I thought that USB clue was poorly written - data transfer is so broad a term that it had me considering everything from TCP to PDF. Was there a way to get that other than knowing the Intel guy?

I wasn't familiar with this particular bit of trivia, but by figuring that it had to be one of the Allies (from execution of Nazi spy), but not the US (date before December 1941), and probably not France (Nazis occupied it early in the war) or Soviet Union (figured at any site, not that I could name any, there would…

There's not a spelling rule for the kids' edition. There's a pronunciation rule that applies for all games. If what you put down can reasonably be pronounced as the right answer, it's considered right. If, on the other hand, you add an extra "t" to Emancipation Proclamation, you're changing the pronunciation and it's…

Youtube will occasionally help you out (especially if you're willing to wait a few days), and for text-only transcripts, there's the J! archive (operates at a delay and mostly aims for the clues and responses, not the extra moments), the tumblr Mean Alex, and the Twitter CoolJepStories.

When the final Jeopardy category was revealed, I just thought, "please don't be the guy who sculpted Mt. Rushmore, please don't be the guy who sculpted Mt. Rushmore…" because I can never remember his name. Unfortunately that meant I was already focused on 19th and 20th century sculptors, so even though I figured out…

I mentioned this upthread, but he's a business school professor. I imagine he also would have been smiling broadly had he gotten the Logan/Boston clue.

He's a professor at Harvard Business School, hence cracking up at B-school.
I don't mind him - he reminds me of Rooks from a while back. Everyone does something different to vent their nerves, and his was thinking out loud. It's not like they were going to get to all the clues anyway, what with the Michelle Obama…

Finished West of Sunset (good), All Our Names (good), and Welcome to Braggsville. Braggsville was not what I was expecting, and I think if I give it a rest and come back to it in a year or so, knowing everything that happens and the general tone, I'll like it a lot more.
Up next, Americanah and Mr. Fox, and long-term…

I just started The Book of Strange New Things & am racing through it. Great writing.

Are you familiar with Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812? It's a fantastic musical that came out a few years ago based on (part of) War and Peace. I've been trying to get up the courage/time management skills to read the novel ever since, but alas, too many other books.

I tried rereading them all this year, could not finish Many Waters, and gave up entirely. Though that might be the most skippable of them.

If you're measuring "earlier" by clues gotten to as opposed to time, they did go to commercial earlier, I think after only 12-13 clues. Granted, there was a DD in there, which also usually limits the number of clues you get to before break.

one of the pigs in Animal Farm?

He'd been a response on the show quite recently, actually, in a celebrity siblings category, and I think someone got it right then. Though that game was the only reason I was able to respond correctly to it last night - DWTS connection, looks vaguely like Julianne Hough - must be her brother.

Second clue in the category is always tough, because your mental model of the category is overfitted to the first clue - hence Thomas clearly trying to associate "Wallace" and perhaps "Independence" with an English monarch.

Timekeeping department: I was very worried AT was going to jinx it by all his comments by getting to all the clues, but both Jose and Thomas called out category names quickly enough to overcome that.

Was it last night that they did a stand-and-stare on The Poisonwood Bible? I had a feeling that was going to come up in 1990s fiction and was very surprised no one got it.

That Presidential Moms category was cake. Not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't "Identify president by the middle name."

Also notable: Cathy, the contestant that answered that DD, teaches at Huron High School.

It does seem a little off-brand for Emma Watson.
(Also, nice (unintentional?) double negative there. I do not not mind indeed.)