$ cat 21.clone.pl 
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use 5.011;
use utf8;
use open qw/:std :utf8/;
use Path::Tiny;
use Encode;
use open OUT => ':encoding(UTF-8)', ':std';

#  This script clones the template directory in $1 to $2.
#  Some names need munging.
#  $from is a populated child directory; $to is child dir to be created.
######
## enabling cyrillic
## decode argv and current
###### revision for crosswords...losing $pop in argv....

say "argv is @ARGV";

foreach (@ARGV) {
  say "before decode is $_";
  $_ = decode( 'UTF-8', $_ );
  say "after decode is $_";
}

my ( $from, $to) = @ARGV;

my $current = Path::Tiny->cwd;
$current = decode( 'UTF-8', $current );
say "current is $current";
say "-------------";
say "making directories";

# define the paths within the target directory:
my $ts = "template_stuff";
my $abs_to = path( $current, $to, $ts );
$abs_to->mkpath;
say "abs to template is $abs_to";

# $from template directory:
my $abs_from = path( $current, $from, $ts );
say "string abs from is $abs_from";
say "-------------";
say "copying files";

#### using iterator method to copy template stuff

my $iter = $abs_from->iterator();
while ( my $child = $iter->() ) {



  say "child is $child";
  my $base = $child->basename;
  $base = decode( 'UTF-8', $base );
  ### added to handle cyrillic
  # adding the following line in hopes of shoestring tackle:
  #$child = decode( 'UTF-8', $child );  

  my $copy_path = path( $abs_to, $base );
  say "copy path is $copy_path";

  if ( $child->is_dir ) {
    say "We are now in is_dir";
    my $return7 = $copy_path->mkpath;
    say "create directory return is $return7";
    say "this ^^^ should be a return for mkpath";

  }
  elsif ( $child->is_file ) {

    my $return8 = path($child)->copy($copy_path);
    say "copy file return is $return8";

  }else {
    say "$child is neither file nor directory";
}

}

#### exploring more of Path::Tiny

my $cross_path = path($abs_from, "crosswords");
say "cross path is $cross_path";

say "----------trying visit method";
my $sizes = $cross_path->visit(
  sub {
    my ( $path7, $state ) = @_;
    return if $path7->is_dir;
    $state->{$path7} = -s $path7;
  },
  { recurse => 1 }
);
use Data::Dumper;
print Dumper $sizes;

#say "sizes is $sizes";
say "-----------------";


$