Cryptic crossword No 453

As many of you will no doubt know, the setter Neil Shepherd sadly passed away last month. He was 'Alberich' in the FT and 'Klingsor' in the Independent - as well as having the excellent website www.alberichcrosswords.com which many of you will probably have visited. I had a great deal of correspondence with him over the years: my last E-mail from him was on 3rd April in which he said he was going into hospital for tests on his lymph nodes. Tragically, he didn't make it. (continued)

(Continued). I have decided to dedicate this puzzle, which I actually completed a few years ago, as a tribute to Neil. I sent it to him but in the end we couldn't agree on the wording of one clue, so I decided to withdraw it and send him a different puzzle instead. But he loved the theme: not quite his favourite Wagner but pretty close... Maybe the sharp-eyed amongst you can identify which clue we disagreed on. R.I.P. Neil - sadly missed by myself and many others!

Hi Laccaria. I'm popping in pre-solve: having seen what you've put up here, I'm going to save it until early evening with a glass of wine. But wanted to say what a lovely idea for a tribute and to compliment you on the sentiment thus expressed. Chapeau. I'm sure I will be back here later either to record further compliments or to report that I was beaten.

Well said Laccaria, I unfortunately never had any contact with Alberich, but have found his musings a rich source of both advice and inspiration. I've been trying to identify the clue you mention and have a couple of ideas, but not being anywhere even vaguely near Alberich’s level am not sure. I shall ponder some more. RIP Alberich.

I ended up distracted by other things yesterday (neither footie nor Eurovision, though) so have just done this. I can see why Alberich liked it though am not skilled enough to guess at where you disagreed. Quite chewy at times and I went around twice before achieving completion on my third circuit with 27a LOI. Plenty of ticks including: 1a, 12a, 13a, 19a, 25a (lol), 1d, 2d, 6d (splendid), 8d. Toss up for COTD - 17d or 19d; possibly the former by a gnat's smidgeon. Thanks Laccaria.

Thanks for sharing this, Laccaria. A fitting tribute to Alberich - a lovely set of tough-but-fair clues. It was a slow and steady solve for me, but I enjoyed gradually whittling down and unravelling the clever misdirections. The theme is not a strong suit for me, but that wasn't a hindrance. Favourites were 10a, 15a, 20a, 23a, 25a, 2d, 11d, 24d. A few small details I might quibble about if I'm being hyper-picky, but I'm intrigued to know what you and Alberich disagreed on - spoilers in reply...

Thanks to all for the kind comments: much appreciated. As I said, this was one of my earlier ones (no.6 in my sequential numbering, and I'm now up to 41). Spoilers below.

Hi Laccaria, thank you for the puzzle and fitting tribute - I'm very new to this whole cryptic deal but have already found the wisdom and experience exhibited in the pages of alberichcrosswords.com/ to be uniquely wonderful. Several favourites here, with 1a, 9a, 25a, 1d, 2d, 17d and 18d all particularly delightful for me to solve. Some very tricky ones for which I had to resort to reveals but all very cunningly set!