Pyramid replacement category timing question

[HYHYBT]

Fairly often, the decision to buzz a clue in the Winners Circle would be questioned. Very rarely, the judge would decide the clue should have been accepted, and a replacement category would be played. Now, I may be remembering this wrong, but I'm pretty sure they only got to play the replacement category with the time that was left on the clock, *not* including the time they'd spent on the original category before getting zapped.

So the question is, why?

[pyrfan]

Fairly often, the decision to buzz a clue in the Winners Circle would be questioned. Very rarely, the judge would decide the clue should have been accepted, and a replacement category would be played. Now, I may be remembering this wrong, but I'm pretty sure they only got to play the replacement category with the time that was left on the clock, *not* including the time they'd spent on the original category before getting zapped.

So the question is, why?

Can't answer the question as to why, but I've seen it both ways, actually:

1. Once with Joel Brooks on the 25K, on top category IRRITATING THINGS, they buzzed him for saying "Someone clicking their gums." When Joel and his partner started the category, they had more than 20 seconds left on the clock. After the commercial, they were still in the Winner's Circle, and they got a new category -- THINGS THAT ARE COMPLICATED -- and were given 15 seconds to get it, which was how much time was left on the clock when the buzzer sounded. (For the record, they didn't get it.)

2. Near the end of the run of the 25K, Don Galloway had (I think) 21 seconds to get EXOTIC THINGS and got buzzed with 2 or 3 seconds left for saying "A foreign land." During the commercial, the judge determined that "exotic" and "foreign" weren't synonyms, so they gave Don and his partner a new category -- with 21 seconds on the clock, not 2 or 3. It was THINGS THAT DEMONSTRATE, and, interestingly, Don also got buzzed on that one with 2 or 3 seconds left for saying "Sit-ins."


Brendan

[Jay Temple]

Fairly often, the decision to buzz a clue in the Winners Circle would be questioned. Very rarely, the judge would decide the clue should have been accepted, and a replacement category would be played. Now, I may be remembering this wrong, but I'm pretty sure they only got to play the replacement category with the time that was left on the clock, *not* including the time they'd spent on the original category before getting zapped.

So the question is, why?

Can't answer the question as to why, but I've seen it both ways, actually:

1. Once with Joel Brooks on the 25K, on top category IRRITATING THINGS, they buzzed him for saying "Someone clicking their gums." When Joel and his partner started the category, they had more than 20 seconds left on the clock. After the commercial, they were still in the Winner's Circle, and they got a new category -- THINGS THAT ARE COMPLICATED -- and were given 15 seconds to get it, which was how much time was left on the clock when the buzzer sounded. (For the record, they didn't get it.)

2. Near the end of the run of the 25K, Don Galloway had (I think) 21 seconds to get EXOTIC THINGS and got buzzed with 2 or 3 seconds left for saying "A foreign land." During the commercial, the judge determined that "exotic" and "foreign" weren't synonyms, so they gave Don and his partner a new category -- with 21 seconds on the clock, not 2 or 3. It was THINGS THAT DEMONSTRATE, and, interestingly, Don also got buzzed on that one with 2 or 3 seconds left for saying "Sit-ins."


Brendan

My recollection is that the former happened a lot more often than the latter, so much so that I kept a game where the latter happened solely for that reason.

[Kevin Prather]

For the first example, why did they give him a replacement category at all? Did they really decide that "someone clicking their gums" is a legal clue?

[WhirlieBird74]

This dates back to the rare '$10,000 Pyramid' episode (with guests JoAnne Worley and Richard Deacon) from 1973, which was incidentally posted somewhere on YouTube.  Richard was giving the clues and had gotten the contestant up to the last $200 subject, 'Things You Unwrap'.  The contestant said 'Things You Wrap' and was originally credited with the $10,000 win.  However, the judge (possibly Bob Stewart, himself) was raising a 'red flag' to Dick Clark.  They went to commercial, with Richard and the contestant seated in the WC.  The contestant could be heard talking to Richard Deacon, asking if he should turn around, and was advised not to.  When they started tape up again, Dick explained that due to confusion with the subject, the best thing to do was to replace the subject, put 12 seconds back on the clock, and play with a new $200 subject.  The new subject was 'Things at a Party'.  The contestant guessed the subject, won $10,000 legitimately, and everyone was happy.

[Jay Temple]

Some categories aren't intended to be simple nouns, even though they have a noun as the key word: "places where ...," etc. They might have decided that the category's wording was ambiguous.

[Otm Shank]

I also saw an instance where a front-game word had to be thrown out because they accepted a correct answer that they should not have. They took back the point, and 2 seconds remained on the clock. A new word was given, but they did not credit back the time elapsed on the discarded word.

Another instance (went back to the DVR), Jamie Farr was giving clues on little things with big names in the front game. There was a 2-second delay in accepting cranberry (the sixth word), and with roughly 3 seconds remaining, they were unable to get chihuahua. Dick tossed it to a commercial without the victory walk to the winner's circle. After commercial, they gave a new word with 2 seconds, instead of the 5 seconds remaining when "cranberry" was uttered.

I also remember Joann Worley being buzzed on "grilled" when she said "barbecue," but a delay in buzzing her, they also did not properly credit the time back, and resulted in a 4-second replacement category right before the credits.

Short version, they were never good at crediting back time due to an error in gameplay. As a wronged contestant, you'd have to hope they would bring you back, rather than try to fix it with a backup word/category.

[Mr. Armadillo]

After the commercial, they were still in the Winner's Circle, and they got a new category -- THINGS THAT ARE COMPLICATED

"This show's judging."

[Twentington]

I have a 100K tourney episode where Markie Post misreads "Things That Are Scrapped" as "Scraped" and says "A dirty dish". After time expires, Dick walks over and starts giving clues for "scraped" as well; after the contestant identifies "scraped", someone tells Dick that he misread the box.

IMO this one should've had a do-over, since a.) Dick misread the category too and didn't do a "Read it again!" from the sidelines, and b.) the judge didn't buzz "A dirty dish", which in no way fits "scrapped". (Maybe he misread it too?)

("Junked cars" seems like a good clue here.)

[JasonA1]

IMO this one should've had a do-over

Because the celebrity misread the card? Not to mirror a current thread in Video & Audio Clips, but, playing improperly through nobody's fault but the person doing it is not a valid reason to toss out material IMO.

b.) the judge didn't buzz "A dirty dish", which in no way fits "scrapped". (Maybe he misread it too?)

We've had the argument a few times now about factually incorrect clues being illegal. They are not. At worst, a "a dirty dish" would be a bad clue. You could effectively argue a dirty dish is something you might scrap, like how one might scrap their weekend plans, or scrap a bad take on a movie set, or really anything you discard.

-Jason

[dale_grass]

("Junked cars" seems like a good clue here.)

I'll bet one depreciated American dollar that your clue would have been buzzed instantly.

[TLEberle]

I'll bet one depreciated American dollar that your clue would have been buzzed instantly.

Website dictionary.com says you just won 98, er, 92, er...you won the bet.

[Twentington]

We've had the argument a few times now about factually incorrect clues being illegal. They are not.

Fair enough. I was under the assumption that they were.

("Junked cars" seems like a good clue here.)

I'll bet one depreciated American dollar that your clue would have been buzzed instantly.

M-W doesn't list "junk" in the definition of "scrap" or vice versa.

[clemon79]

a.) Dick misread the category too and didn't do a "Read it again!" from the sidelines,

As we have said before, and indeed as I'm pretty sure we have said TO YOU before (though it may have been Benfield; the two of you run together after a while); Dick doing this was done as a courtesy, not by rule.

the judge didn't buzz "A dirty dish", which in no way fits "scrapped". (Maybe he misread it too?)

What Jason said. Also, if the dish is dirty because it has table scraps on it, you could indeed argue that it had been "scrapped".

[HYHYBT]

Loosely speaking, pots and pans count as dishes, and they eventually get scrapped. I've sent some in that direction for being uncleanable, too.