The seventh edition of national level inter-school cryptic crossword competition — CCCC 2019 — is going to be launched on July 26 with Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Bokaro and Deoghar hosting four of the 44 city rounds.

Winners of the city rounds will qualify for the finals, which will be held sometime in November-December in New Delhi.

“The Ranchi and Jamshedpur rounds will take place on August 2 while the Bokaro round will be organised on August 5. The Deoghar round will take place on August 6,” said Amitabh Ranjan, chief operating officer of the organiser of the event, Extra C.

Extra C is a Patna-based civil society outfit that is working to promote the game.

Ranjan said the event was being organised in association with the central board of secondary education, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Novodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) and Doordarshan.

He said schools needed to register themselves by visiting the website www.crypticsingh.com before sending teams, comprising students from classes IX to XII.

For the finals, winners of the city round will have to congregate in Delhi.

The semi-finalists, who will be selected on the basis of a written test, will compete with each other to make it to the final round.

The national winner will get an award of Rs 25,000 besides a trophy and certificate.

The first runner-up will get Rs 15,000 and the second runner-up Rs 10,000.

Senior Bihar cadre IAS officer Vivek Kumar Singh, who has to his credit a book on cryptic crossword and is also a nationally acclaimed setter, is the chief mentor of this event.

In crossword parlance, a setter is be a person who makes clues for the crossword.

Highlighting the benefit of solving crosswords, Singh said: “It improves logical reasoning, enhances vocabulary, strengthens memory and stimulates problem-solving skill.”

The senior IAS officer said the game also helped in improving lateral thinking, the power to draw inferences and provided a sense of accomplishment.