The results of the 10th online weekly round of the Indian Crossword League 2014, open to Indians across the globe, were announced on Sunday and the top ten cruciverbalists will now set their sights on the grand finale to be held in Bengaluru on World Crossword Day, December 21. The three toppers were all from Bengaluru.
In the first phase of the crossword league, held in online weekly rounds, registered participants solved one crossword puzzle every Sunday for 10 consecutive weeks. Participants were awarded scores based on accuracy and agility. An online leaderboard kept score and ranked the participants after each round.
NRIs and PIOs (people of Indian origin) the world over, aged between 15 and 90, took part from locations such as Seattle, New York, London, Singapore, Bahrain and Dubai.
Soumya Ramkumar from Manama, Bahrain and Prasenjit Sarkar from Singapore made it to the top 20 of the online leaderboard.
“The Indian Crossword League 2014 saw an approximately 50 per cent rise in the participation and a brilliant response from crossword enthusiasts from all around the world,” said Vivek Kumar Singh, an IAS officer who conceptualised the Indian Crossword League. Mr. Singh is also author of the best-selling Understanding Cryptic Crossword, a step by step guide .
Mr. Singh told The Hindu it was a matter of pride for him to witness an idea taking such excellent shape and becoming a trendsetting phenomenon.
“Besides, it is also a historic moment for the country to witness such a talent-testing platform based on crosswords, which perhaps is one of its kind in the world,” said Mr. Singh.
The online rounds saw some exceptional performances and topping the chart was a brilliant young scientist from Bangalore, Mohsin Ahmed, a space scientist who works at ISRO.
