Crossword Constructor
Sowmya Ramkumar
Sowmya Ramkumar is the founder of 1ACross.org, puzzle editor at Amuse Labs, and the author of the Cryptic Crossroads series. A Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) by training, she spent over a decade as Vice President in risk management at a leading Bahrain bank, while also teaching CFA candidates for 12 years.
Her love for crosswords began in seventh grade and turned into a lifelong obsession. Since 2013, she’s been setting cryptics—first for The Hindu BusinessLine, and now fortnightly for Hindustan Times (Enigmaya) and The Hindu (as Hypatia). Her daily mini crosswords appear in The Boston Globe, Indiamini, and other platforms. She’s authored three volumes of Cryptic Crossroads, curating diverse puzzles from a global network of setters bonded by a love of wordplay—most of whom had never met outside the grid.
With over 2,000 mini and nearly 300 cryptic crosswords published, Sowmya is a mainstay of the crossword scene, consistently placing in the top 10 of Indian crossword contests. She’s also a double Guinness World Record holder (for crochet!), and runs the popular 1ACross blog and Facebook group, a buzzing hub for solvers and setters alike.
Since April 2025, her clues have featured on the Minutecryptic app and YouTube channel. Find her on X: @somsram
Crosswords may be black and white, but Sowmya’s clues live gloriously in the grey area between genius and groan.”
Know your constructor
What’s the most memorable puzzle you’ve ever created?
What’s the most memorable puzzle you’ve ever created? What makes it special? Please share a playable link too if possible. While many crosswords I have constructed are quite close to my heart, one interesting crossword is “ENDGAME”. I created this for the 1ACross Gridfest – a crossword competition commemorating the 7th Anniversary. It went on to win the first prize based on votes by solvers and is featured in Cryptic Crossroads, Vol. 3 The Across clues neither had enumerations nor were in their correct locations. The solvers had to crack these clues and identify their correct locations. They was a hidden connect that needed to be identified to put them in their right locations. It also had a NINA (a secret message) <SPOILER ALERT> Each Across lights (solution) began with the last letter of the previous word (like an Antakshari and hence the title ENDGAME) and The NINA (hidden message) showing SEVEN YEARS was in the Top Row (L to R) and 11th Column (Going up)
What’s your all time favourite crossword clue?
What’s your all time favorite crossword clue (yours or anyone else’s)? Here’s one of mine that appeared in The Hindu, which got a lot of love in social media because of the surface reference to the popular “Cracking The Cryptic” YouTube channel UK duo’s cryptic puzzle (6) The Answer is SUDOKU – Anagram of UKDUOS
What’s the best thing about PuzzleMe?
We’d love a quick review about your experience with PuzzleMe, just a line or two! I have been using PuzzleMe for over 5 years (two years before I started working with them) and I can say that it is the best software for puzzle makers and distributors across the world. It has a range of features that are pretty simple to use and set up. It’s very easy to make high quality puzzles that can be really fun for solvers adding multimedia and branding seamlessly into crosswords making them visually appealing. It’s the only platform that can be used to publish both barred and blocked puzzles, US and UK type puzzles, Minis etc all using the same interface. It’s geared towards contests and there are a whole lot of puzzles other than crosswords to target the general audience.