Crossword League trophy

16 finalists were selected 10 online weekly rounds.

Ramki Krishnan of Chennai emerged the winner of the Indian Crossword League (IXL) 2015 and lifted the National Crossword Champion Trophy on Friday. The 16 finalists were selected on the basis of the final Leader board formed after 10 online weekly rounds.

The contest began with a written round before six onstage finalists were selected. Besides Ramki Krishnan, Narayan Mandyam (Navi Mumbai), Dr. S. Venkatesh (New Delhi), Vinoo Sanjay (Mumbai), Mohsin Ahmed (Bangalore) and Venkatraghavan S. from Mumbai moved on to the last stage.

However, some of the top contestants who had qualified for the Grand Finale could not be part of the climax because of prior engagements. They included the two offshore direct entrants to the finals who were the winners of the first-ever offshore rounds in Toronto and New Jersey.

Ramki Krishnan works in the IT industry while the other five finalists come from different sectors. The finalists also included Shashwat Sinai Salgaocar, a second-year aerospace engineering student from the IIT-Madras, and Aniruddha, a student of the NIT Tiruchi.

Col. Deepak Gopinath (retd.), winner of the inaugural event in 2013, was the chief arbiter, while Mohan Verghese Chunkath, Additional Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu, was the chief guest and also a participant. “It was wonderful to be a part of the Indian Crossword League, I’m currently the National Scrabble champion and tried my hands on crosswords through the IXL, looking forward to be a part of IXL over the years”, he said. The event was held in Bengaluru.

The event also marked the 100 years of the first published crossword whose creator was Arthur Wynne and which appeared in the Christmas-eve edition of New York World.

Vivek Kumar Singh, IAS, chief mentor of IXL and Principal Secretary, government of Bihar, said: “Crossword in India has taken an altogether new shape over the last few years, and contests like the Indian Crossword League, the CBSE Cryptic Crossword Contest and a clue a day contest for children have helped this cause… We wish to make crosswords more interesting and more available to the Indian diaspora.”

The IXL 2015 was launched by West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi in Kolkata on September 27. The preliminary rounds came to an end on December 6.

Organised by the Patna-based Extra-C, a non-profit organisation, the IXL “aims to bring Indian crossword enthusiasts across the globe on a common competitive platform in order to promote a fun-filled intellectual pursuit,” said Mr. Vivek Kumar Singh.
 
 
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