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. |
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| 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“ |
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| 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). |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 7 | Gas and water in French country house (7) |
| CHATEAU – CHAT (Gas) and EAU (water in French)
‘French’ appears doing double duty here. |
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| 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“ |
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| 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. |
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| 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 | |
DNF
A DPS for LOI CYNIC, put conic. Thought Commander in Chief was just CIC, so had the n as my unknown and then just biffed a word that fit. Obvious as soon as I saw the error. Would have been a reasonable (for me) 18 mins.
As above, trawled through Monty Python for philosophers and never came to METAPHYSICIAN; nho ARUM, which put me at a bit of a disadvantage in nw corner. Several times longer to than yesterday to get anywhere near it,got bored andDNF
4.55. No dramas
Enjoyable solve. Biffed NHO WOOLSACK but could not parse – thanks Mike. NHO ARUM but wordplay was kind. METAPHYSICIAN, CYNIC and spelling of CHRYSANTHEMUM got the grey cells working. OPENER known only by way of crosswords. Great puzzle. COD to the excellent METAPHYSICIAN. Thanks for all the extra info Mike, especially derivation of CYNIC. Thanks Orpheus.
DNF with ARABIST and INNUENDO tripping me up at the end. Really liked the clues for METAPHYISICIAN and SPINELESSNESS. Thank you for the blog explaining the clues 😁
8.03 The top half flew in except for METAPHYSICIAN. I had no idea what was going on there until the checkers made it obvious. The bottom half was slower. My first attempt at HERONRY was HARRORY (a place for harriers?) and ARNICA took too long but it all came together with a biff of INNUENDO to finish. Thanks Mike and Orpheus.
Hi Mike
In England we have usually said batsman and fielder. Though in Australia they used to prefer batter and fieldsman. Not sure why.
The fielding position Third Man- if you don’t know don’t ask- is now simply called Third
I’m no woke but I’m perfectly happy with gender neutral terms.
About 20 today which is good for an Orpheus. J
Took a while to get started but then got over halfway before coming home from my Costa. A fresh start proved a good strategy as everything else began to flow in. Usually I blanche at flora but happily I knew all of these – at least the names! Lots of clever misdirections to enjoy.
FOI 11a Opener – refreshing to see batsman again
LOI 4a Woolsack
COD has to be 3d Met-a-physician
Really enjoyable relaxation from Orpheus and entertaining blog too.
More please!
This puzzle was easy-ish and fun, until I STUPIDly got hung up on HERONRY. Why I thought the kings had to be “Harry” I will never know. Sometimes my attention snags on one thing and I can’t detach it for a long time. 8 minutes or so in this case. 19:56 in the end, not that I mind spending that much time, but I don’t enjoy being stuck! Had the same wrong idea about INNUENDO as our blogger did, but never parsed it, so thanks! Also didn’t understand ANTI but it was clear enough.
We have a lot of herons around here and they do look quite odd sitting in trees. One spring I was privileged to see a tree full of heron chicks just able to flap from one branch to another. Big ungainly comical things, looking like something out of a Disney cartoon.
More good clues than I can mention, but especially liked ARUM and my FOI WOOLSACK.
Thanks to Orpheus, and great blogging Mike.
A disappointing 15 minutes.
About 6 minutes for all but last 4 clues and then the usual panic/stress/doubt took over. Not good when I consider other times. I remain behind the curve.
Thanks for the blog.
PS Did OK on 15 x 15, but I suspect it was very low on the Snitch.
16:21. quite hard I thought. always a bit terrifying when the plants show up. honestly sometimes I’d prefer the triffids…
Triffids 🤣😱
12:13 for me, slightly faster than my average. My COD goes to METAPHYSICIAN, will use that pun after my doctor’s appointment later.
Thanks to Mike and Orpheus.
Inner voice: Ok, it’s an anagram, take your time, use the letters and don’t misspell chrysanthemum.
My fingers: CHRYSANTHENUM
I found this on the tough side for a quick but I’m not much of a horticulturalist.
COD: OUTMOST
Very late! Did this hours ago, but only just got round to posting. I liked it – especially the plants 😊
9:53 FOI Woolsack LOI Opener COD Metaphysician
Thanks Orpheus and Mike