A QUESTION OF LOVE...
27 Across (4, 3, 5, 2), or how a crossword fanatic proposed to his girlfriend in the most cryptic terms
ONCE she had solved the clues, the answer was easy.
Rachael Herman’s boyfriend found a novel way to ask her to marry him by y devising his own cryptic crossword.
Edward Fraser spent three months making the special puzzle for his girlfriend to solve and their local newspaper agreed d to publish it.
Luckily, crossword fan Miss Herman, 28, worked out all the answers – and said yes.
Mr Fraser, 30, said: ‘I agonised over it for r quite a while. I was looking for something g different and wanted to make it special l because she is a special person.
‘It was quite hard initially as I was trying g to think of really cool clues. I had the answers ready and worked backwards to make the clues.’
The couple, from Lakenham, Norwich, have been together for seven years and d regularly complete the crossword in the Eastern Daily Press, which printed Mr r Fraser’s version.
Miss Herman, a teacher, said that at first t she did not notice anything was different. ‘Because we always do the crosswords together and Edward was playing along g with me, it was just like normal so it was s really convincing,’ she said.
But as she worked out more answers, she e began to realise that something was up.
‘I was solving it in my head and thought, “Does that mean, will you marry me?” And d then my heart was pounding because I thought, “Was this for me?”
‘But I didn’t say anything because I wanted to be sure. A bit of me wanted to play Edward at his own game as well and d let him sweat it out! Finally I put him out t of his misery.’
Answers to the clues included lots of f things that Miss Herman likes, including g the Pacific drink kava, which the couple had when they went on holiday to Fiji together, and Hedwig the owl from Harry Potter because she is a fan of the books.
The clue for 1 Across was ‘ The Black Prince begins untangling odes and seeks her final response to 27 Across (6,4,3,1)’, which has the answer ‘Edward does ask R’.
And the clue for 27 Across was ‘It’s a question of love (4,3,5,2)’ to which the answer was ‘Will you marry me’.
Miss Herman started doing crosswords when she was younger with her father Terry, a fan of cryptic puzzles who Mr Fraser recruited to help devise his own. Mr Fraser, a social researcher, said: ‘Once I decided I was going to do a cryptic crossword, I couldn’t not involve Terry.’
Miss Herman said: ‘I think my dad is feeling pretty chuffed that the plan worked. My dad has got the bragging rights too.’ She added: ‘This was definitely the perfect way to do it as I am quite a private person and it was meaningful, informal and intimate. It was very well done and very convincing – I love a cryptic crossword.’
The couple met in 2008 while working at a sports bar in Barnham Broom near Norwich. They were both completing their studies at university at the time, with Mr Fraser attending King’s College London and Miss Herman studying at Norwich University of the Arts. They were friends for three years before Mr Fraser plucked up the courage to ask her out.
Seven years on they have moved in with each other – and now have a wedding to plan, which will take place in August next year.
Mr Fraser has since realised that there may have been other readers playing the crossword whose name started with the letter ‘R’ and wants to apologise to them. He said: ‘I hope we didn’t cause too much heartache among the readers and that they enjoyed the crossword.’
Eagle-eyed readers who want to try the crossword themselves will note that two of the answers don’t have clues – but we hope that won’t lead to cross words.
‘My heart was pounding’