An idea that took birth in the 19th Century and was presented to the world in its diamond-shaped latticed glory in 1913, was reborn in Bihar and adopted by the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) in 2014.
A crossword buff since his school days, Bihar Principal Secretary (Environment and Forest) Vivek Kumar Singh, mentored the initiative of a non-profit society, the Extra-C in June 2013.
“Cryptic crossword build lateral thinking among its solvers, which is very much required in this competitive world,” he says.
A year later, the idea was adopted by the CBSE. The Board collaborated with Extra-C for an inter-school cryptic crossword contest. The 2015 edition is set to begin later this month.
According to the CBSE circular, crossword puzzles help students improve vocabulary, reasoning, lateral thinking and analytical abilities. The CBSE Cryptic Crossword Contest 2015 (CCCC 2015) is open to students of all boards studying in Classes IX to XII. The inter-school contest will be conducted in 34 select cities during May-September. Winners of the city round contests will then participate in a two-day national round that will be held in New Delhi in December.
Schools interested in participating can register on the contest’s webpage — www.crypticsingh.com — register in order to participate.
The last day for registration of schools for the Shimla and Srinagar city rounds is May 28, while for all other cities it is June 25.
