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I am a keen doer and a frequent solver of the Times Cryptic crossword but lately I feel that some setters are using tenuous and obscure connections in the clues they are providing. No.26430 was a good example.
We solvers want a good but fair challenge. It is unsatisfactory to solve the crossword but feel that one has achieved it with too much intuition and less skill. 22 across in the crossword referred to above is an example of such an outcome.
Please setters stick to the rules!

I could not agree more. I've dropt from 5 to 3 tabloid xwords a day and 2 of them are becoming a bore.

One of the clues in Saturday's Times2 crossword would be impossible for most people to work out, unless they use a site like Crossword Solver - or were experts in old Welsh literature!

35 across - Medieval Welsh book of tales (10).

Answer: Mabinogion

http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofWales/The-Mabinogion/

Setanto1 and Shooty - Forgot to say that I agree with you!

I would have thought the Mabinogion was sufficiently well known to warrant its inclusion.

I agree with you here, Pendragon.
Leastways, I knew the answer!

A bugbear of mine is the clue which can be derived from the solution but is not a means of reaching it. There was an example of this in the last Guardian prize puzzle.

"Mrs English repeatedly ignored by Courier and Herald? (6)"

Can anyone seeing that clue for the first time solve it?

Yes, I think so......but only by knowing another word for herald and courier and then working it out backwards.