John Dawson (Armonie/Chifonie) passed away towards the end of last month. A tribute to him by the FT crossword editor, along with his first puzzle published in the FT, can be found here.
11 comments on “John Dawson RIP”
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Never knowingly undersolved
John Dawson (Armonie/Chifonie) passed away towards the end of last month. A tribute to him by the FT crossword editor, along with his first puzzle published in the FT, can be found here.
Comments are closed.
Very sorry to hear that John Dawson, aka Chifonie, has died, Gaufrid. Thank you for letting us know. Thinking of him and his loved ones. I used to like his setting style. I remember reading his profile in “Meet the Setter”, which helped me finally to understand that a Chifonie was a hurdy gurdy and that the setter chose it because he loved early types of music. [My Mum used to talk about my grandmother’s chiffonnieire (an unfamiliar kind of word to my young Australian ears) and I had previously thought that Chifonie had for some reason taken his pseudonym from that piece of furniture.] I loved his stories of learning to dance as a lad in a mining village and his attendance at concerts. May he be well remembered and be at peace now.
I’m also very sorry to hear this. Unlike Julie in A, I never took the trouble to find out about his life – but I enjoyed his crosswords enormously.
A sad loss
Yes I enjoyed the occasional joust with Chifonie – thanks for that John Dawson. RIP.
Thank you, Chiffers! You gave us hours of fun and enriched our evenings
After reading the tribute in the FT, I see that he had a marvellous, well-rounded life with diverse interests.
I enjoyed his puzzles. Chifonie was well-loved and will be well-remembered.
oh no, what sad news. Thank you for all the puzzles, RIP
RIP Chifonie, too young! I enjoyed your puzzles, sometimes quite scholarly if I remember. Thank you for the pleasure.
Thank you all for your kind comments. He certainly had a very full life with a wide range of interests at which he always seemed to excel. He went too soon and is greatly missed. Katharine, his partner.
I have enjoyed looking at his website, Lake District Walks
What a wonderful resource! A lot of work went into creating that website. I have bookmarked it so that I can explore it at leisure.
Katharine, I am thinking of you and I wish you strength.
Very sorry to hear this. I liked his gentle but entertaining puzzles. RIP
I noticed that Chifonie had not appeared for quite a while, and it is sad to think we will not see his puzzles again. I absolutely agree with the FT crossword editor – Chifonie’s puzzles were the sort one could show to a complete novice, as a tutorial in straightforward cryptic crossword language and conventions. Clear, fair, an excellent introduction to cruciverbalism, but also a pleasure for to solve for the more experienced. RIP.