Paul Coulter has worked as a chef, a security guard, a hospital director, a women's soccer coach and a genetics lab research assistant. He has also written several novels and held several positions in corporate marketing. Somehow he also finds the time to create crossword puzzles. His puzzle today is titled "French Connection," a nod to the 1971 movie
The French Connection, which starred Gene Hackman as a maverick detective who stops an international syndicate from smuggling $32 million worth of heroin into New York City. Each of five rows includes two words or phrases of equal length. The first is French and the second is English and both use the same clue:
Bare: AUNATUREL, BUCKNAKED
Outcome: DENOUEMENT, RESOLUTION
"Win some, lose some": CESTLAVIE, THATSLIFE
"Confidentially...": ENTRENOUS, BETWEENUS
Fine dining aficionados: BONVIVANTS, EPICUREANS
Those five French terms are common in the English language as well.
"Buck naked" means "completely naked" -- although I don't think it's possible for someone to be
partially naked. Anyway, the term dates from the 19th century. A "buck" is a male deer. Under chattel slavery, young male black slaves were also called "bucks." They were treated as property the same as livestock and could be bought, sold or traded. Prior to being sold, slaves were naked so they could be inspected. Sadly, chattel slavery still exists in parts of the world:
https://fightslaverynow.org/why-fight-there-are-27-million-reasons/otherformsoftrafficking/chattel-slavery/The word "epicurean" is an adjective but it is also often used as a synonym for "epicure." It originally meant "a follower of Epicouros." Epicourous (341-270 BCE), was an Athenian philosopher who taught that pleasure is the greatest good and virtue is the greatest pleasure. In the 16th century, "epicure" came to mean "someone who lives solely for sensual pleasure; especially, a glutton." The word now means "a person who cultivates a refined taste in food and drink; connoisseur."
The crossword includes the way-too-overused words ALE, ALI, ERA, ONO, SST, AFAR and AREA. "Françoise's friend" is AMIE, which is not used in English. "Often elided pronoun" is YOUALL. Yes, it is often pronounced "y'all" but "you all" is not a pronoun. Only the "you" is a pronoun. The clue should have said "Often elided Southern term." WHO was clued with "Routine first baseman?" "Who's On First" is a comedy routine popularized by Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. They copyrighted it in 1944, recorded it in 1945 and performed it dozens of times in movies, tv shows and live performances. Some sources say Abbott & Costrello wrote the sketch. Other sources credit comedy writer Irving Gordon or songwriter Michael Musto. Regardless of who wrote it, it is arguably the most famous comedy sketch of all time. "Who's on first?" "Who." "The guy playing first." "Who." Here is the longest version of the sketch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTcRRaXV-fg"When you pay off the first baseman every month, who gets the money?" "Every dollar of it. And why not? The man's entitled to it." Classic!
