Help with 9d: One novelist enters pass, keeping his head in danger (3-4) I have I?E-?O?L. The answer is the last of 30 US State nicknames. I assume it is something like "Ice-Bowl" for Alaska but can't find a reference to that nickname or get a handle on the wordplay.
Thank you! Not a State nickname but a straightforward cryptic.... As always, I was the author of my own misfortune. I was looking for 30 States but it is actually 30 CLUES and there is one State name covered by two sets of lights....