Times Quick Crossword No 2976 by Orpheus

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…

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.

CON is an archaic transitive verb meaning ‘to study attentively or learn by heart‘

The symbol ‘I’ for current comes from the French phrase “intensité du courant” (current intensity).

‘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“

How very unwoke of the setter not to use ‘batter’ rather than ‘batsman’…

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).

Eight clues, three plants!

The name ARNICA may be derived from the Greek arni “lamb”, in reference to the plants’ soft, hairy leaves.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

‘French’ appears doing double duty here.

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“

‘support’ is apposite as this is a down clue with ST ‘supporting’ the other letters on top.

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”.