Dr. Shapiro's Question of the Day IV by ShapiroA

HAN_MAN

You're on the gallows with no room left for error. Supply the letter such that the resulting 7-letter term has the maximum number of hits on Google (for Dr. Shapiro, at the time of writing; who knows if we all see the same Google results, but don't worry, it isn't close).

The story goes that Queen Victoria of England enjoyed a certain children's book so much that she requested the author's next work, so he sent her An Elementary Treatise on Determinants -- a book that introduced a method mathematicians now call "Dodgson concentration". What was the book that initially gained her admiration?

Take the name of Uruguay's capital and translate it (approximately) into English. The result is the name of what Bay Area city, pop. ~75,000? No cheating allowed, though Google surely holds the answer.

From a certain entry on Wikipedia: "In the terminology of phonetics, the sound has been described as a voiceless linguolabial trill, [r̼̊] ... A ___ is never used in human language phonemically (that is, as a building block of words), but it is widely used across human cultures."

What word (which is also a kind of fruit) has been redacted?

A chain of sweet treat purveyors with many locations in the U. S. offers a discount that is only available 7 days a year. Those days are in January, March, May, July, August, October, and December. What's the chain?

Other than the questionable "chachacha", which English word contains ACHACH?

Which planet (other than Earth) is, on average, closest to Earth? If it helps, you may assume all planets orbit the Sun in coplanar circles; though this is not entirely accurate, it simplifies the problem without changing the answer.

The Parsons code (a.k.a. melodic contour) for the chorus of "Jingle Bells" begins with *RR RRR RUDUU...

What well-known Christmas carol has a Parsons code beginning with *DDDDDDD?

The gnaborretni is a rare and somewhat whimsical typographic symbol whose occurrence is limited to one major world language. What is that language?

"__, __, __, sugar on your bread, / If you don't like it you can go to bed." These are the 5th and 6th lines of a familiar children's song, in a version from India. The first 4 lines are much closer to the American version, but then the songs diverge because of dialect differences and rhyme constraints. What goes in the blanks?

The hibiscus, saguaro, and Cherokee rose are the official state flowers of what 3 U. S. states? Yes, all 3 are required, in order. As a small hint, each of these states has (strictly) more vowels than consonants in its name.

What number belongs in the blue cell?

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