NYT Connections May 2, 2025 #691 Hints & Answers

The technique of relief carving dates back over 30,000 years to the Paleolithic era, making it one of humanity's oldest art forms. The ancient Egyptians perfected bas-relief (low relief) carving, creating incredibly detailed scenes with only slight projections from the flat background, often enhanced with vibrant pigments that have survived for millennia.

The word 'pillar' derives from the Latin 'pila' meaning 'pile' or 'column.' In architecture, pillars have crucial symbolic meanings beyond their structural function. The ancient Greeks developed three classical pillar styles—Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian—each representing different philosophical ideals: the Doric embodied masculine strength, the Ionic represented feminine grace, and the Corinthian symbolized virginal elegance and luxury.

The term 'barbecue' comes from the Spanish word 'barbacoa,' learned from indigenous Caribbean peoples. The first documented mention of American barbecue was by Spanish explorer Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo in 1526, who described indigenous cooking methods in Hispaniola (now Haiti and Dominican Republic) where meat was slow-cooked on wooden platforms above smoldering wood—a technique remarkably similar to modern barbecue methods still used nearly 500 years later.

The term 'breakneck' dates back to the 16th century, initially used quite literally to describe activities dangerous enough to potentially break one's neck. By the 18th century, it had evolved into a more general descriptor for extremely fast speeds. Interestingly, 'breakneck speed' is a common example of a pleonasm—a phrase using more words than necessary to express meaning, as 'breakneck' alone already implies dangerous speed.