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?

The 'turn' is the indicator of anagram in this clue.

There are so many of these indicators; mad, confused, about, massaged, forged, fractured, somehow, tangled - there must be hundreds!

Useful link here

I can't see how the 'must've' clue works, anybody explain it?

Think = MUSE
The box = TV

There's no definition but in order to get the answer you have to put MUSE (think) outside of TV (the box)!

When there's a question mark at the end it's often an indicator of non-standard cluing; like this Araucaria oldie:

Oo? (8,7)

Circular letters!

A bit like this one too:

XX (6,8)

Double Crossing!

Have just done this week's Quiptic on the Guardian site with a coffee.

I'm enjoying the Quiptics - getting me back into it slowly

Yes, it makes sense now, how devious!

Took the part of another (5)

S _ D

I thought maybe another word for understudy?

But only part of the phrase.

I find the straight forward anagrams easier than this type of clue.

I understand the XX, Oo, and must've, but I doubt I would get them unless there were a lot of letters in place.

The ones I really hate are where the clue is massively long and there are only maybe 3 letters in the answer. That really does irritate me!

Can't get your latest one, Allhail, I was thinking sub- something, but don't know what.

Allhail SIDED!

I can't see how that's cryptic. Bit woolly today...

Does everyone remember the one which was supposed to have stumped Morse?

gegs (8,4)

I like cryptic crosswords at bedtime - suprising how often the answer that eluded the night before will be transparently obvious the next evening! Though at the moment I've switched to Killer Sudoku.

I was thinking stand as in part of the phrase stand-in.

crosswordaddict, why is it sided?

Scrambled eggs doesn't fit.

sorry, typo should have been 9,4 of course!

(I never quite believed morse would have struggled with that.)

Ah, you teased me!

Maybe Morse was told 8,4 which is why he could never get it.

I LOVE Killer Sudoku! The books I get have mild, medium, tricky, extreme and deadly sections. I can only complete up to tricky, although once I did an extreme and was very proud!

Grimma, I like killer sudoku too, have you tried kenken or futoshiki?

In kenken, the goal is to place numbers so they don't repeat in a line or column. There are meshes like killer sudoku but with maths operators +. X, - and :. You can repeat the same number within a mesh as long as it isn't same row or column.

How about Stead for the 5-letter clue? I'd agree that it's not the most cryptic of clues, if that is the answer!

Agree with all on Killer Sudoko - I'd rather have one of those than chocolate any day.

(don't tell my DH though)

Totem Not so sure now you've said that. It should end with ed if it's a past tense verb. Subbed isn't spelt subed is it?
Another one is STOOD maybe?

STOOD was the closest I thought of. Past tense of stand(-in). Very dubious though!

Totem - I used to do the kenken when we had hardcopy Sat times if I'd finished the Killer before I fell asleep, but they aren't as good. Which one is futoshiki? If its that thing with a few numbers and > signs I did one once.