Overseas Players Sweep Top Three in IXL 2025 Round 8

The top three positions in the 8th online round of the global Indian Crossword League (IXL) 2025 have gone to overseas players. While Matthew Marcus from Portland, US, with his second best timing of 6:50 tops the round rankings, Erik Agard from Kansas City, US, is close behind with a timing of 7:48. Philip Coote, a veteran from Canberra, Australia, has made his presence felt by clinching the 3rd spot.

As the penultimate online round starts Sunday, a fair idea of the Grand Finale qualifiers has started emerging. While Matthew and Erik have the top positions in the cumulative rankings too, Ramki Krishnan, a six-time winner of the contest, sits at number 3. While Philip is at 52 in the cumulative rankings, another overseas veteran, Sowmya Ramkumar, from Manama, Bahrain, is at rank 6. Vasant Srinivasan from Banchang, Thailand, is at number 30.

A participant may enter the contest in any round. Registration on the official website of the organizers,www.crypticsingh.com, remains open during all stages of the online preliminary round. A round topper, irrespective of the final ranking, gets an automatic entry to vie for the trophy.

Held annually, IXL has an online-offline format comprising 10 online rounds and an offline Grand Finale. A fresh grid of clues is uploaded on the website every Sunday at 11 am (India time) and the time for submission of solutions closes at 11.59 pm (India time) every Wednesday. Contestants are assigned marks both for correctness and speed.

After 10 online rounds, the top 30 on the basis of their cumulative scores are invited to Bengaluru for the Grand Finale. The winner takes home the National Crossword Champion trophy.