Global crosswords: Erik, Matthew supremacy continues in first stage
Erik Agard of Kansas City, US, and his compatriot Matthew Marcus from Portland have maintained their supremacy in the 13th edition of the global Indian Crossword League (IXL). In the 10th and last online round of the contest’s preliminary stage, while Erik stood first, Matthew was close behind on number 2. Interestingly, the next two positions too have been taken by overseas players – Philip Coote of Canberra, Australia, and Neville Fogarty of Newport News, US, at numbers 3 and 4, respectively.
With the end of the 10th round, a final cumulative leaderboard has been formed. This too witnesses Matthew and Erik at numbers 1 and 2, respectively. Ramki Krishnan from Chennai, a six-time champion, sits at 3 in the cumulative rankings. The top 30 on the cumulative board and a winner of any of the 10 online rounds qualify for the offline Grand Finale in Bengaluru.
Sowmya Ramkumar from Manama, Bahrain, at No. 6 and Vasant Srinivasan from Banchang, Thailand, at 25 are the other two overseas players in the top 30. Coote and Fogarty, however, are at 39 and 63, respectively in the final standings.
The organisers have the discretion of granting wild card entries to players in the Grand Finale, based on consistency in performance.
Conducted by Extra-C, a civil society initiative to showcase and preserve intellectual pursuits, IXL is a twin-stage contest where top crossword players from across the world vie for the prestigious Crossword Champion trophy.
The preliminary stage of 10 online rounds conducted on www.crypticsingh.com of IXL 2025, the 13th in a series since 2013, was completed over the past two and a half months. The offline Grand Finale is expected to be held around Christmas.
