In any case, when I floor 'C-v' in dictionary.json now, whether
narrowing is applied in 'handle_fontified_prop' or not, I see the buffer
stutter around 2%, then go on and freeze around the 9% mark. When I
release 'C-v' after waiting a while, it ends up at 12% or 14%.
Or if I go to EOB and floor 'M-v', both versions freeze almost right
away. So it doesn't look like one is an order of a magnitude faster than
the other, or at least not anymore.
C-n and C-p are also pretty sluggish with both versions.