A total of 126 teams from across India have advanced to the second stage of the national-level inter-school Cryptic Crossword Contest (CCCC 12.0). Extra-C, the organizing body for the contest, has released the merit list on its official website, crypticsingh.com. The list includes the top 100 scorers from Stage 1 and city-level winners from all three online rounds. Patna leads with an impressive 22 teams from schools such as DPS, Don Bosco, Notre Dame, St. Michael's, and Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Residential School qualifying for the next stage.

Top Teams At The National Level

Rank-1: Adya Singh (Notre Dame Academy, Patna)

Rank-2: Abhinav Gupta and Shrey Jain (DPS, Ludhiana)

Rank-3: Aarush Madaan and Simranjot Kaur (BCM Arya Model School, Ludhiana)

Notably, all three top positions in the Residential School category have been secured by teams from Bihar:

Rank 1: Arvind Kumar and Raja Kumar (Bhimrao Ambedkar School, Pipliwan, Patna)

Rank 2: Shivani Kumari and Bubli Kumari (Bhimrao Ambedkar School, Murli Ganj, Saharsa)

Rank 3: Jayanandan Kumar and Abhishek Kumar (Bhimrao Ambedkar School, Gaya)

Qualifiers To Solve Clues On-the-Spot, but virtually

In the second stage, all qualifiers will participate in a virtual face-to-face round. Experts will meet with each team individually through a video call. Unlike previous rounds, teams will not be competing against each other but will instead present their solutions to the jury. The goal of this round is to assess whether the teams who successfully solved clues in the online rounds can still demonstrate their problem-solving skills when faced with real-time challenges.

To accommodate school schedules, the face-to-face sessions will take place between 3 PM and 5 PM. Each session, lasting 5 to 10 minutes, will assess teams on their crossword-solving skills, confidence, and team spirit.

Top-performing teams will advance to the third and final stage of the contest, the Grand Finale, which is set to take place in November in New Delhi.