Intervening, at law / SAT 8-19-17 / Method of fishing / Some fruit pastries / Feature of Namibia and Libya / Root used in perfumery / Noodle soup noodle / 1990-94 New Jersey governor

Constructor: Mark Diehl

Relative difficulty: Medium-Hard



THEME: none

Word of the Day: ORRIS (24A: Root used in perfumery) —

Orris root (rhizoma iridis) is a term used for the roots Iris germanica and Iris pallida. Once important in western herbal medicine, it is now used mainly as a fixative and base note in perfumery, the most widely used fixative for potpourri. Orris is also an ingredient in many brands of gin.

Fabienne Pavia, in her book L'univers des Parfums (1995, ed. Solar), states that in the manufacturing of perfumes using orris, the scent of the iris root differs from that of the flower. After preparation the scent is reminiscent of the smell of violets. (Wikipedia)

Greetings, CrossWorld! It's Lollapuzzoola 10 in NYC this weekend, so you've got me, Tyler Clark, for the Saturday and Sunday puzzles while Rex is off solving and snacking.

This went relatively slowly for me, how about you? I started in the NE, then rather worked my way around clockwise, finishing in the middle. Or, at least, I thought I was finished. As I was trying to speed through the opening Downs, I got to (4A: Shows the way) and felt pretty confident with LEADS ON. When I finally finished, I had ORROS crossing it (see Word of the Day, above). Botany is not a strong suit, so being fairly confident with my crosses, I didn't give it the skeptical review it deserved until ruling out nearly everything else. (So, LEADS IN / ORRIS is the correct cross there.)



My other stumbling block was geography. Not sure why I haven't filed this away under four-letter French river or, for that matter, spent any time learning the 102 departments of France ... except maybe that there are 102 of them. Anyhoo, I had _ISE RIVER for (29D: Waterway that lent its name to two French departments) and since at that time I only had __IS_NRI_T for the cross, somehow I convinced myself I should start with F. Only once I realized the "Joint" in (27A: Joint flare-up?) was PRISON did RIOT replace RIFT, completing OISE RIVER.



I found plenty to like, including TRESPASSES (34A: Goes over the line?), IMITATIVE (28D: Like store brands vis-à-vis name brands, typically), TRANSFERS (30D: Students arriving late?), DOWSES (21A: Looks forward to the next spring?), APERITIFS (44A: Dubonnet or Campari), and CONNIVER (49A: Lowdown sneak).



Others slowing me down included (22A: Feature of Namibia and Libya) which I filled in with ARIDNESS on faith, because I had only previously been aware of ARIDITY, (32A: Method of fishing) which might as well be the Word of the Day –Alternate: SEINING

Seine fishing (or seine-haul fishing) is a method of fishing that employs a seine or dragnet. A seine is a fishing net that hangs vertically in the water with its bottom edge held down by weights and its top edge buoyed by floats. Seine nets can be deployed from the shore as a beach seine, or from a boat.

Boats deploying seine nets are known as seiners. There are two main types of seine net deployed from seiners: purse seines and Danish seines. (Wikipedia)

Anyone else start (8D: It covers bridges, typically) with DENTAL APPLIANCE instead of DENTAL INSURANCE? And how many of you knew MESNE (42D: Intervening, at law) without Every Single Cross?

See you Sunday!
Signed, Tyler Clark, Fan of CrossWorld

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