Jase: you don't deserve it, you sod, with your flounce nostalgia gags, but here goes.
The standard crossword clue comes in two parts, which can be in either order: one part is cryptic and the other is straight. This envelope can be pushed, but not too far and not too often.
Let's start with my first one. The author of The Good Soldier Svejk is HASEK. "Backing", that's KESAH. The cryptic part of the clue is "Stout fighters for autonomy get backing of author of The Good Soldier Svejk, and", which is FAT ETA KESAH AND. The straight part is "destiny intervenes" which is FATE TAKES A HAND.
I must admit some of Wyatt's cross from cryptic to mystic, for me.
The good cryptic clue, though, as he says, is one that either points towards an anagram, some synonyms, or an inclusive (is that the term?) in one part of the clue, then hints towards the answer in the other part.
"Portuguese river runs as thick as shit (3)", for example.
That's a pretty good clue. The "to Manchester" bit might be superfluous, though. In fact, you wouldn't lose anything (and you'd gain a measure of elegance) by reducing it to Milan train (9). You've still got all the wordplay you need ("Inter city") and a definition. It's a matter of personal style, though.
I don't think "Milan train" in itself would be sufficient to get you to "intercity", but I prefer the Telegraph to the Guardian. I thought JtS's clue was fairer (although I have to admit I still wouldn't have got it quickly, if at all, I was looking for some play of letters from the end of "Milan" to the start of "Manch"), not thinking about the "Inter" giveaway.
I don't know about that. Ideally, every word in a clue should be there for a purpose (although sometimes it's necessary to include some non-functional verbiage to get a clue that reads gramatically) and in JtS's original "runs from" and (unless I'm missing something) "to Manchester" don't really add anything.
It's near-inevitable that some of the clues in this thread will have some words in them that don't add to the sense or the mechanics, though, because the setter has to fit a specific word or phrase - the solution of the preceding clue - in there.
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