Well, I certainly see that you don't give ground very easily! Now that you point out the fermata at the beginning of the piece, I see your point of not needing to keep strict time during the quasi una cadenza. I like it best with the length of the fermata minimized, though. And in my sixth comment, I see that I wrote "triplets" when I meant to write "quintuplets". Incidentally, Debussy should have written them with only one flag joining the notes, not two (though admittedly, two looks prettier). I still think they are more effective when done in strict time. On the issue of doing things as Debussy wrote, in this specific instance, I don't see how playing with crossed hands is inevitably going to make things sound different from, and better than, hands in the usual position. My experience has been that, if I am having problems getting something to work, it is often because I am not doing things the easiest way, and somehow my fingers know it, and rebel. And the idea of cheating by doing the upper notes of the tenth chords with my right hand seems to me to be closer to, not further from, doing as Debussy wrote. What Debussy wrote was, in effect, to do the tenth chords with one hand and with all the notes simultaneous, small-handed people be damned. I think it's more important that things sound more as Debussy intended; whether things look the way Debussy intended is of secondary importance.