Patna April 3, 2026
Dhairya Pandey of Don Bosco Academy, Patna; Shraddha Sri of St. Michael’s High School, Patna; Jacob Brahmakulam of Thrissur, Kerala; and Ramakrishnan Krishnan of Chennai have secured first place in four different categories of ACAD QUAD, the online daily crossword competition for March 2026. This year-long competition is held from February 1 to October 31. Dhairya, Shraddha, Jacob, and Ramakrishnan excelled in the ACAD School, ACAD College, ACAD Senior, and ACAD Global categories, respectively.
In the school category, Dilkhush Kumar and Bittu Kumar of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar Residential School, Begusarai, Bihar, secured second and third place, respectively. In the college category, Samridhi Salgaonkar of Goa Dental College and Tisha Taneja of IIT Madras secured second and third place, respectively. In the senior category, R. Uma and N. Rengaswamy of Chennai secured second and third place, respectively. In the global category, Sameet Kallianpur of Secunderabad and Mona Sogal of Bengaluru secured second and third place, respectively.
The A-Clue-A-Day (ACAD) online competition was launched in 2014 with the aim of engaging school students with a quality and enjoyable educational activity every day. Over a decade, the competition has grown to four categories due to its immense popularity. The competition is organized by Extra-C, a civil society initiative, and is hosted on its official website, www.crypticsingh.com. While the first two categories are clear from the name, ACAD Senior is for participants aged 60 and above, and ACAD Global is open to anyone worldwide who wishes to participate in this intellectual experience.
Participation in any stage of the contest is completely free. Participants can register on the website, receive a password, and participate in the contest daily. Surprise prizes are also awarded to participants who excel in various categories.