Finding an elegant solution to a proposal puzzle

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It is hard to imagine a place less imbued with matters of the heart than the smudgy black-and-white grid of a newspaper crossword, even if it is in the Washington Post.

But for 28-year-old Corey Newman from Alexandria, just across the river from the US capital in Virginia, the Post's Sunday crossword solved a puzzle of his own: how to propose to his girlfriend of 15 months in a way that was, well, novel and a bit challenging.

Asking one of America's top newspapers to publish a crossword dedicated to helping one reader turn a girlfriend into a fiancee may seem like a stretch, but the editors at the Post willingly complied.

Newman was put in touch with in-house puzzler Bob Klahn who set about determining which questions would deliver the right clues in time for publication.

Newman managed to stay inscrutable as Marlowe Epstein, 31, worked through the answers, becoming more perplexed.

It was odd enough that 39 Across - "Casablanca screenwriter Julius or Philip" - quickly yielded Epstein. It was much odder that 37 Across - "Shakespeare in Love role" - then led her to scribble in Marlowe.

Then she attempted 51 Across: "Words with a certain ring to them". That was when she twigged. "Will you marry me?" she asked out loud, looking at Newman.

"I wanted to do something unique," he conceded yesterday, a ring now planted on Epstein's finger. He had started the puzzle in the morning, before complaining he was stuck.

The couple met in January last year and moved in with each other at the start of this year. From there it was only a short leap for Newman to find a way to propose.

The crossword solution turned out to be quite practical. Its setter, Klahn, had done a crossword containing a secret marriage proposal in the New York Times 13 years ago.

All that he needed was to find enough details about Epstein's life and background to craft the questions.

- INDEPENDENT