The Stickler Weekly 177 Solution

Recently a friend contacted me wishing to reconnect with cryptic crosswords. He’s in his 40s and has dabbled with cryptics for extensive periods during parts of his life, but a stint overseas took him away from those he used to enjoy solving with. A renewed focus led him to me, as he searched the internet for help on Australian cryptics.
We met for coffee and discussed some recent Stickler Weeklys after going back to basics about clue structure the importance of identifying the definition by spotting likely wordplay elements. During our discussion I said something about setting that I don’t think I had realised before: “A setter generally looks for the simplest construction when making a clue, that is, the most obvious construction to the solver is probably the right one”. There are numerous ways to make clues hard, but intentionally making clues convoluted is not usually an option a setter takes. A solver’s first instinct on how a clue works is probably the right one, and if that doesn’t pan out, the second one is almost always going to get the job done. An experienced solver is one that has learnt the most likely way to work out a clue.
Inexperienced solvers tend to overthink things as the average clue can contain a multitude of solving possibilities, but, as the setter tends to follow the easiest construction path, they can be sure the most likely construction is probably the right one. A setter can exploit this, of course, but in subtle ways, not in ways that make a clue unnecessarily difficult.