Over the last year, we had 47 weekly contests and 20 different setters winning the weekly contests, broadly similar to 2021. Madhusudan H had the maximum wins (6), followed by first timer Ganesh Raman (5), Dr. Nabar (4) and Textrous (4). There was only one occasion when there was a tie for the Top Spot.
Thanks to Ananth Srinivasan, we have completely streamlined the 1ACCWC system and during the year, we kept a tally of top 10 points scored in each contest.
As in previous years, Dr. Satyen Nabar was our overall winner. He won comprehensively scoring 195 points across 44 contests – He hosted 4 contests after his 4 wins and hence did not participate in those. He appeared in the top 10 in 31 out of 44 contests.
Textrous finished the year in second position, with 187 points, just 8 points behind Dr. Nabar. He had the same number of wins but participated only in 42 contests having missed a couple of early games.
Anantakrishnan finished in third place with 179 points, with 4 wins and a top 10 slot in 27 out of 41.
Here is the comprehensive leaderboard for the year based on points scored.
| Cruciverbalist | Contests | Points | Wins | Top 5s | Top 10s | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Satyen Nabar | 44 | 195 | 4 | 22 | 31 |
| 2 | Textrous | 42 | 187 | 4 | 18 | 31 |
| 3 | N Anantakrishnan | 41 | 179 | 4 | 19 | 27 |
| 4 | Madhusudan H | 37 | 145 | 6 | 15 | 19 |
| 5 | Manish Jhaveri | 44 | 141 | 2 | 13 | 24 |
| 6 | Ganesh Raman | 35 | 139 | 5 | 14 | 19 |
| 7 | Ananth Srinivasan | 36 | 128 | 3 | 12 | 20 |
| 8 | Sowmya Ramkumar | 46 | 106 | 0 | 11 | 22 |
| 9 | Suyash Roongta | 36 | 105 | 3 | 9 | 19 |
| 10 | @LowdownCryptic | 40 | 105 | 2 | 10 | 19 |
| 11 | @qpheevr | 32 | 96 | 1 | 8 | 21 |
| 12 | VENKATESAN P | 45 | 85 | 0 | 8 | 16 |
| 13 | Samit kallianpur | 25 | 78 | 2 | 6 | 14 |
| 14 | Avtaar | 37 | 61 | 0 | 5 | 12 |
| 15 | Dave Williams | 37 | 60 | 2 | 5 | 11 |
| 16 | Amrita Majumdar | 35 | 58 | 1 | 5 | 12 |
| 17 | Veera Raghavan | 46 | 52 | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| 18 | Ramki Krishnan | 30 | 50 | 1 | 3 | 12 |
| 19 | Lily Geller (@lilygeller) | 20 | 44 | 3 | 5 | 6 |
| 20 | Myra Shah | 14 | 43 | 2 | 3 | 7 |
| 21 | Nate Cardin | 16 | 43 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| 22 | Yossi Fendel | 21 | 42 | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| 23 | Gayathri Viswanath | 28 | 42 | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| 24 | Arjun Mukerjee | 12 | 38 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| 25 | Saurabh Upadhyay | 18 | 36 | 0 | 4 | 6 |
Here are the winning clues for 2022. How many can you solve? Which ones are your favourites. Do comment and let us know.
| Date | Winner | Winning Clue |
| 11-Dec | Madhusudan H | A dangerous app spreads useless disinformation (10) |
| 27-Nov | Madhusudan H | A sport where forwards outrun opponents, tackle blockers and land lethal headers (8) |
| 18-Sep | Madhusudan H | Baby-to-be starts to expand, mother buys relaxing yoga outfit (6) |
| 12-Jun | Madhusudan H | Leaders of Congress hallucinate about Rahul inheriting Sonia’s money and appeal (8) |
| 17-Apr | Madhusudan H | After regular losses, Super Kings struck boundaries to bounce back (6) |
| 13-Mar | Madhusudan H | Leaders of China open new trade route after cancelling Taiwan’s agreement (8) |
| 23-Oct | Ganesh Raman | Vicious biomedical waste killing me (8) |
| 31-Jul | Ganesh Raman | Spooner’s figuring out, standing next to sink, what to wear while at home (8,4) |
| 03-Jul | Ganesh Raman | Slogan the motherland embraces! (6) |
| 15-May | Ganesh Raman | Hit-man’s head found in gunny bag (5) |
| 13-Feb | Ganesh Raman | Top leader pursuing filthy rich CEO for a kickback (8) |
| 20-Nov | Satyen Nabar | Feeling smitten, one nervously expresses love (9 |
| 30-Oct | Satyen Nabar | Wild night in Bali without husband is exciting (4-6) |
| 29-May | Satyen Nabar | Neerja for one is a hero, shot protecting travellers primarily with extreme selflessness (3,7) |
| 20-Feb | Satyen Nabar | Alert old leader of Russia making unreasonable demand (4,5) |
| 16-Oct | Textrous | Shocking alibi coward fabricated to avoid war (8) |
| 19-Jun | Textrous | Red alerts reissued to contain the onset of Covid-19 (7) |
| 22-May | Textrous | I’d bet ivory is plundered for natural richness (12) |
| 16-Jan | Textrous | No more time glitches when one’s set off (9) |
| 10-Apr | Lily Geller | Who’s that entertaining emcee? (4) |
| 27-Mar | Lily Geller | Arcane stamp with runic handwriting (10) |
| 06-Mar | Lily Geller | Gargling Listerine is tough (9) |
| 04-Dec | N Anantakrishnan | Air borne pathogen ultimately spreads – that’s obvious (2-7) |
| 03-Apr | N Anantakrishnan | Essentially, Novak acted improperly for a champion (8) |
| 02-Jan | N Anantakrishnan | Vulnerable kid is sucked into criminal life (7) |
| 02-Oct | Suyash Roongta | Lackeys abandoned unionism after leader disappeared (7) |
| 07-Aug | Suyash Roongta | Chris Rock perhaps made icon mad (8) |
| 26-Jun | Suyash Roongta | Reckless management of deadlier variant, at first (9) |
| 28-Aug | Dave Williams | Getting back on top? Yes! (8) |
| 24-Jul | Dave Williams | Overturning ‘Roe’? Cue Trump’s appointed justices (7,5) |
| 17-Jul | @LowdownCryptic | Cook me tandoori – not too much! (10) |
| 20-Mar | @LowdownCryptic | Quiet morning? Relieve yourself – it’s what almost everyone does in the shower (7) |
| 11-Sep | Ananth Srinivasan | Fuel ran out? That’s the last thing you need! (7) |
| 09-Jan | Ananth Srinivasan | Corrupt countryside don denied immunity (8) |
| 06-Nov | Manish Jhaveri | Team on key bus in Essex caught clowning around (6,8) |
| 24-Apr | Manish Jhaveri | Pampered Indian leader engineered Achche Din perhaps (4, 5) |
| 08-May | Myra Shah | Unsettle a rival? Be unpredictable! (8) |
| 06-Feb | Myra Shah | Perhaps poetry captures the essence of one’s turmoil (7) |
| 13-Nov | Samit Kallianpur | Is water frequently served by them? (10) |
| 05-Jun | Samit Kallianpur | Diva’s embraced by fans, in Germany (6) |
| 25-Sep | Sparsh Sinha | For starters, Federer and Rafa’s encounter was epic ! Lovely last act of departure (8) |
| 01-May | Sparsh Sinha | Rule no.1 of dieting – you never add sugar to yogurt (7) |
| 23-Jan | Arjun Mukerjee | Lehman CEO? Crooked opportunist! (9) |
| 04-Sep | @inwitinwit | Free exchange of rupees vital for capital. (11) |
| 30-Jan | Nate Cardin | Flying? That fear’s occasionally not as serious (7) |
| 10-Jul | qpheevr | Supplier of dough for California flatbread menu (10) |
| 27-Feb | Raj Jayaram | Attack in vain – so sad! (8) |
| 09-Oct | Ramki Krishnan | Notable banks operate around Yankee state (3,4) |
Congrats to our toppers.
Hope all of you enjoyed the fantastic weekly contests and are all set for a new season in 2023.