Jeopardy! recap for Tue., Jan. 3

 Please welcome today's contestants:

- Lloyd, a graduate student in literature, got a prom date thanks to origami; 

- Claire, a high school registrar, met Green Day as a six-month-old; and

- Ray, a scenic artist, overcame a fear of heights to skydive at age 55.  Ray is a 13-day champ with winnings of $386,400.

Jeopardy! 

FICTION'S FICTIONAL PLACES //  AMERICAN ART & ARTISTS // ORGS. FOR SHORT // ROMANTIC MOVIE LINES // HERE'S LOOKING AT "U" // KID CUISINE

DD1 - $800 - KID CUISINE - History professor Paul Josephson's definitive article on these breaded items is titles "The Ocean's Hot Dog" (Lloyd bet just $5 of his $3,600, missed and said "You see why I bet $5".)

Scores at first break: Ray $2,000, Claire $2,400, Lloyd $2,600.

Scores going into DJ: Ray $5,000, Claire $3,200, Lloyd $4,595.

Double Jeopardy! 

THE GOOD, OLD, U.S. OF A. // SCIENCE NEWS // POP MUSIC-POURRI // L'HISTORIE DE FRANCE // FUN WITH 21 // SAME FIRST AND LAST LETTER

DD2 - $1,600 - L'HISTORIE DE FRANCE - After WWI, Germany lost this hyphenated border region to France, got it back in WWII, then lost it to France again (Lloyd added $3,095 to his total of $5,795 vs. $6,600 for Ray.)

DD3 - $2,000 - SAME FIRST AND LAST LETTER - A type of tax, or to remove material, such as from a book or film (Ray lost $3,000 from his score of $11,400 vs. $10,490 for Lloyd.)

In yet another nail-biter, Ray missed DD3, then made some costly mistakes late to wind up a close second going into FJ at $12,000 vs. $12,490 for Lloyd and $11,200 for Claire.

Final Jeopardy!

FOREIGN-BORN AUTHORS - Early in her career she translated romance novels into Spanish, often changing the dialogue to make the heroines smarter

Everyone was correct on FJ and bet big. Lloyd added $12,000 to win with $24,490. Note that if FJ had been a Triple Stumper, Lloyd still would have won with just $490.

Final scores: Ray $24,000, Claire $22,400, Lloyd $24,490.

Odds and Ends

DD strategy: Lloyd shopped for the DD in round one then only bet $5, which is a good play even if the contestant doesn't like the category, as it keeps the DD away from their opponents. In the end, this strategy easily could have made the difference in Lloyd's victory.

Also note that after Lloyd found DD2 early in DJ, his opponents chose to finish the category where the DD was found rather than shop for DD3 elsewhere.

Jeopardy! rule book: If a clue wants a two-word response and a player only offers one of the correct words, they don't get a chance at a "be more specific", they're just incorrect.

One more thing: Ray finished his run having been correct on 12 out of 14 FJ clues.

Correct Qs: DD1 - What are fish sticks? DD2 - What is Alsace–Lorraine? DD3 - What is excise? FJ - Who is Isabel Allende?