A grab of the site of the Indian Crossword League showing list of high scorers

The wait is over. The line-up for the Indian Crossword League 2013 (IXL 2013) finals has been drawn.

After eight weekly rounds of online competition, Extra C, a civil society organisation, on Sunday came out with the final leader board for the first-of-its-kind online competition of cryptic crossword.

“The top 10 participants, whose names figure in the leader board, would take part in the final of the event in Bangalore on December 21,” said Kushagra Singh, director (legal) of IXL 2013. The final would be played offline. (See grab)

Six from Bangalore have made it to the top 10 list. Two are from Mumbai. One contender each from Delhi and Calcutta are among the top 10. Mohsin Ahmed of Bangalore, a scientist of Indian Space Research Organisation, has topped the list of participants.

One of the six successful participants from Bangalore is Shuchismita Upadhyay. She has her roots in Bihar. She did her schooling from Patna’s Notre Dame Academy.

Sharing details of the IXL 2013 finals, Singh said a preliminary round would be conducted. It would have questions based on quiz, aptitude and crossword clue making and solving.

Four contenders would be eliminated in it. The top six would qualify for the grand finale.

“The grand finale would be played in a bit different way and would be interactive in nature,” Singh said, adding that its details would be sent to participants soon. The winner of the competition would be awarded with “Mentathlete” trophy.

The event, organised to mark the centenary year of the crosswords, got underway in October this year. The participants got a week to crack the clues in each round.

The competition was organised in round-robin league format and the selection of the toppers was done on the basis of their overall performance in different rounds.

Around 600 crossword enthusiasts from across the country took part in the online competition.

Bihar cadre IAS officer Vivek Kumar Singh played a major role in organising the event. He has a special interest in crosswords from his school days.

Posted as secretary in the agriculture department, he has to his credit a book titled Understanding Cryptic Crossword — A Step by Step Guide.