RUN IT UP THE STATE FLAGPOLE
We could say it's not the animal appearing most frequently on U.S. state flags... but that would be a bald-faced lie
the eagle
In 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain with 3 ships: the Niña, the Pinta & ___
the Santa María
1,000 years: It's how long the hills have been alive with songs they have sung, whatever that means, in this musical
The Sound of Music
These 2 crazy kids from Verona were the O.G. star-crossed lovers:
UNREAD TILE MOJO
Romeo and Juliet
A popular field of study, it's also the name of a science magazine that runs a feature called "Digs & Discoveries"
Archaeology
Utah's revamped state flag features a beehive, once favored by Brigham Young as an emblem of this religion
Mormonism
In 1773, American colonists protested taxation by filling Boston Harbor with chests full of non-GMO oat milk ___
tea
76: It's the number of these instruments that once led a big parade, according to "Music Man" Harold Hill
trombones
The ides of march were extremely unlucky for this salad namesake:
CASUAL JURIES
Julius Caesar
In the '90s, Nat Geo's logo was updated to feature National Geographic's iconic border of this color
yellow
The flag of this Southern state features a pelican feeding its young; no word on whether it's feeding them jambalaya
Louisiana
Thousands "rush"ed to California after the 1848 discovery of a precious resource: ___
gold
24601: It's the former prison ID number of a guy who stole some bread--presumably French bread--in this blockbuster
Les Misérables
This queen of Egypt was permanently dethroned by poisonous snakes hidden in a fig basket:
TACO PEARL
Cleopatra
For its may 2024 issue, Scientific American ran the story "Life in the Pyrocene"; the cover depicted a man blowing this
fire
The home & lifestyle empire of Chip & Joanna Gaines shares its name with this flower, which appears on the state flag of Mississippi
magnolia
According to legend, soldiers at the Battle of Bunker Hill were told not to fire "until you see the whites of their ___"
eyes
525,600: According to "Rent"--& to basic mathematics, for that matter--it's the number of these that comprise "a year in the life"
minutes
Hamlet is her ex-boyfriend & the other men in her life are no picnic either:
PEA HI LO
Ophelia
In its obit for Oliver Sacks, Nature magazine mentioned this 1973 work that inspired a 1990 Robert De Niro-Robin Williams film
Awakenings
"C" is for both "Continental Divide" & the name of this state with a red "C" on its flag, home to part of the Continental Divide
Colorado
To attack Rome, Hannibal famously crossed the Alps with thousands of troops, thousands of horses & 37 ___
elephants
96,000: It's the number of dollars the locals dream of winning in a song from this show, set in upper Manhattan
In the Heights
"Out, damned spot" sounds like a laundry detergent ad but it's actually this Scotswoman losing her marbles:
CYMBAL DEATH
Lady Macbeth
In its "Top 10 Space Stories of 2023", Astronomy magazine noted this country's Aditya-L1 mission to study the Sun
India