Jeopardy! recap for Thur., Nov. 4

 Here are today's contestants:

- Sri, a corporate strategy professional, was volunteered for a freefall; 

- Cindy, a user experience designer. collects exotic Kit Kats; and

- Tony, a project director, had a hastily-arranged wedding. Tony is a one-day champ with winnings of $16,200.

Sri moved close to the lead on DD3, took first place on the next clue and was just able to hold it into FJ at $16,400 vs. $16,200 for Cindy and $7,800 for Tony.

DD1 (video) - $800 - CHARTED - Scientists created the map seen here showing Challenger Deep in this deepest part of the Pacific (Cindy won $3,000 on a true DD.)

DD2 - $1,200 - DARK MATTER - This 14th century poet who gave his name to a type of sonnet is often credited with the term Dark Ages (Tony lost $4,000 from his total of $8,200 vs. $10,600 for Cindy.)

DD3 - $800 - EPONYMOUS-ISMS - A 1950 L.A. Times column said the "defect of" this seemed to be the senator for whom it was named (Sri won $5,000 from his score of $9,800 vs. $15,400 for Cindy. Given that only low-value clues were remaining, an all-in wager would have been the best move here.)

FJ - OFFICIAL LANGUAGES - It’s the only U.N. member state outside Europe with Dutch as an official language

Sri and Cindy were correct on FJ. Sri added $13,600 to win with $30,000.

Wagering strategy: Cindy went with a strategic wager of $400 to shut out Tony, on the likely assumption that Sri would wager to cover twice of Cindy's score, and she could only win if Sri missed. However, Sri didn't do that and Cindy would have won with a big bet, which is why going all-in from second position is never a terrible idea.

Here come the judges: in a category about verbs, responses initially accepted were reversed as Tony ("depreciation") and Sri ("a whip") responded with nouns.

That's before our time: No one knew the singer who twice charted with "Stand By Me", Ben E. King.

One more thing: A clue wondered why 1962's "Monster Mash" made a chart comeback in 1973. From Billboard in that year: "Two Milwaukee stations, WZUU-AM and WOKY-AM are credited with breaking it and making it a regional release...now moved nationally and our research department is picking up good sales around the country."

Correct Qs: DD1 - What is the Mariana (Marianas) Trench? DD2 - Who was Petrarch? DD3 - What is McCarthyism? FJ - What is Suriname?