Cryptic Mahler

[salymap]

An easy one from the DT years ago,

Many fish, many worms do. [6 letters] last one must be 'Bananas' ?

[EdgeleyRob]

Egg on (5 letters)

[salymap]

Egg on (5 letters)

I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours

[EdgeleyRob]

Toast (cringe smiley?).

[salymap]

Oh, how could I not think of that It seems too obvious though.

Mine. Many fish, many worms do. Dangle D angle. I like it somehow, took me ages when I first saw it.

[gurnemanz]

Another zoologically themed clue:

Large snake or quite the reverse. (6)

[Flosshilde]

Another zoologically themed clue:

Large snake or quite the reverse. (6)

Python? Reversed it reads 'no htyp' - the 'no' seems to fit the 'quite the reverse' part of the clue, but no idea what 'htyp' might mean

[vinteuil]

Python? Reversed it reads 'no htyp' - the 'no' seems to fit the 'quite the reverse' part of the clue, but no idea what 'htyp' might mean

... think rather : "snakes and ******s"

[Flosshilde]

Aaaaahhhh - so 'ladders' then? But are adders (presumablyh it's 'l' for large + 'adders'?) a "large snake"? They're not even the largest British snake, which is the grass snake.

[Petrushka]

Aaaaahhhh - so 'ladders' then? But are adders (presumablyh it's 'l' for large + 'adders'?) a "large snake"? They're not even the largest British snake, which is the grass snake.

No, the answer is 'ladder'. As you say, the 'L' stands for 'large' while the snake - adder - comes after. My only quibble is that I feel that the clue should have had a question mark after it. Nothing to do with a 'large snake' anyway, cryptic clues are never so literal.

By the way, I didn't manage to work it out either!

I started doing cryptic crosswords many years ago after my mother gave me the basic details of how clues are worded. I then went on to compare the clues in the Sun newspaper where the easy and cryptic had the same answer thus enabling me to follow the thought process. I then graduated to the Daily Telegraph completing the Saturday prize crossword every week for years without ever winning the prize. Did the Times crossword for some years but rarely completed it. Nowadays I never do them anymore.