14 Leisure Time
Languedoc Pages
August 2012
Sponsored by I will be at the Mirepoix Night Markets on August 9 and 23 - 18.00 - 23.00
French-themed crossword Across
Down
2. In French as in English, sport for two teams of seven swimmers (5-4) 8. Franc portion (7) 9. Organ of the body, le siège des émotions et sentiments (5) 10. Wise shrub whose aromatic leaves are used for seasoning (4) 11. Prospero’s daughter in Shakespeare’s The Tempest (7) 13. Spa city in North Rhine-Westphalia otherwise known as Aix-la-Chapelle (6) 15. Octogenarian Vichy France chief of state (6) 18. Useful outil for stargazing in France (7) 20. Long dress for formal occasions (4) 23. A legal right (5) 24. Monmartre-born artist Maurice _______, who specialised in cityscapes (7) 25. Gas providing a very hot flame discovered by Edmund Davy, then rediscovered and named by French chemist Marcellin Berthelot (9)
1. French Mediterranean city named after the Greek goddess of victory (4) 2. Eponymous fish in 1988 film starring John Cleese and Kevin Kline (5) 3 and 22. Fabric with a repeated pattern, often of a pastoral scene (5,2,4) 4. City in Champagne-Ardennes region which was the traditional scene of the coronation of the kings of France (English spelling, with an H) (6) 5 and 21. Irish playwright and poet buried in the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise in Paris (5,5) 6. Geographical area encompassing islands and seas in the Pacific (7) 7. “Of all the crosses I have to bear,” said Churchill of his relationship with de Gaulle, “the heaviest is the Cross of ________” (8) 12. Singer Johnny who co-starred with Jean Rochefort in L'homme du train (8) 14. Marseilles-born former Manchester United star Eric _______ (7) 16. Fencing term adopted from French (2,5) 17. “In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to ______”, Proverbs 14:23 (6) 19. Qualification honorifique given to a person (5) 21. See 5 22. See 3
Most answers are in French, with the exceptions of Across: 11 and 20 and Down: 2, 4, 6, 17 and 5/21. Answers can be found at the bottom of page
What’s in a word? .com - Fotolia
Sudoku
Easy
machine-gun. However it had more to do with a change in the law. In October 1920 the French government passed a law which prevented bakers from starting work before 4.00, no longer leaving them enough time to prepare the standard round loaf, called a boule, in time for breakfast. The slender baguette solved the problem because it could be prepared and baked much more rapidly. Nor is the baguette even a French invention, unfortunately. Like so much else in the baker’s window, from the croissant to the pain au chocolat, the baguette first made its appearance in Austria, which is why so many such delicacies are still referred to as viennoiseries. At least the baker’s shop itself still retains the original French name of boulangerie, even if it does now produce far more than just the traditional round loaf, or boule, which gave it its name.
Intermediate
6 FRANCE’S youngest MP, aged 22, belongs to which famous family of politicians?
2 WHO said they would “roll out the red carpet” to wealthy French people and businesses put off by high tax rates in France? 3 WHICH town in the Corrèze is putting on tours allowing visitors to "follow in the footsteps of François Hollande"?
7 WHICH travel operator has bought ferries from collapsed firm SeaFrance and is returning them to regular service on the Channel?
4 THE WORLD of French sport paid tribute to Thierry Roland recently, who died at the age of 76. For what job was he famous?
Difficult
Photo: Dave Hamster/Flickr
IF YOU go into a boulangerie and ask for a baguette, you would know exactly what to expect – one of those wonderful long, French loaves that are known the world over. But less than a couple of hundred years ago, when Napoleon’s armies were rampaging through Europe, from Spain to Egypt and northwards to Russia, a baguette meant something quite different. It was the ramrod used to pack the charge into a musket, ready for firing in battle. It also doubled as a cane for whipping unfortunate soldiers, who were punished by running the gauntlet between two lines of infantry-men. Recalcitrant soldiers carried the scars of such beatings until their dying day. So when did the military ramrod change into a harmless and delicious loaf of bread? It must have had something to do with advances in military technology, which made the muzzle-loaded musket redundant in the face of the carbine, the rifle and the
baguette
5 LONDON is hosting this summer’s Olympics. Which city came second in the bidding process?
1 WHICH celebrity couple, who had a home in Plan-de-la-Tour (Var) have split up after 14 years together?
Photo: Jessica Genetel/Wikimedia
lubashi
The France quiz
by Paul Masters
CROSSWORD ANSWERS. Across: 2 water-polo; 8 centime; 9 coeur; 10 sage; 11 Miranda; 13 Aachen; 15 Pétain; 18 lunette; 20 gown; 23 droit; 24 Utrillo; 25 acétylène Down: 1 Nice; 2 Wanda; 3&22 toile de Jouy; 4 Rheims; 5&21 Oscar Wilde; 6 Oceania; 7 Lorraine; 12 Hallyday; 14 Cantona; 16 en garde; 17 penury; 19 titre (or title) FRANCE QUIZ ANSWERS: 1 Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis; 2 David Cameron; 3 Tulle; 4 TV football commentator; 5 Paris; 6 Le Pen; 7 Eurotunnel
Photo:
by John Foley