Great post, Soberlicious. Yes, I believe "cunning, baffling & powerful" is absolutely AV, one of the neat tricks it tries to play on us. It is not really a big scary monster, it just wants us to think it is.
I think it's actually pretty easy to spot AV once you get the hang of it, too. It's so simple. Any thought containing the possibility of drinking now or in the future is AV.