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Exceptional ‘enigmatologist’ Sowmya Ramkumar has published her third book of crosswords and is eager to see more people turn to the hobby during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Enigmatology – the study and design of puzzles – and especially cryptic crosswords have enamoured Sowmya, better known as Hypatia in the crossword circles, for the last nine years.
Her third book, Cryptic Crossroads – Volume 3, is comprised of puzzles made exclusively for Gridfest, a month-long carnival of cryptic crosswords which took place from August 16 to September 19 last year.
“It features 26 crosswords, detailed explanations as well as insights from the compilers,” the ex-banker, financial consultant and long-time resident of Bahrain explained.
“Some are themed around the books of authors such as Agatha Christie, PG Wodehouse and Christopher Paolini. There are also puzzles themed around the Olympics, global warming and movies, to name a few. A few puzzles have been built like mini games and have secret messages and Easter eggs buried in them, waiting to be discovered by the solvers.
“All the puzzles were made exclusively for the Gridfest and this compilation, and have not been published before. The puzzles range in difficulty from easy to excruciating!
“The book comes with solutions and explanations for each puzzle which makes it possible for even relatively new solvers to try and understand how they work.”
During Gridfest, 143 registered contestants took part, solving 25 puzzles – one a day. There were two main categories of prizes – solvers and the crossword setters.
Within the paper and electronic copies of the book are links to solving each crossword interactively.
With puzzles set by 30 settlers including Eclogue, Bingo, Afterdark, Dr.X, Kriskross, Avatar and of course, Hypatia herself, the book promises challenges for the veterans, while also introducing aspiring puzzle masters to the hobby.
Crossword setters from India, the UK, US, Australia, Germany and Thailand came together, including a celebrated Bollywood cinematographer, two medical professionals, a college professor, a US-based high school math teacher, entrepreneurs and graduates fresh out of highly rated business schools.
“Although women are generally under-represented in puzzling, I am particularly proud that 11 out of the 30 setters are ladies,” noted Sowmya.
In addition, the cover has been designed by Apoorva Sethuraman, a former St. Christophers school pupil, who holds a degree in architecture and is currently pursuing her Masters at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the US.
Cryptic Crossroads – Volume 3 has already attracted the eye of titans in the crossword universe including Will Shortz, crossword puzzle editor for The New York Times and the only person known to hold a college degree in enigmatology.
Sowmya hopes that her latest book draws even more people into the niche world of cryptic crosswords, which add a layer of puzzle-solving to the linguistic art.
To explain, she adds: “While non-cryptic crosswords generally rely on knowledge of pop-culture and trivia, cryptic crosswords are a whole different ball game. Learning the rules is like learning a new language and the joy of cracking even a few clues can be quite unparalleled.
“For example, there is a book titled “Pretty girl in crimson rose (8)” by Sandy Balfour.
“This is a cryptic clue in itself. The answer has eight letters, as indicated in brackets. While a casual reader might imagine a girl wearing a rose, the cryptic solver knows that nothing is what it seems.
“The wordplay is an instruction. It tells you to insert a word meaning “pretty girl” into a word meaning “crimson” to get a word meaning “rose”.
“Here “rose” is the definition. It is a synonym of the solution word that you need to get. In a non-cryptic crossword you only have this synonym to work with.
“In a cryptic crossword you have the second route to the answer through wordplay. If you insert Belle (Pretty girl) in Red (Crimson), you get Rebelled (Rose). The setter has also cleverly disguised “rose” as though he was talking about the flower but has clued it as the past tense of rise (rebel).
“Once you understand the language of cryptic clues, there is no looking back.”
As a special treat, Sowmya has created a unique crossword for GulfWeekly readers. Two winners have a chance to win a copy of her new book and learn more about what it takes to be a cruciverbalist. The competition runs until January 15.
