Patna: The opening round of the National Inter College Crossword Expedition (NICE) 2025, held online on May 19 , delivered a strong signal about the shifting dynamics of academic excellence in India. Hosted on the platform www.crypticsingh.com, the ‘N’ round drew participants from across the country and saw students from small towns take centre stage.
Bihar, in particular, emerged as a surprise frontrunner. Surjeet Kumar, a B.Tech student at Gaya College of Engineering (GEC), claimed the top position in the overall national rankings. Adding to Bihar’s success story was Adya Singh from Patna, who led the “awaiting college admission” category. A former national champion of CCCC 2023, Singh also secured third place overall—an impressive debut at the collegiate level.
This year’s competition, jointly organised by AICTE, IIT Madras, IIM Mumbai and EdTech platform Extra-C, has seen significant expansion both in scale and reach. IIT students dominated the leaderboard, winning three out of five zonal titles and securing numerous state-level and city-level victories.
Among the zonal champions were Harsh Raj from IIT Kharagpur in the East Zone, Ashish CT from IIT Madras representing the South, and Mridul from IIT Guwahati taking the top spot in the North-East. The West Zone was led by Samruddhi S Salgaonkar from Goa Dental College, while Bhargav Vinayak from ACA, Punjab, emerged as the North Zone winner.
The organisers also named Sakshi Rawat, a B.Sc. Microbiology student at Government Arts and Science College in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, as the ‘Lucky Winner’ of the round. Her win, selected through a draw, added an element of surprise and celebration to the event.
State-level winners were drawn from a diverse mix of institutions, including IIT Kanpur’s Kushagra Chandra representing Uttar Pradesh, Isha from JNU for Delhi, and Hersh Aditya Samdanut of IIT Madras for Tamil Nadu. Smaller colleges and regional universities also made a mark, such as Government Arts Commerce College in Seoni, Santhiram Engineering College in Nandyal, and SWA Pyarelal Kanwar Government College in Korba.
At the city level, winners included Manikant from Motihari College of Engineering in Bihar, Ananta Mishra from SASTRA University in Tanjavur, Anjalai Jala from Nehru PG College in Shajapur, and Karan Kamal Biswas from GEC Rajkot.
The next round of the competition, titled ‘I’, is scheduled for May 25 and will be hosted on the same platform between 10.30am and 5pm. As the contest progresses, organisers hope to sustain the growing momentum and engagement among students from every corner of India, reflecting both academic rigour and the emerging intellectual footprint of regional institutions.
The inaugural round of NICE 2025 has not only showcased linguistic skill and logical thinking but has also revealed a growing decentralisation of academic talent in India—where excellence is no longer confined to metropolitan hubs, but thriving in small towns and state colleges alike.
