|  |  |  |  |  |  | 
  
    | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | Music superstar Rihanna was born in 1988 in the parish of Saint Michael in this Caribbean island country | Barbados 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | The battle of this elevated spot took place in June 1775 after the Yanks fortified it, threatening the British position | Bunker Hill 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | This synonym for confidence can be found before "healer" & after "defender of the" | faith 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | Thomas Hardy promised his editor a pastoral novel & indeed set it, as the title says, "Far from" this group | (Liz: What is the Maddening Crowd?) 
 the Madding Crowd
 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | You've hit this hard piece of nature "bottom" at your lowest point | rock 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | Perhaps to enjoy with your caviar, Beluga Noble
 | Russia 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | At age 16, Rihanna signed with Def Jam Records, then run by this man, & moved to his label a few years later | (Ken: Yes, you certainly know your Rihanna, Liz.) 
 Jay-Z
 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | During the Galveston hurricane of 1900, Isaac Cline had this job & lost much of his reputation as well as his wife in the storm | meteorologist 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | Ask with confidence in this classic game, "Was it Plum with the dagger in the study?"; you might be wrong, but be confident! | Clue 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | Passionate & a bit on the dark side, "The Giaour" in a poem by this lord & romantic is truly a him-ic hero | Lord Byron 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | You've scraped "the bottom of" this container at your lowest point | the barrel 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | Tito's | (Ken: [Prior to reading the clue] Finishing the vodka--I mean the category.) [Laughter]
 
 the United States
 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | Rihanna's last name, it's on the beauty line that helped make her a billionaire | Fenty 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | A 1756 incident saw numerous Europeans die in this dungeon in India | the Black Hole of Calcutta 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | Facing a trial in 399 B.C., this philosopher was confident he was a good man & could not be harmed (he could, & he certainly was) | Socrates 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | In "A Room with a View", the view isn't of England but of this country | (Ken: Yeah, they're in Florence.) 
 Italy
 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | A New Yorker parody detailed the product liability lawsuit against this "top" company by "Mr. Wile E. Coyote, a resident of Arizona" | Acme 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | Sobieski | (Liz: What is Sweden?) 
 Poland
 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | Rihanna played a hacker helping with a heist at the Met Gala in this movie that took a male series to the distaff side | Ocean's 8 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | In the 1650s this French king danced in ballets, some of which lasted for 12 hours | Louis XIV 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | A Shakespeare character asks, "Does he not hold up his head, as it were, and" this 5-letter confident walk "in his gait?" | strut 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | In Sir Walter Scott's "Castle Dangerous", which is book good, the castle is defended in 1306 against this Scottish king | Robert the Bruce 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | This word meaning situated beneath the Earth's surface also precedes "regions" about more, shall we say, sensitive body areas | nether 
 
 |  |  | 
  
    | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | Rihanna's girl songs include "Selfish Girl", "A Girl Like Me", & signaling a new edgy image, "Good Girl..." these 2 words | "Gone Bad" 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | He peaked in power as Lord Privy Seal in 1536, fell from power, was executed & had his reputation revived by the late Hilary Mantel | (Jesse: Who is Marco Polo?) (Ken: No, I'm sorry, Liz is smiling, I think she read the book--Who is [*]?)
 
 Thomas Cromwell
 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | With "each depositor insured to at least $250,000", this.gov says its "official teller sign... is a symbol of confidence" | FDIC 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | As the title suggests, this D.H. Lawrence novel recounts the romantic affairs of sisters Gudrun & Ursula | Women in Love 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | This 6-letter word refers to the zenith or farthest point, such as the point where the Moon is farthest from the Earth | (Ken: You don't seem sure, but that's right.) 
 the apogee
 
 
 |  | 
  
    | 
        
       |  
    | Referring to a line of latitude that runs through it, 42 Below
 | (Ken: I'm sure one of the finer vodkas of [*].) 
 New Zealand
 
 
 |  |