bout de papier, Vol. 7, No. 2 (1989), pp. 47–48
For the bicentennial of the French Revolution, LDC Liebnitz sent his Parisian counterpart, Jongleur des Chiffres, the following multipart puzzle. The first part is a list of 50 clues to words or phrases relating to 18th century France. The answers come out in alphabetical order. The number at the end of each clue gives the number of letters in that answer; two-word answers are denoted by the form #-#. Where an answer is a common noun in French, the clue is marked (Fr). The second part of the puzzle is a “skeleton” into which the 50 answers fit. Note that most two-word answers are written as one long word on the skeleton; the three exceptions, where the clues are marked SEP, are entered on the skeleton as two words in separate places. In addition, the skeleton has places for three “outside” words: “she” and “him” in French (des Chiffres insists on romance) and the name of a certain philosophe. The third part of the puzzle is a set of anagrams arranged by number of letters; there are in fact anagrams for the 56 entries in the skeleton – the 47 one-entry answers, the 3 two-entry (SEP) answers and the 3 outside words. Finally, you will note that the skeleton includes 26 squares containing numbers. Once the skeleton is filled in, the letters that fall in these squares form a seven-word anagram for the apocryphal last words of the mystery philosophe, spoken in reply to a priestly suggestion that he renounce the devil. The letters falling on a “l” are part of the first word, those falling on a “7” the seventh etc.
Can you solve the puzzle by supplying bout de papier with (a) the 50 answers, (b) the name of the philosophe and (c) his “last words”? Please try. Des Chiffres is into his seventh case of Pernod.
CLUES: (A) Literary club founded by Richelieu; H, JJ and the philosophe were all members: 8-9. (B) Town where RR was bishop; fall minus “m”: 5. (C) 232 Rue Saint-Antoine; became famous on 14 July: 8. (D) Homespun but electrifying US envoy: 3-8. (E) Royal Family and Tennessee tipple: 7. (F) Conservative English critic of the Revolution: 5. (G) A tumbrel, for example: 4. (H) Aristocrat, diplomat, writer and steak: 13. (I) She stuck it to BB:
6. (J) Revolutionary orator/leader, executed by KK in 1794: 6. (K) Ancient king of Israel and court painter to the Revolution: 5. (L) She knitted while heads rolled: 7. (M) Chief editor of the first 28 volumes of Q: 5-7. (N) Historian of the French Revolution (1856) but probably more famous for Democracy in America: 2-11. (O) Wrote a story of London and Paris; created Mme L: 7. (P) Second part of the three-part slogan (Fr): 7. (Q) Masterpiece compilation of the philosophes (English title): 12. (R) Louis XIV thought it was himself (Fr): 4. (S) Revolutionary state; winner of a 1921 Nobel Prize: 6. (T) The hated salt tax (Fr): 7. (U) A doctor proposed this humane alternative: 10. (V) Radical political club led by KK: 7. (W) Hero of the American Revolution, the early French Revolution and the Revolution of 1830: 9. (X) Revolutionary song; the southern girl: 2-12. (Y) Aristocrat, taxman and discoverer of oxygen: 9. (Z) Became the sixteenth in 1774:5. (AA) Started in 1546 for the collections of Francis I; K became president in 1793: 6. (BB) A counter-example to personal hygiene: 5. (CC) A proponent of pastry for the people: 5-10 SEP. (DD) Brothers who found a new use for hot air just in time for the Revolution: 11. (EE) Alpine-level left-wing opposition to the Girondins (name in English): 8. (FF) AA, for example (Fr): 5. (GG) Cannonaded a royalist demonstration in 1795; a whiff of the future: 8. (HH) Where most of all this was going on: 5. (II) Supreme Court and legislature of the ancien régime (Fr): 9. (JJ) Classical playwright who had a revival just before the Revolution: 6. (KK) Revolutionary orator/leader, executed later in 1794: 11. (LL) Eminent social philosopher and author of QQ: 8. (MM) Notorious libertine and author, imprisoned in C when revolution broke out: 4. (NN) Reception rooms, intellectual evenings and art exhibitions (Fr): 6. (OO) Radical Republicans with no pants (Fr): 4-8. (PP) Strongly divided HH in 1789; still does: 5. (QQ) Masterpiece of LL; a community agreement: 6-8 SEP. (RR) Prince, bishop, roué and master diplomat: 10. (SS) Privatized revenue gathering; a kind of fiscal agriculture: 3-7. (TT) The Reign of the Committee of Public Safety:
6. (UU) Hot Revolution-style month that saw the overthrow of KK and TT: 9. (VV) Commoners in the National Assembly; media minus one: 5-6 SEP. (WW) Where they caught up with Z and CC:
8. (XX) Palace famous for its gardens, its mirrors and (in 1789) the nearby tennis court: 10.
ANAGRAMS:
(3) ILU (4) TRAC, ETTA, ADES, LEEL (5) TAUNU, TARMA, ESUME, VADDI, AMIRE, DIRTH,
KURBE, ISRAP, NESIE, ISOUL (6) DRYACO, TASTEE, LASSON, COALIS, TANNOD,
RETROR, CAFNER, VERULO, ECRAIN (7) RUBBOON, SIDNECK, ABJINCO, ELGABLE,
FRAGEED, TAILEGE (8) SNARVEEN, USERAUSO, LISTABLE, NAMINOTU,
PALENOON, TROCCANT, TRAVELIO (9) ELFATATEY, IVORISALE, MIRTHDOER,
MELENTRAP (10) ETOILLUING, OTENANTITE, LESSERVAIL, DANTERALLY, GRAFMANTIX (11) BRINKFANNEL, FORETOMLING, BRISEPEREOR (12) COCADEPENILY, NUCLESOSTATS, REDIDDITONES (13) DEATHCUBANRIA, QUILLDEVOTECE (14) LIELESSMALARIA (17) ASAFECREAMICANDIE
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 7, No. 2 (1989), pp. 47–48. Read the rest of this issue →
