My Favorite Team finished on top, and answered the final question thanks to the extra hint.

What musical group, whose biggest hit was "Eye in the Sky", did Homer Simpson describe as "some sort of hovercraft"?

What does the musical instruction "col legno" mean to a violinist?

What household object, once called a besom, is sold using brands including Libman and SWOPT?

What hip-hop song, the top-selling single of 1995​​​​​​​, uses a melody by Stevie Wonder and was parodied by Weird Al Yankovic?

I am pleased to report that My Favorite Team got every one of this week's questions correct except for the "toss-up" questions whose answers are some random number that one just tries to answer closer than everyone else.

What is the distance between the center of a circle and its perimeter?

What genomics company filed for bankruptcy in March 2025?

What Latin American dessert consists of spongecake soaked in a mixture of whole, evaporated, and condensed milk?

What is the name of Percy Jackson's friendly hellhound?

What manicure style is characterised by a natural base and white tips?

What disease was treated by the earliest vaccinations?

What basketball coach led UCLA to seven straight NCAA championships?

What board game includes the characters Frostine, Plumpy, Gloppy, and Gramma Nutt?

What singer who died in 1995 was called the Queen of Tejano Music?

What are the birthplace countries of the following actors?  Heath Ledger, Ryan Reynolds, Mila Kunis, Natalie Portman, Lupita Nyong'o

What newsworthy country in 2025 is the world's largest island (not also reckoned as a continental landmass)?

What is the correct spelling of the region that includes Cuba, Jamaica, the Bahamas, and many other islands?

What is the only country with a non-quadrilateral flag?

What "Goonies" actor also voiced teenage mutant ninja turtle Donatello in two movies and Slash on TV?

Silk production begin during the Neolithic in what country?

Who was the author of "Don Quixote", often considered the first modern novel?

Cusco was the capital of what empire until the 16th century?

What actress and wife of Harrison Ford stars in "Curse of the Starving Class" with Christian Slater?

What civil rights activist was memorialized by Barack Obama for his legacy in the farm labor movement?

What annual event was inaugurated in 1985 at Madison Square Garden, with Muhammad Ali as a referee and Liberace as a timekeeper?

Long-awaited semi-finals were going well at first, but our second half was not good enough.

What state has the Crayola factory and also the first US oil well?

Baylen Dupree of "Baylen Out Loud" has what unusual condition?

In what country is Ushuaia, the world's most southermost city?

What assassinated president had campaigned on the slogan "A Full Dinner Pail"?

The last question thwarted us again and disproved my Guessability Theory.

What is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea?

What 1958 film is about a fan who'd sell his soul to aid the Washington Senators?

Who responded to Barry Goldwater's "In your heart you know he's right" slogan with "In your guts you know he's nuts"?

What song ranked #3 by Rolling Stone and #1 on its list of protest songs begins with the following lyrics?

"I was born by the river in a little tent
Oh, and just like the river, I've been running ever since"

The semifinals aren't happening yet, but My Favorite Team did get tripped up by the final question this week.  My post-mortem advice was that the final answer is almost always something you could have guessed, even if you didn't.

What character created by Stan Lee was supposed to be unlikeable because "everyone hates war"?

What tech company founded in 1939 was named based on the flip of a coin?

What was Elvis Presley's first number one hit?

What automobile device was first used to try to gain an advantage in the 1894 Paris-Rouen race?

My wife is watching a video titled "Pride and Prejudice 1995 More Things You Might Have Missed".  My immediate thought was "Good grief, that's a lot of things to have missed!"

And then I laughed and laughed and laughed at myself.  

Still rocking, My Favorite Team is in the semifinals.  We'll see how we do against tougher competition. 

Rehoboam is the name of an AI in what dystopian sci-fi series on HBO?

What sportswear company founded in 1938 is named for a river in Oregon?

Miss Trunchbull is the headmistress in what novel by Roald Dahl?

After his death in 2022, whose nickname was added to his home country's dictionary as a synonym for "exceptional, incomparable, unique"​​​​​​​?

Because One Day I'll Leave You
​​​​​​​A Phantom To Lead You

Fan(s?) of nerdsholmferret crosswords will recognize the first one, which I answered with glee.  Do not get me started on "Rick Pitino" or "Malcolm Gladwell", which I nearly answered, with gnashing of teeth.

In the movie "Better Off Dead", Johnny the paperboy repeatedly demands what quantity of money?

What Paul Simon song starts with "When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it's a wonder I can think at all" ?

What movie features this quote:  "We mothers stand still so our daughters can look back to see how far they've come" ?

What 18th century Prussian monarch composed flute sonatas and corresponded with Voltaire about philosophy, in addition to waging wars of conquest?

Remember that you are dust, and also these bits of trivia:

This science-fictional character had the prime directives "Serve the public trust.  Protect the innocent.  Uphold the law."

This capital city has an unofficial slogan urging its inhabitants to keep it weird.

This politician appeared in a short film depicting his 1896 Republican nomination for the presidency.

Portrayed by Frank Langella, Adam Sandler, and Nicholas Cage, this is the most portrayed literary character.