How to Solve Cryptic Crosswords

I just learned about this guide to solving cryptic crosswords on the National Puzzlers League website.

If you've ever tried to decipher one of these puzzles (which I prefer to the standard New York Times puzzle), you know that the clues make no sense. This is because each clue contains a literal definition and a piece of wordplay that creates the answer. Two clues for the same word should be easy, but when you don't know where one half begins and the other ends, and when you don't know which comes first, it makes the puzzle more difficult. And that's before you stumble into variety cryptics, where the rules change.

Hopefully the NPL guide will give you a leg up, if you've struggled with these in the past.