A 9-letter word starting with C: After ‘Jeopardy!’ appearance, here’s a clue to her new hobby
BY AMBER SMITH
Rachel Fabi, PhD, starts her day with a cup of coffee and The New York Times crossword puzzle.
“It gets my brain working,” she says.
In the evenings, she likes to attend trivia games, watch “Jeopardy!” or create crossword puzzles (like the one above, which she created specially for Upstate Health magazine).
Fabi is an assistant professor of bioethics at Upstate.
She fulfilled her lifelong dream of appearing on “Jeopardy!” this year — a few weeks before host Alex Trebek disclosed his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, and before James Holzhauer began his widely reported winning streak.
(Click here to hear Fabi talk about her time as a contestant on the TV game show "Jeopardy!"in a podcast/radio interview with Upstate's "HealthLink on Air.")
Since she was 13, Fabi has made a daily habit of completing The New York Times crossword puzzle as a way to train for “Jeopardy!”
Fabi became a “Jeopardy!” champion her first night when she edged out her opponents by $1 by wagering nothing on a Final Jeopardy answer, which they all got wrong. She played the next night, too, but fell to a teacher from California.
After her “Jeopardy!” appearance, Fabi followed a new pursuit: to create crossword puzzles. She purchased software, found mentors willing to guide her, and so far this year has had four published in newspapers and crossword publications.
So, which is more challenging — making or solving a puzzle?
“Definitely making them.”
Can you answer the ‘Jeopardy!’ questions Fabi faced?
1. “Born in 1866, he has been called ‘The Shakespeare of Science Fiction.’”
Answer: “Who is H.G. Wells?”
2. “The title of this musical that opened in 1956 came from the last line of a nursery rhyme about a structure that spanned the Thames.”
Answer: What is “My Fair Lady”?
Puzzle solution
This article appears in the summer 2019 issue of Upstate Health magazine.