2025 Tournament of Champions semifinal game 3.
Neilesh Vinjamuri — a software engineer from Lionville, Pennsylvania
Drew Goins — a journalist from Honolulu, Hawaii
Drew Basile — a graduate student from Birmingham, Michigan
| Player | First Commercial | End of Jeopardy! | End of Double Jeopardy! | Final | Coryat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basile | $-400 | $800 | $6,800 |
$8,802
2nd place: $10,000 |
$7,800
14 R, 6 W (including 1 DD) |
| Goins | $1,600 | $4,800 | $4,400 |
$4,000
3rd place: $10,000 |
$9,600
17 R (including 1 DD), 5 W (including 1 DD) |
| Neilesh | $800 | $2,000 | $8,800 |
$13,601
Finalist |
$8,800
13 R, 2 W |
| STOCKING THE CABINET | THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE | LEGENDARY TWEETS | KIND OF BLUE POP CULTURE | LIBRARY GLOSSARY | ENDS IN "FF" |
|
$200
[27]
This chief justice of the U.S. moonlighted at his old secretary of state gig for John Adams
(John) Marshall
Goins
|
$200
[12]
Thecanals of Xochimilcoare in the southern part of this national capital built on an ancient lake bed
Mexico City
Basile
|
$200
[9]
"Contrary to popular belief, me don't only eat cookies. Me eat three square meals a day... with lots of circular desserts"
Cookie Monster
Basile
|
$200
[30]
This team flies the coop from Rogers Centrefor spring training atTD Ballparkin Florida
the Blue Jays
Basile
|
$200
[24]
2 essential types of call numbers are Dewey Decimal & this classification system abbreviated L.C.
the Library of Congress
|
$200
[22]
This type of tax on imports goes back to Arabic for "notification"
a tariff
Basile
|
|
$400
[25]
Herbert Hoover handled merch in this Cabinet post under Warren Harding & Calvin Coolidge
Commerce
Neilesh
|
$400
[11]
Found in Guyana's national dish, pepperpot, cassareep is a thick syrup extracted from this plant
cassava
Neilesh
|
$400
[10]
"I rewatched 'Office Space' tonight for the 5th time to prepare for @doge!"
Elon Musk
Basile
|
$400
[29]
In this frat comedy, Will Ferrell sings a riveting rendition of "Dust In The Wind" at the funeral of his pal Blue
Old School
Basile
|
$400
[23]
I.L.L., short for this, won't make you sick; it's just a way of borrowing books from other repositories
interlibrary loan
Basile
|
$400
[21]
It can mean to mock someone, or to eat voraciously
to scoff
|
|
$600
[17]
An ex-presidential candidate himself, he diplomatically followed Hillary Clinton as Obama's secretary of state
Kerry
Goins
|
$600
[6]
The Grande St. Lucian is one of more than 15 of these Caribbean resorts for couples in love
Sandals
Goins
|
$600
[4]
"I have to dress Kim every day so she doesn't embarrass me"
Kanye
Basile
|
$600
[13]
From 1996 to 2002 Steve Burns hosted this children's show, solving puzzles with a pup
Blue's Clues
Neilesh
|
$600
[15]
Another name for the loan desk is this 4-syllable word, a reference to how the books move around
circulation
Neilesh
|
$600
[18]
It's the Hogwarts house that fits the category
Hufflepuff
Goins
|
|
$800
[16]
Treasury Sec. Salmon P. Chase raised revenue & inflation by printing the U.S. government's first currency, known by this colorful name
greenback
Neilesh
|
DD
$1,000
[7]
The name of this territory means "our land" in an Inuit language
Nunavut
Basile
|
$800
[3]
"Oh. My. God. I spend my day cleaning & vacuuming & sanitizing everything in the house. I have become Danny Tanner"
Bob Saget
Neilesh
|
$800
[28]
James Cameron said he chose blue for this alien species because "green was taken"
the Na'vi
Goins
|
$800
[1]
Also a Triple Crown racehorse, it's a reference to a book or magazine including publication date, author & so on
citation
Basile
Goins
|
$800
[19]
In ancient Rome, an ancestor of the English type of this dog breed fought bears, lions & even gladiators in the arena
a mastiff
Basile
|
|
$1,000
[14]
Robert Todd Lincoln, who saw his share of bad stuff, was in this president's Cabinet & witnessed his fatal shooting in Washington
Garfield
Goins
|
$1,000
[8]
Pacific port cities of this smallest Central American nation include La Unión & Acajutla
El Salvador
Basile
Goins
|
$1,000
[5]
"And of course, the film 'Gravity' (2013) should instead have been named 'Zero Gravity"'
deGrasse Tyson
Basile
|
$1,000
[26]
"Hollywood Sadcore" has been used to describe this artist, as well as her music video for "Blue Jeans"
Lana Del Rey
|
$1,000
[2]
Your library may have a reader for this type of film, with reproductions of newspapers & a name from French
microfiche
Goins
|
$1,000
[20]
This word meant any bishop, but now it's specifically the bishop of Rome
pontiff
Goins
|
| ENGLISH LIT | YOU NEED TO SEE A SPECIALIST | THE ARTS | NEWISH WORDS & PHRASES | WELL, WELL | FUNNY BOY IS AN ACTOR NOW |
|
$400
[9]
This book begins, "Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy"
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Goins
|
$400
[19]
A maternal-fetal medicine doctor can judge the wisdom of VBAC, giving birth naturally when you've previously delivered this way
caesarean section
Goins
|
$400
[14]
A 1912 review of this ballet based on Russian folklore said ornithologists would be interested in a new discovery that flew on stage
The Firebird
Basile
Goins
|
$400
[21]
Pink outfits are central to this "-core" that got some pop culture heat from a 2023 flick with some real dolls
Barbiecore
Goins
|
$400
[28]
A holywellin this U.K. country is named for Saint Winifred, whose head ended up in it; her name sometimes starts with "G"
Wales
Goins
Neilesh
|
$400
[23]
He left "City Slickers" & Oscar hosting behind for roles like writer with dementia ("Here Today") & widower therapist ("Before")
Billy Crystal
Goins
|
|
$800
[2]
"Catriona", a sequel to this novel, recounts "The Further Adventures of David Balfour at Home and Abroad"
Kidnapped
Neilesh
|
$800
[18]
It's thalassemia, so you're short on this protein that carries oxygen in the blood--here's a referral to the hematologist
hemoglobin
Neilesh
|
$800
[6]
This painter is a character in the animated film "Coco", still creating art in the Land of the Dead
Kahlo
Basile
|
$800
[20]
Involving a paper container, this phrase refers to what someone is after not selling that bad investment, now even worse
a bag holder
|
$800
[29]
At a well in Genesis 24, this biblical matriarch helps out some thirsty camels & soon is Isaac's wife
Rebekah
Neilesh
|
$800
[24]
Albert Brooks of likable schlub roles was chilling as mobster Bernie in this Ryan Gosling movie
Drive
Goins
|
|
$1,200
[1]
Published in 1853, "Villette", her last completed novel, tells of a young woman who teaches at a boarding school in the title town
Charlotte Brontë
Neilesh
|
$1,200
[17]
Meaning related to the elderly, it precedes "medicine" for a specialist who sees a lot of falls & dementia
geriatric
Goins
|
$1,200
[5]
This architect captured the horizontal sweep of the Plains in the Prairie style, as seen in his Robie House
(Frank Lloyd) Wright
Neilesh
|
$1,200
[15]
Meaning perfectly acceptable, this word from "Simpsons" fame made it into Merriam-Webster in 2023
cromulent
Basile
|
$1,200
[30]
The man seenhereis deciding where to dig a well; he's divining or doing this, which sounds like soaking someone with water
dowsing
Basile
|
$1,200
[25]
Snubbed by the Academy for "Daddy Day Care", he earned an Oscar nomination for an edgy role in "Dreamgirls"
Eddie Murphy
Goins
|
|
$1,600
[7]
This James Joyce novel ends, "The keys to. Given! A way a lone a last a loved a long the"
Finnegans Wake
Basile
Goins
|
$2,000
[16]
An endocrinologist can treat this insufficiency--the glands of the same name are under-producing hormones like cortisol
adrenal
Basile
|
$1,600
[4]
Berninisculptedthis goddess struggling helplessly as she is dragged to the underworld
Persephone
Neilesh
|
$2,000
[13]
E.H.E. is short for this type of steamy meteorological happening, all too common now with climate change
an extreme heat event
Basile
|
$1,600
[22]
In a soul music classic, it's when you miss your water; it happens faster in awater table aquiferthan in aconfined aquifer
your well runs dry
|
$1,600
[26]
On film in the '70s this stand-up legend made comedies like "Silver Streak" but also the Marxist auto worker drama "Blue Collar"
Richard Pryor
|
|
$2,000
[8]
This Irish poet & 1995 Nobel laureate won monster praise for his modern translation of "Beowulf"
(Seamus) Heaney
Neilesh
|
DD
$7,200
[11]
An epileptologist will know how to treat tonic-clonic seizures, the bad kind also known by this French name
grand mal
Goins
|
$2,000
[3]
This pioneering photographer titled his iconicphotoof garment worker Ella Watson "American Gothic"
Gordon Parks
|
DD
$3,600
[10]
This online activity of anxiously poring over the sad state of affairs was in full swing in 2024
doomscrolling
Goins
|
$2,000
[12]
Giving oil since 1861,McClintock Well #1in Northwest Pennsylvania was long-owned by this motor oil company with a Pennsylvania name
Quaker State
Neilesh
|
$2,000
[27]
Sacha Baron Cohen gets all upset on "Disclaimer", with this blonde actress as documentarian Catherine Ravenscroft
Cate Blanchett
|
Wadi al-Malekat in Arabic, this site near a similar & better known location was the burial place of Nefertari & others
the Valley of the Queens