Will a good clean reduce the crackle on records ?

Yes

Should never play a dirty record as the stylus will pick this up and you'll have a massive chance of getting cue burn especially on styrene records. 

Not only that but of course it will degrade sound if dirty.

2 hours ago, jazz said:

Will a good clean reduce the crackle on records ?

Depends on how scratched record is, you should always clean records once they've arrived from seller, before even playing.

Probably been asked a 100 times easy way of cleaning the record thanx jazz 

2 hours ago, jazz said:

crackle on records ?

What a top name for a label that would have been.   

I use the wood glue method for cleaning my new purchases, check out YouTube tutorials on how to this, I find it works. Give the record a clean first with a damp lint free soft cloth, let it dry and then apply the glue. Top tip - practice first on a sacrificial record so you can master the method before using it on a prised record. Obviously if the crackle & pops are due to superficial damage to the playing surface this method won't cure that but it will remove the minute dust particles from the grooves. 

Hiya, redditch crew has posted a few times on this subject and it works for him.  Follow his advice using the materials he states. Not sure but some people seem to try things without following the guidelines he has stated, eg wrong glue etc. check back near start of thread where he uses specific materials. As above try it on a record you don't care for. Got to be worth a go. Cheers

A good scrub with a damp (well wrung out) J cloth. Ordinary tap water is fine. If things are really dirty a drop or two of Fairy Liquid, then a scrub. Just don't forget to rinse under the cold tap 'till all the washing up liquid is GONE. BTW try and keep the labels from getting wet. Vinyl and styrene are both much tougher than people think, so you won't do any damage if you're sensible.