Layman groans awfully for what this puzzle is (3,8)

Since only one person I know in the “real world” knows how to do a cryptic crossword, I made an intro puzzle to delight (or bore) you this weekend. You can find it here. Do it on your phone, tablet, computer, or print it out and use an ol’ fashioned pencil or even a fountain pen.

The title is a clue. Seems like gibberish, but it’s not. Every one of the clues will be anagrams. Those are usually easy to spot in a cryptic puzzle. There will be a word that connotes something broken, in a mess, in some disarray, or just plain bad, such as:

Bad lad made an Indian soup (3)

The clue is “an Indian soup” and the answer is three letters long.*

In cryptics, the numbers in the parentheses actually tell you if there’s more than one word. You don’t have to guess!

Punctuation, often, is there for distraction (kinda like sleight of hand). Me? I like to use it to make the sentences more interesting or pretty, or. . .because it means something. But you’ll have to wait for harder fare than this to find out.

So, go. Have at it. And if anagrams aren’t your thing, the next puzzle will introduce another type of clue. . .

*dal