Weirdest clue in quite a while

[chickenfeet]

From todays's Guardian cryptic

10,26 Mad myth's 'ere - at first reader is misled? (7,5,3,2,7)

FREDDIE STARR ATE MY HAMSTER

Comments

[daubentonia.livejournal.com]

Good one! It took me a sec to figure it out though.

[shezan.livejournal.com]

I am absolutely hopeless - I don't even understand how cryptics work.

*sits down on the floor and cries*

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

It's an anagram of the first 24 letters of the clue. The "misled" at the end pointing to the fact it is an anagram and the whole clue being an indication that it's about an untrue story.

[shezan.livejournal.com]

Oh, good lord, I could never find this.

What are the figures before and after? 10,23 and then (7,5,3,2,7)?... waitwaitwait, the numbers in brackets are the number of letters in each word. I get at least that.

*feels absurdly pleased*

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

The first two numbers refer to where in the grid the answer goes.

[radinden]

Ah, you're still Tiki-ing.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Just can't get enough of Lola's sweet ass.

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

Heh. I liked that one. It came in a sudden flash when I realised the possibility of 'ate my'.