Jeopardy! recap for Thur., Mar. 16

 Introducing today's contestants:

- Sarah, a middle school teacher, whose students are excited for her Jeopardy! appearance; 

- Andrew. a leadership development consultant, supports "conscious capitalism"; and

- Stephen, a data scientist, whose great-grandfather would not apologize for dancing. Stephen is a seven-day champ with winnings of $175,282

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Jeopardy! 

COMIC INFLUENCES // WORLD UNIVERSITIES // LOVE, IN SO MANY WORDS // HEAR "YE", HEAR YE // THE LEADER BEFORE THE LEADER // WHAT KIND OF FOOL AM I?

DD1 - $800 - LOVE, IN SO MANY WORDS -  In a play, this character says, "Ah, credulity of love! Roxane will think each word inspired by herself!" (Sarah broke a tie for first with Stephen by adding $3,000 to her score of $4,600.

Scores at first break: Stephen $4,000, Andrew $0, Sarah $2,400.

Scores going into DJ: : Stephen $8,000, Andrew -$400, Sarah $9,000.

Double Jeopardy! 

U.S. ISLANDS // THE "A"RTS // FOOD STUFF // LETTER PERFECT // SCIENTIFIC LAWS & THEOREMS // A HEAVENLY BODY IN MUSIC

DD2 - $800 - U.S. ISLANDS - Despite its name, this island doesn't actually have any wineries, but there are a couple of liquor stores in Edgartown (Sarah added $5,000 to her total of $7,800 vs. $14,000 for Stephen.)

DD3 - $1,600 - A HEAVENLY BODY IN MUSIC - This singer also from northern lands recorded "The Comet Song" for a film based on Finland's beloved Moomin books (On the next-to-last clue of the round, Sarah added $4,000 to her score of $15,600 vs. $24,400 for Stephen.)

Stephen didn't find any DDs for the fourth straight game and Sarah was correct on all three, but due to a modest wager by Sarah on DD3, Stephen retained the lead into FJ at $22,400 vs. $17,600 for Sarah. Andrew finished in the red at -$2,000.

Final Jeopardy!

1980s MOVIES - A writer & producer of this movie said he wanted it to be like a Western or James Bond film, "only it takes place in the '30s"

Both players were incorrect on FJ. Sarah chose to go with a big $15,000 bet, so Stephen held on, dropping $9,599 to win with $12,801 for an eight-day total of $184,881.

Final scores: Stephen $9,599, Andrew -$2,000, Sarah $2,600.

Odds and ends

Triple Stumper of the day: A clue's reference to "Nora" and "Nicky" didn't lead the players to the novelist of "The Thin Man", Dashiell Hammett.

Clue selection strategy: Ken made a big point in the opening of Stephen not finding any DDs in his previous three games, after which Stephen opened multiple categories in the top row, and in DJ chose from the category in which DD2 had already been found with DD3 still elsewhere on the board.

DD wagering strategy: Sarah's $4,000 wager on DD3 with one other clue remaining wasn't enough to give her the lead if correct, but was enough to drop her to below half of Stephen's total if she missed.

Ken's Korner: After a clue about Francisco Franco, Ken said "Still dead", a reference to a nearly 50-year-old running joke from Saturday Night Live.

Correct Qs: DD1 - Who is Cyrano de Bergerac? DD2 - What is Martha's Vineyard? DD3 - Who is Björk? FJ - What is "Raiders of the Lost Ark"?