Hi Everyone,
As far as my memory goes this is the first time that there has been no Crossword/Blog post on a Sunday. Therefore as CV suggested I am putting up a post about the Indian Crossword League (IXL) to ensure that there is no gap in the blog. Though there have been Blank posts earlier on holidays which have fallen on weekdays.
As most are aware the online rounds of the IXL is starting from today with the first of the 10 Online rounds coming live at 11 AM. Those of you who have not registered for the competition can still do so. The online rounds will have 15x15 Grids with varying levels of difficulty. Though the highest marks of 100 will go to the fastest all correct entry time for submission is open till 11:59 PM of the subsequent Friday. Results will be announced on the subsequent Saturday and a leaderboard formed. which will have the cumulative scores after each round. At the end of the 10 online rounds the top 30 of the leaderboard will be called for the offline round to be held at Bangalore where initially there will be a written round and based on the fastest all correct entries the top 6 will be selected for an onstage round. This year the organisers have also decided that participants who come within the top 5 in at least 5 rounds will also be invited for the finals in case for some reason they do not figure in the top 30.
I would like to advise all participants of IXL to continue submitting their solutions and not give up after a couple of rounds in case they find that they do not figure in the top 30 of the leaderboard.
As this is a competion which is open for submissions from 11 AM of Sunday till 11:59 PM on Friday, all commenters here are advised not to discuss any of the clues or solutions till such time the result of each round is declassified on the following Saturday.
Wishing all the aprticipants all the best. May the best cruciverbalist win.
Thanks Colonel for the post. This should clear the doubts of all 1st timers participating.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck to all!
All the best to all participants.
ReplyDeleteGood luck, Every participant
ReplyDeleteExhaustive write-up Col! I am sure there will be no more questions.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck friends!
Nice write-up Sir. Best wishes to all IXL participants. Have fun! 😀
ReplyDeleteIs there no special today because of IXL?
ReplyDeletethanks for the info on IXL...
Yes. There will be no specials till 25 Oct
DeleteAm struggling to access Ixl 2020. Can anyone help me?
ReplyDeleteWhere are you stuck
DeleteSad to know MB. Did you get new pin? Were you able to open their webpage?
DeleteThe trouble was with my so called smart (dull) phone! The entire row consisting of 'log-in', 'play' etc was not visible.
DeleteMy son spotted the mistake while accessing the site through his laptop.
And the whole show became a flop as all the solutions were available on a platter, the moment I had logged in!!
Deletewell introduction about IXL. glad to know the event. thanks shri.col. for the updates. Best wishes to all participants.
DeleteI too found two solutions in the grid when I logged in, though they are wrong. It seems there is a glitch. The following information is now available in the site:
Delete"For IXL 2020, we had changed the puzzle software for a better user experience . The software was duly tested. In spite of adequate prior precautions , a technical glitch has occurred, making the Round unplayable for some. Since the IXL has always aspired to provide a level playing field to all its participants, we have decided to scratch the IXL 2020 Round 1. The overall leaderboard shall be prepared on the basis of the cumulative scores of Round 2 to Round 10. We apologise for the inconvenience caused to all the esteemed participants."
MB sir, Noted your message. This might be caused due to compatibility of your handset with the IXL link. but it rarely happens. please try for the next one. sure you will succeed.
DeleteMB ji, why to struggle with mobile? Use laptop
DeleteThanks Prasanna Rao. The issue had been sorted out with the help of like minded cruciverbalists.
DeleteAjeesh at...
DeleteDon't have one. Earlier used post through PC. It's dead now. As I know I won't be in top thirty, I rely on my phone and make an attempt to get all correct entry irrespective of time.
ohno! @1353
DeleteGo to SOLUTIONS. You can view this info.
DeleteVenkatesan, we have to press PLAY button to see that the round is scratched.
DeleteMB, use your son's laptop. Don't assume that you won't be in top 30
DeleteKKR @ 14:26. After submitting the completed grid I just wanted to check my solved grid under SOLUTIONS which I normally used to do. It was blank. Then I noticed the above info.
DeleteAjeesh at 14:35 pm
DeleteShall try. :)
Venkatesan,
DeleteThat itself shows how "incredible" the new software is!!! For me the message appears under "PLAY" button!
MB sir it works well in Desktop. kindly try it your Laptop # desktop. may compatibility issue occur in your handset.
DeleteThanks Suresh garu and KKR garu for responding to my post at 11.45 am.
ReplyDeleteConsider it as a trial, MB sir
ReplyDeleteSure! :)
DeleteIt is like a leaked question paper for some.
DeleteWhat a frustrating denoue'ment! This inspite of revised so called userfriendly software!Do the organisers not test the stuff before mounting !
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame that they scrap Round 1 .This is supposed to be an all India contest !
I finished the grid in 35 to 40 minutes but to get on board , I had to struggle for first half an hour.
Hope that they are ready without an glitches from Round 2 onwards.
+1 Rajugaru!
DeleteThe software as such has no glitches. It has to do something with the cache that stores the submitted puzzles.
DeleteUnfortunate to say the least.
technically, application may not be the glitch as much as the adaptation to web server! but its still classified as software glitch.
DeleteHad a good experience with IXL. could not complete 100%. All I need to gain the experience. thanks to THCC blog.
ReplyDeleteNow that the dust has settled, how was the puzzle?
ReplyDeleteI found it easy and enjoyable. Our champion solvers had ridiculous times of 10 minutes or so? (by their own admission in FB page of IXL 2020).
on the easy side, so much so i spent another 5-10 minutes rechecking answers and still submitted under 25 min. had to spend some time on paid supporters and fashionable dressing.
Deletefirst time I have appeared. I took more than one hour. few puzzles I could not attempt. My aim is to participate and to explore skills. It's a great experience.
Delete