Clue:
The three-letter answer is:
Thank you – thank you verra much.
Very, very clever.
Unfortunately, the thread preview showed the spoiler, so I didn’t get a chance to try and figure it out.
Shit! sorry about that – I’ll ask a mod to add some returns.
Try putting the spoiler box inside a quote box. Quotes don’t seem to show up on previews. Some goes for text bracketed by certain broken tags, I believe.
twickster, are you a crossword editor at a paper, or for anthologies, or what?
I ask because I have a friend at a Philadelphia paper.
Great clue, btw.
Thank you. I was pretty damn pleased with it. 
I work for a major publisher of puzzle magazines.
Nice one!
BTW, I got that startup book for cryptics that you recommended.
My brain hurts…
I guessed “BRB” oh well.
Brian
MEBuckner – thanks for fixing my :smack: !
Dante – alas, it’s a slippery slope. It take a long time – for me, a couple of years – to actually get good at them, but once you’re there, no other puzzle will be as satisfying.
N9lWP – that would work, too.
My favorite crossword clue so far is: “Little hooters,” 6 letters.
OWLETS, of course. Perv.
My favourite, from a Christmas Eve puzzle:
O hark the herald angels, sing the boy’s descent which lifted up the world
…being an anagram of “While shepherds watched their flocks by night, all seated on the ground”
My favorite crossword clue was “Left on the Titanic”.
The answer:
PORT
Took this former sailor all of two seconds to figure it out.
Robin
Here’s a rather tricky one:
Answer:
SENSELESSNESS
Oh and one for the Brits:
Answer:
MARYLEBONE
I’m British. Sadly I don’t get this. Can you explain?
From the Guardian crossword:
WATER (h to o :eek: )
SCRAMBLED EGGS 
My favourite:
Postman’s sack
It’s a little involved:
Think Roman numerals. 1200 - 200=1000, i.e. MCC - CC = M.
But the MCC is also famously “Marylebone Cricket Club”, so the M is Marylebone. Geddit?