It took me a while to grasp the undercurrent behind this – at first, I’d an idea that it might refer to gods of the elements – and it didn’t really fall into place until I realised that BACCHUS was the substitution for WINE in 1ac. But, even then, some of the deistic references were completely new to me. What a marvellous thing the internet is in these circumstances (I don’t have the DT A to Z of Almost Everything).

The reference to the 5 different mythologies completely passed me by, though I noticed that different mythologies were involved.

I too am glad that I’m not alone in finding 14ac a bit of a puzzle. I’d realised that Kruger had got the wrong letter, and that threw me for a while in interpreting the “useful reference”. The other thing that threw me was the sequence “HATOZO” – until it sunk in that the central part was “A TO Z”. Once I’d got that (as often happens) I was able to work out the whole phrase before I’d solved all the clues.

A very clever puzzle. I often feel pleased with myself for solving these puzzles – until it sinks in how clever (and downright devious on occasion) the setters are.

I’m glad we appear to agree that there is a flaw in 14a.