Patna: Dhairya Pandey of Don Bosco Academy, Patna, has emerged as the national topper in ACAD (A-Clue-A-Day), the year-long online crossword competition hosted on crypticsingh.com. The contest, organised by Patna-based non-profit Extra-C, concluded its 2025 edition on October 31, with winners declared across four categories — ACAD, ACAD Plus, ACAD Senior, and ACAD Global.
While Dhairya claimed the top spot in the school category, Shyam Krishna Shenoy of Virginia Tech University, USA (originally from Pune) topped ACAD Plus for college students. Anant Krishnan Narayanan of Pune secured first place in the Senior category, and Ramakrishnan Krishnan of Chennai won the Global category.
The ACAD challenge requires participants to solve one crossword clue daily, with cumulative scores determining the winners. Rankings were calculated based on performances between February 15 and October 31.
In the school category, Saptak Gupta of Delhi Public School, Patna, and Shraddha Shree of St. Michael’s High School, Patna, finished as runner-up and second runner-up, respectively. Shraddha had topped the October rankings, while Dhairya and Saptak followed closely.
In ACAD Plus, Bhargav Vinayak of IIM Rohtak secured the runner-up spot, followed by Om Kumar Jha of NIT Manipur. For the Senior category, Jacob Brahmakulam of Kerala and R. Uma of Chennai finished second and third.
In the Global category, Ajeesh V.M. from Scranton, USA, and Samit Kallianpur claimed second and third positions.
Launched in 2014, ACAD has evolved into a global knowledge platform, expanding beyond schools to include higher education, senior citizens, and international participants. Winners receive certificates and prizes and are often felicitated during offline crossword events.
