JAQR - May 11, 2025
John le Carré, Oscar hosts, AC/DC, Pablo Casals, Sichuan, Monarchs of the Netherlands, Indonesian islands, and more...
Thank you for reading another issue of the Jeopardy Answer & Question Recap, or JAQR [“jacker”] for short. This recap includes at least one clue from each Jeopardy! episode between Monday 5/5 and Friday 5/9. The recap includes only Triple Stumpers. Oops! There’s also questions about material from last week and Bonus Clues about long ago covered topics. The first half of the recap includes just the clues so you can quiz yourself if you want. The second half gives you some (hopefully) interesting information about the clues and/or some related info.
TRIPLE STUMPER #1
LITERARY DRESS-UP
An admiral's uniform with white breeches & gold frogging on the tailcoat is one creation of John le Carré's "The Tailor of" this country
TRIPLE STUMPER #2
OSCAR HOSTS
1978: This comic & "Road" -traveling movie star, for his 19th & final time
TRIPLE STUMPER #3
RHYMING SONG TITLES
This AC/DC song has lyrics like "Yes, I'm let loose from the noose that's kept me hangin' about"
TRIPLE STUMPER #4
THE INSTRUMENT OF MY FAME
Tina Guo (who did the "Wonder Woman" movie theme) & Pablo Casals
TRIPLE STUMPER #5
COUP LA LA
A coup de main is a bold, sudden attack, like this "Mad" general's 1779 assault on British forces over the Hudson
TRIPLE STUMPER #6
EYE ON ASIA
China's Sichuan province is famous for hot & spicy cuisine like Dan Dan noodles & this "palace guardian" chicken
TRIPLE STUMPER #7
QUEEN STORY HOUR
Upon the death of King William III in 1890, she became queen of the Netherlands, though her mom ruled as regent
TRIPLE STUMPER #8
ISLANDS
The Greater these islands include Java & Borneo
LAST WEEK REACP #1
Werner Herzog ate his own shoe after Errol Morris finished what 1978 documentary about two California pet cemeteries?
LAST WEEK RECAP #2
Written by future governor Jimmie Davis, "You Are My Sunshine" is the state song of what state?
BONUS CLUE #1
LANCASTER
Lancaster Sound, a western arm of this large Canadian bay west of Greenland, was sighted in 1616
BONUS CLUE #2
CALENDAR GROOVES
Taylor Swift seems to be taking the odd angle of apologizing to an ex in her hit "Back To" this month
BONUS CLUE #3
WOMEN IN THE BIBLE
In Genesis, Potiphar's wife tempted this man by saying, "Lie with me"; he refused & was jailed
BONUS CLUE #4
THE 1913 ARMORY SHOW
10 years after his death, this well-traveled painter from Paris was at the Armory Show in spirit with his "Faa Iheihe"
TRIPLE STUMPER #1
LITERARY DRESS-UP
An admiral's uniform with white breeches & gold frogging on the tailcoat is one creation of John le Carré's "The Tailor of" this country
***PANAMA***
The spy novelist David John Moore Cornwell was born in England in 1931. He is better known by the pen name John le Carré (meaning “the Square” in French). He began writing novels while working for MI6 (aka Military Intelligence, Section 6 aka the Secret Intelligence Service aka the British foreign service). His first best-seller was The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963), which centers on a British intelligence agent named Alec Leamas, who pretends to defect to East Germany and is tasked with discrediting an East German official. Richard Burton starred in the 1965 movie adaptation.
John le Carré is also known for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1974), which centers on the British intelligence agent George Smiley attempting to uncover a Soviet mole in MI6. Along with the novels The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People, it was part of the “Karla Trilogy,” named for Smiley's nemesis, the head of Soviet foreign intelligence. Alec Guinness played Smiley in a 1979 BBC miniseries, and Gary Oldman played him in a 2011 movie. The work was partly inspired by Kim Philby, who was a double agent for the USSR. The title derives from a nursery rhyme and precedes the lines “Rich Man, Poor Man, / Beggar Man, Thief.”
John le Carré’s other novels include The Little Drummer Girl (1983). It centers on an Israeli spymaster who uses an English actress to get to a Palestinian terrorist. It was adapted into a 1984 movie starring Klaus Kinski and Diane Keaton. It was also adapted into a 2018 miniseries starring Michael Shannon and Florence Pugh. Le Carré also wrote The Night Manager (1993). It centers on an operation to bring down an international arms dealer, who was played by Hugh Laurie in a 2016 miniseries. It co-starred Tom Hiddleston (as the title character), Olivia Colman, Tom Hollander, and Elizabeth Debicki.
Other novels by le Carré include:
The Tailor of Panama (1996) - centers on Harry, the title character, an ex-convict who learned tailoring in prison, who is a very untrustworthy source of intelligence for the MI6 agent Andy; Geoffrey Rush played the title character in a 2001 movie adaptation and Pierce Brosnan co-starred
The Constant Gardener (2001) - centers on a British diplomat in Kenya named Justin Quayle, who tends to his plants while investigating the murder of his activist wife and discovering a corrupt pharmaceutical company; it was adapted into a 2005 movie starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz
TRIPLE STUMPER #2
OSCAR HOSTS
1978: This comic & "Road" -traveling movie star, for his 19th & final time
***BOB HOPE***
The entertainer Leslie Townes “Bob” Hope was born in 1903 in England. His family moved to the U.S. when he was four years old. His signature tune was “Thanks for the Memory,” which he performed with Shirley Ross in the variety show anthology movie The Big Broadcast of 1938. Along with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour, he co-starred in the 1940 movie Road to Singapore, which was the first of seven “Road to” movies (followed by Zanzibar, Morocco, Utopia, Rio, Bali, and Hong Kong).
He co-starred with Jane Russell in the 1948 comedy western The Paleface, in which he sings “Buttons and Bows.” Hope plays the blundering dentist Peter "Painless" Potter, while Russell plays Calamity Jane, who is tasked with trying to capture a gunrunner. Roy Rogers joined them in the 1952 sequel, Son of Paleface. Bob Hope co-starred with Marilyn Maxwell in the 1951 movie The Lemon Drop Kid, in which they performed the song "Silver Bells." The movie was based on a Damon Runyon story and stars Hope as the title swindler, who owes a gangster $10,000. Hope played the vaudevillian Eddie Foy in the 1955 biopic The Seven Little Foys.
Bing Crosby called him “Old Ski Nose,” and Hope often told the joke that his mother saw his nose and cried that the doctor took the baby and left the stork. Hope holds the record for hosting the Oscars the most times (more than double Billy Crystal, who hosted nine times). He wrote about his lifelong love affair with golf in the 1985 book Confessions of a Hooker. Known for travelling overseas to entertain troops during WWII and subsequent conflicts, he made a total of 57 USO tours. In 1997, Congress named him the first “honorary veteran.” Hope died in 2003 at the age of 100. Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR) was named for him from 2003 to 2017.
TRIPLE STUMPER #3
RHYMING SONG TITLES
This AC/DC song has lyrics like "Yes, I'm let loose from the noose that's kept me hangin' about"