The Stickler Weekly 168 Solution

Every now and then I receive encouragement from solvers in the form of contributions. There are about 6 people who give without my prompting which reinforces my decision not to use a subscription model and restrict access. On rare occasions I receive a contribution from a new source, which gives me hope that the cryptic message is getting out there slowly. Last week an American fellow sent me a generous sum which makes me jump for joy as the US doesn’t have a cryptic crossword culture (does Australia?). It also means they found me on the net and that my “international” cryptic is appealing across the seas. As with most new contributors, I started up a conversation digging into their cryptic history and preferences, and was delighted to read that there are US cryptic solvers keen to find crosswords that meet their needs. Mr America pointed to three US cryptics that he solves regularly, one of them is by Cox and Rathvon, who I’ve mentioned before as being two of my cryptic heroes. Have a go at their latest from the Wall Street Journal and there’s a PDF version available too.
You’ll notice a particular style which, once you get the hang of it, will appear to be fairly easy to unravel. This crossword contains typical American cryptic clues, ones that don’t allow etymological cross-over between definition and wordplay, making it relatively easy pickings for seasoned Stickler solvers. That’s not a criticism, I admire the ingenuity despite the clueing restrictions at play. You’ll also notice there’s a gimmick involved, an extra that is common in all types of American crosswords to add to the variety and possibly compensate for the relatively easy cryptic clues.
Please let me know what you think.