The Planets
A Rapper's Delight
Civil Rights & Wrongs
Delicious Before & After
Books From the Last Few Years
400

Sunlight reaches this planet in less than 4 minutes & is about 7 times as bright as received on Earth

Mercury

400

In 2023 this former member of OutKast released the album "New Blue Sun" that contained no rap bars, but a lot of his passion: flutes

André 3000

400

In 1958 African-American activist Clennon King was sent to an asylum for trying to register at this state U. in Oxford

University of Mississippi

400

Hollandaise-laden breakfast entree known as a traitor in the United States

eggs Benedict Arnold

400

Jesmyn Ward's "Salvage the Bones" finds a poor Gulf coast family riding out this 2005 disaster & its aftermath

Hurricane Katrina

800

Ancient astronomers didn't know the size of this gas giant when naming it for the Roman ruler of the gods

Jupiter

800

In a video for ESPN, Lil Wayne states his love for this sport & says he feels amped after doing a "flat ground trick off of a 50-50"

skateboarding

800

The Congress of Racial Equality planned these 1961 trips to enforce desegregation of interstate transportation

800

"Amphibian" British sausage dish cooked in batter that's an ace on the golf course

Toad in the hole in one

800

Author Curtis Sittenfeld wonders what would've happened if Hillary never married Bill in the novel titled this maiden name

Rodham

1200

In Polish, this planet with 28 known moons is 2 letters shorter than in English & presents no pronunciation dilemmas

Uranus

1200

Will Smith trained in this pastime with Grandmaster Maurice Ashley

chess

1200

In 1828 actor Thomas Rice began playing a blackface character named this, a term later used to describe racist laws

Jim Crow

1200

"Vernal" tubular Chinese appetizer that is also a casual bit of canoodling in the barn

spring roll in the hay

1200

There are an infinite number of books in "The Midnight" this, a 2020 bestseller by Matt Haig

Library

1600

Before it was discovered in 1846, scientists were able to predict its likely existence mathematically

Neptune

1600

The rapper Twista has an affinity for magic & also can make his puppet Tiny Twista rap as one of these voice-throwing performers

ventriloquist

1600

Civil rights activism often includes VRDs, these "Drives" to help people participate in our democracy

Voter Registration

1600

"Pastoral" lamb & mashed potato casserole that's a fanciful dream not likely to be attained

shepherd's pie in the sky

1600

This 2021 Andy Weir book about a plucky astronaut sounds like it may be a long shot

Project Hail Mary

2000

Weak gravity there has led to the tallest-known volcanoes in the solar system

2000

In 2023 this rapper & Lando Calrissian actor opened a boba tea shop in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles

Donald Glover

2000

This discriminatory practice comes from the colorful borders on maps around areas where minorities found it hard to get loans or credit

Redlining

2000

Blue cheese-accompanied poultry products that are on the marquee as a Wim Wenders film

Buffalo Wings of Desire

2000

Good times for this author: his Emmett-Till-haunted "The Trees" won praise & "Erasure" became the film "American Fiction"

Percival Everett