Word CRafting CRaze Trivia Quiz

Answer: crisis

Isis was an ancient Egyptian goddess of fertility, magic, and the dead who was the sister and wife of Osiris. Worship of her spread beyond Egypt throughout Greece and the Roman Empire. In art she appeared as entirely human (without an animal head like some deities), crowned with a throne-like hieroglyph.

The crisis hotline, whereby callers can get emergency counseling, was invented in England in 1953 after Vicar Chad Varah created The Samaritans, a service to provide support to persons in emotional distress.

Answer: crowns

Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom wore two crowns during her coronation in 1953. The first was St Edward's Crown, made in 1661 for Charles II and named after Edward the Confessor. The solid gold headdress weighs five pounds (2.3 kg) and boasts 440 precious gemstones. Elizabeth was only the sixth monarch to be crowned with St. Edward's Crown since the Restoration (1661); George III, for example, never wore it. Only the Queen, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the crown jeweler may touch it! The second crown Elizabeth wore on her coronation was the much lighter Imperial State Crown, which she also wears for opening Parliament.

Answer: croaks

In most species of frog (and toad), only the males croak, and each species has its own sound. They vocalize to attract females for breeding and to warn away other males from their territory. Many puff themselves up enormously with air with each croak, before pushing air through the larynx in the throat.

Some species never croak, however, such as the coastal tailed frog of northern California.

Answer: crimps

Especially in the southern USA, crimping hair refers to pressing into straight hair a zig-zag wave, though it can have a broader meaning elsewhere. Stylist Geri Cusenza invented the modern crimping iron in 1972, specifically for Barbra Streisand's hair.

In cuisine, "to crimp" means to score meat with a knife to make it crisper when cooked, or to make a decorative border on a pie crust. In metallurgy, crimping is bending the edges of a metal plate before forming it into a cylinder. A crimp is also an archaic term for someone who recruits sailors and soldiers by trickery or coercion.

Answer: crowed

Cockcrow is the break of day, as that is when the rooster (cock) crows.

"To crow" can also mean to express pleasure verbally.

The Crow are a Native American people formerly of the northern Great Plains, between the Platte and Yellowstone Rivers. They became nomadic buffalo hunters after migrating west from the Missouri River in what is now North Dakota. Today they are located in southeast Montana. (They are related to the Sioux.)

Answer: crapes

Monkeys and apes are often confused in the English language (whereas many Romance languages use the same name correctly for both, leaving some ambiguity). And honestly, at one time they were apparently synonymous, at least according to the 1910 Encyclopaedia Britannica. You may see explanations that monkeys have tails while apes lack them. Well, this is usually true, except for the Barbary macaques, often misnamed Barbary apes for their lack of tail (they are monkeys). So what is the difference? Well, it has to do with a lot more than the tail -- the shape of the nose, the skeleton, etc. and the position on the evolutionary tree, where they branched off from a common ancestor. Suffice it to say that according to common scientific practice, the Great Apes include gorillas, chimps, and orangutans; the Lesser Apes include the gibbons; the New World (American) Monkeys include the spider, howler, and squirrel monkeys; Old World (Afro-Asian) Monkeys include baboons, mandrills, and macaques.

Answer: creasy

"Creasy greens" is another name for a American watercress, a biennial plant also known as St. Barbara's herb, winter cress, and scurvy grass -- because as a source of Vitamin C it is an old remedy for scurvy. Creasy greens are also remarkably easy to grow, and they improve a garden's soil.

A diagonal crease in the earlobe, called Frank's sign, indicates an increased risk of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).

Answer: craggy

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, "aggy" was slang in the USA for an agricultural college or a student attending one, such as at Texas A&M, whose nickname remains the Aggies. In the 21st century the original spelling has been largely forgotten and it is often spelled "aggie" by back formation from the plural.

Answer: crouch

In 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau surveyed 23,923 people with the last name Crouch, making it the 1,497th most popular name.

An obsolete meaning of "crouch" is to bless with the Sign of the Cross, and the word once referred to a cross itself, as in the 14th-century religious holiday Crouchmas (Feast of the Cross).

Answer: crabby

Hopefully not how you feel after playing this brain teaser!

"Dear Abby" was the name of an enormously popular advice column by Abby or Abigail Van Buren, real name Pauline Philips (1918-2013). "Dear Abby" is carried on by her daughter Jeanne Philips. At its height, over 1200 newspapers carried the syndicated column, which was parodied in "The Brady Bunch", "The Carol Burnett Show", and many other TV programs.