Wave Echo Cave in the Lost Mine of Phandelver (and Shattered Obelisk) has what I believe is a subtle nod to Gary Gygax.
WEC area 10 "Dark Pool", has a pool of water with a stream flowing from it. Hidden under the water of that pool is a skeleton of an original inhabitant of the mine holding some treasure.
The Sample Dungeon that Gygax put in his 1978 Dungeon Master's Guide also had a room with a pool of water with a stream flowing through it, and hidden in that water was the skeleton of an original inhabitant of the monastery holding some treasure (Area 2, "Water Room").
The resemblance isn't just the skeleton in the water holding treasure, but where they are located on the map. In both cases, they are on the left side of the map, near the top, just below (south of) the top-left rooms. And in each case, directly to the right (east) of the room is a 4-way intersection. The maps of the monastery cellar and Wave echo Cave are almost the same size (42 squares top to bottom, almost a full page, which is unusually large in 5E) and have some other features in common (like each having a maze-like section in the lower half).
You can see the Sample Dungeon (monastery cellar) map on page 95 of the 1978 DMG with the "water room" description on page 96 but it was republished in the 3E DMG pages 127-128 (redrawn by Todd Gamble) and the map itself was republished on page 311 of the 5E 2014 DMG (this time redrawn by Mike Schley). I think if you compare any of those versions of the sample dungeon (monastery cellar) with WEC you'll see the strong resemblance between the water-feature room, location, overall map, and what's in the water.
To me this seems like too much to be mere coincidence.
Although perhaps it was an accident by Rich Baker or Chris Perkins, having reviewed the older versions so often that the ideas got stuck in their head and inadvertently resurfaced when they wrote LMoP?
I think it is very likely this is an intentional homage to the 1978 DMG - though I would say it is probably more a reference to the original book than to Gygax himself.
Wave Echo Cave in the Lost Mine of Phandelver (and Shattered Obelisk) has what I believe is a subtle nod to Gary Gygax.
WEC area 10 "Dark Pool", has a pool of water with a stream flowing from it. Hidden under the water of that pool is a skeleton of an original inhabitant of the mine holding some treasure.
The Sample Dungeon that Gygax put in his 1978 Dungeon Master's Guide also had a room with a pool of water with a stream flowing through it, and hidden in that water was the skeleton of an original inhabitant of the monastery holding some treasure (Area 2, "Water Room").
The resemblance isn't just the skeleton in the water holding treasure, but where they are located on the map. In both cases, they are on the left side of the map, near the top, just below (south of) the top-left rooms. And in each case, directly to the right (east) of the room is a 4-way intersection. The maps of the monastery cellar and Wave echo Cave are almost the same size (42 squares top to bottom, almost a full page, which is unusually large in 5E) and have some other features in common (like each having a maze-like section in the lower half).
You can see the Sample Dungeon (monastery cellar) map on page 95 of the 1978 DMG with the "water room" description on page 96 but it was republished in the 3E DMG pages 127-128 (redrawn by Todd Gamble) and the map itself was republished on page 311 of the 5E 2014 DMG (this time redrawn by Mike Schley). I think if you compare any of those versions of the sample dungeon (monastery cellar) with WEC you'll see the strong resemblance between the water-feature room, location, overall map, and what's in the water.
To me this seems like too much to be mere coincidence.
Although perhaps it was an accident by Rich Baker or Chris Perkins, having reviewed the older versions so often that the ideas got stuck in their head and inadvertently resurfaced when they wrote LMoP?
I think it is very likely this is an intentional homage to the 1978 DMG - though I would say it is probably more a reference to the original book than to Gygax himself.
Chances are it's purely coincidental, but if it isn't then the tribute is very subtle indeed.