It's something of little importance or value, like, say, legumes in a heap
What is a hill of beans?
In 1986 a Georgia Kroger store pioneered this service for shoppers who are in a hurry &/or don't feel like chatting
What is self-checkout?
Nidologists know male wrens build an array of these abodes to impress females who come into their territory
What is nests?
Bicycles take flight thanks to the magical powers of a mysterious alien in this Spielberg flick
What is E.T.?
A chunk of Western Canada is part of this region, covering roughly one-third of the United States
What is the Great Plains?
Used in everything from daiquiris to gin fizzes, simple syrup is commonly made using equal parts water & this
What is sugar?
In a 1785 poem William Cowper referred to this as "the very spice of life"; spoken like a man who's never tried sriracha
What is variety?
The record losing streak for this index lasted 2 weeks in 1941--rough ride for investors in the American Smelting & Refining Co.
What is the Dow Jones?
Study of isolated species, called this "biogeography", can look at a peak or a national park, not just a place surrounded by water
What is an island?
"Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" plays as Paul Newman hams it up on a bike in this film that co-starred Robert Redford
What is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid?
The North China Plain is also called the this color Plain, like the name of the river that helped to build it up
What is yellow?
As its head tapers to a thin edge, an ax is considered one of these 5-letter simple machines
What is a wedge?
At the dinner table, it can be a tempting item, perhaps twice baked--or a subject best avoided
What is a hot potato?
This chain named for a different creature popularized popcorn shrimp in America starting in 1974
What is Red Lobster?
Daily Double
"By Means of" this 2-word process was fit enough to survive as a subtitle for Darwin's "Origin of Species"
What is natural selection?
A bit of movie magic allowed this green guy to take a bike ride in 1979 & 1981 films
Who is Kermit the Frog?
The Denakil Plain is a region found in these 2 "E" countries of the Horn of Africa
What are Ethiopia & Eritrea?
Blake Lively turned up in 2025 to once again torment Anna Kendrick in the sequel to this dark comedy
What is A Simple Favor?
TV's "MythBusters" once tested whether "taking" this is "as easy" as the idiom suggests--conclusion: nope
What is taking candy from a baby?
Longtime music manager Irving Azoff was CEO of this concert behemoth when it merged with Live Nation in 2010
What is Ticketmaster?

AlphaFold, a Google-developed AI system, has predicted the complex structures of 200 million of these substances
What is protein?
In a 2025 HBO Max doc, Paul Reubens said people riding bicycles around the WB lot inspired the stolen-bike plot of this movie
What is Pee-wee's Big Adventure?
The massive European Plain stretches from the Urals all the way west to this other range on the Spanish-French border
What are the Pyrenees?
Believed to be an alteration of an English word, it's a simplified variety of language created when 2 cultures come in contact
What is a pidgin?
This 3-word term once referred to a vessel for boiling the catch at river picnics; today, "fine" or not, it means a hot mess
What is kettle of fish?
In 2024 this company known for creating cool spaces had to vacate its own 300,000-square-foot HQ in Midtown Manhattan
What is WeWork?
Knowing mitos is Greek for "thread" helps you name this cell structure loaded with the energy-carrying molecule ATP
What is the mitochondria?
In "Better Off Dead" a psychotic paperboy pedals after this actor in pursuit of the $2 he's owed
Who is John Cusack?
The Plain of Sharon runs some 50 miles along the Mediterranean coast of this country
What is Israel?
Aaron Copland gave this 19th century Shaker tune new prominence when he featured it in "Appalachian Spring"
What is "Simple Gifts"?