Thank you for reading the first ever “regular” issue of the Jeopardy Answer & Question Recap, or JAQR [“jacker”]. Just to remind you, the purpose of this newsletter is to help people who are trying to get better at trivia, quizbowl, Learned League, Online Quiz League, etc. Once a week, I intend to recap the Friday episode of Jeopardy! by reviewing ~10 clues (Daily Doubles, Triple Stumpers, and Final Jeopardy, along with a few other interesting ones). The first half of the email will include just the clues so you can quiz yourself if you want. The second half will give you some (hopefully) interesting info about the clues. Enjoy!
DAILY DOUBLE #1
HERSTORY
Roxana married this conqueror in 327 B.C. & after his death, killed another wife or wives & consolidated the throne
DAILY DOUBLE #2
EXPLORERS
A statue on the grounds of Minnesota's state capitol honors this Viking, who reached North America around 1000
DAILY DOUBLE #3
BEYOND THE PALE (words that alphabetically come just after "pale")
The word racecar is an an example of one of these
FINAL JEOPARDY
DISNEY SONGS
"We Don't Talk About Bruno" from "Encanto" is the first song from an animated Disney film to hit No. 1 since this duet in 1993
TRIPLE STUMPER #1
HERSTORY
Out gathering firewood along a river on February 11, 1858, she saw the first of her 18 visions of the Virgin Mary
TRIPLE STUMPER #2
TEXTING ABBREV.
I've got nothing new to report; it's BAU, this
TRIPLE STUMPER #3
HELP ME MOVE MY STUFF?
Be careful with my pet this, the weasel family's largest member; he's omnivorous & likely polygamous but most of all, ferocious
TRIPLE STUMPER #4
BRITISH LITERATURE
Name shared by a shortbread cookie & the title heroine in an R.D. Blackmore romance
NEED TO KNOW #1
MAGAZINE COVERS
This magazine's black-on-black 9/11 cover was a joint effort by its art editor Françoise Mouly & her husband Art Spiegelman
NEED TO KNOW #2
BRITISH LITERATURE
For plays like "The Homecoming" & "The Birthday Party" this dramatist was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2005
NEED TO KNOW #3
TELEVISION
Amanda Seyfried portrayed this Theranos founder in "The Dropout"
DAILY DOUBLE #1
HERSTORY
Roxana married this conqueror in 327 B.C. & after his death, killed another wife or wives & consolidated the throne
***ALEXANDER THE GREAT***
Roxane, the daughter of a Bactrian chief, got married to Alexander the Great in 327 BC after she was captured inside a fortress called the Sogdian Rock. They had a son named Alexander IV, who was born shortly after the death of Alexander the Great (aka Alexander III of Macedon) in 323 BC. The term Diadochi [dye-ah-doh-kye] is used to refer to the generals who fought for control of Alexander the Great’s empire after he died. One of those generals, Cassander, had Roxane and Alexander IV killed (probably with poison) around 310 BC. Cassander also allowed the mother of Alexander the Great (Olympias) to be stoned to death.
DAILY DOUBLE #2
EXPLORERS
A statue on the grounds of Minnesota's state capitol honors this Viking, who reached North America around 1000
***LEIF ERIKSON***
While traveling from Norway to Greenland, Leif Erikson was blown off course and became possibly the first European to reach North America. An archaeological site in Newfoundland, Canada called L'Anse aux Meadows [lahnss aw “meadows”] may correspond to a settlement made by Leif Erikson and his crew around 1000. The word “anse” refers to a bay or cove, and the word meadows means…meadows, but might actually be derived from a term for jellyfish (méduses). The term Vinland (meaning "Land of Wine") was used by Leif Erikson for a region of North America that contained many grapes. As his name suggests, Leif Erikson was the son of Erik (specifically, Erik the Red), who founded the first European settlement on Greenland in around 985.
DAILY DOUBLE #3
BEYOND THE PALE (words that alphabetically come just after "pale")
The word racecar is an an example of one of these
***PALINDROME***
A palindrome is a word or phrase (or sentence, or number, etc.) that reads the same backward as it does forward. Examples of palindromes include Stanley Yelnats (the protagonist of the YA book Holes by Louis Sachar), a portion of Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 47 (which is nicknamed “The Palindrome”), and the date and time when Charles IV started construction of the Charles Bridge over the Vltava River in Prague (1357 9/7 5:31). A cool palindromic square known as the Sator Square was featured in the 2020 movie Tenet, which was written and directed by Christopher Nolan. The longest palindromic word in the OED is tattarrattat, which means “a knock at the door.” The fear of palindromes is apparently called aibohphobia, which is of course a palindrome itself.
FINAL JEOPARDY
DISNEY SONGS
"We Don't Talk About Bruno" from "Encanto" is the first song from an animated Disney film to hit No. 1 since this duet in 1993
***A WHOLE NEW WORLD***
“A Whole New World” was sung on a magic carpet by the characters Aladdin and Jasmine in the 1992 animated movie Aladdin. The characters were voiced by Scott Weinger (aka DJ’s boyfriend Steve on Full House) and Linda Larkin. However, the singing voices of those characters in the movie were provided by Brad Kane and Filipina singer Lea Salonga (who later provided the singing voice of Mulan as well). The song that actually hit number one though was a cover by Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle.
TRIPLE STUMPER #1
HERSTORY
Out gathering firewood along a river on February 11, 1858, she saw the first of her 18 visions of the Virgin Mary
***SAINT BERNADETTE OF LOURDES***
St. Bernadette, also known as Bernadette Soubirous, was born in Lourdes [loord], France in 1844. Church officials eventually believe her visions when the Virgin Mary tells Bernadette the site of a previously unknown spring of water that contains supposedly miraculous water. Thirty years after her death, her body was exhumed and was “incorrupt.” This miracle supported her canonization. Prague-born author Franz Werfel [VER-fuhl] wrote a popular novel about her called The Song of Bernadette. He wrote the novel after hearing about her while in Lourdes hiding from Nazis.
TRIPLE STUMPER #2
TEXTING ABBREV.
I've got nothing new to report; it's BAU, this
***BUSINESS AS USUAL***
I’ve got nothing interesting to report, SMO (so moving on)
TRIPLE STUMPER #3
HELP ME MOVE MY STUFF?
Be careful with my pet this, the weasel family's largest member; he's omnivorous & likely polygamous but most of all, ferocious
***WOLVERINE***
The wolverine has many alternate names, such as glutton, carcajou, quickhatch, and skunk bear. The scientific name is Gulo gulo (gulo means “glutton” in Latin). The wolverine has a voracious appetite and can devour the bones and teeth of the animals it finds and kills. Like most other members of the weasel family, they have glands that secrete fluids with a musky scent to mark their territory. In popular culture, the wolverine is the namesake of the member of the X-Men most famously played by Hugh Jackman. The wolverine also lends its name to the athletics teams at the University of Michigan.
TRIPLE STUMPER #4
BRITISH LITERATURE
Name shared by a shortbread cookie & the title heroine in an R.D. Blackmore romance
***LORNA DOONE***
Victorian author R(ichard) D(oddridge) Blackmore wrote the novel Lorna Doone in 1869. A farmer named John Ridd falls in love with the title character, whose once noble family now consists mainly of outlaws. Turns out though, Lorna is actually the daughter of Lady Dugal, who was murdered by outlaws. Lorna’s guardian allows her to get married to John. At their wedding, Lorna is shot by Carver, who was hoping to marry her. John pursues him, a struggle ensues, and Carver sinks in a bog and dies.
NEED TO KNOW #1
MAGAZINE COVERS
This magazine's black-on-black 9/11 cover was a joint effort by its art editor Françoise Mouly & her husband Art Spiegelman
***THE NEW YORKER***
Françoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman were the co-founders of an underground comics anthology titled Raw, which often contained graphic novels and "comix" (comics for adults). Art Spiegelman is probably best known for his graphic novel Maus, which was published in Raw. Before that, he worked for ~20 years at the trading card company Topps. He co-developed a series called Garbage Pail Kids, which parodied Cabbage Patch Kids.
Maus was in the news in 2022 after a school board in Tennessee voted to ban the work. In response, online sales of it soared and some bookstores gave away free copies to students. Maus details the experiences of his parents Vladek and Anja, who survived the concentration camp Auschwitz. In the work, Jews are represented as mice and Germans as cats. Maus is the only graphic novel (so far) to win a Pulitzer Prize.
NEED TO KNOW #2
BRITISH LITERATURE
For plays like "The Homecoming" & "The Birthday Party" this dramatist was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2005
***HAROLD PINTER***
Harold Pinter (1930-2008) was an British playwright whose works are known for their use of understatement and small talk. The term Pinteresque refers to dialogue marked by many pauses and having a sense of menace. In his play The Homecoming (1964), a philosophy professor named Teddy returns home to London from the U.S. with his wife Ruth, a former model. At the end of the play, Teddy departs back to the U.S., but Ruth stays behind to become a prostitute for his brothers.
Pinter also wrote the play The Dumbwaiter about two hired killers named Ben and Gus, who are waiting to be told who to kill next. Pinter’s play The Betrayal inspired an episode of Seinfeld (also called “The Betrayal”) in which most of the main characters travel to India to attend the wedding of Sue Ellen Mischke and Pinter Ranawat (hmm, I wonder why they chose the name Pinter). The play and the Seinfeld episode are both notable for using reverse chronology.
NEED TO KNOW #3
TELEVISION
Amanda Seyfried portrayed this Theranos founder in "The Dropout"
***ELIZABETH HOLMES***
Holmes was the founder and CEO of Theranos, a medical diagnostic company that claimed to provide fast and accurate tests with only a few drops of blood. Holmes dropped out of Stanford during her sophomore year to launch Theranos, whose name is a portmanteau of “therapy” and “diagnosis.” She was recently convicted of defrauding investors, a mere few years after being named the world's youngest self-made female billionaire. A book about Theranos by John Carreyrou is titled Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup. Holmes is known for wearing black turtlenecks, like Steve Jobs did. There has been much debate over whether her deep voice is genuine or merely a ruse to project power.