Missing Links
Back in a ____ in the pan
Flash
This Hunnic leader's penchant for sacking, pillaging & general malfeasance earned him the nickname "Scourge of God"
Atilla
Makes sense--a caution flag in NASCAR is this color, so slow down!
Yellow
It's something of little importance or value, like, say, legumes in a heap
Hill of Beans
Alexander Pope wrote that to do this "is human"
Err
Vanity ____ maiden
Fair
In 1888 he committed at least 5 gruesome murders in London's Whitechapel district & was never caught
Jack the Ripper
"All hope abandon ye who enter here" is a line from this 14th century work
The Divine Comedy
In a 1785 poem William Cowper referred to this as "the very spice of life"; spoken like a man who's never tried sriracha
Variety
The police, or the fibrous covering of a peach
Fuzz
Nude ____ read
Beach
This 15th century Walachian prince was such a thug that his nickname refers to his favorite way of killing people
Vlad the Implaler
5 is the lowest alert level in this readiness system used by our military; 1 is the most dire
Defcon
At the dinner table, it can be a tempting item, perhaps twice baked--or a subject best avoided
Hot Potato
One of the 5 pillars of Islam, it refers to a pilgrimage each Muslim is supposed to take at least once in life
Hajj
Rule of ____ drive
Thumb
He killed his own mother & at least one of his wives, plus he may have burned Rome to the ground in 64 A.D.
Nero
Rattlesnakes warn us by shaking their tails; the sound is the motion of this fibrous stuff that makes up hair & nails
Keratin
TV's "MythBusters" once tested whether "taking" this is "as easy" as the idiom suggests--conclusion: nope
Take candy from a baby
As a noun it's a long, unbroken wave; as a verb, it means to grow in size or volume
Swell
A perfect ____ chaser
Storm
He established the notorious People's Temple & was responsible for over 900 deaths at a compound in Guyana
Jim Jones
Shakespeare used this word for the unnamed character who warned Julius Caesar, "Beware the Ides of March"
Soothsayer
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
Kettle of Fish
Beginning with a prefix meaning million, this unit of power is used to measure how much electricity is used in a large region
Megawatt