Jeopardy! recap for Tue., Jul. 26

 Let's meet today's contestants:

- Alexa, an electrical engineer, took a political bike ride from New York City to Albany;

- Mark, a physician, confronted a bear and an elephant (not at the same time); and

- Ed, an economics and real estate professor, made up J! boards to play via Zoom. Ed is a one-day champ with winnings of $17,399.

Jeopardy! 

ACROSS HISTORY // FILL IN THE PLAY TITLE // OFFICIAL STATE STUFF // GOING AROUND IN CIRCLES // SIRIUS-LY DEDICATED (artists with their own SiriusXM channels) // TRAVEL IDIOMS

DD1 - $600 - ACROSS HISTORY - From the 1600s to the 1780s, "guests" were sent to this structure, a state prison, via lettre de cachet, a direct order from the king (Ed added $1,000 to his score of $3,000.)

Scores going into DJ: Ed $7,200, Mark $5,000, Alexa $2,800.

Double Jeopardy! 

MOUNTAINS // IDOL TALK // SCIENTIFIC LAWS AND THEORIES // MIDDLE NAMES // FROM FILM TO TV // WHAT'S IN YOUR GULLET?

DD2 - $1,200 - SCIENTIFIC LAWS AND THEORIES - The third law of thermodynamics says entroy tends to reduce at the temperature approaches this two-word state (On the first clue of DJ, Alexa lost $2,800 on a true DD.)

DD3 - $1,600 - MIDDLE NAMES - Biblical middle name of the man said to be the richest person in the U.S. at his death in 1848 (Ed lost $2,000 from his score of $10,800 vs. $10,200 for Mark.)

Once again, Ed led at every commercial break, but Mark was always in striking range, with Ed entering FJ at $16,000 vs. $11,400 for Mark and $4,800 for Alexa.

Final Jeopardy!

LITERARY ANIMALS - This children’s book character, introduced in 1926 & a friend of the title character, gets his name from the sound he might make

Ed and Mark were correct on FJ, with Ed adding $22,801 for a two-day total of $40,200.

Odds and ends

Pop culture problems: No one knew the possessed child in "The Exorcist" is Regan, the immortal title hero "there can be only one" of is the Highlander, the star of TV's "Bates Motel" is Freddie Highmore, or could identfy a photo of musician Dave Matthews.

Judging the writers: They thought it was only worth $200 to know that the knobbed whelk, the "New Jersey state one of these", is a seashell (it's actually a large preditory sea snail).

Correct Qs: DD1 - What is the Bastille? DD2 - What is absolute zero?  DD3 - What is Jacob? FJ - Who is Eeyore? (Mark spelled it Ee-or.)