In a cliffhanger final for the National Crossword Champion’s trophy 2023 on Thursday, Adya Singh from Patna emerged as the winner and lifted Champion’s trophy while, Sahil Sabne and Sakshee Vaidya from Pune were runners-up and Dhara and Lakshmi from Delhi had come as second runners-up in the grand finale crossword contest held in New Delhi.
At the end of the two-day grand finale of Extra C Cryptic Crossword Contest held at Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) Auditorium in New Delhi Adya Singh from VPW (Vidyapeeth), Patna lifted the National Crossword Champion trophy 2023 while, Sahil Sabne and Sakshee Vaidya of SES Gurukul, Pune, lifted the runners-up trophy. Dhara Mittal and Lakshmi Shree of The Mother’s International School, Delhi, won the 2nd runner-up position. In the contest Adya edged past the two teams by five marks at the conclusion of the ‘Across and the Down’ sections. Tied on the second place were SES Gurukul and The Mother’s International at 100 marks each. The Cross Master, wonderfully played by Alan Cowell, an English teacher from Don Bosco Academy, Patna, had to go for the Buzzer Question to break the tie.
Over the two days, the Grand Finale witnessed 38 top school teams from across the country, which had gone through two levels of online rounds in the preliminary stages starting June this year, battling it out through a written round, an onstage special round, five quarter-finals, two semi-finals and a final to make their claim for the prestigious trophy that has become a byword for excellence in co-curricular activities.
Several senior government officials like Rohit Kumar Singh, Vivek Kumar Singh Vivek Joshi, Kundan Kumar, all IAS officers and others along with civil society members were resent at the event who inspired the young participants by their words of wisdom. The occasion also saw the unveiling of T-shirt of the event, Cross Country, a souvenir of the annual contest, and a book on crosswords edited by Mr. Vivek Kumar Singh.
A vote of thanks was delivered by Mr. Rajnarayan Singh, National Coordinator of CCCC 2023. Extra-C, a civil society initiative based in Patna, has been organizing this contest every year since 2013. The contest has been acknowledged as the one-of-its-kind in the country by the Limca Book of Records.
