Final Jeopardy: U.S. Lakes (5-12-26)
Here are some more clues from the 5/12/2026 Jeopardy! game, including the 2 reversals. Please don’t put the answers to the stumpers 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.
Good Reversal: “INTER” IS COMING ($600) Zachary Taylor underwent this process in 1991, 141 years after he died – Tristan buzzed in with reinterment. Ken said no as he tried to switch to interment. Laurel got it with disinterment. The judges found that Taylor was reinterred after the disinterment so Tristan got $1200. (The switch to interment was ignored because reinterment should have been accepted.)
Bad Reversal (imo): MEETING IN THE MIDDLE ($1200) The boundary between the outer ear and the middle ear is the eardrum, aka this membrane – Ken accepted Laurel’s response of “tympanum” but the judges wanted to hear “tympanic”, which Ken actually said while accepting “tympanum”. For “tympanic”, Merriam-Webster says: “of, relating to, or being a tympanum”; the first definition for tympanum is “tympanic membrane”, making it seem perfectly acceptable to say one or the other.
POTPOURRI ($600) It can mean to raise something, like a flag; as a noun, it’s the height of the flag when flying on a staff
($800) In February 2026 Lunar New Year brought about the year of this, one of the 5 basic Chinese elements + an animal
The Daily Box Scores are released at 8 pm Eastern
SNEAK PEEK CATEGORY: HOLIDAYS & OBSERVANCES OF THE MONTH
($200) Black Friday & the birthday of the Marine Corps
($400) National Library Workers’ Day & Tax Day
($600) National Nurses Day & The Kentucky Derby
($800) Orthodox Christmas & Civil Rights Day
($1000) Both equinoxes (2 responses please)
ANSWERS: show
We may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made from Amazon.com links at no cost to our visitors. Learn more: Affiliate Disclosure.
Rough night for me. Knew only the last DD and couldn’t think of Final. Agree that “typanum” should have been accepted, although I’d have said “tympanic” and am not familiar with tympanum.
Not seeing the answers to the sneak peek clues.
Re the reversal, sometimes what they accept or reject is downright baffling. I’ve seen them reverse on what I thought were pretty flimsy grounds. I’ll never forget the time they came back and gave a player “Eve Marie Saint” because she was credited that way in one entry on IMDB, an obvious error. Eva Marie is her real name, for heaven’s sake! (She’s still with us and will be 102 this July 4th.)
I put the sneak peek answers in. smh. Don’t know how I didn’t see that yesterday!
Now I remember that yesterday I looked at a lot of sites about the FJ clue and noticed some said Lake Maurepas, a lake on the west side of Lake Pontchartrain, was named after Louis’ son. I thought it was named after his grandson and got preoccupied trying to figure out what was right when I realized that, for the recap, it didn’t matter!
But, for the record, it’s the grandson:
– Louis, compte de Pontchartrain,
– Louis’ son, Jérome, compte de Pontchartrain
– Jérome’s son, Jean Frédéric, compte de Maurepas
Do you maybe mean “interment” and “reinterment” and “disinterment”? “Interment” and “internment” mean different things.
Yes, Douglas, thanks. I fixed it. 😁
Tristan has qualified for the Tournament of Champions. Tristan becomes the 5th player this season to win 5 or more games.