; and

- Brian, an attorney, babysat for a bag of flour. Brian is a four-day champ with winnings of $88,102.

Excellent game in which both challengers scored on DDs in DJ, but Brian drew away in the late stages to lead into FJ at $20,200 vs. $14,200 for Elliott and $9,400 for Madeline.

DD1 - $600 - NAME THAT MALE AUTHOR - "Far off, the lofty jet of the whale might be seen" (Brian won $3,600 on a true DD.)

DD2 - $1,600 - MUSICAL THEATER - With its focus on "Tradition" & families, this musical has been one of the most popular in Japan since its 1967 premiere there (Madeline won $3,000 from her score of $4,800 vs. $7,400 for Brian.)

DD3 - $1,200 - PHILOSOPHY - This 5-letter goal of philosophy was defined pretty basically by Aristotle: "to say of what is that it is" (Elliott won $4,000 from his total of $5,800 to move into second place behind Brian, who had $11,400.)

FJ - WORLD GEOGRAPHY - Of the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, these 2 on opposite sides of it are the largest & smallest in area

Only Brian was correct on FJ, adding $8,201 to win with $28,401 for a five-day total of $116,503.

Clue selection strategy: The downside of working from the bottom up was illustrated in today's first round, as the first five clues chosen by that approach went unsolved.

One more thing: Contestant Elliott has had an extensive entertainment career, having served as head writer for The Daily Show, the MST3K revival and co-host of The Flop House podcast.

Correct Qs: DD1 - Who was Melville? DD2 - What is "Fiddler on the Roof"? DD3 - What is truth? FJ - What are Algeria and Monaco?