Patna: Erik Agard from Kansas City, USA, clinched victory in the seventh round of the 13th edition of the Indian Crossword League (IXL), completing the grid in 6 minutes and 44 seconds. Fellow Kansas City player Matthew Marcus secured the second spot, finishing in 7 minutes and 46 seconds, as their ongoing rivalry at the top continued.
For the first time, Bengaluru-based deep-tech venture capitalist Sohil Bhagat made it to the podium, finishing third with a time of 13 minutes and 59 seconds. Madhup Tewari, a senior IPS officer from Delhi, narrowly edged out Ramki Krishnan of Chennai, while Venkatraghvan S from Mumbai rounded out the top five.
In the cumulative standings after seven rounds, Agard, Marcus, and Krishnan continue to occupy the top three spots with 696, 696, and 680 points respectively. The leaderboard also features three overseas players in the top 10 — including Sowmya Ramkumar from Manama, who sits at sixth. Reigning champion Sashwat Salgaonkar from Panaji and former winner Venkatraghvan S from Mumbai remain in contention within the top 10.
The eighth round of the ten-round online stage will commence at 11 am IST on November 2.
The IXL follows a hybrid format, featuring 10 online rounds followed by an offline Grand Finale in Bengaluru. Each Sunday, a fresh crossword grid is uploaded on crypticsingh.com at 11 am IST, with submissions closing at 11.59 pm on Wednesday. Participants earn points for both accuracy and speed.
The top 30 contestants from the online stage qualify for the Grand Finale, where the National Crossword Champion Trophy is awarded. Contestants can join the competition at any time during the season, and each round’s topper earns an automatic spot in the finale.
