Possible Clues:

• Capital ENE of Custer
• Half of an early Nobel-sharing pair
• Karine Jean-___, White House media person beginning in 2022
• ____ Bezukhov is the central character in War and Peace
• Frenchman’s gym slip one’s put on splits
• Second-least populous state capital, after Montpelier
• Frenchman makes mistake with pastry crust
• Midwestern capital that shares no letters with its state
• Nobel winner Curie
• Simple Plan frontman Bouvier