diff --git a/src/mu-cmd-find.c b/src/mu-cmd-find.c
index a3691753..ef400d40 100644
--- a/src/mu-cmd-find.c
+++ b/src/mu-cmd-find.c
@@ -79,8 +79,7 @@ sort_field_from_string (const char* fieldstr)
 	if (mfid == MU_MSG_FIELD_ID_NONE &&
 	    strlen(fieldstr) == 1)
 		mfid = mu_msg_field_id_from_shortcut(fieldstr[0],
-						     FALSE);
-	
+						     FALSE);	
 	if (mfid == MU_MSG_FIELD_ID_NONE)
 		g_warning ("Not a valid sort field: '%s'\n",
 			   fieldstr);
@@ -144,7 +143,8 @@ run_query (MuQuery *xapian, const gchar *query, MuConfigOptions *opts)
 			return FALSE;
 	}
 	
-	iter = mu_query_run (xapian, query, sortid, !opts->descending, 0);
+	iter = mu_query_run (xapian, query, sortid,
+			     opts->descending ? FALSE : TRUE, 0);
 	if (!iter) {
 		g_printerr ("error: running query failed\n");
 		return FALSE;
diff --git a/src/mu-config.c b/src/mu-config.c
index fcf5fa06..8f18f011 100644
--- a/src/mu-config.c
+++ b/src/mu-config.c
@@ -122,9 +122,11 @@ set_group_find_defaults (MuConfigOptions *opts)
 	 * date-from-subject, and sort descending by date. If fields
 	 * *are* specified, we sort in ascending order. */
 	if (!opts->fields) {
-		opts->descending = TRUE;
 		opts->fields     = "d f s";
-		opts->sortfield  = "d";
+		if (!opts->sortfield) {
+			opts->sortfield  = "d";
+			opts->descending = TRUE;
+		}
 	}
 
 	if (opts->linksdir) {
diff --git a/src/mu-msg-iter.cc b/src/mu-msg-iter.cc
index 0ee0241f..69cb8bdb 100644
--- a/src/mu-msg-iter.cc
+++ b/src/mu-msg-iter.cc
@@ -213,14 +213,6 @@ mu_msg_iter_get_field_numeric (MuMsgIter *iter, MuMsgFieldId mfid)
 	} MU_XAPIAN_CATCH_BLOCK_RETURN(static_cast<gint64>(-1));
 }
 
-
-
-// static const gchar*
-// get_field (MuMsgIter *iter, MuMsgFieldId mfid)
-// {
-// 	return mu_msg_iter_get_field(iter, mfid);
-// }
-
 static long
 get_field_number (MuMsgIter *iter, MuMsgFieldId mfid)
 {
diff --git a/src/mu-query.cc b/src/mu-query.cc
index 5d6976bc..2f65d702 100644
--- a/src/mu-query.cc
+++ b/src/mu-query.cc
@@ -130,7 +130,6 @@ static void add_prefix (MuMsgFieldId field, Xapian::QueryParser* qparser);
 struct _MuQuery {
 	Xapian::Database*		_db;
 	Xapian::QueryParser*		_qparser;
-	Xapian::Sorter*			_sorters[MU_MSG_FIELD_TYPE_NUM];
 	Xapian::ValueRangeProcessor*	_range_processor;
 };
 
@@ -151,7 +150,6 @@ init_mu_query (MuQuery *mqx, const char* dbpath)
 		mqx->_qparser->add_valuerangeprocessor
 			(mqx->_range_processor);
 		
-		memset (mqx->_sorters, 0, sizeof(mqx->_sorters));
 		mu_msg_field_foreach ((MuMsgFieldForEachFunc)add_prefix,
 				      (gpointer)mqx->_qparser);
 		
@@ -176,10 +174,7 @@ uninit_mu_query (MuQuery *mqx)
 		delete mqx->_db;
 		delete mqx->_qparser;
 		delete mqx->_range_processor;
-		
-		for (int i = 0; i != MU_MSG_FIELD_TYPE_NUM; ++i) 
-			delete mqx->_sorters[i];
-		
+
 	} MU_XAPIAN_CATCH_BLOCK;
 }
 
@@ -383,8 +378,8 @@ mu_query_run (MuQuery *self, const char* searchexpr,
 	g_return_val_if_fail (self, NULL);
 	g_return_val_if_fail (searchexpr, NULL);	
 	g_return_val_if_fail (mu_msg_field_id_is_valid (sortfieldid) ||
-			      sortfieldid == MU_MSG_FIELD_ID_NONE, NULL);
-	
+			      sortfieldid == MU_MSG_FIELD_ID_NONE,
+			      NULL);
 	try {
 		char *preprocessed;	
 		int err (0);
@@ -403,15 +398,14 @@ mu_query_run (MuQuery *self, const char* searchexpr,
 
 		if (batchsize == 0)
 			batchsize = self->_db->get_doccount();
-		
-		if (sortfieldid != MU_MSG_FIELD_ID_NONE) 
-			enq.set_sort_by_value (
-				(Xapian::valueno)sortfieldid,
-				ascending ? true : false);
 
+		if (sortfieldid != MU_MSG_FIELD_ID_NONE)
+			enq.set_sort_by_value ((Xapian::valueno)sortfieldid,
+					       ascending ? true : false);
 		enq.set_query(q);
 		enq.set_cutoff(0,0);
 
+		
 		return mu_msg_iter_new (enq, batchsize);
 		
 	} MU_XAPIAN_CATCH_BLOCK_RETURN(NULL);