Bihar Students Dominate National Cryptic Crossword Contest as ACAD Announces June 2025 Winners

In the growing world of mind games and wordplay, the A Clue A Day (ACAD) Cryptic Crossword Contest has once again celebrated its finest minds with the announcement of the June 2025 results. A unique and inclusive intellectual initiative, ACAD is first-of-its-kind daily online cryptic crossword contest, organised across four diverse versions catering to different age groups and communities of crossword enthusiasts.

ACAD is conducted in four distinct versions, tailored to engage a wide spectrum of crossword lovers:

• ACAD – Exclusively for school students

• ACAD Plus – Open to both school and college students

• ACAD Senior – Reserved for senior citizens aged 60 years and above

• ACAD Global – Open to all age groups and nationalities

Every day, a cryptic clue is released on the official contest platform, and participants compete by submitting correct answers in the shortest possible time.

ACAD June Champions

• Rank-1: Shraddha Shree – St. Michael's High School, Patna

• Rank-2:Dhairya Pandey – Don Bosco Academy, Patna

• Rank-3:Prashant Kumar Lency – Sankalp Vidyapeeth, Araria

ACAD Plus June Champions

• Rank-1: Om Kumar Jha – NIT Manipur

• Rank-2: Shivam Kumar Jha – SDDNG Government High School, Araria

• Rank-3: Pranav Kumar Jha – Novel Academy, Araria

ACAD Senior Champions

• Rank-1: Anant Krishnan Narayanan – Pune

• Rank-2: Rakesh Verma – Noida

• Rank-3: Narayan Mandyam – Navi Mumbai

ACAD Global Champions

• Rank-1: Harish Kamath – Bangalore

• Rank-2: Samit Kallianpur – Secunderabad

• Rank-3: Ramakrishnan Krishnan – Chennai

While monthly winners are recognized for their excellence, the ultimate champions of the ACAD Contest in each version will be declared at the end of the year, based on the aggregated monthly scores from February to October 2025. This competitive structure encourages consistent participation, rewarding not only accuracy and speed but also dedication and perseverance.

Conceived and conducted by the civil society initiative Extra-C, ACAD is part of a broader mission to revive and promote cryptic crossword culture in India and globally. What began as a celebration of 100 years of the first published crossword in 2013 has now grown into a vibrant intellectual movement involving students, professionals, and retirees alike.