March has been a good month for crossword lovers. For ET readers, the interminable wait for the crossword to return on Mondays is over, now that Sundays also have their blackand-white boxes. Then there is the happy case of Mangesh Ghogre who has received the much coveted ‘Einstein visa’ —Employment-Based Immigration: First Preference EB-1 —to the US given to those seeking American citizenship by demonstrating ‘extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics through sustained national or international acclaim’. Ghogre’s route has been making top-notch crossword puzzles for the likes of the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times. He is also a crossword evangelist. Speaking to the Sunday Times of India, he points out how ‘historically, the crossword has severely lacked diversity’ and that the international crossword-setting world is ‘predominantly white’. True that. Disclosure: ET’s crossword is shipped from the British daily, The Daily Mail. Apart from more Ghogres emerging from behind the chequered box, regional newspapers in India have local flavoured, non-English-language crosswords running up and down and across. Indian English dailies could gain further traction by having localised clues, and not just pertaining to British or US popular culture, locations and other references
