Solving time: 8:30
I found this offering from Orpheus something approaching a medium-paced challenge. A definite bias toward plants (three in the first eight answers) and plenty of other interesting words worth digging more deeply into.
What did you make of it?
Definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [directions in square ones].
| Across | |
| 1 | A strange plant with arrow-shaped leaves (4) |
| ARUM – A RUM (strange)
Can’t say I’ve ever heard of this – pencilled in from the likely wordplay to see whether the crossers worked. Arum are apparently tuberous perennials with simple, arrow-head shaped leaves. So, now you know… |
|
| 4 | Court deficiency involving small Lord Speaker’s seat (8) |
| WOOLSACK – WOO (Court) LACK (deficiency) containing [involving] S (small)
The WOOLSACK is the seat of the Lord Speaker in the House of Lords. King Edward III (1327-1377) declared that his Lord Chancellor, while in council, should sit on a wool bale to symbolise the importance of the wool trade to England’s economy in the Middle Ages. In 1938, it was discovered that the WOOLSACK was stuffed with horsehair. When it was remade, it was re-stuffed with wool from the British Isles and from all over the Commonwealth. Under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the function of Lord Speaker was split from that of Lord Chancellor, with the former sitting on the WOOLSACK. |
|
| 8 | Agreement to study religious pamphlet, say (8) |
| CONTRACT – CON (study) TRACT (religious pamphlet, say)
CON is an archaic transitive verb meaning ‘to study attentively or learn by heart‘ |
|
| 9 | Current article about Republican state (4) |
| IRAN – I (Current) AN (indefinite article) about R (Republican)
The symbol ‘I’ for current comes from the French phrase “intensité du courant” (current intensity). |
|
| 10 | Boss engaging Greek character of little intelligence (6) |
| STUPID – STUD (Boss) containing [engaging] PI (Greek character)
‘Boss’ has many less well-known meanings – the one we want (from Collins Online) is “a knob, stud, or other circular rounded protuberance, especially an ornamental one on a vault, a ceiling, or a shield“ |
|
| 11 | Leading batsman’s gadget for accessing the booze? (6) |
| OPENER – Double definition, the second of which would more normally be called a bottle OPENER
How very unwoke of the setter not to use ‘batter’ rather than ‘batsman’… |
|
| 12 | Army chums then reassembled plant (13) |
| CHRYSANTHEMUM – Anagram [reassembled] of ARMY CHUMS THEN
Seven clues in, and we’re already on our second plant… The name CHRYSANTHEMUM is derived from the Ancient Greek: χρυσός chrysos (gold) and ἄνθεμον anthemon (flower). |
|
| 16 | Temperate plant coming from near Nicaragua? (6) |
| ARNICA – Hidden [coming from] in near Nicaragua
Eight clues, three plants! The name ARNICA may be derived from the Greek arni “lamb”, in reference to the plants’ soft, hairy leaves. |
|
| 17 | Habit of copper’s cat (6) |
| CUSTOM – CU’S (copper’s – chemical symbol as a possessive!) TOM (cat) | |
| 19 | Opposed to conservationists blocking A1 (4) |
| ANTI – NT (conservationists i.e. National Trust) inserted into [blocking] AI (A1) | |
| 20 | In new union, put a stop to malicious suggestion? (8) |
| INNUENDO – Insert END (put a stop to) into [In] anagram (new) of UNION
Parsed only after completion. I started off thinking that the first three words of the clue indicated IN N (new) U (union) to which END (put a stop to) was added, which left me wondering where on earth the O came from. |
|
| 21 | Wickedly pinch toy inducing sleep (8) |
| HYPNOTIC – Anagram (Wickedly) of PINCH TOY | |
| 22 | Rescue vessel on southern island (4) |
| SARK – ARK (Rescue vessel) on S (southern)
SARK is one of the Channel Islands, with a population of around 500. Only 2.1 square miles in size, it is one of the few remaining places in the world where cars are banned from roads – only tractors, bicycles and horse-drawn vehicles are allowed. |
|
| Down | |
| 2 | Aussie native’s time to sleep (5) |
| ROOST – ROO’S (Aussie native’s) T (time) | |
| 3 | Philosopher ran into a GP, perhaps (13) |
| METAPHYSICIAN – MET (ran into) A PHYSICIAN (GP, perhaps – General Practitioner)
METAPHYSICs is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality, encompassing (amongst other things) the nature of existence, the features all entities have in common, and their division into categories of being. |
|
| 4 | Marry outside a large tract of open country (5) |
| WEALD – WED (Marry) outside A L (large)
WEALD had the meaning of “forest” in Old English. It is specifically a West Saxon form of the word, the Anglian form of the word being wold. |
|
| 5 | At home least, being farthest from the centre (7) |
| OUTMOST – If you’re at home the least, then you’re OUT the MOST | |
| 6 | Weak-kneed quality that’s not associated with porcupine! (13) |
| SPINELESSNESS – Porcupines have quills, or spines, all over their backs, therefore SPINELESSNESS would not be a condition suffered by your regular porcupine.
The word porcupine comes from the Latin porcus ‘pig‘ + spina ‘spine, quill‘, from Old Italian porcospino, ‘thorn-pig‘. A regional American name for the animal is quill-pig. A baby porcupine is a porcupette. When born, a porcupette’s quills are soft hair which harden within a few days, forming the sharp quills of adults. |
|
| 7 | Gas and water in French country house (7) |
| CHATEAU – CHAT (Gas) and EAU (water in French)
‘French’ appears doing double duty here. |
|
| 10 | Thus suffering ill health, by the sound of it (3) |
| SIC – Homophone [by the sound of it] of SICK (suffering ill health)
SIC is the Latin word inserted parenthetically in print to call attention to error or actual reporting in the original, literally “so, thus, in this way“ |
|
| 13 | One of eight kings acquiring room regularly for bird sanctuary (7) |
| HERONRY – HENRY (One of eight kings) containing [acquiring] alternate letters [regularly] of RoOm | |
| 14 | Middle East scholar’s way to support a disheartened Jewish teacher (7) |
| ARABIST – ST (way – abbreviation for street) supporting A then RA ‘support’ is apposite as this is a down clue with ST ‘supporting’ the other letters on top. |
|
| 15 | Silent member of the family? (3) |
| MUM – Double definition | |
| 17 | Commander-in-chief turns up, arresting unknown scoffer (5) |
| CYNIC – CINC (Commander-in-chief abbreviation) reversed [turns up], and containing [arresting] Y (unknown)
CYNIC comes from a Latinised form of the Greek kynikos “a follower of Greek philosopher Antisthenes,” literally “dog-like”. Supposedly the name is a reference to the coarseness of life and sneering surliness of the philosophers, and the popular association even in ancient times was “dog-like”. |
|
| 18 | Demand peace and quiet (5) |
| ORDER – Double definition | |
I did find this one a little more difficult, although I knew arum and arnica. But, as it turned out, I can’t spell chrysanthemum – fortunately, the vowels are checked. I also had a hard time remembering the woolsack.
I would like to say there are two entirely different words in English, both spelt boss and pronounced exactly the same. One is from Old English, and the other is 17th-century NY Dutch slang.
Time 9:04
9:39. I have only ever heard OUTERMOST, not this shorter version. CUSTOM and METAPHYSICIAN were favourites
NHO a HERONRY. Managed to spell CHRYSANTHEMUM correctly and ARNICA from the hidden but another NHO. Also never heard of the WOOLSACK but the wordplay was clear, thanks for the explanation MH, and I wonder if the same horse hair had been there since the fourteenth century. Couldn’t see OPENER, Duh! Must be STUPID. Agree with curryowen on OUTMOST but after checking in the dictionary I see it’s there as an alternative to outermost. COD to INNUENDO.
Thank Mike and setter.
This took me 5 times as long as yesterdays puzzle 😀 but enjoyable all the same.
I had to rely completely on the wordplay, no biffing today, for a very satisfying solve. There were a few answers I had NHO (WOOLSACK, HERONRY, SARK) but the wordplay was clear enough for me to feel confident putting them in. CONTRACT held me up the longest in the end, I’d never heard of TRACT used like that, so it took an alphabet trawl to find.
Enjoyable mid-range puzzle, 8 on the dot with LOI the slightly weird HERONRY (anyone ever seen one?) Thanks Mike and Orpheus.
Yes, I’ve seen a heronry, on the English south coast many years ago. A large tree with quite a large group of grey herons sat on the branches!
They make the most awful racket too!
Yes, they are impressive! Birds that definitely look as if they would rather not be nesting in trees… The trees look a bit hard done by too.
I was walking my dog the morning after a hard frost and came across seven heron roosting in quite a small tree. Quite eerie. I always thought of heron as being solitary birds.
Thank you all. I mistakenly assumed it was a collection of herons overseen by humans, like a piggery etc. Couldn’t figure out why anyone would…and I guess they don’t!
9 minutes. I had the same problem as our blogger over the parsing of INNUENDO, but time spent working that out was my only delay. I seem to have known of ‘arum lily’ all my life so the wordplay and ‘plant’ were enough for me at 1ac without being aware of ‘arrow shaped leaves’. ARNICA was unknown, but actually forgotten as it last appeared in a 15×15 two years ago.
Thanks Mike. A gentle 13 minuter. I knew ARNICA because my other half has always kept a tube of arnica cream in the medicine cabinet for bumps and bruises. I’m not sure of its effectiveness. (For me was all part of ‘kissing it better’).
For whatever reason, I’ve heard of arnica gel so allied to the hidden word it was a write-in
A good steady solve with most answers coming on the first go, once we moved away from NW, to finish in a satisfying 19.02
Loved the copper’s cat, definitely COD. Thanks Orpheus.
Great blog Mike, interesting set of etymologies.
13:28, which suggests a puzzle of middling complexity. But there were a number of words I didn’t know (ARNICA, HERONRY, METAPHYSICIAN) and had to guess/rely on the wordplay – fortunately the wordplay in each case was well-signposted, so even though the three intersected I was able to find the answers. Nice to see the small island of SARK mentioned instead of the more usual suspects.
Many thanks Mike for the blog
Back to the SCC today in a steady solve where HYPNOTIC failed to pop out at me from the anagrist, and the SE corner pushed me over 20 mins where I wrongly assumed the scholar would be some word from the ME, missing the parsing somewhat. INNUENDO also took time.
All good, thanks setter, and happy to now know what a baby porcupine is called! Don’t know how I haven’t needed that before but I now wait its appearance in a grid with enthusiasm.
Flora is not one of my strong points but fortunately I knew of all of the plants in the puzzle although I had to very carefully check the anagrist for the long one across the middle. I did do a double take at the proximity of the the two MUMs in the grid but the answer to 15d couldn’t have been anything else.
Started with ARUM and finished with SARK in 6.55 with COD to METAPHYSICIAN.
Thanks to Mike for the very interesting blog and Orpheus for the puzzle.
Right up my street for once. I immediately take a big breath whenever I see plant based clues but these three were well known to me and just remembered ‘mum rather than ‘umum. Knew ‘boss’ from engineering design and having an aptly named place in the sun, Heron’ Landing, didn’t struggle with HERONRY. Physician also most appropriate. JCOD METAPHYSICIAN and INNUENDO. Struggled with OUTMOST having decidided it should start with IN.
Despite home familiarities it still took me 25 minutes, so, back to my usual 20-30 minute stroll through the maze.
Thanks Orpheus and Mike
I biffed the three long ones, don’t think I bothered to parse them; same for INNUENDO. A brief MER at WOOLSACK, because I thought I knew that it was the Lord Chancellor who sat on it; I clearly am not au faitwith goings on in the House of Lords. 6:28.
After a lightning quick couple of days found this a slog and there were a couple of NHOs but I guess a fair puzzle from Orpheus as going back o basics solved all green in 15 minutes dead. Didnt full parse INNUENDO so thanks for that Mike. Took ages to see CYRSANTHEMUM which perhaps would have unlocked things a little sooner. LOI and COD METAPHYSICIAN.
Found this harder than the quitch suggests. Stuck on C___C before solving INNUENDO. I had thought it must be COMIC for scoffer, In the end I put in CONIC thinking CIC (Commander-in-chief) held NO (abbreviation for number = unknown?) and so finished in 19 mins with a pink square
18.22 Happily out of the SCC. Very slow with the K in SARK (kept thinking SAR – Search And Rescue), NHO WEALD however instructions were clear … NHO of ARABIST, however, had to be.
An enjoyable start to the day. Thanks to Orpheus and Mike Harper.
09:53.
Didn’t know two of the three botanicals. CHRYSANTHEMUM is the plant that launched a thousand anagrams. As soon as I saw (13), in it went.
End two letters of ARABIST and METAPHYSICIAN (COD) both were left blank while waiting for checkers.
Good fact about the WOOLSACK not containing wool for hundreds of years.
Eight which is now about average for me.
I biffed outpost rather than outmost for 5d. Seemed to work almost as well.
10:46 for the solve. Which is about my average for Orpheus puzzles this year and some way below my general average of 15mins. That’s strange considering, on reflection, this is a puzzle full of unfamiliar words – woolsack, outmost, heronry, arabist plus arum and arnica. Chrysanthemum cost me a minute writing out the letters and crossing them off to ensure the spelling. Given my speed I say that’s testament to good clueing even if cynic and innuendo had to be parsed postsolve.
Thanks to Mike and Orpheus
Considering I started with all the across clues (apart from Hypnotic) in order, an eventual 16min solve was more than a tad disappointing. Loi Metaphysician took nearly five minutes because I failed to spot a careless ChYRsanthemum – even when I went looking for a wrong crosser. I knew I was in trouble when the Italian guy, whose name I can never spell, clearly wouldn’t fit.
CoD to Innuendo, though 10ac would be more appropriate. Invariant
NHO ARABIST, ARNICA or OUTMOST, so biffing and finger crossing required here, as it was also for INNUENDO. ARUM finally dropped after some puzzling. 22:11 is about average for me.
Quick today. LOsI – ARUM, until the lily sprang to mind, which gave me METAPHYSICIAN. FOI ROOST.
Enjoyable puzzle with no problems, apart from having to concentrate on spelling CHRYSANTHEMUM. Liked SARK, SIC, WOOLSACK.
Gardening hint of the day – never plant Arum Italicum as it is indestructible and invasive, (or ‘evasive’, as next door’s gardener remarked.)
Thanks vm, Mike. Good to know about the porcupette!
So was horsetail, until I used SBK 😉
Don’t tell anyone but I do use weedkillers – I think it is too late for SBK as the arums are everywhere. Even around the bonfire, having escaped the flames.
You have my sympathy. Arums are too big for this to work, but with horsetail the cardboard tube from a kitchen roll is ideal for keeping the spray on the weed.
Good hint.
An enjoyable QC. The last two days have been like a breath of fresh air. I hope we can continue the welcome run of actual Quick Cryptics.
A steady solve for me in 15.01, all parsed (except CYNIC and INNUENDO which fell out and were parsed post-solve).
I liked the long anagrams and my LOsI – ARUM (lily) and SARK.
Thanks to Orpheus for filling the brief fairly and imaginatively and to Mike for a good blog.
I found this almost as gentle (and indeed quick) as yesterday’s, but enjoyable nonetheless.
Thanks Orpheus and Mike!
A struggle, full of NHOs (ARUM, WOOLSACK, ARNICA, HERONRY), even METAPHYSICIAN, but all those obvious enough from the wordplay. Finally beaten only by SARK. Thank you, Mike.
SARK my LOI and nearly gave up. Inspiration with three seconds to go before being consigned to the SCC!
Well done! Yes I’m annoyed I didn’t think of that. Never again – added to my master Crossword list. I’m lucky if I gain admittance to the SCC – currently running at almost 50% completed (at all, without stopwatch).
An enjoyable QC again. Biffed CYNIC and IRAN – don’t know why I cannot remember that I = current. Knew all the plants – a nice outdoor feel to the puzzle today. Thanks for great blog Mike – love the word porcupette!
From ARUM to ORDER in 6:20. Needed crossers to see HYPNOTIC. Thanks Orpheus and Mike.
Slow in the bottom half having raced through the top. HERONRY, HYPNOTIC and CUSTOM took much longer than they should have. Didn’t fully parse INNUENDO as by then it was obvious. Botany isn’t my strong suit so I was pleased to find that I knew all the plants.
FOI – 4ac WOOLSACK
LOI – 22ac SARK
COD – 3dn METAPHYSICIAN. Also liked the copper’s cat.
Thanks to Orpheus and to Mike for the very informative blog.
DNF.
Gave up after a few minutes. Could not solve any of these clues.
A disaster.
VERY UPSETTING.
Shouldn’t that be DNS then? (Did Not Start)
A question for a METAPHYSICIAN indeed.
Keep going Gordon!
26 mins…
I thought this was on the more difficult side, but I’m not great with plants so there were no easy write-ins. Got strangely stuck on 14dn “Arabist” having tried a variety of combinations, thinking the disheartened initially meant removal of the contents of Rabbi just to leave “ri”. I’ve been undone by this before, so should have known really.
Thankfully there were sufficient checkers for me to get “Chrysanthemum” spelt correctly.
FOI – 4dn “Weald”
LOI – 14dn “Arabist”
COD – 3dn “Metaphysician”
Thanks as usual!
10:29
LOI was METAPHYSICIAN. I needed all the checkers before I gave up trying to find the name of a philosopher too obscure to be name checked by Monty Python.
COD to SARK.
Thanks Mike and Orpheus
Ha ha – you are not alone!
Wordplay helped with most of the obscure words in this QC. Did have a block with Cynic for scoffer as I was stuck with the greedy eater.
8.11.
I found this really tough going today finishing in 15.34. The times posted so far seem to suggest it was not as hard as I seemed to find it, so it was just a bad day at the office I suppose. I never did get round to parsing INNUENDO, but decided not to wait before stopping the clock being certain it had to be the answer.
Finished in about 15min with distractions. Goodness knows how, seeing that I’d NHO arum, metaphysics, heronry or Arabist!
I always find Orpheus a mixed bag, sometimes straightforward, other times I scream “get thee back to the underworld!”
The Pythons let me down today. And it turns out I can’t spell CHRYSANTHEMUM either, which made ARABIST my LOI since it started with a T until I realised what I’d done. Stupid boy. 09:07 for an OK Day.
COD METAPHYSICIAN, what an excellent clue!
Many thanks Mike and Orpheus.
Thought con a bit of a con.
Also cinc rather than cic.
DNF due to arabist and metaphysician.
As ex-military man, CinC is the general usage not CIC, so specialist knowledge helpful
6.47
Liked ARABIST. Thanks Orpheus and Mike for the excellent blog.
Pretty much a top-to-bottom solve, except I needed the R crosser for 1a Arum. 20a Innuendo biffed, so I never saw that the anagrist was sort of hidden.
17d Cynic delayed me a moment as I was stuck on CiC rather than CinC.
NHO porcupette added to Cheating Machine.
Thanks to Mike Harper & Orpheus in the underworld.
11:14. Sleep deprived (is the excuse).
ARABIST may have befuddled me if not for having read Oriental Studies.
HYPNOTIC took an age. Was unaware of this meaning of the word. Thought HYPNOTIC things just induced, well, hypnosis.
NHO ARNICA, still took too long to chuck it in.
In a deeply ironic twist, I put in STUPID as soon as I saw the clue, and then failed to see any Greek character in there, so deleted it. Went back in later.
LOI SARK
COD 3d
I seem to be an outlier today because I found that pretty hard, finishing just outside SCC territory at 18:49. Quite a few NHOs, but it was very satisfying to piece them together from the wordplay.
Thank you for the blog!
Very quick for me, no unknown words or parsing, or so I thought. After reading the blog I realised that I hadn’t actually parsed Innuendo at all (where did that O come from? I had overlooked it completely). Thanks as always. While I did enjoy it I do prefer something a little chewier.
11:36 with a bit of head scratching over Woolsack (eventually dredged up from inner depths) and outmost (agree outermost might be more common the outmost reaches of someone’s influence works for me) Laughed at innuendo as it always makes me think of Italian suppositories…
Ta Mike and Orpheus
Ouch.
😄
DNF x 3. I don’t know where my head was today but I couldn’t get OPENER because I read accessing as assessing. I also couldn’t solve INNUENDO. I thought the word play was IN N and then a five letter word for union with the definition as put a stop to malicious suggestion. Also, I failed to see ORDER as a double definition. Oh well….just one of those days where I seem to have fallen over on the easier cluing!
With regard to 9ac, I’m hoping that someone can enlighten me.
I’m aware (thanks to the many times I have seen it in these solution blogs) that “current” in a clue can indicate the letter ‘I’ in the answer, but I have no idea why.
What am I missing?
On a circuit board diagram the universal symbol for current is I
“I” for electric current comes from André-Marie Ampère using the phrase “intensité du courant” (“current intensity”) in his work on electrodynamics. He abbreviated it to I and that became universal.
Thanks both.
61:21 for me, I was just chuffed to complete an Orpheus as I find him/her along with Hurley and Izetti the toughest setters. Really enjoyed it, though it took me a criminal amount of time to spot wicked as an anagram indicator.
Thanks to Orpheus and Mike
DNF. 40 minutes of hard graft spoiled by one letter – I put OUTpOST (with a question mark), but forgot to revisit it at the end.
Several clues were not fully parsed, incl. CYNIC (my LOI), WOOLSACK, INNUENDO, ARABIST and ORDER, so I probably didn’t deserve to cross the line unscathed. Definitely at the tougher end of the QC spectrum, I would say.
Many thanks to Mike and Orpheus.
Well today we were ahead of the curve. Helped by knowing all of the plants. I rather like arums – I remember them from my youth as being a base for froghoppers though I may be getting confused by cuckoo spit and cuckoo pint! Some other less usual words today but I think I recall ARABIST coming up a few months back with a possibly similar clue. All done in 7:01. COD METAPHYSICIAN. Thanks, Mike and Orpheus.
A good day for me. 6:12 including checking time. Enjoyed METAPHYSICIAN and CUSTOM among many others.