| YONNE | A department of North Central France, in the Bourgogne-FrancheComte region (5) |
| ORLEANS | Capital of the Loiret department of north central France, known in ancient times as Aurelianum (7) |
| LOIRE | Department of E central France in the Rhene-Alpes region; capital, Saint Etienne (5) |
| SAHEL | Region of north-central Africa on the south side of the Sahara (5) |
| KAVIR | Great salt desert of north-central Iran; it is located in a basin southeast of the Elburz Mountains. (5) |
| ISERE | A department of South East France, the capital of which is Grenoble (5) |
| INDRE | A department of Central France, named after a river (5) |
| CORFU | Island in the Ionian Sea which forms a department of Greece with neighbouring islands (5) |
| DELHI | Conducted back with a greeting to a city of north central India (5) |
| STUDY | Read it as a department of knowledge (5) |
| PIZZA | About 1 in 8 Americans eat this food on any given day, per a Department of Agriculture study |
| OCALA | City of north central Florida |
| ETIENNE | Saint- _, city in central France in the Loire department (7) |
| TROYES | City in north central France that is the capital of the Aube department (6) |
| GERS | A department of South West France, named after a tributary of the Garonne (4) |
| CHARTRES | City in north central France (pop 40,000), with a large Gothic cathedral completed in 1220 (8) |
| MAUNAKEA | Dormant volcano of north central Hawaii island, the highest point in the state; Hawaiian, ' White Mountain' (5,3) |
| ARCADIA | A department of Greece in the central Peloponnese (7) |
| COTEDOR | A department of Northeastern France, the prefecture of which is Dijon (4-3) |
| HOMEOFFICE | A workroom in the house for a department of state |
