The last few times I’ve been to France, I’ve stopped at a newsstand or airport store and purchased a few books of crossword puzzles. There are a few variants of these, but the ones I’ve gravitated to are called «mots fléchés». Usually I buy a few at different levels 0 – 4, and they go mostly untouched, but this summer I’ve gotten into a good rhythm of doing a puzzle or two every day.
Doing puzzles regularly really helps, as there’s a lot of “crossword puzzle vocabulary”, words that appear frequently in grid-based puzzles because they have a convenient alternation of vowels and consonants, or rare letters in a short word These words often don’t appear much in daily language, but are a puzzle-makers friend (although high quality puzzle makers consider overuse of these lazy). In English these are words like “EMIR” (an Arab prince); “TSAR” or “CZAR” (a Russian ruler); and more obscure things like “ADIT” (the opening to a mine); “ITER” (a Roman road); and “AGORA” (a Roman market). In French there’s a different collection of such words.
As I’ve been solving my daily puzzle, I’ve jotted down in the margins words that are unfamiliar to me, either from the fill or sometimes from the clue itself. There’s typically 5-10 of these each puzzle. Recording them is a good way of highlighting what I don’t know, and makes it easy to flip back a few puzzles later looking for that word meaning a colorful parakeet («ARA»), school gym class («E.P.S.»), or fish ball («ACRA»).
Here’s a selection of words from the last several puzzles I did in the level 1-2 book I’m well into the level 2 puzzles, I hope. Not all of the entries are oddball crossword puzzle words; some are just holes in my vocabulary of everyday things. But solving puzzles is as good a way as any to come upon the holes, and memorializing them here may help me retain them down the road.
- Puzzle 72
- lopin: a small parcel of land. Often occurring as «lopin de terre». Was the clue for the answer «are».
- mimine: a familiar and pediatric word for “hand”. «Donne-moi ta mimine pour traverser la rue.» Was the clue for the answer «main».
- immonde: religiously impure, filthy, or repugnant. Was the clue for the answer «infecté»
- bigleux: someone with bad vision or a lazy eye. Familiar and pejorative. Was the clue for «miro», which means the same thing and sits in the same register.
- fourreau: a sheath or scabbard. Was clued by «gaine» (which I knew as “girdle”) and «étui allongé». I think of an étui as more hard-shelled and hinged / box-like than a sheath, but close enough.
- traire: to milk, i.e. pull milk from an animal’s teat. Clue was «tirer le lait».
- rasade: an amount of a beverage that corresponds to a full glass. Analogous to the archaic English “bumper”. Was clued with «grande gorgée», a “big swallow”.
- requinquer: replenish, recharge, refocus. To restore strength. Often used reflexively «se requinquer» meaning “to perk up”. Was the clue with answer «retaper»
- retaper: to put back in shape, to fix up. Was the clued by «requinquer»
- Puzzle 71
- écu: No, not the old French coin. No, not the fun, abstract “European currency unit” that the economists played with in the 20-year run up to the launch of the Euro. No, this one means “a shield”, specifically the one that was stamped on the old French coins, and from which they take their name. When you remember that the accent over the e indicates a missing s, you quickly get to the English word “escutcheon“. Was clued with «boucliers».
- preau: the inner courtyard of a school (or prison). Playground. Was clued with «cour d’école».
- chambouler: to upset, turn upside down. Related to the English “shamble”, as in “they left the place in shambles”. I sort of guessed that (wasn’t sure about the relationship with the walking gait “shamble”), but that was the clue. I had no idea what the answer was. It turned out to be …
- tournebouler: to upset, trouble or worry somebody. This is very much a 20th century word, with almost no citations prior to 1900. It’s a combination of «tourner» and «bouleverser». Was clued by «chambouler».
- oisif: someone who is idle, without a profession, or inactive. A bit pejorative, like “slacker”. Can be a noun or an adjective. Was clued by «désoeuvré».
- désoeuvré: idle, not working. Pretty much a synonym of oisif.
- allécher: to entice, attract with a promise of pleasure. Was the clue for «attirer».
- Puzzle 70
- Éloi: the name of the patron saint of goldsmiths. This one really confused me, as the clue was «patron des orfèvres». The problem is that there’s a Quai des Orfèvres in the 1ère arrondissement of Paris (Île de la Cité) where the police judiciaire (PJ) were housed for many many years. So lots of French detective novels talk about this place as a stand in for the police themselves, say things like “Orfèvres getting involved” or “the order came from Orvèvres”. So I was trying to figure out who is the boss of the French central police, and getting hung up on words involving law («loi»). Sigh.
- cric: a jack, i.e. a tool used to lift up a car. The clue was «appareil de levage».
- gigoter: to wriggle one’s body or appendages. Clue for «trémousser».
- trémousser: to tremble with small, irregular movements. Clued by «se gigoter»
- latté: not the coffee drink, but an adjective meaning “composed of thin slats of wood”. The french for these are «lattes», the english is “lath” as in “lath and plaster”.
- gageure: an old word meaning “a bet”. Was the clue for «pari».
- démentir: to deny, contradict, or refuse. Was the clue for «nier»
- édulcorer: to sweeten (literally), to soften (metaphorically). Was the clue for «sucrer».
- etrier: a horse-rider’s stirrup, or more generally any curved piece of metal (e.g. the handle of a pail, a U-bolt). Clued by «arceau en métal».
- touffu: thick, dense. Clued by «dense, épaissé».
- forer: to drill or bore into a rock. Clued by «percer».
So there you have it. 3 puzzles, 27 words. We’ll see what tomorrow’s puzzle brings.