Ken Jennings Reacts to Author Who Says 'Jeopardy!' Clues Are 'Too Obscure'

Ken Jennings responded in tongue-in-cheek fashion to an author whose work was referenced in a recent a Jeopardy! clue, after the writer quipped that some of the topics covered on the show were "too obscure."

On Thursday's installment of the long-running syndicated quiz show, all three contestants lost thousands of dollars after failing to come up with the correct response in the Final Jeopardy round.

Under the category "Modern Words," Jeopardy! host Jennings read out the clue: "Neal Stephenson coined this word in his 1992 novel Snow Crash. It was later shortened by a company to become its new name."

The contestants came up with differing responses—and all were incorrect. Devin Lohman, who bet $8,300 of his $10,200, was left with $1,900 when he incorrectly guessed: "What is powder?" Sam Claussen's $18,400 total shrank to $5,999 after a $12,401 wager on the response: "What is avalanche?"

Meanwhile, Emma Hill Kepron emerged the victor due to her comparatively conservative bet. While she incorrectly guessed: "What is uber?" she bet just $4,000 of her $15,400, leaving her with a winning total of $11,400.

It was later revealed that the correct response was, "What is metaverse?" Of course, the shortened version is the name of Facebook's parent company, Meta.

While it stumped contestants, the clue appeared to be equally baffling for a number of Jeopardy! fans, who took to Twitter to discuss the difficulty of the final round.

Posting a clip from the episode, one viewer wrote: "Everyone lost final Jeopardy tonight. And folks say the word is oversaturated!"

The post sparked a debate, with a number of viewers admitting that they, too, would have struggled to come up with the correct response. Many others asserted that they would have guessed correctly.

One Twitter user then tagged Snow Crash author Stephenson himself, who reacted by directly addressing Jennings, as he quipped that "these questions are just too obscure. Give these poor people a chance!"

Responding in equally tongue-in-cheek fashion, all-time Jeopardy! champ Jennings playfully clapped back: "I have no idea who you are, unverified Twitter user, but for your information, Snow Crash is a classic!"

The exchange coincided with the day that Elon Musk stripped a host of celebrities and public figures of their verified blue check marks on Twitter.

Twitter CEO Musk has made a number of changes to the company's verification process following his $44 billion acquisition of the company in October 2022.

Following the takeover, Musk introduced an $8-a-month Twitter Blue subscription service that he claimed would reduce the impact of bots on the website.

Many who had been verified prior to the buyout had "legacy" check marks, although Musk stated these would be removed in the future. On Thursday, April 20, check marks were removed from "legacy" users and several media outlets and personalities bought subscriptions to Twitter Blue.

But several celebrities discovered they had received a Twitter Blue check mark, despite not having subscribed.

The Lord of The Rings actor Sir Ian McKellen stated on Twitter: "Despite the implication, when you click the blue badge that has mysteriously re-appeared beside my name, I am not paying for the 'honour.'"

In an unusual development, it was discovered that some celebrities and public figures who had died were also subscribed to Twitter Blue.

Among those who have passed and were found to have Twitter Blue check marks were Brazilian soccer icon Pelé, comedian Norm MacDonald and fantasy author Terry Pratchett.

Musk's handling of the social media company has been controversial since he took over the platform last year. The billionaire said in November that Twitter needed to become "by far the most accurate source of information about the world."

Context tabs were introduced for some tweets and would give a deeper explanation of a topic related to the tweet and identify some cases of false information.

But the platform also recently stopped tagging some accounts as "government-funded" media or China or Russia as "state-affiliated" media.