Good fun I thought. Given the various GK, classical references I put this on a par with last week. Spotted the pangram potential early on which proved helpful for my LOI which just happened to be 12a.
In other news, I’ve heard that Picaroon is taking up an editorial position at the Telegraph and may not therefore continue contributions in his various guises to the to Guardian, FT, Independent etc. That will be a shame but good luck to James if that’s the case.