| VOLTAIRE | Pseudonym of French writer Francois Marie Arouet (8) |
| STENDHAL | Pseudonym of French novelist Marie-Henri Beyle (1783-1842); Le Rouge et le noir (1830), La Chartreuse de Parme (1839) etc. (8) |
| DESCRIBE | Give a detailed account of French writer (8) |
| RACINESS | Rabelaisian quality of French writer's son |
| GARGANTUA | Father of Pantagruel in the novels of 16th-century French author Francois Rabelais (9) |
| BLONDIN | Pseudonym of French acrobat Jean-Francois Gravelet (1824-97), known for crossing Niagara Falls on a tightrope in 1859 (7,7) |
| CHARLES | Pseudonym of French acrobat Jean-Francois Gravelet (1824-97), known for crossing Niagara Falls on a tightrope in 1859 (7,7) |
| ROBESPIERRE | Maximilien Francois Marie Isidore de --, French revolutionary leader (11) |
| DEPENDENT | Subject of French writer approaching depression (9) |
| VOLTAIREAN | Some potential space to inscribe one name of French writer |
| SUMAC | Tree or shrub; reverse of French writer |
| COLETTE | Monaco letterhead betrays presence of French writer |
| SAND | George, pen name of French writer Amandine Dupin (4) |
| MADAME | --- Bovary, debut novel of French writer Gustave Flaubert (6) |
| DEPENDENCE | Addiction of French writer to study with church |
| INDEPENDENCE | Standing alone at home of French writer, cold, in valley |
| DEPENDABLE | Loyal of French writer to use blade |
| DEPENDENCY | Habit of French writer to disavow absorbing chapter |
| DEPENDANT | Charge of French writer diminished Italian poet |
| RENE | Author Francois-___ de Chateaubriand |
