British Man Sneaks A Marriage Proposal Into A Newspaper Crossword Puzzle

Clever marriage proposals are all the rage these days, and a British lawyer figured out a unique way to keep the trend going: he sneaked a marriage proposal into his local newspaper’s crossword puzzle.

As the Associated Press reports, Matthew Dick, 38, loves crossword puzzles, so he figured he’d use the medium for his marriage proposal to his girlfriend, Delyth Hughes. He made some phone calls, and eventually got a hold of the Times’ crossword editor, Richard Rogan.

“One Across: ‘Pretty Welsh girl widely thought not to be all there.’ Six letters. Answer: Delyth.”

Of course, the crossword proposal’s success hinged on Delyth actually doing the crossword, something she apparently doesn’t do regularly, so Dick had to employ some chicanery to get her to even look at it, according to the Columbus Dispatch. He had to show her the puzzle, with some certain words underlined, in order to get her attention.

“`Will you marry me,’ say, that’s forward also rude. Eight letters. Answer: Proposal.”

Matthew then “reached into [his] pocket to reveal the ring.”

“She looked so surprised and didn’t say anything for about 30 seconds, before then saying `No’, which she thought was hilarious. But she did then say `Yes’ and I had to tell her this was the real Times crossword, not something I had printed out myself.”

No word on what other readers of The Times thought of that day’s crossword puzzle, which they undoubtedly would have had trouble solving if they didn’t know Matthew and Delyth.

Although Mr. Dick’s crossword proposal idea was a clever one, he’s not the first person to come up with that idea. Virgina man Corey Epstein used a Sunday bonus crossword puzzle in the Washington Post to sneak in a proposal to his girlfriend, Marlowe Epstein, in 2011.

“I’ve been telling her forever that she was special. And I wanted to do something so she would know that I meant it.”

Even though Matthew’s crossword proposal to Delyth may not have been his original idea, Delyth was still impressed with her boyfriend’s enthusiasm.

“[I was] dumbfounded that he’d gone to such lengths. It was also bloody typical as he’s a smart-a** at the best of times. I’ve heard all the engagement stories but this one trumps them all. It’s so special and such a geeky way of doing it.”

If you’re thinking of sneaking your own marriage proposal into a crossword puzzle, the Times doesn’t have your back: crossword editor Rogan insists that this was a “one-off” thing and isn’t likely to happen again.

[Image courtesy of: Shutterstock / Brian A Jackson]