Ahmedabad: Ahmedabad was buzzing with brainpower as i-Hub transformed into a wordplay warzone, hosting not one but two big-ticket crossword showdowns – the West Zonal Round of the National Inter College Crossword Expedition (NICE 2025) and the City Round of the 13th National Inter School Cryptic Crossword Contest (CCCC 13.0).
Armed with pens, wit and nerves of steel, 25 college teams locked horns in NICE 2025. The quiz opened with a rapid-fire written round before the top six faced off in a high-pressure on-stage finale. After a nail-biting finish, the scoreboard read:
- Winner: Samruddhi Salgaonkar (Goa Dental College)
- First Runner-Up: Panchal Karan and Parikh Aadil (Govt. Polytechnic, Gandhinagar)
- Second Runner-Up: Makwana Meet and Thumar Maitri (Dr. S&SS Gandhi Government College, Surat)
These champions now carry the West Zone’s hopes to the grand finale in New Delhi later this year.
Meanwhile, the schoolkids proved they were no less sharp. Thirty-five teams dived headfirst into the cryptic jungle of CCCC 13.0’s city round, showing off quick thinking and word wizardry. The winners:
- Winner: Bagban Adi and Ghanchi Arkan (Ankur High School, Ahmedabad)
- First Runner-Up: Kalash Gangwani and Aditya Mandora (St. Udyam School of Children)
- Second Runner-Up: Karan Tekwani and Krish Parikh (St. Kabir School, Ahmedabad)
The Ankur High School duo now heads straight to the national finals in November.
The contests weren’t just about clues and grids – they also drew an enthusiastic audience and the support of dignitaries including Bipin Talati (IAS), Gujarat’s Director of Technical Education, and Hiranmay Mahanta, CEO of i-Hub. With Unsa Siddiqui of Extra C keeping the energy high as host, the event felt part competition, part festival.
Next stop: IIT Guwahati, where the North East Zonal Final of NICE 2025 and another city round of CCCC 13.0 will raise the stakes on August 22.
