to be annoyed that I struggle with cryptic crosswords...

[NessCathy]

I've been trying to get into cryptic crosswords, and I'm really annoyed that I struggle with them, and some find them so easy. I can usually get a few and when I cheat, find myself thinking either
a) Oh, that's so bloody obvious, or
b) How could anyone have put all that together?

Anyone else like them? Maybe we could have a MN group to improve? Or a grandmaster to help us?

Me too crosswordaddict :)

Normastanlyfletcher I just printed it off and did it on paper., I am better on paper than on-line.

Me too

I still haven't finished 25, 416!

Michael Jackson helped with several but could do with this one to move along:

1Down: Picking up fun guy that could make your head spin? (5,9)

Definitely up for an ongoing thread :)

Play on words - fun guy
Think hallucinagenic (sp?) drugs.

hocus is very good at these! got that one.

I like this thread, would be happy for it to continue too.

Ahhh, fungi....:)

I really miss doing the Telegraph crossword. I wish it was on-line for free. I can't go and buy the newspaper as people in the street might think I'm pro-Cameron and beat me up

hocus Why don't you treat yourself tomorrow to a Telegraph and put it in a carrier bag?

LOL Hocus - where I live if i buy the Guardian I might get escorted out of the area :)

hocus - can't you bear to do the online Guardian ones?

What is the world coming to when we can't even buy a newspaper?

Like the carrier bag idea. Not Waitrose obviously, I'll dig out a Budgens or Lidl. Saturday has a good puzzle section - I like the GK crossword as well as all the Soduku spin-offs.

magic mushrooms?

I've been lurking and that currency one from before is bugging me - what was it?

Sandalwood - go with the flow of the current and think of a natural feature that might involve those two things, somewhere in Europe.

I can't seem to 'get' the Guardian ones. I tried when this thread first started and couldn't get going. I might have another look. That's what 35 years of the Torygraph does to you. It brainwashes you into it's clue mind-set and there's no escape.

! Try some of the different setters - as said upthread, they have different mindwarps, so some might suit you better than others?
I can't remember (it's 20 years ago so fair play, I feel) who in the Guardian was like the Torygraph - I just know that I got on with some better than others and if I ever even got one clue by Shed, that would have been it!

Of course! Thankyou.

That's weird. I had another go at the Guardian on-line as you suggested and managed to get all but three! The compilers are all very different obviously. I never really noticed any difference in the Telegraph ones. I will try tomorrow again. I am intrigued by 'Shed'.

Shed might suit you! He never did me, but some people could do it!
Once you work out which ones suit you, they have the crosswords listed by compiler down the left hand side, so you can choose on that basis. :) (you may or may not have noticed that).

hocuspontas Is there a Guardian cryptic crossword on Saturday online? Don't want all the trouble of buying one tbh.
I love the one in the Daily Mail on Saturdays called Blankout. In the Weekend magazine bit. You put in the blank squares for yourself. I really love it.

The Guardian has the prize crossword on a Saturday. Further down the list of links on the main crossword page

Just going to print it off now

Normastanley Thanks for that Will have a go after I've been to the Country Market at Village Hall

19,4,2,15 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road !

Yep - DH and I just finished it (apart from 16 ac).

Not too bad for a Saturday prize crossword.