Neil Shepherd, who died in April 2022, set crosswords for the Financial Times (as Alberich) and for the Independent (as Klingsor). He was highly regarded among setters and solvers alike for his impeccably fair and elegant puzzles.
Neil wrote numerous articles relating to cryptic crosswords and clue-writing. These articles have been preserved and published together on the following website – www.alberich-crosswords.com
This new site showcasing Neil’s crossword-related articles has been put together by William Snow. William is keen to hear your feedback on the site, and any suggested improvements – his contact details can be found on the site.
Thanks Ken
Hi,
When I heard about the sad news of Alberich’s passing, I immediately mirrored his website here: https://xteddy.org/mirror/alberichcrosswords/www.alberichcrosswords.com/
This was done with recursive wget and –mirror applied to it, so it should be fairly complete. If you’d like me to supply that content please do let me know — just from looking at http://www.alberich-crosswords.com it’s incomplete, and my mirror might provide other nuggets of information.
I’ll also email William Snow separately in case he’s not reading these forums.
Kindly,
Thomas
Will has done an absolutely brilliant job here. I will never forget Neil’s patience and kindness with me, when I was trying to get into this game. He was truly one of the good guys and it’s so great that his wisdom and expertise is being preserved in this way. I would love to make a contribution to keeping this site available. Will – can you let us all know how we can all help?
Thanks Grecian. Any contributions towards the site’s running costs would be gratefully received. My contact details are on the site, in the ‘contact’ section – please get in touch if you’re willing to donate.
This is superb work, William. Neil was one of the very best and his articles are a mine of information for aspiring setters. Neil was a talent and a special man: he gave people help and advice without any fanfare because he believed that clues should be well-written, grammatically correct and fair.
I will gladly chip in to the upkeep of this site. Well done, William.
Neil
Excellent work William, a fine initiative well worth supporting. I’m sure you know, but others may not, that the original site is still available here courtesy of xteddy
Thanks Jay, thanks William, thanks xteddy, and thanks Alberich. It really was (and now, thankfully, still is) a brilliant resource.
Just to let people know, William has spent over £200 on this project. I think people who benefited from Neil’s advice should contribute.
I agree with Tramp @8. Let’s spread the cost of this, so that Will isn’t out of pocket.
As well as what as is mentioned above, Neil also set puzzles in Listener series in Times (as Alberich)
Many thanks to William and xteddy. It’s a brilliant site and Alberich was very helpful to me to get started on the journey to become a compiler.
Great that this site is up and running, a fabulous resource. Neil gave me so much support and guidance right up until he died. I will be in touch to contribute towards this fantastic project. Thank you William.
Just a quick question. Is it envisaged that the new website which William Snow has so carefully prepared will shortly supersede the mirror version of the original that Thomas Adam created after Neil Shepherd died, or will it contine to be possible for us to gain access to both sites indefinitely?
Rudolf @13 – I don’t expect so. I’m in touch with Thomas Adam, who has been very kind and helpful – based on what he’s said to me I don’t expect his mirror version of Alberich’s site to cease. There is a link to this mirror site from the newly-created site.