@Eileen and nmsindy: thank you for drawing my attention to ‘or’, which I hadn’t twigged at all. Although I am familiar with “or” from heraldic English and, of course, everyday French, I have never seen a clue where in the surface reading it is a conjunction while in the wordplay of the solution it is a colour – a first, perhaps??

Shameful confession – I used to own an album by Styx(Pieces of Eight).

Wow, RatkojaRiku – what a blog! Absolutely sensational job and one of the most comprehensive sets of clue breakdowns I’ve seen. My hugest thanks to you.

I’m still trying to work out exactly what Tilsit means at #5, but on a personal note I rarely compare setters; even less inclined to compare setters on different newspapers. Enigmatist is a setter I’d place among the greatest of contemporary clue-writers – his sense of fun, adventure and risk (in combintaion) is unmatched elsewhere. It’s also unique and that’s why he delights and frustrates in equal measure; and remember, the Guardian is IMHO the most adventurous when it comes to clueing style. I expect and hope to get criticism, but for entirely different reasons compared to Enigmatist; he’s edgy/playful, I’m more of a workaday Xim wannabe.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that solver reactions to any setter will be based largely on what is expected of him/her, so the very nature of those reactions will be different.

I think those of us lucky enough to meet Anax in Derby could give the lie to the first part of the comment: as for the second, whatever else you might say about Anax, boring – never!