Financial Times 17,095 by ALBERICH

13 comments on “Financial Times 17,095 by ALBERICH”

1. A very sad loss to the crosswording world. This predates my solving days so was new to me. Easier than normal but always a joy.

   My favourite &lit clue was one of Alberich’s from January 2015. It was Lad regularly plunging into water after small round object? (5,5) I’m sure many will remember it. If you can’t work it out, you should be able to find the blog in the archives. (Number 14,828 if that helps.)

2. A nice tribute to Alberich and a reminder of how enjoyable his crosswords were. Not exactly a BREEZE, but not so difficult as to be frustrating.

   My picks were the def for ANNE BOLEYN, the double meaning of ‘degree’ in the cryptic def for BACHELOR and what I took to be the semi-&lit ASTRONOMER.

   Thanks to the FT crossword editor for acknowledging Alberich’s contribution in this appropriate way and to Teacow

3. A wonderful lipogram from Alberich which reminds us what we will miss.
   I appreciated the chance to try an earlier offering as, like Hovis, I hadn’t yet ventured into crossword land.
   I’ll add my admiration of 6d and 12a especially for their lovely surfaces. I also liked BREEZE and thought PLUSH very neat. ESSENE was my last entry and was a new word for me.
   Thanks to the FT for the tribute and to Teacow for help parsing a couple.

4. Very enjoyable, and I was glad to get it all out after abandoning Matilda’s in the Guardian!

5. Don’t know why it’s an X-lipo, probably simply because it is, but typical NS, with meticulous clueing. At 19D for ex he uses ‘I must escape’ rather than ‘I leave’, which unfortunately we do see the like of here and there. Good to be reminded of his early submissions, and sad at the same time to see the last of him.

6. Thanks for the blog, what a nice touch from the FT to repeat this.
   Just maybe the black squares on the diagonals provide the X,
   LANCASTER ASTRONOMER has to be the favourite for me today.

7. Thanks Teacow as I couldn’t make sense of COLONEL having forgotten what a COL was. Fun puzzle full of wit and neat touches, with helpful precision as noted by paul b@5. Thanks to the FT for giving us relative newcomers a taste of the early Alberich and RIP to him (also thanks Hovis as I will mull over that &Lit later).

8. A wonderful setter who has given great pleasure to many. A posthumous and fulsome thank you to Alberich for all the enjoyment and satisfaction. Quite why this remarkably unattractive figure was chosen as a pseudonym is hard to understand.
   Thanks also to Teacow and the crossword editor for publishing the puzzle which I dimly recall.

9. Many thanks to the FT for honoring the memory of Alberich with a reminder of his excellence. I love clues like ROAD, COLONEL, and ASTRONOMER. Thanks Teacow for the blog, Hovis @1 for the wonderful &lit example, and to Roz @6 for pointing out the “X” in the grid pattern which completes the pangram, at least in my mind.

10. We shall certainly miss Alberich/Klingsor as we were usually able to get on his wavelength and solve his puzzles – not without difficulty on occasion, but we always got there in the end. I don’t think we were tackling FT puzzles back in 2008 so this was new to us and a joy to solve. We liked ETIQUETTE, ANNE BOLEYN and TANKFUL. We thought TANKFUL had to be that, but didn’t put it in till almost the end as we were misled thinking ‘grateful’ was the TA bit and couldn’t see how the rest fitted in; a real D’oh! moment when we realised how to parse it!
    T[h]ANKFUL anyway for the chance to do this puzzle – RIP Alberich, and thanks, Teacow.

11. Thanks Alberich (RIP) and Teacow
    These were the comments made by him on his second puzzle with the FT in October 2008.
    “Many thanks for the kind words, Smiffy. Particularly pleasing as my debut puzzle in September was not received so well here – some thought it too easy. I think surface is very important and strive to produce clues that read as believable English sentences, and I’m glad this has been appreciated. No doubt my puzzles will become a bit more difficult as time goes on but as a new setter I’ve played reasonably safe for the first few crosswords. Again, many thanks – nice to know I’m doing something right!”

    How prescient and what a wonderful 13-14 years of his crosswords that we have been able to enjoy since then. Not sure whether I was actually doing FT puzzles at the time – certainly wasn’t commenting on this forum if I was and although this one was easier than what we have become used to over recent times, it still had his trademark precision of clues coupled with his wonderful surfaces.
    I will miss him !

12. Well said, Bruce and thanks for sharing that insight from Alberich.

13. Very enjoyable puzzle. RIP to Alberich.

    I saw 12A as ‘a’ for one inside ‘rod’ for bar to get ‘road’.

    Not sure if anyone else treated it that way.

    Thanks to Teacow and all of the commentators.

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