Cryptic puzzle maker
He may have written cryptic crosswords, but his solution for a happy life was simple: family, friends and the love of words.
Alan Lee, the creator of the Gazette’s cryptic crossword puzzles since 1994, died Friday at the age of 81.
It was a sudden death, following a major stroke, said Lee’s daughter, Sharon Lee Cron – and that’s how Lee would have wanted it.
“He went out with a bang, and that’s how he lived his life, too,” Cron said. “He just loved life and all the variety that it offered. You just had to go out and experience it.”
Up until the age of 79, Lee played soccer once a week, every Thursday. Every Friday there was a table reserved for him and his friends at Mckibbon’s pub downtown.
Despite his British upbringing, his beer of choice was Labatt 50, and all the bartenders knew it.
Lee, born in Wigan, in Lancashire, England, in 1930, was an engineer and draughtsman by profession. He came to Canada in 1954, having answered an ad to design coach buses in Montreal. He has lived in Greenfield Park almost exclusively ever since.
But his passions were many. He was a pilot, who flew small planes, sometimes to New York for the day, to play golf, and be back by evening. He played rugby, for the Montreal Barbarians. He travelled the world, from South America to China. A cruise every year with his beloved wife Alice for the last 20 years, paid for with the proceeds from his puzzles.
And he played with words. He was about 10 when he attempted his first crossword, which he spotted in a British newspaper. That very first clue stuck in his mind: “Choose little Ronald for current feature.” One word, eight letters. His mother had to help him figure it out. Answer: Electron. (Elect Ron.)
He became a master stumper himself. When he saw The Gazette repeating some of its cryptic crosswords in 1994, he applied for the job to replace the late Alan Richardson, whose cryptic crosswords had run in the Sunday paper since 1988.
Lee, who had retired in 1989 from his day job, was selected from among 40-odd applicants – to the chagrin of more than a few readers.
“He would get nasty phone calls from people who would say “You’ve ruined my Sunday morning! I used to have a relaxing time doing the crossword, now I’m stressed!” Cron recounted. “A lot of people would complain. The Gazette warned him and said “Lighten them up a bit,” and he’d say “No way, you don’t like it, find another guy.” But he was always willing to help people with them in the pub or if they called him up.”
Clue: remain silent or be incarcerated. Answer: Shut up.
But besides being a wordsmith, writing poems and books, and drawing cartoons, some of them naughty, he was devoted to his family, including his wife Alice, her two sons, their daughter Sharon, as well as numerous grandchildren.
“My daughters (3 and 6) fight to get to talk to Granddad first when Granddad walks in the room,” Cron said. “He was just a fun guy and they loved him – they’ll be very sad.”
As for his cryptic crossword aficionados, they will miss Lee, too, but perhaps not just yet. Lee had a bank of crosswords set aside.
“We may still see a few crosswords from Alan Lee for a few weeks yet,” Cron said. “He would have wanted to keep it going for as long as possible.”
Clue: an incomplete press package follows sport – solution: après ski.
A wake will be held at Mckibbon’s Irish Pub on Bishop St. March 2.