Final Jeopardy: Writers (2-17-26)
The Final Jeopardy question (2/17/2026) in the category “Writers” was:
The winner of 3 Pulitzer Prizes in 2 different categories, he called his home in Conn. “the house the bridge built”
The last semifinal match in the 2026 Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament features: Long Nguyen, a retired engineer from Las Vegas, NV; Karen Farrell, a professional lecturer of intl. affairs from Chesapeake, VA.; Drew Goins, a journalist from Washington, D.C.
Round 1 Categories: Landlocked in – Words With a Silent Letter – I’m Cleaning Out the Garage – Green Stuff – All Sorts of Entertainment – Poem Add a Letter
Karen found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Poem Add a Letter” under the $600 clue on the 2nd pick of the round. She was the only one on the board with $800. Karen bet $1,000 and she was RIGHT.
Keats looks back on an unfortunate day as a line cook in Athens when his hand blistered after touching a hot gyro plate show
Long finished in the lead with $5,600. Drew was in second place with $4,600. Karen was last with $3,600. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: The Comeback – Maps & Globes – Opera – Britspeak – Celebrity Collectives – Are You Knot Entertained?
Long found the first Daily Double in “Maps & Globes” under the $1,600 clue on the 2nd pick of the round. He was in the lead with $7,200 now, $2,600 more than Drew in second place. Long wagered everything and he was RIGHT.
Lines of latitude are also called these, from their geometric layout; you’re just about standing on the 34th show
On the very next pick, Long got the last Daily Double in “Opera” under the $1,200 clue. In the lead with $14,400, he had $9,800 more than Drew in second place. Long bet $5,000 and said “The Ring of the Nibelung”. That was WRONG.
Maidens guard the title object of this opera, the first of the “ring” cycle show
Long finished in the lead with $15,800. Drew was next with $12,200 and Karen was in third place with $10,000. All clues were shown.
Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHO IS THORNTON WILDER?
Thornton Wilder is the only writer to have won Pulitzer Prizes in fiction and in drama. “The Bridge of San Luis Rey” (1927) won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1928. (The category was changed in 1948 to Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.) Later, two Wilder plays won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama: “Our Town” (1938) and “The Skin of Our Teeth” (1942).
“The Bridge of San Luis Rey” was an instant best-seller and the royalties enabled Wilder to build a home in Hamden, Connecticut. Apparently, there was some controversy in giving him the 1928 prize as the award was supposed to go to the American novel “which shall best present the whole atmosphere of American life, and the highest standard of American manners and manhood.” “The Bridge of San Luis Rey” is set in Peru so the “American life” part was set aside and Thornton Wilder was unanimously awarded the $1,000 prize. That’s worth about $18.5K in today’s dollars so it must have helped with the house, too.
Karen had no response. She had no bet either, standing pat on her $10,000.
Drew went with Agee. He lost him $12,197 and finished with $3.00.
Long got it right. He bet $5,001 and won the game with $20,801. Long moves on to the finals where the first to win 2 games will win this tournament.
Assuming they put the finalists in order of semifinal scores, tomorrow’s lineup will be:
Roger ($28,001) Long ($20,801) Andrew ($13,562)
A triple stumper from each round:
I’M CLEANING OUT THE GARAGE ($600) I’ve never used this exercise gadget that became infomercial famous in the ’90s and I don’t plan to start anytime soon
ARE YOU KNOT ENTERTAINED? ($1600) He made his name with the play “The Blood Knot” about 2 half-brothers in South Africa, one who can pass as white, one who can’t
2 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS”
He’s the most recent presidential candidate to have officially declared his opponent in that campaign the victor show
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Peru is in America, South America. The life and manners are referred to as of America not of the United States of America. America as a continent extends from Canada to the tip of South America. I don’t think they set anything aside. They just didn’t consider the scope of the word America.
Hi Judy, You can read what they did on the Pulitzer.org page I linked to. Maybe I didn’t paraphrase what happened that well, but they say right on there that they changed the language.That was my source.