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Sad news to report that TheAmbler (who I gather was also known as Penda) died peacefully in his sleep on June 9th. He was 86, and had been dealing with cancer for the last 5 years.

The person behind the pseudonym was the Reverend Keith Ward and he had a passion for crosswords, mathematical problems, poetry, and in his latter days had started to learn Latin. He was doing crosswords right up until his last couple of days and he'll be buried with a copy of The Times crossword, a pen, and Bradfords crossword solver.

Happy solving!
Son of TheAmbler

Very sad to read this. I enjoyed Penda’s Peer Review and Clueless entries and his occasional puzzles. In fact it was he who inspired me to compose a few occasional puzzles of my own for the forum. Last we heard he had embarked on the sieve of Eratosthenes and had reached 10,000!

Son of TheAmbler, I hope you continue your father’s love of puzzles and my condolences to you and your the family.

Very sorry to hear the sad news. I think members who knew him better than me were aware of his illness - condolences to you and his friends and family.

Oh dear, this is sad news indeed. I used to enjoy reading his sometime off the wall and humorous posts.

Thanks for letting us know Son of Thea

Oh, how very sad. A witty and kind soul. He often posted to ask about my well-being if I hadn’t been on the site for a while, and he lifted my spirits when I too was undergoing cancer treatment. A friend I sadly never got to meet in person. Sincerest sympathy.

On behalf of Ash and his team of Elves, I would like to express my condolences at the sad loss of Penda.

He was a valued member of the Forum and his recent puzzles were very warmly received, thanks Penda for all your contributions to the Forum over the years.

RIP Penda/The Ambler.

Son of Ambler. Thanks for letting us know. He had intimated that he had ill health. I always enjoyed his contributions to Clueless and Peer Review and he will be missed. He was an early contributor to these threads which are now 12+ years old. Maybe you should take up the gauntlet?

RIP Penda. It was a pleasure.

Son of Ambler
This is very sad news indeed and I send my heartfelt condolences to you and your family.
I loved your father's quirky sense of humour and his puzzles were always fun to solve.
He will certainly be missed on this forum.

Sad news indeed. I'll miss penda's idiosyncratic posts (I was going to say "quirky", but jazzgirl has already used that.)

Son of Thea,
Thank you for letting us know. In the last post I remember from Keith, he was packing up for a house move,
and still posted a 'clue with a quip'. My condolences to you and the rest of his family.