Jeopardy! recap for Fri., Dec. 31

 Introducing today's contestants:

- Arjun, an attorney, missed the bus and had to walk even further at Yosemite Valley;

- Dan, a retried cybersecurity specialist, was "in the zoo" while watching hungry sharks; and

- Amy, an engineering manager, is a fan of watching marbles on YouTube. Amy is a 22-day champ with winnings of $831,600.

Jeopardy! round

THE 21st CENTURY

TV TALK

THIS & THAT

V"URB"s

THE TOAST OF...

NEW-YORK-SET FICTION

Scores going into DJ: Amy $16,000, Dan -$400, Arjun $4,800.

DD1 - $600 - NEW YORK SET-FICTION - There are sinister goings on at the Bramford apartment building, including Mrs. Woodhouse's pregnancy, in this Ira Levin classic (Amy won $4,000 from her leading score of $10,400.)

Double Jeopardy! 

DIRECTIONAL GEOGRAPHY

IT'S YOUR LOKI DAY

PLANTS & ANIMALS

MODERN FOLK HEROES

POETRY IN MOTION PICTURES

ENDS IN DOUBLE LETTERS

Amy put the game away on DD2 and emphatically rolled over the field, entering FJ with $42,000 vs. $11,200 for Arjun and $2,100 for Dan.

DD2 - $2,000 - MODERN FOLK HEROES - A co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association, he became a migrant worker after his family farm was lost in the Depression (Amy won $8,000 from her total of $24,000 vs. $5,600 for Arjun.)

DD3 (video) - $1,200 - PLANTS & ANIMALS - Fittingly, these plants seen here belong to the genus Equisetum (Dan lost $1,500 from his score of $2,000.)

Final Jeopardy!

MUSIC LEGENDS - Of their July 1957 first meeting at a church fair, one of this pair recalled: "I was a fat schoolboy and… he was drunk"

Interestingly, everyone came up with the same incorrect response for FJ. Amy dropped $18,000 to win with $24,000 for a 23-day total of $855,600.

Odds and Ends

Clue selection strategy: The round one DD was still in play with two remaining untouched categories, one about TV, the other on literature. Given that the book category seems a more likely place to find the DD, Amy wisely jumped away from television and immediately found it.

Ken's Korner: He pointed out that $42,000 was Amy's highest total yet entering FJ.

Correct Qs: DD1 - What is "Rosemary's Baby"? DD2 - Who was Cesar Chavez? DD3 - What are horse tails? FJ - Who are Lennon & McCartney? (The players all wrote Simon & Garfunkel.)