Turns out, I did a little worse than I had thought: 42. I knew most of the ones I missed, but couldn’t think fast enough . . . and my problem with names.
There was one thing I did that helped: I let each one go to the full 15 seconds, making it easier to relax. I know that stress caused me to miss a few that I actually knew.
The official forums were knocked offline by hackers over the summer. You might have heard over the summer the news stories about the group that got into the Playstation Network database with users’ credit card information. That same breach compromised the security of the message boards, including the Jeopardy! board, and so Sony had shut them down.
It was only just before Christmas that the official community had been reopened, but then just last week it was taken down again. I can’t find any official word as to why, but it wouldn’t shock me to discover that it was due to another hack.
Ah, thank you! I was looking on the Jeopardy! forums.
Thanks again for the link! Here’s a quick way to play and go, URRRRRGH!!! I [expletive] knew that [expletive] [expletive]!!! 
Catch 22
2. ACTOR-DIRECTORS
IN 1981 HE FOUNDED THE INSTITUTE THAT SPONSORS THE SUNDANCE MOVIE FESTIVAL IN UTAH
Robert Redford
3. METALS
HEMATITE IS THE CHIEF ORE OF THIS METAL
Iron
4. WORLD CITIES
SINCE 1969 THIS LARGEST CITY OF NORTHERN IRELAND HAS BEEN THE SITE OF PERIODIC RELIGIOUS CONFLICT
Belfast
5. LETTER, PLEASE
IN CHESS NOTATION, THIS LETTER STANDS FOR THE MOST POWERFUL PIECE ON THE BOARD
Q
6. U.S. PRESIDENTS
HE SERVED AS VICE PRESIDENT FOR ONLY A MONTH BEFORE SUCCEEDING TO THE PRESIDENCY IN 1841
John Tyler
7. POETS
HIS FIRST MAJOR POEM WAS 1917’S “THE LOVE SONG OF J. ALFRED PRUFROCK”
T.S. Eliot
8. ARCHITECTURE
THIS BRITISH ARCHITECTURAL STYLE BEGAN WITH THE ACCESSION OF HENRY VII IN THE LATE 15TH CENTURY
Tudor
9. BIRDS
LAUGHING JACKASS IS ANOTHER NAME FOR THIS AUSTRALIAN BIRD WITH A LOUD CALL
Kookaburra
10. FAMOUS BUIDLINGS
THE RICHELIEU WING IS PART OF THIS MUSEUM
The Louvre
11. STARTS & ENDS WITH “E”
PAUL WROTE ONE TO PHILEMON
Epistle
12. LAKES & RIVERS
FOUND IN FLORIDA, THIS LARGEST SOUTHERN U.S. LAKE COVERS ABOUT 700 SQUARE MILES
Lake Okeechobee
13. REALITY TV
PHIL KEOGHAN HOSTS THIS SHOW IN WHICH TEAMS OF 2 TRAVEL THE GLOBE TO COMPETE FOR CASH
The Amazing Race
14. FICTION
“TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY” IS A NOVEL BY THIS BRIT
John Le Carré
15. WORLD HISTORY
THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF THE 1900 BOXER REBELLION WAS TO EXPEL ALL FOREIGNERS FROM THIS COUNTRY
China
16. SCIENTISTS
THIS BRITISH ASTROPHYSICIST PLAYED HIMSELF ON “THE SIMPSONS”
Stephen Hawking
17. AMERICAN ARTISTS
TO CREATE A 1950 PAINTING, HE FLUNG BLACK, WHITE & RUST COLORED PAINT ONTO THE CANVAS
Jackson Pollock
18. THIS & THAT
ENOKI & WOOD EAR ARE TYPES OF THESE
Mushrooms
19. EPONYMS
THIS WORD FOR “ACTOR” COMES FROM THE FATHER OF GREEK TRAGEDY
Thespian
20. PLAYWRIGHTS
HE WON HIS FOURTH PULITZER PRIZE FOR “LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT”
Eugene O’Neill
21. HISTORIC NAMES
HIS FIRST MAJOR JOINT WORK WITH FRIEDRICH ENGELS WAS 1845’S “THE GERMAN IDEOLOGY”
Karl Marx
22. UNIVERSITY SPORTS TEAMS
THEY’RE THE SPORTS TEAMS OF FRESNO STATE AS WELL AS GEORGIA
Bulldogs
23. BESTSELLERS
ONE REVIEWER CALLED THIS 2006 SARA GRUEN NOVEL “SO MUCH MORE THAN A TALE ABOUT A CIRCUS”
Water for Elephants
24. NAME’S THE SAME
THIS FAMOUS RACEHORSE BEARS THE NAME OF ONE OF THE 6 MAJOR ORGANS OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Secretariat
25. EUROPE
SKOPJE IS THE CAPITAL OF THIS COUNTRY IN SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
Macedonia
26. CELEBRITY MEMOIRS
“BOSSYPANTS” IS A 2011 MEMOIR BY THIS FUNNY LADY, TV COMEDY STAR & WRITER
Tina Fey
27. MYTHOLOGY
IN MYTHOLOGY, MINERVA IS THE COUNTERPART OF THIS GREEK GODDESS OF WISDOM
Athena
28. BIOLOGY
GLYCINE IS ONE OF THESE, THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF PROTEINS
Amino Acids
29. DAILY NEWSPAPERS
IT’S BEEN PROVIDING THE NEWS FOR CLEVELAND RESIDENTS SINCE 1842
Cleveland Plain Dealer
30. THE 1960S
THIS CHIEF JUSTICE GAVE HIS NAME TO THE COMMISSION THAT INVESTIGATED THE KENNEDY ASSASSINATION
Earl Warren
31. OPERA
IN “LA BOHEME” THE POET RODOLFO FALLS IN LOVE WITH THIS SEAMSTRESS WHO SUFFERS FROM TUBERCULOSIS
Mimi
32. GIVE ME A “V”
IT’S A SHORT ORNAMENTAL PIECE OF DRAPERY THAT’S PLACED ACROSS THE TOP OF A WINDOW
Valance
33. PLACES TO STAY
THE AHWANHEE HOTEL, A HISTORIC LANDMARK, IS IN THIS CALIFORNIA NATIONAL PARK
Yosemite
34. I’LL BE DOGGONE
THIS PRESTIGIOUS DOG SHOW WAS FIRST HELD IN NEW YORK CITY IN 1877
Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show
35. AUTHOR’S BIRTHPLACES
KHALED HOSSEINI WAS BORN IN THIS COUNTRY, THE SETTING FOR HIS “THE KITE RUNNER”
Afghanistan
36. MOUNTAINS
THIS MOUNTAIN RANGE EXTENDS ALONG FRANCE’S BORDER WITH SPAIN
Pyrenees
37. POP MUSIC
IT’S THE STAGE NAME OF SINGER & FLAMBOYANT DRESSER STEFANI GERMANOTTA
Lady Gaga
38. MONEY
THE MAASTRICHT TREATY OF 1991 LAID THE GROUNDWORK FOR THIS MONETARY UNIT & CURRENCY
Euro
39. MEDICINE
THIS VIRAL DISEASE IS ALSO CALLED INFANTILE PARALYSIS
Polio
40. RELIGIOUS WORDS
FROM THE LATIN FOR “CUP”, IT’S THE SPECIAL CUP USED IN CATHOLIC CHURCHES TO HOLD CONSECRATED WINE DURING A MASS
Chalice
41. 12-LETTER WORDS
IT’S THE 12-LETTER WORD FOR A DOCTOR WHO OPERATES ON THE BRAIN
Neurosurgeon
42. GEOGRAPHIC FEATURES
LAKE MARACAIBO IS IN THIS COUNTRY
Venezuela
43. PHILANTHROPISTS
IN 1946 HE GAVE THE UNITED NATIONS A GIFT OF $8.5 MILLION TO BUY LAND FOR ITS NYC HEADQUARTERS
John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
44. THIS MEANS WAR!
THE ASSASSINATION OF THIS ARCHDUKE WAS THE IMMEDIATE CAUSE OF WORLD WAR I
Franz Ferdinand
45. CHILDREN’S AUTHORS
A 2011 RELEASE OF HIS STORIES WAS TITLED “THE BIPPOLO SEED AND OTHER LOST STORIES”
Dr. Seuss
46. AMERICANS IN PARIS
THIS COMPANION OF ALICE B. TOKLAS DUBBED EXPATRIATE AMERICAN WRITERS THE “LOST GENERATION”
Gertrude Stein
47. THE PLANETS
GANYMEDE, LARGER THAN THE PLANET MERCURY, IS THIS PLANET’S LARGEST MOON
Jupiter
48. TV SHOWS
“SECTIONALS” & “THE SUE SYLVESTER SHUFFLE” WERE EPISODES OF THIS SHOW
Glee
49. NONFICTION
MALCOLM GLADWELL’S BOOK ON “THE POWER OF THINKING WITHOUT THINKING” HAS THIS 1-WORD TITLE
Blink
50. BEFORE & AFTER
HE CAME, HE SAW, HE CONQUERED A LETTUCE, CROUTON & CODDLED EGG CONCOCTION
Julius Caesar Salad
Ouch. Mid 30s. A couple questions I don’t recognize, so I must have hit submit right after the clock changed.
Oh well.
I said fungi because I’m pretty sure that wood-ear is not a true what-you-said, but rather a conk, the fruiting body of a shelf fungus.
Hey, I’d accept your answer of fungi. It is an edible fungus that China especially likes.
Anyone have any idea how long we have to wait before we know if we made it to the next round, whatever that is? Or would we have heard already?
Months potentially. I’ve advanced to the audition stage twice (didn’t register in time this year, unfortunately). Both times, my audition was in August and I was notified in July. I think that you’d hear about a month in advance of when they go to the site you picked.
I’ve also auditioned twice. I don’t have the 2008 emails anymore, but in 2010 I was notified in February of an April audition.
In 2011 the tests were given February 8-10. I then received an email on May 31 inviting me to a July 12 audition. Then, to complete the timeline, I got The Call on September 29 inviting me to compete on the show November 1 and 2.
I think I remember Corina and Robert mentioning that Lexington, my audition city, was the next to last stop on the roadshow, and that in a couple of more weeks they would be back in Los Angeles for the remainder of the year. Based on that, I would assume all the in-person audition invitations would have been sent by the end of June.
Resurrecting a zombie thread, but I just got the email inviting me into NYC for a June 18th audition.
i did too (the 19th). What can I expect?
Many years ago, I went to an audition (I think for the college tournament?) in NYC, and the first thing was a 50 question written test, which I failed. Is that still used, or does the online test replace it now?
Well, now that it’s done, I can answer myself and anyone else reading this in the future:
about 25 people in the group…
1 - warm up round of Jeopardy with the whole group (raising hands to answer, no scoring)
2 - 50 question written test (just like the internet test, except you can go back and change answers if the answer to an earlier question comes to you later in the test)
3 - 3 players at a time playing Jeopardy with the real buzzers in front of everyone (no scoring, I think they are mainly looking for character/comfort/confidence, but that’s just my guess)
4 - introduce yourself
5 - quick interview about your “5 interesting things”
6 - “how would you spend your winnings?”
Then you’re in the pool for 18 months and could be called at any time with 2-3 weeks notice. No notification if you didn’t get picked.
I think I did well at the written test and the interview parts, but less well at the “playing jeopardy” parts. Dunno how that will be seen by the contestant pickers. But here’s hoping…
FYI, I got my invitation today to audition August 15 in New Orleans.
No Maggie at my audition. I missed her.