The fourth edition of the Indian Crossword League – IXL 2016 – was launched by NASSCOM president R. Chandrasekhar at the CSOI auditorium here on Sunday.
Among those present were Nalanda University Vice-Chancellor Gopa Sabharwal; Devesh Chaturvedi, Joint Secretary, DoPT; Union Rural Development Secretary Amarjeet Sinha; Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti Commissioner B. K. Singh; winner of IXL-2013 Col Deepak Gopinath (retd); and Principal Secretary, MoEF, Government of Bihar, V K Singh.
The first CSOI Crossword Challenge was also held on the occasion under eight different categories. It involved a 45-minute written contest of solving cryptic clues. The winner was Dr. S. Venkatesh, Director, National Centre for Disease Control.
Dial C for Crossword
IXL comprises 10 online weekly rounds followed by an offline finale in Bengaluru, at the end of which the winner lifts the National Crossword Champion trophy.
The online rounds are hosted on www.crypticsingh.com – the website of Extra-C, a Patna-based civil society initiative.
Speaking to the audience, Mr Chandrasekhar said solving crosswords was not only a very good way of passing time, but also an excellent stress buster. He added that it helped grow an incisive reasoning faculty irrespective of age. Ms Sabharwal mentioned that while her mother had an “addiction” for cryptic clues, she herself was more comfortable with simpler ones.
