July 29, 2025 • 21 mins
Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: Jeopardy! host and friend-of-the-podcast, Ken Jennings!
Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask AI” and audio rebuses.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle. This is
in honor of our guest Ken Jennings, the host of Jeopardy.
As you may know, Jeopardy, the game show is officially
spelled with an exclamation point at the end of its title, Jeopardy.
Exclamation point Jeopardy. Can you hear the excitement in my voice? Now?
(00:26):
Jeopardy is not the only TV show or movie with
an exclamation point in the title. During the break, can
you think of any other titles with exclamation points? And
for extra bonus points? What about a title with two
exclamation points and even three? Oh my God? The answers
(00:46):
and more puzzling puzzles After the break, Hello puzzlers, Welcome
back to the Puzzler podcast The Black Pain on Your Puzzle,
Tim Lizzie, I am your host AJ Jacobs. Before the break,
we talked about the fact is that the game show
(01:07):
Jeopardy has an exclamation point in its title. After the
word Jeopardy, I asked what other TV shows and movies
are blessed with exclamation points in their titles. It seems
a lot of musicals are exclamation point worthy. There's Oliver Oklahoma,
(01:29):
Hello Dolly, Moulin Rouge, Mama Miyah. There are also non musicals,
the TV show American Dad, the movie Mars Attacks Now
I asked for double exclamation points, and there's the classic
sitcom What's Happening. That's What's Happening, no question mark, but
(01:52):
two exclamation points after the word happening. I also asked
about three exclamation points. There is the World War II
movie Tora Tora, Tora, exclamation point after each Tora. If
you can think of others, please write us via our website,
Thepuzzler dot Com. I bring this up because we have
(02:14):
with us today none other than Ken Jennings exclamation Point,
host of Jeopardy exclamation Point. He's a podcaster, best selling author.
He has a wonderful new book, The Complete Connections. That's
Kay n Actions Welcome Ken.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Hey, AJ, how you doing question mark?
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Well, that's it's interesting you bring that up because Jeopardy
has an exclamation point at the end of its title,
But it really is all about question marks that can
be square the circle.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
But it would be weird if this show were called
Jeopardy question mark, right, that's true. I mean imagine it's
imagine it in typeset like I'm watching Jeopardy. Question mark
am I though it's exactly it's an existential game show.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Do you know where the question mark came from? Was
that MERV. Griffin?
Speaker 2 (03:05):
It had the explanation point way back in the sixties.
The original name was a question. It was originally called
what's the question? We're playing it around their dining room
table for friends and family, trying to engineer it into
a game show. And I think it was maybe Grant Tinker,
the NBC executive later married to Mary Tyler Moore, who said,
the game is great, but it's not exciting enough. It
(03:27):
needs more jeopardies, like it needs more moments of risk.
And that's where the daily doubles came from. That's where
wagering came from. And I assume the explanation point is
to try to sell kind of unusual, unconventional game show name. Yeah, Jeopardy.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
But I like that he used it as a plural noun.
You don't see that often jeopardies.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
We all have so many jeopardies in our life.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Well, speaking of the origin of Jeopardy, I loved reading
about how MERV. Griffin came up with it, or at
least the origin story I read, which was that his
wife suggested reversing the old question answer format, so it
was answer question and the first example that is listed
(04:12):
that she gave is the number five two hundred and eighty,
so the host would say two hundred and eighty, and
then the contestant had to give the question how many
feet in a mile is that?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
That's the you're on a plane flying back from the Midwest,
and she was saying, well, just do one of those
question answer shows. I liked, you know, because MRV was
trying to get into game shows, and he says, honey,
we can't do those. Those were all crooked. They were
giving them the answers, and she thought for a second,
and she was like, well, that's the show right there.
You give them the answers, and MERV didn't get it,
so she had to do this illustrated example. We often
(04:46):
use five two hundred and eighty today, but I've also
seen versions where it's a it's an example that doesn't
age well at all, like it's it's the street address
where Fiber McGee and Mollie lived on old timey TV.
So there is a version of it where you Aan
Griffin says seventy nine wistful vista and merch says, what
is Fibbermige and Molly's address? But again, that would not
(05:07):
make as much sense today.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
That is a stumper for most of including me. Well,
I love that stripped down version, you know now, thank
god it's more elaborate, their longer answers, the categories, bells
and whistles, lots of Jeopardies, But there is also something
nice about giving a plain old number and you have
to guess that what that number represents. So I thought
(05:29):
we would try an answer question puzzle that is sort
of the acoustic version, just like the OG. I'm going
to give you a number and that's it. I'll give
you a hints because it's super hard even for you.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I like this. This is how Jeopardy was meant to be,
instead of the weird syntactic Frankenstein we have today, where
it's live this speaker of the house from the eighteen seventies.
That's not an answer to anything.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yes, this one is, yes, super simple, but incredibly difficult
at the same time. Well, I'll give you an example.
Two million, five hundred and twenty thousand, seven hundred. Do
you happen to know what that number?
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Represent Do I have to do it in the form
of a question?
Speaker 1 (06:12):
No, I don't want to get any trademark battles.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Is that my total Jeopardy winnings?
Speaker 1 (06:18):
It is well from your streak, from your streak exactly
the one more.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
But yes, what I was like, wait, is this the
number for rent? Why does it look so familiar?
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Oh, I'm glad it gave you pause? What about this
one might give you pause? But it is on your
Wikipedia page eight seven zero four eight seven zero four seven.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Well you've you've really helped by saying it's on my
Wikipedia page. It's not my address. That's not on there.
Is it total number of correct responses in my Jeopardy strum?
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Oh? No, you've answered much more than that, twenty seven
hundred plus correct answers. No, it's something that the government
of the State of Washington for you. It is a
measure resolution eight seven oh four congratulating Ken Jennings for
his achievements in game.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Just I had it sitting on the shelter. I should
have cheated it is indeed eight seven four.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Uh, love it all right, So the next ones are
not about Ken Jennings. I'm sorry, And as I said,
it's going to be a challenge. So I'm I'm here
for hints. If you just hear the number and want
to be creative and guess anything, uh interesting, I will
give you bonus points for creativity. Are you ready? Two
(07:36):
hundred and six, two hundred and six.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Oh, that's the human body, right, that's a number of
bones in the human body.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Exactly. You got nailed it, nailed it super quick.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Babies have more.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
I just I read that. I didn't know they had
two seven, two hundred and seventy that fused together into
their adult skeleton.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Oh, I thought they sloughed off.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Oh you thought they just fell out of there.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
These were bony little skeletores and then like scale slough off.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Them at some point out their ears.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yeah, I've never actually seen a baby.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
All right, I got another number, six hundred and sixty
six point six y six. It's nothing, I will tell you.
It has nothing to do with and Bial's abub But
I will give you that it is a price six
hundred sixty six dollars and sixty six cents.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Well, I mean it's two thirds of one thousand dollars,
which you'd think would not be a coincidence. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
It was the retail price of something that was not
PC Wink wink.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Four hundred Costco hot dogs.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
No, not PC in as in the computer sense.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Oh oh, is that the first? Is it the first iPod?
Speaker 1 (08:58):
No, but you're in the right area.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
For Apple two plus?
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Yes, first Apple, first price of the original Apple computer,
the first retail six hundred and sixty six. Uh, all right,
I like that. This is giving you a little bit
of a challenge. It's uh.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
I wonder why that is that something like Steve Jobs
is some proto Elon Musk trying to like troll us
by doing a satan number in his on his price tag.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah, I looked it up. Steve wasne ig liked repeating numbers.
He likes repeating numbers.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
That doesn't surprise me. I met that guy once.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Oh how was he?
Speaker 2 (09:30):
It seems like he has the kind of guy rain
that would like repeating numbers. There you go, lovely, yeu neurospicy.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Uh, all right, this number is thirty eight thousand, three
hundred and eighty seven, and it's a toughie, but it is.
I'll give you the general area sports athletics and an athlete.
You happen to admire. According to my half asked googling.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Is it is it? Is it an NBA all time
record used to be? Is is it Kareem's old points number.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Before it is? That's exactly right, you got it.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
I knew it was in the ballpark, but didn't I
didn't know if it was going to be the Kareem
number or the Lebron number. Like, you're right, But I
admire Kareem, especially because he is a great Jeopardy player. Really,
he's done celebrity a couple of times.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Interesting.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
He's also been in a movie that ends with an
exclamation point because he can because he can fly a plane.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Great callback he was an airplane. It's right. And he
also is a writer. He wrote books on black history,
and so he's a fellow nerd in some ways. But
well done. Yes, Kareem Abdul Jabbar's total career for is
thirty three and eighty seven. All right, I've got a
(10:51):
Seattle related one for you, a Seattle related number. Forty thousand,
one hundred and ninety nine. Forty thousand, one hundred and
ninety nine.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
That's the number of Starbucks in my neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
You got the first part. Right, Maybe I don't know,
I don't live in your neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
But yes, wait it is it worldwide Starbucks?
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Yeah, it is worldwide Starbucks.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
I was gonna do the bit that it was the
number of Starbucks in Seattle, but I was a little
closer than I thought.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
No, he's nicely done. Exactly forty thousand, and that's as
of twenty twenty four. Maybe more, maybe less, who knows.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
There was a guy that was trying to visit all
of them, I remember, but they were opening them faster
than he could go and have a lotte at each,
and then I think the two thousand and eight housing
bubble happened and they started shuddering Starbucks and this guy
was so happy. So many people were out of work,
and this guy was like, yes, I don't have to
go to Tulsa again.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
The fantastic. I love that I had a friend who
visited all the Manhattan Starbucks in twenty four hours and
it was like a logistical and this was pre uber wow.
And also but it also reminds me of people tell
me that since I read the Encyclopedia, I should read
the Wikipedia, which is literally impossible because the amount of
(12:11):
additional information that's at it every second. Would yeah, i'd
have to live. I would never get it. I would
never as long as there are humans.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
They just want to keep you busy. These are friends
that don't actually want to see much of you.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
That's right, they're not really good friends. All right. I
got a couple of more five hundred and fifty five,
five hundred and fifty five, and I will give you
the unit.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Is it feat?
Speaker 1 (12:36):
It is feet? Oh?
Speaker 2 (12:38):
I think I might know this.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Oh what do you got?
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah? I think it's the Washington Monument. Is that right?
Speaker 1 (12:43):
You think correctly? Nailed it? Wow? That was good without
even the unit. You got it. It is the height
of the Washington Monument, although I get to be persnickety
and say it actually is now five hundred and fifty
four feet seven and eleven thirty second inches, because I
guess it's settled a little.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Oh, it's like baby's bones fusing. It's hearts are not
falling off of the Washington Monuments exactly. That's right.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
It's like you know a bag of potato chips, when.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
It's contents may settle after gets placed.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
All right, A couple of more one thousand and thirty two.
Now the hint is you were one of those one
thousand and thirty two. You are a member of that set.
And this was as of May eighteenth, twenty twenty five.
It may may go up one or two in the
next couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
It can't be. You know, there have been on the
order of about ten thousand Jeopardy contestants in that tribec era.
It can't be Jeopardy contestants.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
No, but it is television related. I will tell you
two of the guests. No, but guests is correct and
comedy is correct. And you were one of them on
the at the same time as Neil de grasse Tyson
and Susie Orman.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Oh voice celebrity voices on The Simpsons.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
That is correct. Wow, they broke us.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Uh, And it really dilutes the honor aj when because
I loved the fact that I had been on The
Simpsons and you're like, only one thousand and thirty two people,
literally a town of people have ever done this yet in.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
A small city. I'm here to humble you again. I'm
just yeah, you're just one of a crowd drop in
the ocean. But what was uh it says you were
I didn't not. I don't think I've seen that episode.
What was the plot?
Speaker 2 (14:49):
It's not from the Good Years? I play, I play myself.
I think it's a it's a for profit university thing.
Maybe mister Burns starts up some trump you kind of thing.
So Homer brings in his own experts to teach classes.
And apparently it's me, Sudie Orman and Neil de Grasse Tyson.
Which what a great university that would be? Can you
go the insufferable university? This would be?
Speaker 1 (15:14):
I love it? And how was did they? Did you
go in? Did they give you direction? Do they oh?
Your line?
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Was?
Speaker 1 (15:21):
I think? Who is glad to meet you?
Speaker 2 (15:24):
There we go? They really went for the They really
went for the sophisticated joke there. I just knew some
friends on the writing staff, which is probably how I
got it. I didn't even I recorded here in Seattle,
so I just went to some I got on a
phone line a studio here, probably someplace that mud Honey
had recorded, and I said my three lines, and that
(15:46):
was about it. The magic of television. But I do
get like a three dollars residual check every couple of years.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
So that's nice. There you go if the game show
thing doesn't fan out. You got that?
Speaker 2 (15:58):
All right?
Speaker 1 (15:58):
I have two more and that's it too more and
you've made it through the gauntlet. Is twenty four thousand,
nine hundred and one. Twenty four thousand, nine hundred one.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
The end one makes it look like a Jeopardy score.
But I don't know is it a is it a
dollar amount?
Speaker 1 (16:16):
It is not a dollar amount. It is it has
to do with maps and geography, which I know is
a fan of one of your passions.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Oh, is it the height of Mount Everest?
Speaker 1 (16:30):
No, nicely try it is miles.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
I'll give you the circumference.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
It's circumference.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
That's it. There we go. I should have had that.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
The circumference of the earth. Well, who knows, maybe you
think in kilometers? Now that you are.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Right, I'm a Canadian at heart.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Right, you're close to the border.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
So that's why I know you're gonna cut out all
the parts where I get him wrong, and so I
just jump straight to that's the circumference of the earth. Daja. Yeah, wow,
look at this guy. How does he do it?
Speaker 1 (17:00):
No, listen, it is very exciting because I mean, you know,
if if even ken Jet, well you once said in
an interview, And tell me if this is still the
case that sometimes you will purposely not get it. If
someone comes up to you and challenges you and be like,
what is the capital of Monroevi, Liberia? Then you purposely
(17:20):
mess it up just because everyone's happier.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
If it's something that I would have to think about,
I usually think, you know what, it'll be easier for
me and happier for this odd gentleman if I just
get this role, and then I do, and we both
go about our lives. You know what we're doing here,
age is we're creating that amazing podcast moment where somebody
at home knows and is yelling at the speaker right, Oh,
that is aka and it's the circumference of the earth.
(17:43):
You more on, Like we made so many nerdy people
happy for like forty five seconds.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Well you can do it again. You have one more
opportunity to make people happy. And I'm going to give you.
I'm going to give you the units on this one,
seven hundred and twenty seven pounds and seven hundred and
forty seven pounds for a grand total of one thy
four hundred and sixty eight pounds.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Now, I'm assuming you know this because I feel I
know that you liked this book as a kid.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Oh is this is this a Guinness Book of World
Records thing?
Speaker 1 (18:21):
It is? It is a Guinness Book of World Direction.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Shock you to hear that? Despite all the hours I
spent with the Guinness Book of World Records, I'm not sure.
Oh are these the weights of the two twins on motorcycles?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
They are the weights of the two twins on motorcycles.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
I didn't know one of them was twenty pounds heavier.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Oh yeah, I know. The other one was just like, yeah,
just riding on a shell. He was just like, yeah,
you're not pulling his weight so to speak.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
So to speak, it's seven twenty seven and seven forty seven.
Do you think that's for branding reasons? Like? Oh, interesting,
make us think about jumbo jets? Right?
Speaker 1 (18:53):
And there were there are people who say, if you're
that heavy, you should pay extra. I'm not one of them.
I don't think that's fair, but it's.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Interesting you should pay less. That's what I think. I
like it, I can, but that's my that's my theory.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
That's ken Trarian, that's the ken Trarian in you. Yes,
they were named the McCrary twins, or they'll they changed
their name to something the uh something else that's maguire
twins because McCrary was too hard to pronounce, apparently. Uh,
and yes they were. It's an amazing photo. Anyone who
(19:30):
is of a certain age who loved that book as
I did, Well, they were these two large men and
they were on these tiny motorcycles and they were shot
I believe from the back.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
It was terrific. Well, here's one other number five thousand.
That's how many questions there are in the new Ken
Actions book, which is super fun. You get trivia and
you have to find the Ken action. So if I'll
just throw one out, Ken probably knows this. Backpacks, quarterbacks,
(20:02):
blue jeans, a pool table, and pita bread they all have.
They all have pockets. Well, thank you so much, Ken,
and thank you listeners. I do have an extra credit.
And here it is. What is this number? Three point
(20:22):
zero five seconds? That's three point zero five seconds. The
hint is it's the fastest time it took a person
to complete a colorful twisty task. A colorful twisty task
that took three point h five seconds. The answer tomorrow
(20:44):
and in the meantime, if you do have thirty extra seconds,
we would be honored if you would rate the puzzler
on your favorite podcast platform. It just makes a huge
difference in people finding us. And of course we'll meet
you here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle
(21:05):
you puzzlingly. Hey, puzzlers, it's your chief puzzle Officer, Greg
Pliska here with the extra credit answer. From our previous episode.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
We had the wonderful Ken Jennings on to play a
game that AJ called Ken Text Clues, where con at
the beginning of a word is replaced by K e N,
so context clues become Ken text clues.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Here was your can text clue. If Ken ever gets pregnant,
which I know is unlikely, he might experience these and
the answer, of course.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Is Ken tractions instead of contractions. Thanks for playing with us,
and we'll see you here tomorrow
Hello, puzzlers. Let's start with a quick puzzle. This is
in honor of our guest Ken Jennings, the host of Jeopardy.
As you may know, Jeopardy, the game show is officially
spelled with an exclamation point at the end of its title, Jeopardy.
Exclamation point Jeopardy. Can you hear the excitement in my voice? Now?
(00:26):
Jeopardy is not the only TV show or movie with
an exclamation point in the title. During the break, can
you think of any other titles with exclamation points? And
for extra bonus points? What about a title with two
exclamation points and even three? Oh my God? The answers
(00:46):
and more puzzling puzzles After the break, Hello puzzlers, Welcome
back to the Puzzler podcast The Black Pain on Your Puzzle,
Tim Lizzie, I am your host AJ Jacobs. Before the break,
we talked about the fact is that the game show
(01:07):
Jeopardy has an exclamation point in its title. After the
word Jeopardy, I asked what other TV shows and movies
are blessed with exclamation points in their titles. It seems
a lot of musicals are exclamation point worthy. There's Oliver Oklahoma,
(01:29):
Hello Dolly, Moulin Rouge, Mama Miyah. There are also non musicals,
the TV show American Dad, the movie Mars Attacks Now
I asked for double exclamation points, and there's the classic
sitcom What's Happening. That's What's Happening, no question mark, but
(01:52):
two exclamation points after the word happening. I also asked
about three exclamation points. There is the World War II
movie Tora Tora, Tora, exclamation point after each Tora. If
you can think of others, please write us via our website,
Thepuzzler dot Com. I bring this up because we have
(02:14):
with us today none other than Ken Jennings exclamation Point,
host of Jeopardy exclamation Point. He's a podcaster, best selling author.
He has a wonderful new book, The Complete Connections. That's
Kay n Actions Welcome Ken.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Hey, AJ, how you doing question mark?
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Well, that's it's interesting you bring that up because Jeopardy
has an exclamation point at the end of its title,
But it really is all about question marks that can
be square the circle.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
But it would be weird if this show were called
Jeopardy question mark, right, that's true. I mean imagine it's
imagine it in typeset like I'm watching Jeopardy. Question mark
am I though it's exactly it's an existential game show.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Do you know where the question mark came from? Was
that MERV. Griffin?
Speaker 2 (03:05):
It had the explanation point way back in the sixties.
The original name was a question. It was originally called
what's the question? We're playing it around their dining room
table for friends and family, trying to engineer it into
a game show. And I think it was maybe Grant Tinker,
the NBC executive later married to Mary Tyler Moore, who said,
the game is great, but it's not exciting enough. It
(03:27):
needs more jeopardies, like it needs more moments of risk.
And that's where the daily doubles came from. That's where
wagering came from. And I assume the explanation point is
to try to sell kind of unusual, unconventional game show name. Yeah, Jeopardy.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
But I like that he used it as a plural noun.
You don't see that often jeopardies.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
We all have so many jeopardies in our life.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Well, speaking of the origin of Jeopardy, I loved reading
about how MERV. Griffin came up with it, or at
least the origin story I read, which was that his
wife suggested reversing the old question answer format, so it
was answer question and the first example that is listed
(04:12):
that she gave is the number five two hundred and eighty,
so the host would say two hundred and eighty, and
then the contestant had to give the question how many
feet in a mile is that?
Speaker 2 (04:24):
That's the you're on a plane flying back from the Midwest,
and she was saying, well, just do one of those
question answer shows. I liked, you know, because MRV was
trying to get into game shows, and he says, honey,
we can't do those. Those were all crooked. They were
giving them the answers, and she thought for a second,
and she was like, well, that's the show right there.
You give them the answers, and MERV didn't get it,
so she had to do this illustrated example. We often
(04:46):
use five two hundred and eighty today, but I've also
seen versions where it's a it's an example that doesn't
age well at all, like it's it's the street address
where Fiber McGee and Mollie lived on old timey TV.
So there is a version of it where you Aan
Griffin says seventy nine wistful vista and merch says, what
is Fibbermige and Molly's address? But again, that would not
(05:07):
make as much sense today.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
That is a stumper for most of including me. Well,
I love that stripped down version, you know now, thank
god it's more elaborate, their longer answers, the categories, bells
and whistles, lots of Jeopardies, But there is also something
nice about giving a plain old number and you have
to guess that what that number represents. So I thought
(05:29):
we would try an answer question puzzle that is sort
of the acoustic version, just like the OG. I'm going
to give you a number and that's it. I'll give
you a hints because it's super hard even for you.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I like this. This is how Jeopardy was meant to be,
instead of the weird syntactic Frankenstein we have today, where
it's live this speaker of the house from the eighteen seventies.
That's not an answer to anything.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Yes, this one is, yes, super simple, but incredibly difficult
at the same time. Well, I'll give you an example.
Two million, five hundred and twenty thousand, seven hundred. Do
you happen to know what that number?
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Represent Do I have to do it in the form
of a question?
Speaker 1 (06:12):
No, I don't want to get any trademark battles.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Is that my total Jeopardy winnings?
Speaker 1 (06:18):
It is well from your streak, from your streak exactly
the one more.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
But yes, what I was like, wait, is this the
number for rent? Why does it look so familiar?
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Oh, I'm glad it gave you pause? What about this
one might give you pause? But it is on your
Wikipedia page eight seven zero four eight seven zero four seven.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Well you've you've really helped by saying it's on my
Wikipedia page. It's not my address. That's not on there.
Is it total number of correct responses in my Jeopardy strum?
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Oh? No, you've answered much more than that, twenty seven
hundred plus correct answers. No, it's something that the government
of the State of Washington for you. It is a
measure resolution eight seven oh four congratulating Ken Jennings for
his achievements in game.
Speaker 2 (07:10):
Just I had it sitting on the shelter. I should
have cheated it is indeed eight seven four.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Uh, love it all right, So the next ones are
not about Ken Jennings. I'm sorry, And as I said,
it's going to be a challenge. So I'm I'm here
for hints. If you just hear the number and want
to be creative and guess anything, uh interesting, I will
give you bonus points for creativity. Are you ready? Two
(07:36):
hundred and six, two hundred and six.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Oh, that's the human body, right, that's a number of
bones in the human body.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Exactly. You got nailed it, nailed it super quick.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Babies have more.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
I just I read that. I didn't know they had
two seven, two hundred and seventy that fused together into
their adult skeleton.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Oh, I thought they sloughed off.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Oh you thought they just fell out of there.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
These were bony little skeletores and then like scale slough off.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Them at some point out their ears.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yeah, I've never actually seen a baby.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
All right, I got another number, six hundred and sixty
six point six y six. It's nothing, I will tell you.
It has nothing to do with and Bial's abub But
I will give you that it is a price six
hundred sixty six dollars and sixty six cents.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Well, I mean it's two thirds of one thousand dollars,
which you'd think would not be a coincidence. I don't know.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
It was the retail price of something that was not
PC Wink wink.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Four hundred Costco hot dogs.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
No, not PC in as in the computer sense.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Oh oh, is that the first? Is it the first iPod?
Speaker 1 (08:58):
No, but you're in the right area.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
For Apple two plus?
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Yes, first Apple, first price of the original Apple computer,
the first retail six hundred and sixty six. Uh, all right,
I like that. This is giving you a little bit
of a challenge. It's uh.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
I wonder why that is that something like Steve Jobs
is some proto Elon Musk trying to like troll us
by doing a satan number in his on his price tag.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah, I looked it up. Steve wasne ig liked repeating numbers.
He likes repeating numbers.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
That doesn't surprise me. I met that guy once.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Oh how was he?
Speaker 2 (09:30):
It seems like he has the kind of guy rain
that would like repeating numbers. There you go, lovely, yeu neurospicy.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Uh, all right, this number is thirty eight thousand, three
hundred and eighty seven, and it's a toughie, but it is.
I'll give you the general area sports athletics and an athlete.
You happen to admire. According to my half asked googling.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Is it is it? Is it an NBA all time
record used to be? Is is it Kareem's old points number.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Before it is? That's exactly right, you got it.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
I knew it was in the ballpark, but didn't I
didn't know if it was going to be the Kareem
number or the Lebron number. Like, you're right, But I
admire Kareem, especially because he is a great Jeopardy player. Really,
he's done celebrity a couple of times.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Interesting.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
He's also been in a movie that ends with an
exclamation point because he can because he can fly a plane.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Great callback he was an airplane. It's right. And he
also is a writer. He wrote books on black history,
and so he's a fellow nerd in some ways. But
well done. Yes, Kareem Abdul Jabbar's total career for is
thirty three and eighty seven. All right, I've got a
(10:51):
Seattle related one for you, a Seattle related number. Forty thousand,
one hundred and ninety nine. Forty thousand, one hundred and
ninety nine.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
That's the number of Starbucks in my neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
You got the first part. Right, Maybe I don't know,
I don't live in your neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
But yes, wait it is it worldwide Starbucks?
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Yeah, it is worldwide Starbucks.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
I was gonna do the bit that it was the
number of Starbucks in Seattle, but I was a little
closer than I thought.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
No, he's nicely done. Exactly forty thousand, and that's as
of twenty twenty four. Maybe more, maybe less, who knows.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
There was a guy that was trying to visit all
of them, I remember, but they were opening them faster
than he could go and have a lotte at each,
and then I think the two thousand and eight housing
bubble happened and they started shuddering Starbucks and this guy
was so happy. So many people were out of work,
and this guy was like, yes, I don't have to
go to Tulsa again.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
The fantastic. I love that I had a friend who
visited all the Manhattan Starbucks in twenty four hours and
it was like a logistical and this was pre uber wow.
And also but it also reminds me of people tell
me that since I read the Encyclopedia, I should read
the Wikipedia, which is literally impossible because the amount of
(12:11):
additional information that's at it every second. Would yeah, i'd
have to live. I would never get it. I would
never as long as there are humans.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
They just want to keep you busy. These are friends
that don't actually want to see much of you.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
That's right, they're not really good friends. All right. I
got a couple of more five hundred and fifty five,
five hundred and fifty five, and I will give you
the unit.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Is it feat?
Speaker 1 (12:36):
It is feet? Oh?
Speaker 2 (12:38):
I think I might know this.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
Oh what do you got?
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah? I think it's the Washington Monument. Is that right?
Speaker 1 (12:43):
You think correctly? Nailed it? Wow? That was good without
even the unit. You got it. It is the height
of the Washington Monument, although I get to be persnickety
and say it actually is now five hundred and fifty
four feet seven and eleven thirty second inches, because I
guess it's settled a little.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
Oh, it's like baby's bones fusing. It's hearts are not
falling off of the Washington Monuments exactly. That's right.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
It's like you know a bag of potato chips, when.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
It's contents may settle after gets placed.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
All right, A couple of more one thousand and thirty two.
Now the hint is you were one of those one
thousand and thirty two. You are a member of that set.
And this was as of May eighteenth, twenty twenty five.
It may may go up one or two in the
next couple of weeks.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
It can't be. You know, there have been on the
order of about ten thousand Jeopardy contestants in that tribec era.
It can't be Jeopardy contestants.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
No, but it is television related. I will tell you
two of the guests. No, but guests is correct and
comedy is correct. And you were one of them on
the at the same time as Neil de grasse Tyson
and Susie Orman.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Oh voice celebrity voices on The Simpsons.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
That is correct. Wow, they broke us.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Uh, And it really dilutes the honor aj when because
I loved the fact that I had been on The
Simpsons and you're like, only one thousand and thirty two people,
literally a town of people have ever done this yet in.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
A small city. I'm here to humble you again. I'm
just yeah, you're just one of a crowd drop in
the ocean. But what was uh it says you were
I didn't not. I don't think I've seen that episode.
What was the plot?
Speaker 2 (14:49):
It's not from the Good Years? I play, I play myself.
I think it's a it's a for profit university thing.
Maybe mister Burns starts up some trump you kind of thing.
So Homer brings in his own experts to teach classes.
And apparently it's me, Sudie Orman and Neil de Grasse Tyson.
Which what a great university that would be? Can you
go the insufferable university? This would be?
Speaker 1 (15:14):
I love it? And how was did they? Did you
go in? Did they give you direction? Do they oh?
Your line?
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Was?
Speaker 1 (15:21):
I think? Who is glad to meet you?
Speaker 2 (15:24):
There we go? They really went for the They really
went for the sophisticated joke there. I just knew some
friends on the writing staff, which is probably how I
got it. I didn't even I recorded here in Seattle,
so I just went to some I got on a
phone line a studio here, probably someplace that mud Honey
had recorded, and I said my three lines, and that
(15:46):
was about it. The magic of television. But I do
get like a three dollars residual check every couple of years.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
So that's nice. There you go if the game show
thing doesn't fan out. You got that?
Speaker 2 (15:58):
All right?
Speaker 1 (15:58):
I have two more and that's it too more and
you've made it through the gauntlet. Is twenty four thousand,
nine hundred and one. Twenty four thousand, nine hundred one.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
The end one makes it look like a Jeopardy score.
But I don't know is it a is it a
dollar amount?
Speaker 1 (16:16):
It is not a dollar amount. It is it has
to do with maps and geography, which I know is
a fan of one of your passions.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Oh, is it the height of Mount Everest?
Speaker 1 (16:30):
No, nicely try it is miles.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
I'll give you the circumference.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
It's circumference.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
That's it. There we go. I should have had that.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
The circumference of the earth. Well, who knows, maybe you
think in kilometers? Now that you are.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Right, I'm a Canadian at heart.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Right, you're close to the border.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
So that's why I know you're gonna cut out all
the parts where I get him wrong, and so I
just jump straight to that's the circumference of the earth. Daja. Yeah, wow,
look at this guy. How does he do it?
Speaker 1 (17:00):
No, listen, it is very exciting because I mean, you know,
if if even ken Jet, well you once said in
an interview, And tell me if this is still the
case that sometimes you will purposely not get it. If
someone comes up to you and challenges you and be like,
what is the capital of Monroevi, Liberia? Then you purposely
(17:20):
mess it up just because everyone's happier.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
If it's something that I would have to think about,
I usually think, you know what, it'll be easier for
me and happier for this odd gentleman if I just
get this role, and then I do, and we both
go about our lives. You know what we're doing here,
age is we're creating that amazing podcast moment where somebody
at home knows and is yelling at the speaker right, Oh,
that is aka and it's the circumference of the earth.
(17:43):
You more on, Like we made so many nerdy people
happy for like forty five seconds.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Well you can do it again. You have one more
opportunity to make people happy. And I'm going to give you.
I'm going to give you the units on this one,
seven hundred and twenty seven pounds and seven hundred and
forty seven pounds for a grand total of one thy
four hundred and sixty eight pounds.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
Now, I'm assuming you know this because I feel I
know that you liked this book as a kid.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Oh is this is this a Guinness Book of World
Records thing?
Speaker 1 (18:21):
It is? It is a Guinness Book of World Direction.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Shock you to hear that? Despite all the hours I
spent with the Guinness Book of World Records, I'm not sure.
Oh are these the weights of the two twins on motorcycles?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
They are the weights of the two twins on motorcycles.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
I didn't know one of them was twenty pounds heavier.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Oh yeah, I know. The other one was just like, yeah,
just riding on a shell. He was just like, yeah,
you're not pulling his weight so to speak.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
So to speak, it's seven twenty seven and seven forty seven.
Do you think that's for branding reasons? Like? Oh, interesting,
make us think about jumbo jets? Right?
Speaker 1 (18:53):
And there were there are people who say, if you're
that heavy, you should pay extra. I'm not one of them.
I don't think that's fair, but it's.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Interesting you should pay less. That's what I think. I
like it, I can, but that's my that's my theory.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
That's ken Trarian, that's the ken Trarian in you. Yes,
they were named the McCrary twins, or they'll they changed
their name to something the uh something else that's maguire
twins because McCrary was too hard to pronounce, apparently. Uh,
and yes they were. It's an amazing photo. Anyone who
(19:30):
is of a certain age who loved that book as
I did, Well, they were these two large men and
they were on these tiny motorcycles and they were shot
I believe from the back.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
It was terrific. Well, here's one other number five thousand.
That's how many questions there are in the new Ken
Actions book, which is super fun. You get trivia and
you have to find the Ken action. So if I'll
just throw one out, Ken probably knows this. Backpacks, quarterbacks,
(20:02):
blue jeans, a pool table, and pita bread they all have.
They all have pockets. Well, thank you so much, Ken,
and thank you listeners. I do have an extra credit.
And here it is. What is this number? Three point
(20:22):
zero five seconds? That's three point zero five seconds. The
hint is it's the fastest time it took a person
to complete a colorful twisty task. A colorful twisty task
that took three point h five seconds. The answer tomorrow
(20:44):
and in the meantime, if you do have thirty extra seconds,
we would be honored if you would rate the puzzler
on your favorite podcast platform. It just makes a huge
difference in people finding us. And of course we'll meet
you here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle
(21:05):
you puzzlingly. Hey, puzzlers, it's your chief puzzle Officer, Greg
Pliska here with the extra credit answer. From our previous episode.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
We had the wonderful Ken Jennings on to play a
game that AJ called Ken Text Clues, where con at
the beginning of a word is replaced by K e N,
so context clues become Ken text clues.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Here was your can text clue. If Ken ever gets pregnant,
which I know is unlikely, he might experience these and
the answer, of course.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Is Ken tractions instead of contractions. Thanks for playing with us,
and we'll see you here tomorrow
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
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