Show #9386 - Monday, September 8, 2025

First game of Season 42.
New opening graphics.

Contestants

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Josh Jackson, an urban planner from Pasadena, California

Caroline Paul, an HR specialist from Washington, D.C.

Jonathan Hugendubler, an adjunct professor and trivia host from Baltimore, Maryland (whose 1-day cash winnings total $23,601)

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Jeopardy! Round

EDIBLE IDIOMS
BUSINESS HISTORY
BIOLOGY
BICYCLES ON THE BIG SCREEN
PLAIN
SIMPLE
    $200 26
It's something of little importance or value, like, say, legumes in a heap
    $200 2
In 1986 a Georgia Kroger store pioneered this service for shoppers who are in a hurry &/or don't feel like chatting
    $200 27
Nidologists know male wrens build an array of these abodes to impress females who come into their territory
    $200 24
Bicycles take flight thanks to the magical powers of a mysterious alien in this Spielberg flick
    $200 30
A chunk of Western Canada is part of this region, covering roughly one-third of the United States
    $200 16
Used in everything from daiquiris to gin fizzes, simple syrup is commonly made using equal parts water & this
    $400 9
In a 1785 poem William Cowper referred to this as "the very spice of life"; spoken like a man who's never tried sriracha
    $400 3
The record losing streak for this index lasted 2 weeks in 1941--rough ride for investors in the American Smelting & Refining Co.
    $400 28
Study of isolated species, called this "biogeography", can look at a peak or a national park, not just a place surrounded by water
    $400 23
"Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" plays as Paul Newman hams it up on a bike in this film that co-starred Robert Redford
    $400 29
The North China Plain is also called the this color Plain, like the name of the river that helped to build it up
    $400 19
As its head tapers to a thin edge, an ax is considered one of these 5-letter simple machines
    $600 4
At the dinner table, it can be a tempting item, perhaps twice baked--or a subject best avoided
    $600 1
This chain named for a different creature popularized popcorn shrimp in America starting in 1974
    DD: $2,000 22
"By Means of" this 2-word process was fit enough to survive as a subtitle for Darwin's "Origin of Species"
    $600 10
A bit of movie magic allowed this green guy to take a bike ride in 1979 & 1981 films
    $600 13
The Denakil Plain is a region found in these 2 "E" countries of the Horn of Africa
    $600 25
Blake Lively turned up in 2025 to once again torment Anna Kendrick in the sequel to this dark comedy
    $800 5
TV's "MythBusters" once tested whether "taking" this is "as easy" as the idiom suggests--conclusion: nope
    $800 7
Longtime music manager Irving Azoff was CEO of this concert behemoth when it merged with Live Nation in 2010
    $800 14
AlphaFold, a Google-developed AI system, has predicted the complex structures of 200 million of these substances
    $800 11
In a 2025 HBO Max doc, Paul Reubens said people riding bicycles around the WB lot inspired the stolen-bike plot of this movie
    $800 18
The massive European Plain stretches from the Urals all the way west to this other range on the Spanish-French border
    $800 21
Believed to be an alteration of an English word, it's a simplified variety of language created when 2 cultures come in contact
    $1000 6
This 3-word term once referred to a vessel for boiling the catch at river picnics; today, "fine" or not, it means a hot mess
    $1000 8
In 2024 this company known for creating cool spaces had to vacate its own 300,000-square-foot HQ in Midtown Manhattan
    $1000 15
Knowing mitos is Greek for "thread" helps you name this cell structure loaded with the energy-carrying molecule ATP
    $1000 12
In "Better Off Dead" a psychotic paperboy pedals after this actor in pursuit of the $2 he's owed
    $1000 17
The Plain of Sharon runs some 50 miles along the Mediterranean coast of this country
    $1000 20
Aaron Copland gave this 19th century Shaker tune new prominence when he featured it in "Appalachian Spring"

Scores at the first commercial break (after clue 15):

Jonathan Caroline Josh
$1,800 $4,600 $1,600

Scores at the end of the Jeopardy! Round:

Jonathan Caroline Josh
$3,800 $5,600 $4,400

Double Jeopardy! Round

AFRICAN HISTORY
THAT ADDS UP
STREAMING TV
PLAYS & PLAYWRIGHTS
SAME FIRST & LAST LETTER
A PLATONIC CATEGORY
(Seth: I'm Seth Rogen. My castmates and I will have clues about things that are truly platonic, like our series on Apple TV+, and you can't get much more platonic than this guy right here.)
    $400 17
The 19th century Mahdist Movement was an Islamic revolt against Egyptian rule of this nation, Egypt's southern neighbor
    $400 25
Conquest, War, Famine & Death are names traditionally given to these
    $400 12
Seth Rogen, Ike Barinholtz & Catherine O'Hara star in this comedy about Tinseltown execs
    $400 18
Fans of the film version may be surprised when the "always be closing" monologue is absent from this David Mamet play on stage
    $400 19
Also called nicotinic acid, it gets better publicity as a vitamin under this name
    $400 27
(Luke Macfarlane presents the clue.) Adjectives that Plato gave us include, of course, platonic & also this one that can mean theoretical or just useless & comes from the school Plato founded
    DD: $10,600 13
1896's Battle of Adwa saw an Ethiopian army defeat an attempt by this European country to take control of it
    $800 24
Jerome Horwitz, Moses Horwitz & Samuel Horwitz went by other names nyukking it up as members of this troupe
    $800 26
Kristine Froseth played the alluring Alaska Young in this miniseries based on John Green's young adult novel
    $800 7
This whodunit play that opened in London in 1952 & still runs there today begins with the offstage murder of Maureen Lyon
    $800 20
It's paired with preen in an idiom meaning to make oneself beautiful
    $800 28
(Seth Rogen presents the clue.) The fate of Socrates was a big event in Plato's life; he produced four books about it, including this one set at the trial, where, despite the title, Socrates does not sound sorry
    $1200 3
The Capsian people thrived in modern Tunisia c. 6000 B.C. by eating tons of these, so their sites are called escargotières
    DD: $3,000 15
Barnard, Wellesley & 5 other schools banded together as these a century ago to address the need to fund women's colleges
    $1200 9
In 2024 Peacock announced a new series called "The Paper", set in the same universe as this sitcom
    $1200 5
A play by Branden Jacobs Jenkins shares this title word with a 19th century drama about a girl who's one-eighth Black
    $1200 21
This type of place that makes & serves beer foamed up in the '80s, with California's first being fittingly in Hopland
    $1200 8
(Luke Macfarlane presents the clue.) In most of Plato's dialogues, Socrates is hanging around Athens, but the first line of this work about the ideal state says, "I went down to Piraeus", the port that was a center of resistance to tyranny
    $1600 1
In 2012, Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga became the first person convicted by this legal entity
    $1600 14
For their brave actions in October 1947, Alvah Bessie, Ring Lardner Jr., Dalton Trumbo & seven others became known as this
    $1600 10
After three episodes on "Star Trek: Discovery", Rebecca Romijn brought first officer Una Chin-Riley to this prequel series
    $1600 4
The title fowl lives in the attic of the Ekdal family's apartment in his 1884 play "The Wild Duck"
    $1600 22
Lye is also known as this type of soda, meaning it can corrode by chemical action
    $1600 29
(Rose Byrne presents the clue.) Six hundred years after Plato, a philosopher named Plotinus founded Neoplatonism, which placed intellect prior to physical reality, or if you like some snappy alliteration, this 3-word phrase
    $2000 2
For its royalty, the Asante Kingdom of 18th century West Africa invented this type of cloth whose name means "will not tear"
    $2000 16
Shoeless Joe & 7 teammates, in the title of a 1963 book & a 1988 movie
    $2000 11
The adaptation of Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time" stars this "Gone Girl" girl
    $2000 6
This contemporary who outlived Shakespeare coined the term "playwright", though he meant it as a pejorative term
    $2000 23
From the French for "explore", the military does it to get information
    $2000 30
(Seth Rogen presents the clue.) Plato tried to put his political ideas into practice by advising leaders in this city, no not the one between Albany & Buffalo; yeah, that one, the one on Sicily that was the most powerful in the Greek world

Scores at the end of the Double Jeopardy! Round:

Jonathan Caroline Josh
$29,800 $7,200 $5,200
(lock game)

[wagering suggestions for these scores]

Final Jeopardy! Round

FAMOUS NAMES
On June 12, 1942 she wrote, "I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone"

Final scores:

Jonathan Caroline Josh
$40,000 $6,200 $5,626
2-day champion: $63,601 2nd place: $3,000 3rd place: $2,000

Game dynamics:

Game dynamics graph

Coryat scores:

Jonathan Caroline Josh
$18,200 $7,200 $3,800
21 R
(including 2 DDs),
2 W		 15 R,
5 W		 12 R
(including 1 DD),
5 W

Combined Coryat: $29,200

[game responses] [game scores] [suggest correction]

Game tape date: 2025-08-06
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