How to Solve Cryptics

Cryptic clues usually have two parts: a definition and a wordplay part.

Importantly, the definition is always at one end of the clue, never in the middle.

For example, using the example clue 'Steal England's dressing gown', our definition could be 'steal' (e.g. take, loot, theive), or it could be 'gown' (e.g. dress, frock), OR it could be 'dressing gown'.

In this case, it is the latter. The rest of the clue can be put together to form a word for dressing gown. ROB (steal) + E (England) = ROBE (dressing gown).

The wordplay part of the clue can take many forms:

• Anagrams: Look for "indicator" words like 'broken', 'scrambled', or 'mixed'. E.g. 'Excited about wobbly knee' -> anagram of KNEE -> KEEN (excited about).
• Containers: One word put inside another. Indicators might be 'surrounded by', 'swallows', 'about', 'within' (or 'without'). E.g. 'Winning fare swallowed up by search engine.' -> EAT (fare) inside (swallowed up by) BING (search engine) -> BEATING (winning)
• Builders: Build a word by joining individually clued words. E.g. 'State of small discomfort' -> S (small) + PAIN (discomfort) = SPAIN (a state).
• Deletions: Removal of the first, last, or intermediate letters of a word. E.g. 'topless' or 'beheaded' might mean to remove the first letter. E.g. 'Endless ladies are the way to go' -> take ends off of (endless) BROADS (ladies) -> ROAD (way to go)
• Double Definition: Both parts of the clue are definitions, e.g. 'European root vegetable' -> SWEDE (a word for both a European and a type of root vegetable).
• Words Within: Where the answer is literally IN the clue. Indictors might be 'in', 'part of'. 'characters of'. E.g. 'Part of heart hits ground' -> Part of hEART Hits ground -> EARTH (ground)
• Acrostics: Word made by taking the first (or last) letters of the other words in the clue. Indictors might be 'heads', 'tops', 'tails', 'capitals', 'primarily'. E.g. 'Primarily irritating and peevish little devil' -> Irritating And Peevish -> IMP (little devil).
• Odd/Even/Numbered Letters: Word made by taking odd/even/other specific letters of the other words in the clue. Indictors might be 'regularly', 'odd', 'even', 'square' (take letters numbered 1, 4, 9, 16...). E.g. 'Flowers regularly make enemies' -> FlOwErS (regular letters of flowers) -> FOES (enemies)
• Homophones: Where the answer word sounds like a word indicated by the rest of the clue. Indicators might be 'on the radio', 'spoken', 'aloud', i.e. anything that suggests a word being heard not read. E.g. 'Festival ticket announced' -> FARE (ticket, announced) -> FAIR (festival)
• Reversals: Where the answer come from the reversal of another word (or words). Indicators might be 'back', 'to the west', 'upside down'. E.g. 'Crazy backstab' -> STAB backwards is BATS (crazy)
• Spoonerism: Where the answer comes from switching the first letters/sounds of a clued phrase. Will have 'spooner' in the clue. E.g. 'Spooner's horse encountered attraction' -> NAG MET (horse encountered) -> MAGNET (attraction)

There are many more ways to play with words in cryptics, but the above form the vast majority of clues!

There are also many common words used to represent single letters or abbreviations. For example, using the phonetic alphabet, country names (e.g. France = F), roman numerals, and periodic table symbols (e.g. gold = Au). Another common one is 'love' = 0 (in tennis) = the letter O.

Wikipedia has a great list of common examples.