Man sneaks marriage proposal to his girlfriend into a newspaper

Matthew Dick and Delyth Hughes have been dating for 2.5 years. Photo: Alistair Heap/Twitter/The Times. Source: The Times

IT’S A case of two down: the aisle.

A crossword-loving British lawyer has proposed to his girlfriend in UK newspaper The Times’ daily puzzle.
Matthew Dick persuaded the newspaper’s crossword editor to help him organise the cryptic proposal to his girlfriend of 2.5 years, Delyth Hughes, on her birthday while on holidays.
Tuesday’s Times crossword opened with one across: “Pretty Welsh girl widely thought not to be all there.” The answer: Delyth.

Other clues included “’Will you marry me,’ say, that’s forward also rude.” The answer was proposal.
Mr Dick, 38, told Wednesday’s edition of the newspaper that he showed Ms Hughes the crossword at breakfast, with some key words underlined, then “reached into my 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,” he said. “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.”
Ms Hughes says she was “dumbfounded that he’d gone to such lengths.”
“It was also bloody typical, as he’s a smart-arse at the best of times,” she said. “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.”
Times crossword editor Richard Rogan, who has compiled the newspaper’s crosswords for 12 years, said he believed this was the first time the newspaper had included a proposal in a puzzle. He told The Times it was “a one-off” that wouldn’t be repeated.
“My predecessor, Richard Browne, once put in a birthday message to a friend, but this is the first time we’ve done something like this, to my knowledge. And this is a one-off. We won’t be doing it again,” he said.
These are the clues Mr Dick placed in the crossword:
Across
1. Pretty Welsh girl widely thought not to be all there (6) 2. ‘Will you marry me’, say, that’s forward also rude! (8)
Answers: Delyth and Proposal
28. Opening bottles transformed third anniversary (8) 29. Requests woman’s placed with her organisation? (6)
Answers: Birthday and Wishes.
Down
27. Draw up set of Biblical books, ending in Matthew (3)
Answer: Tow