Final Jeopardy: 20th Century Phrases (4-22-26)

The Final Jeopardy question (4/22/2026) in the category “20th Century Phrases” was:

Before this 2-word term came to mean a type of mysterious object, trapshooters used it to refer to their targets

28x champ Jamie Ding, a bureaucrat & law student from Lawrenceville, NJ, has now won $774,601. In Game 29, he takes on: Suzanne Perla Blank, a retired stay-at-home mom orig. from Queens, NY; and Ruey Yen, a baseball usher, sports blogger & physicist from Los Angeles, CA.

Round 1 Categories: Amazing Andrews – Familiar Phrases – Do I Look Fad in This? – Primer – Foundation – Lip Gloss

Jamie found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Familiar Phrases” under the $1,000 clue on the 3rd pick. He had $1,400. Nobody else was on the board. Jamie made it a true Daily Double and he was RIGHT.

This phrase meaning a commotion over something little predates the Shakespeare title show

WHAT IS MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING?

Jamie finished in the lead with $9,800. Ruey was in second place with $4,400 and Suzanne was last with $1,400. All clues were shown.

Round 2 Categories: Victorian Times – Song Story – Siblings – Post-Apocalyptic Page-Turners – River Cities & Towns – Do Not Pick This Category

Suzanne found the first Daily Double in “Victorian Times” under the $1,600 clue on the first pick of the round. She was in last place with $1,400 now, $8,400 less than Jamie’s lead. Suzanne bet $2,000 and she was RIGHT.

Around 1867 this British surgeon developed an antiseptic to kill bacteria, dropping surgical mortality from 45 to 15% show

WHO IS JOSEPH LISTER?

Suzanne got the last Daily Double in “Do Not Pick This Category” under the $2,000 clue with 3 clues left after it. In last place with $5,000, she had $14,400 less than Jamie’s lead. Suzanne bet $4,900 but had no response so she was WRONG.

Your behavior is this 3-word phrase meaning unacceptable; it originally referred to a type of fenced-in area show

WHAT IS BEYOND THE PALE?

Jamie finished in the lead with a runaway $20,200. Ruey was in second place with $7,600. Suzanne was last with $100. All clues were shown.

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NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHAT IS A FLYING SAUCER?

The term “flying saucer” began applying to UFOs (unidentified flying objects) in June 1947 as a result of a reporter’s error. Kenneth Arnold, an amateur pilot, described seeing 9 strange objects flying erratically, “like a saucer if you skip it across the water” to a newspaper reporter, who wrote it up as if Arnold had seen flying saucers. The story went viral before viral was a thing and, within weeks, an astonishing number of people all across the USA reported seeing flying saucers.

Flying saucers is one of the terms applied to round clay discs used for target practice, aka clay pigeons. It is still used today for target practice, while the Air Force coined the term UFO in the 1950s to replace flying saucers.

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Suzanne came up with black hole. She bet and lost her $100.

Ruey drew a blank. He lost $2,400 and finished with $5,200.

Jamie had clay pigeons. He lost $1,199 but won the game with $19,001 for a 29-day total of $793,602. He started this game $25,399 shy of $800,000. Now he’s only $6,398 away. Oh, the suspense!

A triple stumper from each round:

AMAZING ANDREWS ($600) A note that he wrote to his Mum inspired “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”, a hit for Wham!, of which he was half

VICTORIAN TIMES ($1200) Using steam-powered locomotives, the first intercity railroad line between London & this industrial city opened in 1838

More clues on Page 2

2 years ago: ALL of the players got this FJ in “HISTORIC TRANSPORTS”

Decorated with an illustration of the Montgolfiers’ craft, the smoking room aboard this could be accessed only via an airlock show

WHAT IS THE HINDENBURG?

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