Something I've noticed about my recent weeks or months of baguettes (or batards, or whatever you should want to call them): the crumb has been fantastic. But the crust has been soft. I don't achieve the marginally deficient crumb with shatteringly crisp crust I was used to.
Should I have to have to choose, I suppose I would take crumb over crust, but I'm not sure why I cannot have both. Maybe I just need to bake my baguettes longer.
Edit: though it may just have to do with humidity and summer in new Jersey.