Indian Crossword League's 8th edition to be open to foreigners too

Organisers on Saturday said the contest, which is open to Indians across the world, has now been thrown open to foreigners too from this year's edition due to popular demand. "The eighth edition of the Indian Crossword League, popularly called IXL, will begin August 23, with the kicking off of the first weekly online round at 11 am IST.

The eighth edition of a a global crossword competition, billed as one-of-its-kind event by the Limca Book of Records, is all set to kick off from next week. Organisers on Saturday said the contest, which is open to Indians across the world, has now been thrown open to foreigners too from this year's edition due to popular demand.

"The eighth edition of the Indian Crossword League, popularly called IXL, will begin August 23, with the kicking off of the first weekly online round at 11 am IST. Online round one will close at noon on August 29 (Saturday)," said a senior member of a civil society intiative which runs it. There will be a total of 10 online rounds beginning every Sunday at 11 am before the offline Grand Finale at Bengaluru, he said.

With the world under varying degrees of lockdown due to Covid-19, the number of participants is expected to see a surge this year, organisers said The online weekly rounds will be hosted on www.crypticsingh.com, the website of Extra-C that organises this global crossword contest. Registrations opened on the website on August 15. Once the participants have registered and received a password, they can access the puzzle grid on the website.

The winner of the Grand Finale lifts the National Crossword Champion trophy. Mohsin Ahmed, a former ISRO scientist, is the reigning champion.  Ramki Krishnan, an IT professional from Chennai, has won the contest four times in the last seven editions. The game can be played while sitting at home, at the office, at a café, in fact, anywhere.  Started in 2013, Year of the Crossword, the objective of the contest is to bring top crossword enthusiasts on a single competitive platform and promote the mind game as a learning tool and as a quality pastime for the young and the adult alike, Extra-C said in a statement.

IXL, in its bid to engage the bright diaspora, has been to Toronto, Canada in 2015 and 2016 and to New Jersey, the US in 2015, 2016 and 2019, garnering an immensely positive response, it said..