Final Jeopardy: American Authors (2-18-26)
The Final Jeopardy question (2/18/2026) in the category “American Authors” was:
She wrote the foreword for a 1971 cookbook sponsored by the Jackson Symphony League
We’re in the home stretch of the 2026 Jeopardy! Invitational Tournament. The finals will go on until one of these guys wins 2 games: Roger Craig, an applied scientist from Arlington, VA; Long Nguyen, a retired engineer from Las Vegas, NV; and Andrew He, a stay-at-home dad from Concord, CA.
They will definitely be back tomorrow, but these finals could go on until next Monday if each finalist wins one game for the rest of the week.
Round 1 Categories: Names in Sports – Quotable Notables – Well, That’s Pathetic – A Good Old Job – How’d They Come Up With It? – Forestry Fiction
Andrew found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “A Good Old Job” under the $600 clue on the 19th pick of the round. He was in the lead place with $4,800 now, $600 more than Roger in second place. Andrew bet everything and, after a be more specific, he was RIGHT.
The name of this profession is also the action done by the worker who pulls a handle to make fizzy nonpotent potables flow show
Andrew finished in the lead with $10,400. Roger was second with $5,800 and Long was last with $1,600. All clues were shown.
Round 2 Categories: People of the World – Idioms & Expressions – That Drink is Named for Me! – A Musical Language Lesson – Going Down in History – Beautiful Things
Long found the first Daily Double in “People of the World” under the $1,600 clue on the first pick. The scores were the same as above. Long bet the $2,000 allowance and he was RIGHT.
At about 70 million, the Hausa are the largest group in this African country, about 30% show
Long got the last Daily Double in “Idioms & Expressions” under the $2,000 clue on the 11th pick. He was in second place with $6,400 now, $8,400 less than Andrew’s lead. Long felt forced to bet it all even though he hated the category. He tried “ad nauseam” but that was WRONG.
To insist on a point until people start to doubt you & it is to do this, spoken by Queen Gertrude in “Hamlet” show
Andrew finished in the lead with $16,700. Roger was next with $10,600 and Long was in third place with $2,000. All clues were shown.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHO IS EUDORA WELTY?
Eudora Welty (1909-2001) was a short story writer and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who is considered the most famous writer from Jackson, Mississippi, where she was born and died. In 1971, she wrote the foreword for “The Jackson Cookbook”, a collection of heirloom Southern dishes compiled by the Jackson Symphony League.
A blog post on the Mississippi Library Commission blog post contains some quotations from Welty’s foreword, and also mentions that the cookbook opens with a recipe for “Squash Eudora”, a dish created by Miss Welty’s neighbor Winifred Cheney.
Long tried Maya Angelou. He lost $1,933 and finished with $67.
Roger crossed out Lee and went with O’Connor. He bet and lost his whole $10,600.
Andrew thought it might be cookbook author Flagg. He lost $4,801 but won the game with the $11,599 he had left. So Andrew is the one who can end the tournament tomorrow, especially if he gets to one of the Daily Doubles when he’s flush.
A triple stumper from each round:
A GOOD OLD JOB ($1000) In old textile factories, slubber doffers, often kids, removed this type of spool that held the yarn for spinning machines
THAT DRINK IS NAMED FOR ME! ($2000) A fave of Elizabeth II, this quinine-laced drink was named for its inventor, a French chemist hoping to prevent malaria
2 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “19th CENTURY AMERICANS”
In 1896, 15 years after a famous showdown, this man was accused of fixing a championship boxing match show
IF YOU HAVE SUGGESTIONS FOR CHANGES TO THE SHOW OR COMPLAINTS, PLEASE SEND YOUR FEEDBACK DIRECTLY TO JEOPARDY!
We may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made from Amazon.com links at no cost to our visitors. Learn more: Affiliate Disclosure.
I was astonished that none of them knew the title of the Warren Zevon song. Linda Ronstadt did a cover that’s considered better than Zevon’s original.
This is a must win for both Roger and Long tomorrow in order to stay in the tournament. We’ll see if they can prevent Andrew from reaching two victories tomorrow.