See the 5 answer words debuted by Bill Albright.
T | O | P | I | C | S | T | A | T | S | L | A | Y | ||
A | N | O | D | E | U | R | I | A | H | A | B | U | ||
J | E | W | E | L | S | V | E | R | N | E | N | Y | C | |
E | D | I | E | N | E | D | D | E | S | K | ||||
G | R | R | C | L | O | D | D | E | B | U | S | S | Y | |
R | U | T | A | L | T | M | E | L | ||||||
A | M | O | S | T | I | P | A | U | D | R | A | |||
T | O | O | L | O | O | S | E | L | A | U | T | R | E | C |
A | R | L | E | N | G | A | T | H | I | G | H | |||
A | C | S | I | T | S | V | I | E | ||||||
B | L | A | Z | E | P | A | S | C | A | L | E | S | S | |
R | I | L | E | A | L | A | C | A | S | T | ||||
A | T | L | F | R | E | N | C | H | T | W | I | S | T | |
N | E | O | A | S | P | E | R | E | A | M | E | S | ||
D | R | Y | N | E | H | R | U | S | P | E | A | K |
BILL: This theme came from the observation that much of French culture is widely known in the United States and thus the personages that were riffed off of were familiar names. When you think of French history — the Bastille, Marie Antoinette, Joan of Arc, De Gaulle — or French sites — Cannes, Versailles, Napoleon's tomb — or French artists or food, the infiltration into American consciousness goes way beyond the size of the French population in the U.S., relative to other countries.
This puzzle could not be done on four German cultural figures, or four Spanish cultural figures, or even four British ones (That's a challenge, constructors!). Especially with the coverage in our group — a painter, an author, a philosopher/mathematician, and a musician, all born more than 150 years ago.