INTERSECTING WITH INSECTS
When these insects get "social" & mingle as a group, they're in a flutter
Butterflies
In a sporty idiom, to make expectations higher is to do this, from field events like the pole vault
Raise the bar
What is 2+2
4
Take the L out of a beer league sport (in an alley) & you get an act of showing respect
Bowing & bowling
You probably haven't seen one of these since grade school
Times table (multiplication table)
Smaller than ticks at about the size of a sesame seed, the head type of this parasite may cause sleeplessness & be a hairy situation
Lice
Someone of unappealing visage is said to have "a face for" this medium; Fred Allen said it of himself
Radio
Take the L out of a beer league sport (on ice) & you get an act of healing a disease
Curling & curing
It's the part of a phonograph that spins the record
A turntable
There are 2,700-plus species of this cellulose-eating insect, a close relative of the cockroach--what an awful family reunion
Termites
Completing "give him his...". it means to free him, but completing "hand him his...". it means to beat him
Hand (give) him his head
The sticker identifying the contents of a bottle drops an L to be a doomed man in the Bible
Label & Abel
This Arizona city whose Spanish name means "table" was founded by Mormons in 1878
Mesa
A sub-discipline of entomology, vespology is the study of these like the mud dauber
A wasp
You'll find the French word for "beautiful" in this phrase for the most attractive person in a given setting
Belle of the ball
Another term for a merry-go-round loses an L to go party & get its drink on in a big way
Carousel & carouse
It's the chemical formula for table salt
NaCl
It was big news when the Mediterranean type of this was found in Florida, a state that values its orange groves, April 6, 1929
Fruit fly
This 2-part phrase meaning "completely settled" has a variation that's been used as a hair salon name
Cut and dried
A word describing mild weather mildly drops an L to become a major part of concrete
Clement & cement
"The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table" is a book of essays by this writer & father of a Supreme Court justice
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.