Iq 1809

[hankir]

Finding this one tough. No answer lengths given.

1. Something in tract, literary? Wasted hour absorbing that
2. Piccolos lose out in display of sound forms?
3. Form of transport hand carries around? Not right (four hands needed!) (2 words)

4. Tchaikovsky, say, unhappy after piano appears a shade German? (2 words)
5. Mother upset about tenor’s nerve
6. Satisfactory? That’s Nick’s decision (3 words)

Thanks.

[ProfessorMaisie]

1 (a medical blockage) anag HOUR + LIT(erary).
2 anag first 2 words - sound waves imager.
3 needs 4 hands to carry it - anag HAND CA[r]RIES (minus 'r')

[ProfessorMaisie]

4 P + Tchaikovsky's nationality + 4 letters for 'unhappy' (12 letter answer)
5 'mother' in the sense of dregs = LEES (5 letter answer).
6 nickname for the devil is SCRATCH (11 letters).

[hankir]

Thanks ProfessorM.
Kicking myself for not recognizing anagrams.
Mother as lees new.
I thought Tchaikovsky was in first column so kept on looking for something to start with S.
I am assuming that when filled in, the whole grid is symmetrical.

[ProfessorMaisie]

Yes, it's the first of the down clues but it takes up all of the 2nd column, hankir (I should have been more careful how I phrased that hint}.
The various symmetries are best ignored until the grid has been filled - they're no help at all in filling it (and might even hinder the process).
That's why I'm unhappy about the lack of answer lengths here. In a 'normal' carte-blanche, rotational symmetry is a great help, but answer lengths sometimes make it too easy (it doesn't take long to place bars around the grid without having to solve the clues for the entries that go there).

[ProfessorMaisie]

Just to be clear - the whole grid doesn't show symmetry, the grid is 3 separate rectangles joined together and each one shows a different symmetry (one has the same bar pattern when it's turned upside down, one looks the same either side of a central fold, and one looks the same either side of a diagonal fold).

[hankir]

Thanks ProfessorM.
More than half grid filled.

Just need answer lengths for:
Memorable witch...
Excessive line...
United mobbed...
Lots working...

[ProfessorMaisie]

witch... 6
line... 10
mobbed... 4
working... 6

[hankir]

Thanks ProfessorM.
All done.