Final Jeopardy: Animal Names (12-30-25)
Here are some more clues from the 12/30/2025 Jeopardy! game. Please don’t put the answers to these clues in the comments so people who missed the game can have a chance to answer them. It is okay to refer to them by category and clue value or by part of the clue.
The contestants missed 2 clues in the category IN THE DICTIONARY:
($400) It means “occurring often”; when it’s a verb meaning “to visit often”, the stress can shift to the second syllable
($800) Whether half or full, one theory for its name is a British town known for its wrestling matches
($1200) It’s a type of responsive prayer, or in the secular world, an often long & tedious list of complaints
($1600) The process of sending a criminal suspect to another country, or a performance of “Cry Me a River”
($2000) From the same root as “puncture” comes this uneasy pricking of one’s conscience
ANSWERS: show
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($400) An invite on GCal, short for this, is the standard way many college students today suggest getting together
($800) Hey, let’s play first U.S. Post Office within its state’s present boundaries! Natchez, Nov. 29, 1799
($1200) This social media platform where you can read about helpful painters & creepy intruders says it’s in 345,000 neighborhoods
($1600) In the USA of 1950 it’s been estimated 1 working woman in 13 spent her day sitting at this apparatus connecting callers
($2000) Before his death in Chatham on Cape Code in 1622, this English-speaking Patuxet man interpreted for his Pilgrim pals
ANSWERS: show
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I was 2/3 on DD, but missed FJ. Again, I hamstrung myself, thinking the continental landmass for Asia. I said “hippopotamus”, notwithstanding that’s an African animal.
I don’t recall the last time all 3 DD wagers were true DDs. Also, the “Mish-Maps” category I found to be easier, or more “natural”, if you will, than regular “before and after” clues.
A good game, though. This recapitulates to me how I miss the “wild card” spots in former tournaments. That entailed more strategic wagering, vs the now “win or go home”.
Good players,close game, a lot of knowable clues, not a lot of missed answers or stumpers. “Komodo dragon” came to mind immediately, and I couldn’t imagine it being anything else. Didn’t know what that was till I saw the very entertaining movie “The Freshman” long ago. The 3rd DD and everything in that category were pretty easy. The dictionary clues were not.
Apparently, the reason I couldn’t find much for “buaja darat” is due to spelling variations. In the 1910s and 20s, newspapers were spelling it “boeaja darat”, “buaja” was an alternate and then it became “buaya darat”. At some point, “buaya darat” became Indonesian slang for “womanizer.”
It kinda reminds me of the “coup de grâce” thing. A lot of people think it’s “coup de gras” due to misspelling.
“Coup de gras” is funny, to me, because it means “cut of grease”. “Coup” is interesting because of the phrases with which it is associated. This includes “coup de poing” (“cut of the fist”), a punch, “coup de fusil”, a rifle shot, and my beloved “coup de foudre”, a bolt of lightning, like the absolute electricity when you first meet someone that REALLY “rings your chimes”. That is specific enough that you wouldn’t say that during a thunderstorm.
“Gras” en francais means fat (grasse in feminine form).
How about “tout à coup”? I was teaching my granddaughter phrases with tout and that was one of them. I think I’ll work on “bon” next, though.