26 Cryptic crosswords- A letter from a word

For Blaugust this year I decided to publish a series of cryptic crossword posts.


Many of our friends over the years have said that cryptic crosswords don't make sense. They certainly do play with your mind, and that is why I take delight in them.  I love the surprising discovery inside a puzzle and the challenge of twisting the usual thought patterns and making them do something different.
Sometimes a word or two of the clue will give you just a single letter of the answer.

Be on the lookout for indicators such as

• First
• Last
• Final
• Initial
• Beginning
• End

These will often show you that you should take that letter from the word following and use it.

Finally take photograph after a long story (4) -The Advertiser Feb 4th 2016

"Finally take" shows that you should take the last letter from take (the e)

Photograph after = pic ...after the e

The straight clue (on the end, instead of the beginning in this clue) is "a long story"

A long story is an epic.