Across to bear

Tensions mount, uncertainty looms, and words take on a rather threatening aspect. Travel behind the scenes of a cryptic crossword contest, with HT puzzles editor Kabir Firaque

- Kabir Firaque aka Kryptique

Solving cryptic crosswords is a niche art, and this isn't an easy club to break into.

There are few places, even online, where one can turn, for help getting started.

That's one reason Vivek Singh launched his hobby group, Extra-C, and the club's marquee event: the Indian Crossword League (IXL) in 2013. (Singh, incidentally, is an IAS officer who heads the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) in Bihar.)

For beginners and lovers of cryptic clues alike, he has roped in freelance enthusiasts to set A Clue A Day (ACAD) contests on cryptic-singh.com. There are annual competitions at the inter-school and intercollegiate level too. When it comes to the marquee events, however, it's serious business. Only seasoned experts need apply.

I was among 30 puzzle-crackers who qualified for the IXL prelims this year. As the 26 who were able to make it to the event gathered in Bengaluru on December 21, relaxed conversation masked any tension in the room. As it turned out, the written prelims were anything but relaxed.