Thursday, July 9, 2015
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OK, ladies – please make the Penultimate Wagers go away!
Had me scared there for a bit – it wasn’t until more than halfway through Double Jeopardy! that we found the first Daily Double. A miss by Heather and a get by Kathy on the $1,600 penultimate clue is making this one really close.
|
Jenny Thorngate |
Kathy Riley |
Heather Melançon |
| 4,200 | 7,200 | 7,400 |
Tonight’s Final Jeopardy! category is:
| SCRABBLE & CHEMISTRY |
We saw very similar scores in Julia Collins’s first game.
First-order calculations
Second doubles up
If Kathy doubles her score, she’ll have 14,400.
To cover this all-in wager, Heather will need to wager 7,000.
| Jenny |
Kathy |
Heather | |||
| 4,200 | 7,200 | 7,400 | |||
| 7,200 | 7,000 | ||||
| 14,400 | 14,400 | ||||
| min | max | min | max | min | max |
| 7,000 | |||||
An incorrect response with that wager will leave Heather with 400.
To stay above her total, Kathy can wager up to 6,800.
Jenny can wager up to 3,800.
| Jenny |
Kathy |
Heather | |||
| 4,200 | 7,200 | 7,400 | |||
| 3,800 | 6,800 | 7,000 | |||
| 400 | 400 | 400 | |||
| min | max | min | max | min | max |
| 3,800 | 6,800 | 7,000 | |||
Third doubles up
A successful doubling will put Jenny at 8,400.
To cover this, Kathy should wager at least 1,200.
(Heather would need to wager at least 1,000, but this is somewhat questionable.)
| Jenny |
Kathy |
Heather | |||
| 4,200 | 7,200 | 7,400 | |||
| 4,200 | 1,200 | 1,000 | |||
| 8,400 | 8,400 | 8,400 | |||
| min | max | min | max | min | max |
| 3,800 | 1,200 | 6,800 | 7,000 | ||
| 1,000 | |||||
Jenny would need to wager at least 1,800…
| Jenny |
Kathy |
Heather | |||
| 4,200 | 7,200 | 7,400 | |||
| 1,800 | 1,200 | ||||
| 6,000 | 6,000 | ||||
| min | max | min | max | min | max |
| 1,800 | 3,800 | 1,200 | 6,800 | 7,000 | |
| 1,000 | |||||
…and might as well make it 2,200 to be safe in case Heather goes for the 1,000 wager.
| Jenny |
Kathy |
Heather | |||
| 4,200 | 7,200 | 7,400 | |||
| FIRST-ORDER | SECOND-ORDER | COVER ZERO | |||
| min | max | min | max | min | max |
| 2,200 | 3,800 | 1,200 | 6,800 | 7,000 | |
| 1,800 | |||||
| 1,000 | |||||
There are no second-order wagers here – first and second are too close, and Jenny is too far away.
Zero wagers
Score differences:
Heather and Kathy: 200
Heather and Jenny: 3,200
Kathy and Jenny: 3,000
| Jenny |
Kathy |
Heather | |||
| 4,200 | 7,200 | 7,400 | |||
| FIRST-ORDER | SECOND-ORDER | COVER ZERO | |||
| min | max | min | max | min | max |
| 3,200 | 3,800 | 1,200 | 3,000 | 7,000 | |
| 1,000 | 3,200 | ||||
Then we add a dollar to the minimum wagers, and subtract a dollar from the maximum wagers.
What actually happened
| Jenny | Kathy | Heather | |||
| 4,200 | 7,200 | 7,400 | |||
| 4,000 | 1,201 | 7,201 | |||
| 200 | 8,401 | 199 | |||
| min | max | min | max | min | max |
| 3,201 | 3,799 | 1,201 | 2,999 | 7,001 | |
| 1,001 | 3,199 | ||||
A chemist missing a clue about chemistry? Those of you who haven’t been on the show now have an idea of how difficult it is under the lights – it’s very, very easy to miss one key word or phrase in the clue.
If you’re scanning this clue, you might fixate on “noble gases” and “highest score” and jump right to what Jenny said. Heck, I missed my last Final Jeopardy! simply because I had forgotten the category was U.S. ISLANDS, not U.S. CITIES.
So please, cut Jenny a break. (Pre-emptive warning to Twitter haters)
Jenny and Heather both tacked on $200 more than they should have, but one wager is more dangerous over the long haul, and it gets the pink.
Round and round the carousel goes…
The Final Jeopardy! clue
| SCRABBLE & CHEMISTRY |
| AS A WORD USED IN SCRABBLE, THIS LONGEST-NAMED ONE OF THE 6 NOBLE GASES WOULD GIVE YOU THE HIGHEST SCORE |
[spoiler]What is Krypton?[/spoiler]
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