I don’t see how Barry vs Berry changes the pronunciation, but the judged ruled so, so…
(I could see them ruling the is are too ambiguous - is the middle one a schwa? Are they all pronounced the same? English orthography is nuts.)
That is the only thing I know about Hiawatha.
(I thought it was a book, not a poem. Obviously, I’ve never read it) But I know that he lived by the “Gitche Gumee” (I would have spelled it wrong). I didn’t even know that it was one of the Great Lakes.
I have a question: If that poem is so long, and the part I quoted comes toward the end, why am I automatically directed there whenever I Google The Song of Hiawatha? 
Looks like my feeling that Final has been more difficult this year is correct. I could not find combined stats for the entire history but I looked at several seasons and they are basically the same. It has been answered correctly about 50% of the time, for all players. All get it wrong 15-20% of the time. This year overall 31% have gotten it right, all 3 missed 50% of the time.
Just read that it was the poem that Lucy would start to recite several times on an episode of I Love Lucy. Don’t know the EP number.
Either the clues are harder or the contestants are less able than in the past. I wonder if there’s a correlation between FJ and overall scores. It seems to me a lot of the totals going into FJ haven’t been terribly high lately.
Most of the Jeopardy! writers are working from home right now. I’ve seen it suggested that this might be at least part of the cause of some of the awkwardly worded clues. They’re not able to have a big group meeting of writers where confusing clues might be spotted and hammered into better shape.
I get the feeling that Longfellow is often quoted in sitcoms. Paul Revere’s Ride was used in Gilligan’s Island, f’rinstance.
No scientific evidence for this, just my impression.
Could be.
We’re dealing with a small sample size for the current season, though. Let’s check back in a month or two.
And Ricky STILL wouldn’t let her be in the show? That Philistine.
I was going to say much the same as terentii. I think the quality of contestant is lower, so it’s hard to say whether or not the clues are harder. I already felt the quality had gone down as of last year, and said as much a few times ITT, but it’s clearly going to lower quality if you go from recruiting from all over North America to only doing so in the L.A. metro (or maybe southern California a little more broadly?).
I thought Wednesday’s FJ was easy, again. Since two out the three contestants got it wrong, I’m leaning toward the explanation they’re not as sharp as they might be.
Famous person + gun = Earnest Hemingway.
Really? I knew he was an ambulance driver in WWI, and killed himself with a shotgun, but I’ve never heard anything else about him getting shot.
Whereas the “got shot, still gave a speech” story is a fundamental part of Teddy Roosevelt’s mythology. Right up there with riding a moose.
Jeopardy answer: “The number of squares on a checkerboard”.
The contestant answered: “What is 64?”, and was declared correct.
What if she had answered “What is 204?” Look at an 8x8 board and count the squares. There are 64 single squares - but there are also 49 2x2 squares; 36 3x3 squares; 25 4x4 squares; 16 5x5 squares; 9 6x6 squares; 4 7x7 squares; and 1 8x8 square.
Checkers is also played on 10x10 and 12x12 boards in various countries. I hope Alex was prepared for one of several perfectly valid responses.
I guessed
Fahrenheit 451
Right away
Brian
WTF does asbestos have to do with either Brave New World or The Invisible Man?!?
That was at least as bad as “Ernest Hemingway” and “William McKinley.”
Theyb are being coy, though.
The last few days the contestants are “originally from Podunk, MN” instead of “currently from Los Angeles”.
Ahh, clever.