>See if http://fox.wikis.com/wc.dll?Wiki~VFP9RushmoreAndCodepage answers your question.

I did find that (just after posting here, natch) but although it explains the issue, I couldn't find any pointers to solutions or workarounds.

For instance, I thought, OK, if I test CPCURRENT and find it doesn't match CPDBF, then why not simply issue a "CODEPAGE=CPDBF()" and run the query as usual. Tried it, got a marginal improvement, (knocked the 17 down to 10 seconds) but still not a patch on the original vfp8 speed.

Presumably the answer to the absence of the problem with ref to date fields is because both vfp8 and 9 deal with dates the same way regardless of codepages.

There also seems to be some dispute as to whether it is a bug or the result of a bug fix! One way or another, we obviously need a fix for it or a lot of our clients and users are going to be very peed off!