Jordan is a devoted solver of the Harper’s Magazine cryptic crossword. While on vacation in France with Robert and his family in August 2018, he solved the puzzle for that month’s issue. That month, the puzzle’s theme was only hinted at:

Five unclued entries are related to a common location, which is spelled out by the letters in 25, 3, 44, 15, and 5. A sixth entry, the four-word sentence at 34A, might lead there as well. […] Private message for ██ : 1, 14, 6, 16, 10, 17—plus 34A—plus 51, 48, 52, 49, 53, 50. A full explanation will appear with the solution in next month’s issue.

(Click on the thumbnail at right to look at the full puzzle.)

Jordan reflects:

It didn’t take me long to realize that in this puzzle, someone was proposing very publically to someone else. But it took me much longer to wrap my head around the possibility that Robert might be proposing to me in it!

The common location is the ALTAR, which is related to the five unclued antries: BAPTISM, BAR/BAT MITZVAH, COMMUNION, CONFIRMATION, and WEDDING. The four words at 34A, which might also lead there, are of course: “WILL YOU MARRY ME?”

But who was proposing to whom? 🤔 No need to rush, but your boyfriend and his family are all hanging around waiting… 🙄 Jordan’s thought process continues:

With 34A solved, the message was: ______, will you marry me, ______? Both names were 6 letters long, so ‘Jordan’ and ‘Robert’ would fit! I eventually confirmed that all the letters in ‘Jordan’ were correct—but I couldn’t confirm any of the letters in ‘Robert’. So, since ‘Jordan’ isn’t a rare name, I felt throughout that it was reasonable to suspect that the proposal in this national magazine (circulation over 100,000) wasn’t directed to me alone.

But of course, it was. Eventually, I realized what was going on: Robert was included in the grid under his nickname, Yauser!

Robert sat beside Jordan throughout the solve. Once Jordan had the letters of both names in place, Robert prodded him to read out the secret message, and the question was formally asked. The answer, of course, was yes!

“Took bloody long enough!”—but well worth the wait!

Setup

How did Robert pull off this coup? The key part may have been simpler than you thought: he just asked!

Robert contacted the editors of Harper’s with the proposal (ha), and they said they would pass along the idea to Richard E. Maltby Jr., the setter of their cryptic. Maltby Jr. replied that in the 40-year history of the puzzle, no reader had ever suggested anything like this before, and that he could see no reason not to oblige Robert now. Maltby Jr. agreed to design the puzzle, with a general theme accessible to everyone but with a personal touch just for us.

More complex than you thought, perhaps, were the machinations to ensure that Jordan would receive and solve the puzzle at the right time. He planned a family trip (with his sisters and brother-in-law) for the month the issue would arrive (August 2018); he withheld Jordan’s copy of the issue until that trip (which was only possible since Jordan’s subscription was still delivered to Robert’s house). As the trip started, he planted seeds to make sure Jordan would start the puzzle: “I’ll be bringing your Harper’s, so you can do the puzzle soon…” “Maybe show Jacky how cryptic crosswords work?” Strong hints, in hindsight, but Jordan didn’t suspect a thing until he solved it!

Background

Robert knew that Jordan loved doing the Harper’s cryptic. But he didn’t know how long he had been doing it! From Jordan’s thank-you note to Richard E. Maltby Jr.:

…Not only have I been doing your puzzle for years—perhaps two decades?—but your puzzles for Harper’s are the whole reason I learned to do cryptic crosswords in the first place.

My parents subscribed to Harper’s for a long time in the 80s and 90s, so there were always stacks of back-issues in various nooks of the basement. Browsing through them at, say, age 10, I wasn’t ready to absorb the main articles, but certain features were immediately compelling, like the puzzles at the back of each issue, with their arcane instructions and Kabbalistic diagrams—cryptic indeed! I couldn’t make heads or tails of any of the clues, but the instructions, the diagrams, and the rich vocabulary enthralled me. I resolved to learn how to think cryptically and to make my own puzzles one day.

Now, Jordan does make his own puzzles, occasionally (his homepage summarizes his efforts). And maybe he’ll be a published setter, some day, but today he is simply honoured to be made a part of the history of his favourite puzzle!