Are Original Crosswords Becoming Extinct?

[MissLead]

Given that English language crossword puzzles have been around for about a century, I wonder how many of the newspaper ones are still compiled from scratch. I've noticed, with the few that I attempt, that when I get stuck with the last couple of clues, entering them into a search engine exactly as printed usually gives me an instant result.
An example is the local Darlington & Stockton Times, which seems to recycle puzzles from The Scotsman newspaper and also a Canadian one (can't remember it's name) even though I do not think they are part of the same group.
Also, entering a couple of clues from Saturday's I paper elicited instant solutions from a website (wordplays.com).
I have mixed feelings about this - I enjoy the challenge of doing crosswords but now think why waste an hour or two on prize ones when I could get them finished in a few minutes?
This is one of the few drawbacks of the internet I suppose!
Do you think that there are many original compilers out there or do they just "pirate" others?

[dannyk13]

Some pirating does take place , but then some compilers work for more than one paper so they often use the same clues in different papers.

[Mamyalynne]

Agree with Danny, may of the smaller newspapers simply purchase puzzles from a supply and don't have a setter of their own.

Other puzzles do the rounds, sometimes with years in between publication or even continents between them.

Yes there are still many hard working dedicated setters (we moan about them every week) :-)

[MissLead]

In which papers, apart from The Grauniad are these hard working dedicated setters to be found?

[dannyk13]

Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail et al

[Mamyalynne]

The Times.

[Mamyalynne]

http://bestforpuzzles.com/people/