Lots of great clues. My favorites were buddy @9, paul @16, dorrien @20 (best of the Cher clues, including mine,) spike @26 & @27, jono @28, and fiery jack @35. You can see this is going to be tough. By the way, spike, I think your Tolkien clue works without "initially."
I'm going with buddy @9 because of the efficient construction. No extra words.