“What is a deuterium-antimatter reaction regulated by a dilithium matrix — or in the case of Romulans, a quantum singularity; or quantum slipstream which utilizes benamite crystals, though whether it is a fuel source is ambiguous and the subject of much speculation…?”
In Jeopardy, if you provide an unintended answer that’s still technically correct, and still fits the category, they’ll still mark you as correct - or if they fail to, they may rectify the mistake with a change to the scores after the next commercial break.
What was the category? If it was vague enough I’d guess they’d accept either “dilithium” or “antimatter”, but if it’s something like “Fictional substances” then by traditional Jeopardy rules only dilithium would fit.
Jeopardy clues in general reward people who have shallow knowledge in lots of topics. As a rule of thumb when giving clues on specific topics, those clues will be answerable by an enthusiastic layman - you never really need to be an expert to get them right. If they ask a clue in a subject you do happen to be an expert in, you’ll occasionally notice they get the details wrong - rarely even to the point of judging responses incorrectly.
Once, during the jeopardy Masters tournament, they prompted “The bubbly type of Alka-Seltzer can contain sodium or potassium bicarbonate, both types of this neutralizer”
Jennings didn’t accept “Base” or “buffer” when looking for “Antacid”
They overturned the ruling after the break and eventually credited both answers
Yup, any time they pull psychology (my field) clues out, I usually turn to my dad and finish most responses with “well, kind of… you see…”
He gets rattled and confused by some history and government clues for the same reason.
“I’m sorry, we were looking for dilithium crystals”
if you want a quiz show that is punishing and exacting, I recommend University Challenge. It’s so brutal it’s probably technically death metal.
I can’t accept drum and bass, we need jungle I’m afraid.
he knew what he was doing
It’s supposed to be a fun show, so they really do try to help out with the clue.