Journalism of Courage
Extra-C, the doyen of crossword events in India, is back with ‘A Clue A Day’ (ACAD): the daily contest where players must solve a new cryptic crossword clue every 24 hours. Compared to the gruelling Indian Crossword League, ACAD is an entertaining and low-pressure event, and will run online till October 31, 2023.
The contest has three age-based ‘challenges’ (categories) that players can sign up for at any time, with a daily winner announced online. New student solvers can refer to expired clues and the ACAD leaderboard on acad.crypticsingh.com
ACAD’s junior event is the oldest, having begun in 2014. Meant for school children, it has a fresh cryptic clue drop at 3.30pm every day. Players are also given a crossword quotient and percentile score based on their performance. On the other hand, ACAD+ is primarily designed for college-goers. Introduced in 2019, it has a higher degree of difficulty, with the cryptic clue dropping at 3.35pm daily.
ACAD Senior is the newest challenge, launched in 2021. Meant for cryptic aficionados aged 60 and above, the organisers claim the event “helps in cerebral stimulation”. This category’s clue drops the earliest, at 12.30 pm every day on acadsenior.crypticsingh.com
On the basis of daily performances in all three categories, an ACAD Champions’ Gallery is being formed, with prizes and certificates to be sent to top players at regular intervals.
The contest was launched on February 1 by IAS officer Harjot Kaur Bamrah (Additional Chief Secretary-cum-Mines, Govt. of Bihar) in the presence of Vivek Kumar Singh, who is Bihar’s Development Commissioner and a Chief Mentor at these contests. B Vinod, principal of DPS Patna, was also present at the launch. The event has been organised in association with the Takshila Educational Society.
This story is part of Express Puzzles & Games, where we offer free daily crosswords, sudoku and a weekly news quiz. Sign up to start playing, and follow @iepuzzles for more gaming and contest news!
