2026 Tournament of Champions quarterfinal game 2.
Allegra Kuney — a Ph.D. candidate from New Brunswick, New Jersey
Brendan Liaw — a law student and away-from-home son from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Andrew Hayes — a judicial law clerk originally from Tupelo, Mississippi
| Player | First Commercial | End of Jeopardy! | End of Double Jeopardy! | Final | Coryat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew | $-1,600 | $-1,000 | $6,200 |
$8,001
3rd place: $5,000 |
$5,800
10 R (including 1 DD), 3 W |
| Brendan | $200 | $3,600 | $8,000 |
$9,337
2nd place: $5,000 |
$7,600
14 R (including 1 DD), 2 W |
| Allegra | $3,000 | $3,000 | $18,200 |
$18,190
Winner: guaranteed semifinalist |
$15,800
21 R (including 1 DD), 4 W |
| A CULT BAND | NATIONAL PARKS OF THE WORLD | STANDING ON BUSINESS | THE TALE THAT WAGS THE DOG | RANKS & TITLES | RHYME TIME |
|
$200
[20]
Melvins were pioneers of this sound that put bands like Pearl Jam (but not Melvins) into the stratosphere
grunge
Brendan
|
$200
[29]
Rich in culture & wildlife, Cairngorms National Park, the largest in the U.K., is located in the Highlands of this country
Scotland
Brendan
|
$200
[28]
Clickable sections at the .com of this company include Lighters, Writing & Shaving
Bic
Brendan
|
$200
[27]
In his 1930 book debut, this young reporter & his dog Snowy face off against bad guys "in the Land of the Soviets"
Tintin
Andrew
|
$200
[26]
Use one syllable or 2 to name this title for the crew member responsible for coordinating the rhythm of the rowers
coxswain (cox)
Brendan
|
$200
[30]
An additional matriarch
another mother
Brendan
|
|
$400
[21]
This Canadian trio was once known as the biggest cult band in the world
Rush
Allegra
|
$400
[22]
This indigenous name for Easter Island is also the name of the national park that features all 900 or so of the iconic statues
Rapa Nui
Andrew
|
$400
[23]
In 2025 this retail chain did not live up to its "eternal" name, filing its 2nd bankruptcy in 6 years, with plans to wind down U.S. ops
Forever 21
Allegra
|
$400
[24]
This Bonnie Garmus bestseller about a scientist-turned-TV star features Six-Thirty, a pretty smart boy himself
Lessons in Chemistry
Allegra
|
$400
[25]
Whether it comes before or after professor, this Latin word indicates (but is not synonymous with) retirement
emeritus
Brendan
|
$400
[11]
An ersatz gâteau
a fake cake
Allegra
|
|
$600
[8]
John Linnell of TMBG, this group, says its audiences would happily call themselves culty
They Might Be Giants
Allegra
|
$800
[1]
A popular trekking destination, Simien Mountains National Park contains this country's highest peak, Ras Dejen
Ethiopia
Brendan
|
$600
[18]
This Detroit native went to Cass Tech, designed Pontiac's GTO, then made his own two-seatsports car with gull-wing doors
DeLorean
Allegra
|
$600
[12]
Enzo, the philosophic dog in this Garth Stein tale, has a master with a hankering to win Formula One races
The Art of Racing in the Rain
Allegra
|
$600
[14]
In 2 very different senses, Oliver Perry &Lionel Richie
Commodore
Brendan
|
$600
[10]
The steeple chorale
a spire choir
Brendan
Allegra
|
|
$800
[9]
Thisband of bassist Les Claypool is going strong 40 years after its founding & 30+ after "Sailing the Seas of Cheese"
Primus
Allegra
|
DD
$1,000
[16]
The most famous feature of Venezuela's Canaima National Park, it has an initial plunge of 2,648 feet
Angel Falls
Brendan
|
$800
[15]
This Houston company traces its roots back to 1919 & its namesake founder, an oil well cementing pioneer
Halliburton
Andrew
|
$800
[5]
This beloved pooch owned by Nick & Nora Charles in Dashiell Hammett's work was also beloved in film adaptations
Asta
Allegra
|
$800
[3]
This honorific for Muslim clerics like 9/11-era Taliban leader Omar is roughly equivalent to "Lord"
Mullah
Andrew
|
$800
[6]
Nuptial coverlets
wedding bedding
Allegra
|
|
$1,000
[19]
Glasgow brothers Jim & William Reid formed this band with a vaguely biblical name
The Jesus and Mary Chain
Allegra
|
$1,000
[2]
After visiting Banff, head north to this adjoining national park to see its incredible glaciers & wildlife
Jasper National Park
|
$1,000
[17]
This health care company that went through the death of executive Brian Thompson in 2024 is No. 3 on the 2025 Fortune 500
UnitedHealthcare
Brendan
|
$1,000
[13]
You're on target if you know this tough mutt owned by Bill Sikes in a Dickens tale had a "face scratched & torn in 20 different places"
Bull's-eye
|
$1,000
[4]
This title basically means "deputy king"; it's also the name of a butterfly that mimics the color pattern of the monarch butterfly
viceroy
Brendan
|
$1,000
[7]
Payroll tax for your work reading the book of the minor prophet that follows Jonah
Micah FICA
|
| OCCULT BANDS | LAWYERS | WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE | ROLE-PLAYING ROLES | POP-UP-POURRI | BACK WORDS |
|
$400
[9]
Some areas of 16th century France went through a panic over packs of these, the loups-garous
werewolves
Andrew
|
$400
[29]
Confirmed by the Senate, Loretta Lynchbecame the first African-American woman to hold this government post
attorney general
Allegra
|
$400
[27]
This other nickname for the Jazz Age is said to come from a boating term for latitudes with strong winds
the Roaring Twenties
Brendan
|
$400
[25]
The TV series "Happily Ever Avatar" includes a couple who fell in love after meeting in this MMORPG set in Azeroth
World of Warcraft
Brendan
|
$400
[16]
Robert Sabuda's pop-up books include one that takes you through this, with the Lincoln Bedroom popping up
the White House
Andrew
|
$400
[22]
This word referred to the last car on freight trains of yore; it can also refer to buttocks, of yore & otherwise
a caboose
Allegra
|
|
$800
[19]
In Matthew 26 it's a group of angels, but in Mark 5 it seems to imply a group of demons: "My name is" this, "for we are many"
Legion
Andrew
|
$800
[28]
His closing argument during the Leopold & Loeb case lasted around 12 hours
(Clarence) Darrow
Andrew
|
$800
[26]
The queen is dead, long live the king & let's buildhomesin the style of this era that followed the Elizabethan
the Jacobean Era
|
$800
[30]
Tye Sheridan spits game to Olivia Cooke while playing in the VR world called the Oasis in this film
Ready Player One
Allegra
|
$800
[24]
Ethan Zuckerman invented the pop-up that "put an ad in a separate" one of these on a web page, & later apologized
a window
Allegra
|
$800
[23]
No licking! "Original" this, the sticky stuff on the back of a stamp, can greatly enhance the stamp's value to a collector
the gum
|
|
$1,200
[3]
Explanations of girls' actions in Salem include psychosis & fungus, but "AHS:" this band has a different idea--witchcraft
Coven
Allegra
|
$1,200
[11]
The same year she got married to "Michael Clayton", she was appointed to a public international law panel in the U.K.
Amal Clooney
Andrew
|
$1,200
[7]
Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid oversaw the Islamic golden age from this city; the caliphate ultimately collapsed in 1258
Baghdad
Allegra
|
$1,200
[15]
In the final episode of this Judd Apatow series, cool guy James Franco plays D&D with some nerdy freshmen
Freaks and Geeks
Allegra
|
$1,200
[20]
Later an off-and-on Yankees manager, he saved the 1952 World Series for the team with alunging catchof a bases-loaded pop-up
Billy Martin
|
$1,200
[4]
This plural word from French denotes an animal's hindquarters; if you squat, it's what you're said to be sitting on
haunches
Andrew
|
|
$1,600
[10]
19th c. spiritualism had journals, such as this person "& Daybreak"; Issue 1 says the icy finger of death is not the end of contact
the medium
|
$1,600
[2]
His2005 Los Angeles Times obit recalls his legal strategy that put the competence & character of the LAPD on trial
Johnnie Cochran
Allegra
|
$2,000
[12]
During the so-called Pax Romana, Roman general Varus lost to Hermann the German in the Battle of this forest in 9 A.D.
Teutoburg Forest
Andrew
|
$1,600
[14]
Inthis2023 film, Archie Madekwe can flex on his lady a little after a Sony racing game lands him a job
Gran Turismo
Andrew
Brendan
|
$1,600
[18]
The Food Lab is a space for pop-up restaurants in this facility on Lower Manhattan's South Street
the (South Street) Seaport
Allegra
|
DD
$2,000
[5]
Turn over a painting & you might find labels, notes or even a signature on this side, a 5-letter word from Latin for "to turn"
verso
Andrew
|
|
$2,000
[21]
In 1898 the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn got this new member, the Brit who became the face of magick & occultism
Crowley
Allegra
|
$2,000
[1]
Mary L. Bonautoof GLAD Law argued on behalf of this Ohio man in a landmark Supreme Court case in 2015
Obergefell
Brendan
|
DD
$4,000
[8]
Mansa Musa I recruited scholars & architects to go to Timbuktu during the height of this 4-letter West African empire
Mali
Allegra
|
$2,000
[13]
The will-they-won't-they between Charlotte Nicdao & Rob Macin this video game industry show was retconned to not end in a kiss
Mythic Quest
Allegra
|
$2,000
[17]
As in the 1951LeSabre, hidden or pop-up headlights were a passion of this legendary GM car designer
Harley Earl
|
$2,000
[6]
The name of this fin at the very rear of a fish, aka the tail fin, is also an adjective meaning "near the posterior"
caudal
Allegra
|
A Nobel laureate coined this word "to avoid the repetition of the rather cumbersome phrase 'mould broth filtrate'"
penicillin