Ok, but three items in one group could have fitted into another group, which is a bit mean, even if there was nothing in the other group that could be swapped. Technically it was still valid as a unique solution, but it took ages to work out those two groups (which were the most obvious ones to me).

I think ept, apt, and vert have a few too many prefixes each to make 3/4s of a group, as mentioned they all fit the IN group, which is perhaps a bit too much. Also unclear why Skua isn't Skuas to fit with the rest of the group.

Lots of crossovers is good! Even if gules is only nearly one ;-)

Apt group was the weakest - maybe a microsoft products group to play off azure? Then you can have competent, consistent and excel.

but I still give it a good score. Thanks for setting