Jeopardy! recap for Wed., Dec. 3

 Here are today's contestants:

- Ron Lalonde, a medical physicist from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania;

- Sarah Murphy, a freelance transcript editor from Hamilton, Ontario; and

- Libby Jones, a recruiter from Davenport, Florida. Libby is a two-day champ with winnings of $70,802.

Jeopardy!

LITERATURE // MULTI-HYPHENS // HISTORIC AMERICANS // IN THE CHRISTMAS SONG LYRICS // "G" LOVE // SPECIAL SAUCE

DD1 - $1,000 - LITERATURE - "In this island we arrived, and here have I, thy schoolmaster, made thee more profit than other princes can" is in this play (Ron doubled to $3,600.)

Scores at first break: Libby $5,800, Sarah $400, Ron $4,200.

Scores entering DJ: Libby $10,800, Sarah $1,000, Ron $5,200.

Double Jeopardy!

IT'S FRIEZE-ING IN HERE // STREAMING COMEDY // AFRICAN GEOGRAPHY // DOUBLE MEANINGS // NEXT IN THE SEQUENCE // THE EARTH ROCKS

DD2 - $1,600 - AFRICAN GEOGRAPHY - This small neighbor of Nigeria borders a bight (or bay) of the same name (Libby dropped $4,000 down to $8,800 vs. $5,200 for Ron.)

DD3 - $1,600 - DOUBLE MEANINGS - Something fitted to a horse, or being under control for use, like the Sun's energy (From third place, Sarah lost $2,600 from her total of $3,400.)

Libby led at every break, but the game tightened when she missed DD2 and remained competitive into FJ with Libby at $15,200 and Ron with $11,200. Sarah missed DD3 and went on to finish in the red at -$400.

Final Jeopardy!

MONUMENTS AND MEMORIALS - In NYC's cathedral of St. John the Divine, an alcove with memorials to Hart Crane, Sylvia Plath & 54 others is the "American" this

Ron was correct on FJ while surprisingly, Libby did not write down the complete response. Ron added $4,001 to win with $15,201.

Final scores: Libby $7,999, Sarah -$400, Ron $15,201.

Wagering strategy: By betting $4,001 on FJ, Ron forced himself to be right to have a chance to win. With a wager of $3,200 or less, Ron would have won when Libby made the standard cover wager and missed without having to be correct himself.

Clue selection strategy: After DD2 was found, selections were made from that same category with DD3 still remaining. Also in DJ, three top-row clues were chosen before the DDs were gone.

Triple Stumper of the day: Everyone took an incorrect guess on the military rank that comes next above captain, which is major (for non-military people, watching a lot of "M*A*S*H" would help solve this clue).

Correct Qs: DD1 - What is "The Tempest"? DD2 - What is Benin? DD3 - What is harness? FJ - What is Poets' Corner? (Libby just wrote "poet".)