JAQR - November 5, 2023
The Punic Wars, the painting Night Fishing at Antibes, Francis Drake, the Interstate Highway System, Italy's Veneto region, and more...
Thank you for reading another issue of the Jeopardy Answer & Question Recap, or JAQR [“jacker”] for short. This recap includes two clues from each episode of Jeopardy! between Monday 10/30 and Friday 11/3. The recap will include Daily Doubles, Final Jeopardy clues, and Triple Stumpers. The first half of the recap will include just the clues so you can quiz yourself if you want. The second half will give you some (hopefully) interesting information about the clues and/or some related info.
DAILY DOUBLE #1
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND
Waged from 149 to 146 B.C., the Third Punic War resulted in the final destruction of this city & its people's enslavement
DAILY DOULBE #2
NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM
He painted "Night Fishing at Antibes" just before the outbreak of World War II
DAILY DOUBLE #3
6-SYLLABLE WORDS
Title for Sir Francis Drake, due to a specific feat he accomplished in 1580
DAILY DOUBLE #4
CLIFFS NOTES: DRAMA (name the play)
Laura: "You broke my unicorn!" Gentleman Caller: "whoops"
DAILY DOUBLE #5
THIS CATEGORY DOESN'T STINK
A strange visitor from another planet would find this gas, atomic number 36, odorless & colorless
FINAL JEOPARDY #1
DRIVING THE USA
It's the state with the most miles of Interstate Highway, more than 3,200; one Interstate accounts for 1/4 of that mileage
FINAL JEOPARDY #2
NAMES'S THE SAME
This first name is shared by a character introduced in 1941 & a member of royalty who is sixth in line to the British throne
TRIPLE STUMPER #1
MEN & WOMEN OF SCIENCE
In the 1930s this California transplant posthumously received plant patents No. 12-16
TRIPLE STUMPER #2
SOUSED
A town in Italy's Veneto region shares a name with this strong brandy made from the pomace of a wine press
TRIPLE STUMPER #3
THINK ABOUT... PUP MUSIC
This country singer & TV star used his voice to tell us about "Ol' Red", "a 4-legged tracking machine" of a prison guard dog
BONUS CLUE #1
RWANDA
Rwanda & this neighboring nation were ruled by Belgium until 1962
DAILY DOUBLE #1
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND
Waged from 149 to 146 B.C., the Third Punic War resulted in the final destruction of this city & its people's enslavement
***CARTHAGE***
The three Punic Wars were fought between the Roman Republic and the Carthaginian Empire for control over the western Mediterranean region. The name of the wars comes from the Latin for "Phoenician." Rome won the first war (264-241 BC) against Carthage (led by Hamilcar Barca). The first war resulted in the annexation of most of Sicily, which became the first Roman province. Rome also won the second war (218-201 BC), which resulted in the conquest of some of the Iberian Peninsula (and the creation of the Roman provinces of Hispania Ulterior and Hispania Citerior). The second war included Hannibal's crossing of the Alps with war elephants. The second war was basically ended by the Battle of Zama, where Publius Cornelius Scipio (who earned the agnomen "Africanus") defeated Hannibal (the son of Hamilcar Barca). The third war (149-146 BC) was won by, yet again, Rome, which destroyed the city of Carthage and enslaved its people. Cato the Elder often said "Carthage must be destroyed" (or "Carthago delenda est") before the third war. The ruins of Carthage are in a suburb of present-day Tunis.
DAILY DOULBE #2
NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM
He painted "Night Fishing at Antibes" just before the outbreak of World War II
***PABLO PICASSO***
Spanish artist Pablo Picasso painted Night Fishing at Antibes in 1939. The painting is partly named for a town on the French Riviera located between Cannes and Nice. The painting includes two fishermen in a boat spearing fish with the aid of gas (acetylene) lamps. The painting was inspired by his evening walks with his romantic partner Dora Maar (depicted with a blue tongue eating ice cream on the right side) and second wife Jacqueline Roque (depicted with green hair on the right). The two towers in the top left of the painting were part of Château Grimaldi, which is now the Musée Picasso.
DAILY DOUBLE #3
6-SYLLABLE WORDS
Title for Sir Francis Drake, due to a specific feat he accomplished in 1580
***CIRCUMNAVIGATOR***
English admiral Francis Drake is best known for commanding the second voyage ever to go around the world (the first was initially commanded by Ferdinand Magellan, who died in the Philippines, and was succeeded by Juan Sebastián Elcano). Drake’s circumnavigation occurred between 1577-1580 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. His flagship on the journey was the Golden Hind (originally called the Pelican). The flagship got its name from the crest of patron Christopher Hatton, which featured a deer. Drake left England, arrived in Brazil, traveled through the Strait of Magellan, and then anchored near San Francisco for a bit. Drake and his crew held the first Protestant religious service in the New World and called the area New Albion. Drake then crossed the Pacific, stayed in Java for a bit, traveled past the Cape of Good Hope, and returned home with spices and treasures.
Drake was knighted upon returning, and became mayor of Plymouth, England in 1581. Drake led a raid on the city of Cadiz in 1587 that destroyed many Spanish ships and supplies. The raid, which Drake referred to as "singeing the King of Spain's beard," resulted in the Spanish Armada’s (ultimately unsuccessful) invasion of England being delayed a year. Drake died of a fever in 1596 while on another expedition and was buried at sea off of the coast of Panama. He is the namesake of the Drake Passage, which is a waterway between South America's Cape Horn and the Antarctic islands known as the South Shetland Islands. The video series Uncharted follows the treasure hunter Nathan Drake, whose self-proclaimed ancestor is Francis Drake. The picture of Drake below includes his motto “Sic Parvis Magna,” meaning "great achievements from small beginnings."
DAILY DOUBLE #4
CLIFFS NOTES: DRAMA (name the play)
Laura: "You broke my unicorn!"
Gentleman Caller: "whoops"
***THE GLASS MENAGERIE***
Tennessee Williams wrote the play The Glass Menagerie, which premiered in 1944. The one-act drama is set in St. Louis and is named for a collection of small glass animals (including a unicorn) that belongs to Laura Wingfield, who wears a leg brace and is very shy. Her brother Tom is encouraged by her mother Amanda to bring Laura "gentleman callers" from the shoe warehouse where he works. Laura really hits it off with Jim O’Connor, and they reminisce about how he used to call her “Blue Roses” (he mishears the name of one of her medical conditions, pleurosis). While dancing together, they bump into a table. The glass unicorn falls off and its horn breaks. Despite the accident, they kiss, but then Jim admits he’s engaged to be married. The Glass Menagerie is an example of a memory play in which the events are being remembered by Tom.
DAILY DOUBLE #5
THIS CATEGORY DOESN'T STINK
A strange visitor from another planet would find this gas, atomic number 36, odorless & colorless
***KRYPTON***
The noble gas krypton (symbol Kr) has the atomic number 36. It was discovered by William Ramsay and Morris Travers in 1898. They discovered krypton in residue left over after some liquid air had been boiled almost entirely away, hence why the element is named for a Greek word meaning "hidden" (the same word “cryptic” is derived from). The element shares its name with Superman's home planet. A tube filled with krypton can glow white, as seen below:
FINAL JEOPARDY #1
DRIVING THE USA
It's the state with the most miles of Interstate Highway, more than 3,200; one Interstate accounts for 1/4 of that mileage
***TEXAS***
The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, which authorized the creation of the Interstate Highway System, was passed into law during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Generally speaking, east-west roads use even numbers, north-south roads use odd numbers, and higher numbers appear on more northern routes (e.g. I-90, which is the longest interstate highway, connecting Seattle to Boston). The Interstate Highway System was considered complete in 1992 with the construction of I-70 through Colorado’s Glenwood Canyon.
Texas contains 3,233 miles of interstate highway. The longest portion of that is 877 miles of I-10 that passes through El Paso, San Antonio, and Houston, and connects New Mexico to Louisiana. A portion of I-10 in Houston called the Katy Freeway (see picture below) contains 26 lanes (twelve main lanes, eight access road lanes, and six HOT/HOV lanes). The longest north-south interstate highway in Texas is I-35, which passes through Austin and San Antonio, and connects Duluth, MN (on Lake Superior) to Laredo, TX near Mexico. Unusually, I-35 has western and eastern portions for about 90 miles a bit north of Waco. I-35W passes through Fort Worth and I35E passes through Dallas before they reconnect in Denton.
FINAL JEOPARDY #2
NAMES'S THE SAME
This first name is shared by a character introduced in 1941 & a member of royalty who is sixth in line to the British throne
***ARCHIE***
Archibald "Archie" Andrews debuted in Pep Comics No. 22 in 1941. The high schooler lives in Riverdale (based on Hiawatha, Kansas, where Archie’s creator John Goldwater once lived). Archie’s best friend is Jughead Jones, who often wears an "S" sweatshirt and a whoopee cap. Archie’s significant others have included Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge. The recently concluded TV show Riverdale on The CW reveals in the series finale that Archie, Jughead, Veronica, and Betty were all in a relationship together (a “quad”).
Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, born in 2019, is the son of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, aka the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Archie is the older brother of Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, who was born in 2021 (Lilibet was a nickname of Elizabeth II). Archie and Lilibet are currently sixth and seventh, respectively, in the line of succession to the British throne, which also includes:
1. William (The Prince of Wales) - elder son of Charles III and Diana
2. Prince George - eldest child of William and Catherine
3. Princess Charlotte - second child and only daughter of William and Catherine
4. Prince Louis - youngest child of William and Catherine
5. Harry (The Duke of Sussex) - younger son of Charles III and Diana
TRIPLE STUMPER #1
MEN & WOMEN OF SCIENCE
In the 1930s this California transplant posthumously received plant patents No. 12-16
***LUTHER BURBANK***
The horticulturalist Luther Burbank (1849-1926) helped turn plant breeding into a modern science. Influenced by Darwin, he developed the Idaho potato (later named Burbank in his honor) and sold its rights for $150. He used that money to move from Massachusetts to California, where he established a nursery garden, greenhouse, and farm. In total, he developed more than 800 new strains and verities of plants, including more than 100 varieties of plums (e.g. the Santa Rosa plum). He also coined the word plumcot, which is a hybrid between a plum and an apricot. Burbank introduced the Shasta daisy, which is named for Mount Shasta and features white petals around a yellow disc. His books include 1921’s How Plants Are Trained to Work for Man. His autobiography is titled Harvest of the Years. His scientific work spurred the passage of the Plant Patent Act of 1930. A few years after his death, Frida Kahlo created a portrait of Burbank, which can be seen below:
TRIPLE STUMPER #2
SOUSED
A town in Italy's Veneto region shares a name with this strong brandy made from the pomace of a wine press
***GRAPPA***
Italy is composed of 20 regions, including Veneto [VAY-nay-toh], which is in the northeastern portion of the country. Veneto includes the cities of Venice, Padua, and Verona. The region also contains the town of Bassano del Grappa, where a kind of clear, sharp-tasting brandy called grappa is made. Grappa is a pomace brandy, meaning that it is distilled from the solid remains (pomace) that are left over after the grapes are pressed. Unlike most other brandies, grappa is unaged.
TRIPLE STUMPER #3
THINK ABOUT... PUP MUSIC
This country singer & TV star used his voice to tell us about "Ol' Red", "a 4-legged tracking machine" of a prison guard dog
***BLAKE SHELTON***
Blake Shelton is a country music singer. His first single was 2001’s “Austin,” a love ballad that was inspired by a message left on an answering machine (for any young JAQR readers, an answering machine is a device that supplies a recorded answer to a phone call and can record a message from the caller). “Austin” hit #1 on the country charts and appears on his eponymous first album, Blake Shelton, which also includes a cover of “Ol' Red.” The song centers on a man sentenced to 99 years in jail after catching his wife with another man. Eventually, the man befriends the warden and is allowed to take care of the prison’s guard dog Ol' Red. The man arranges a female dog to be placed near the jail so that Ol' Red will run to her instead of trying to chase him when he escapes. The song ends with the line "Love got me in here and love got me out." Blake Shelton was married to fellow country singer Miranda Lambert for four years, and is currently married to Gwen Stefani. He was a judge on The Voice from 2011-2023. People magazine selected him Sexiest Man Alive in 2017.
BONUS CLUE #1
RWANDA
Rwanda & this neighboring nation were ruled by Belgium until 1962
***BURUNDI***
Check out Daily Double #1 from the 7/23/23 issue for everything you ever wanted to know (and more!) about Burundi: https://jaqr.substack.com/p/jaqr-july-23-2023