Have you tried that strange thing in the Daily Mail which is a mixture of picture clues ( Rebus?) and other types.? Some days I can sail through that and others I can't do more than a couple.
I don't know that one. Is there an online example to look at? Other things I sometimes do are arrow words (I think really a crossword with a different type of grid), word ladders where you have to get from one word to another, changing one letter to make a new word in so many steps and codewords where each letter has a number. I've not had much joy with the codeword the i in a while...
I do find the sometimes just do with several things. Eg. I have had a run of about a week on the Guardian Quick that were more or less straight write ins. I might start thinking (actually experience has taught me otherwise) that I'm getting really good at these and then you hit a couple tat bring you back down to earth... Others like the ladder word, I tend to ind a route fairly quickly or not at all. Codewords, I can wind up making a guess, often at a vowel - it might work but I can also cross the puzzle out as it's clear I've made a mess....
They are called Pitcherwits and are most odd.
30 years ago my father in law and I used to do the Yorkshire Post one between us, but I haven't seen one of those for years.
I keep doing word searches if I see one, but after a while think 'This is inane. What am I doing?'