I too enjoyed this very much for the reasons you say, always puzzled. But I think it's been a good start to the year, with excellent puzzles from Mr Magoo and CheeseCracker. I thought Doc's puzzle last week was pretty good although one of the unclueds was not verifiable under pseudonyms in Brewer, which shows a want of attention to detail. But if that's the worst lapse this year, I won't complain.