With Philip Coote of Canberra topping the Practice Round of the Indian Crossword League (IXL) 2025, the countdown to the year-end climax of this global contest has begun. First of the 10 weekly scoring rounds will begin Sunday, September 14.
Coote is followed in 2nd and 3rd positions by Sohil Bhagat and Harish Kamath, respectively. Both are from Bengaluru, a crossword powerhouse. The top 10 have three from Bengaluru and as many from Chennai, another crossword powerhouse in the country. Besides Coote, Sowmya Ramkumar, from Manama, is another overseas player among the top 10. Both are well-known in the global crossword circuit.
Interestingly, some of the big names of this annual contest like Ramki Krishnan, Sashwat Salgaokar and Neville Fogarty among others lie way down in the ranking. However, their journey through the 10 weeks that this contest will run through before climaxing in Bengaluru will be interesting to watch. They have the credentials to unseat contestants occupying top perches in crunch situations.
Though the Practice Round scores are not counted for the final cumulative standings, it helps contestants not only to warm up to the intense competition ahead but also to size up the arena.
IXL has an online-offline format comprising 10 online rounds and an offline Grand Finale. Starting September 14, a fresh grid of clues will be uploaded on the website www.crypticsingh.com every Sunday at 11 am (India time) and the time for submission of solutions will close at 11.59 pm (India time) every Wednesday. Contestants are assigned marks both for correctness and speed. After the 10 online rounds, the top 30 on the basis of their cumulative scores will be invited to a Bengaluru venue for the Grand Finale.
Contestants can register on the website at any stage during the contest’s run. While the top 10 on the cumulative leaderboard after the 10 weekly rounds will qualify for the Grand Finale, a round topper gets an automatic entry to vie for the National Crossword Champion trophy.