Warning: This page contains spoilers for the July 8, 2025, game of Jeopardy! — please do not scroll down if you wish to avoid being spoiled. Please note that the game airs as early as noon Eastern in some U.S. television markets.
Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category 1950s Literature) for Tuesday, July 8, 2025 (Season 41, Game 217):
At the start of this tale, the title character is reminded he went turtling off the Mosquito Coast
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Elise Canup, an advertising producer from Richmond, Virginia
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Dan Puma, a salesperson from Chicago, Illinois
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Scott Riccardi, an engineer from Somerville, New Jersey (3-day total: $96,001)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
Scott Riccardi—who has said that he wants to buy a marimba with his winnings—is now at nearly $100,000 through three victories and has more money won than 8-time champ Laura Faddah. Today, he faces off against Dan Puma of Chicago and Elise Canup of Richmond; followers of quiz bowl might be familiar with Dan, though I do want to remind everyone of the fact that quiz bowl is not Jeopardy!, and while the upper echelons of Jeopardy! have many quiz bowlers in them, many top quiz bowlers were unable to find success on the Alex Trebek Stage. We shall see what happens in this one!
(Content continues below)
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Correct response: What is The Old Man and the Sea?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2025 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
“I am a strange old man.” In the early stages of The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, a discussion happens between an old man (Santiago) and a boy, where the old man says “He never went turtle-ing. That is what kills the eyes.”, only to be met with “But you went turtle-ing for years off the Mosquito Coast and your eyes are good.”
Your way into this one, unless you know it cold, is to associate “Mosquito Coast” with “sea”, and know that Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea came out in 1952. To me, this feels like a Final Jeopardy clue that we might have seen at any point throughout most of the show’s history. I certainly can’t see how anyone would have an issue with it.
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Game Recap & Tonight’s Game Stats:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Here’s the Tuesday, July 8, 2025 Jeopardy! by the numbers, along with a recap:
Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Notable Names; Hot Time In The Old Town; That’s Honorific!; Days In Tech History; Those Are The Lyrics?!; Multiple Meanings)
Elise found the Daily Double just before the break and used it to vault into second place. After 16 clues, the scores were Scott $5,200 Elise $3,600 Dan $2,000.
Statistics at the first break (16 clues):
Scott 7 correct 1 incorrect
Elise 3 correct 0 incorrect
Dan 3 correct 1 incorrect
Today’s interviews:
Elise is a former synchronized swimmer.
Dan appeared on a Grammy-winning album as a child.
Scott is a big fan of roller coasters.
Scott continued his strong play to keep leading after 30.
Statistics after the Jeopardy round:
Scott 12 correct 1 incorrect
Elise 5 correct 1 incorrect
Dan 9 correct 2 incorrect
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Scott $7,600
Elise $4,200
Dan $3,400
Double Jeopardy! Round:
(Categories: Best-Self-Ers; State Oddity; Hollywood Hodgepodge; “X”; Marx; The Spot)
Dan found the Daily Doubles within the first five clues. However, he left $5,400 on the table on DD3—and Scott led by just $5,000 going into Final Jeopardy.
Statistics after Double Jeopardy:
Scott 24 correct 2 incorrect
Dan 23 correct 8 incorrect
Elise 6 correct 3 incorrect
Total number of unplayed clues this season: 40 (0 today).
Scores going into Final:
Scott $23,200
Dan $18,200
Elise $2,200
This Final Jeopardy was a triple get, which makes Scott a 4-day champion; his winnings are now north of $130,000! He’ll go for win #5 tomorrow.
Tonight’s results:
Elise $2,200 + $2,000 = $4,200 (What is The Old Man and The Sea?)
Dan $18,200 + $5,001 = $23,201 (What is The Old Man and the Sea? <3 N,L,N,C,T,A)
Scott $23,200 + $13,201 = $36,401 (What is The Old Man and the Sea? Sea?) (4-day total: $132,402)
Other Miscellaneous Game Statistics:
Daily Double locations:
1) HOT TIME IN THE OLD TOWN $400 (clue #16)
Elise 1800 +1800 (Scott 5200 Dan 2000)
2) STATE ODDITY $1600 (clue #1)
Dan 3400 +3400 (Scott 7600 Elise 4200)
3) THE SPOT $1200 (clue #5, $28400 left on board)
Dan 8400 +3000 (Scott 9200 Elise 4200)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 236
Clue Selection by Row, Before Daily Doubles Found:
J! Round:
Scott 3 4 5 3 3 4 5 5 5 5
Dan 4 4 4
Elise 2 3 2*
DJ! Round:
Scott 5
Dan 4* 3 4 3*
Elise
Average Row of Clue Selection, Before Daily Doubles Found:
Scott 4.27
Dan 3.71
Elise 2.33
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 40 (0.18 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Scott $23,200 Coryat, 24 correct, 2 incorrect, 36.84% in first on buzzer (21/57), 5/5 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities)
Dan $14,600 Coryat, 23 correct, 8 incorrect, 45.61% in first on buzzer (26/57), 1/3 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Elise $800 Coryat, 6 correct, 3 incorrect, 12.28% in first on buzzer (7/57), 0/1 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $38,600
Lach Trash: $4,400 (on 7 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $11,000
Lead Changes: 6
Times Tied: 0
Player Statistics:
Scott Riccardi, career statistics:
103 correct, 5 incorrect
10/10 on rebound attempts (on 17 rebound opportunities)
39.04% in first on buzzer (89/228)
4/5 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $9,200)
4/4 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $21,850
Dan Puma, career statistics:
24 correct, 8 incorrect
1/3 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
45.61% in first on buzzer (26/57)
2/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $6,400)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $14,600
Elise Canup, career statistics:
7 correct, 3 incorrect
0/1 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities)
12.28% in first on buzzer (7/57)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $1,800)
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $800
Scott Riccardi, to win:
5 games: 68.638%
6: 47.112%
7: 32.337%
8: 22.195%
9: 15.234%
Avg. streak: 6.189 games.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- Today’s box score will be linked to when posted by the show.
Final Jeopardy! wagering suggestions:
(Scores: Scott $23,200 Dan $18,200 Elise $2,200)
Scott: Standard cover bet today is $13,201. (Actual bet: $13,201)
Dan: Because you’re between three-quarters and four-fifths of Scott’s total, you can safely bet between $5,001 and $8,200 in Final Jeopardy today.(Actual bet: $5,001)
Elise: Bet whatever you like; you’re going to need two big overbets to have any hope. (Actual bet: $2,000)
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The term “title character” might send one’s mind in the direction of a proper noun, ie, a specific name, instead of “old man.”
Yes. Like my mind. Was going for a proper noun.
There are about four or five ways to get this one. First, it ‘s from the fifties, and (second) it has a title character. The mention of turtles means that (third) it probably has something to do with fishing, and the Mosquito Coast places it (fourth) somewhere near or in Central America. Obviously, if you read The Old Man and the Sea in middle school and remember anything at all about it (fifth), you wouldn’t need any other four clues.
This is more or less how I pieced it together. Even then, it feels like it’s very doable and I wonder if I was too slow to think of it.
The word turtling did not make me think of fishing 🙂 I guess I’m missing something there.
I never read the story in school (I went to high school in the late 80s), and didn’t know the year that the story was published. However, I knew that the Mosquito Coast is the the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, and that “The Old Man and the Sea” was set in the Caribbean, and that Hemingway was still alive in the 1950s and actively writing at the time. Adding those to “turtling” sounding like it should mean fishing for turtles, I thought that it would be reasonable that “The Old Man and the Sea” would be the correct response. This is one of those clues where they give you enough that you can usually synthesize the answer from the disparate parts of the clue if you have enough trivia knowledge.
I went the same route as you did, though not as specifically as I did not know exactly where the Mosquito Coast was, but I did know it was “by the sea”, so with the other same thoughts as you had I quickly came to the same conclusion.
The part of The Old Man and the Sea’s opening pages that I’ve always remembered was the discussion of Joe DiMaggio. As a young reader, it was the first time I had seen someone from the real world referenced in a work of fiction, and I was impressed. Unfortunately for today’s Final, the bit about the turtling did not stick with me.
HOT TAKE: If Scott puts up another performance like this tomorrow, it may be time to ask if he can become a Jeopardy Legend. As of right now, he has a .435 BA, a .952 accuracy prior to FJ, and a Coryat average of $21,850.
My baseline for Jeopardy Legend is of course Frank Spangenberg; he had a .465 BA, an .899 accuracy, and a Coryat average (well, adjusted for modern value) of $21,080.
Yes, I’m saying if you put Prime Frank against Scott (assuming you let him adjust to modern metagaming), it would be a tossup.
Let’s see if Scott can keep his spot among the greats tomorrow.
Dan should be a good candidate for the second chance.
I agree.
This was easy primarily because “The Old Man and The Sea” was my favorite book in junior high school (we didn’t call it middle school back in those days). I was happy to see that it was a triple get. Congratulations to Scott on becoming a 4-day champ and having a chance to get that 5th win tomorrow (well, he already knows whether he made it or not).
I will be honest, I can’t figure out when first names are needed. For example, tonight they accepted DiMaggio which was fine, but as a fan of baseball I know that Joe, the correct answer, had two brothers playing in the majors at the same time, Vince and Dom, both of which were good players
I don’t know what the show’s guidelines are for this, but I see no need for an additional prompt when the answer is clearly the most prominent person in the field with that last name. I think this clue was handled correctly.
I’ve never seen a good answer Jeffrey, I come in and look every time I see one. Ridley/Tony Scott being very egregious.
Thx,
Jay!
Yeah, I missed!
Retro congrats to Scott on win #4!
We’ll see if he wins his 5th tomorrow!
Andy, do you give a little inner giggle when you write that an amount is “north of”? 👍🇨🇦