Is it A.N.Prahlada rao is a highest crossword maker in India?

Answer 1

The Hindu
Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, December 27, 2009

Kannada crossword puzzles launched

Bangalore: Poet K.S. Nissar Ahmed was present at the launch of the first-ever volumes of Kannada crossword puzzles compiled by A.N. Prahlad Rao here on Thursday. The poet said the love of solitude was missing among a lot of youngsters, who prefer to hang out at a noisy mall than solve a crossword puzzle in a quiet corner.
The volumes, published by Vasanta Prakashana, was attended by Gandhian and writer Belagere Krishna Shastry, lexicographer G. Venkatasubbiah and jouranlist S.V. Jayasheela Rao. — Special Correspondent

Answer 2

KANNADA CROSSWORD
All about a grid whose time has come
Aarthi R | TNN

Times Of India Bangalore:2009 Aug 30


    Fitting the right letters into the right block is a pleasure that cuts across all barriers: age, gender and increasingly language. Hearteningly, the stimulating yet simple adventure of completing those neat little white blocks in between the black ones isn’t the preserve of those who know the English language anymore.
    Historically, the crossword has its roots in English and was considered to be most common in
English-speaking countries. Today, however, Bangalore has a good share of crossword lovers in Kannada. This includes the many who love to solve them and a few who love creating them.
    A N Prahlad Rao, an officer with the state information department and currently BWSSB PRO, is perhaps the only crossword writer from India to have made it to Wikipedia for ‘crosswords in non-English languages’. It takes him just 20 minutes to make those regular 10x10 and 11x11 crosswords. He has no formal training in making these crossword puzzles. But, till date, he has designed some 23,000 crossword puzzles in Kannada with a total of 6,00,000 clues. In most of his crosswords, the words might be repeated but never the clues. He’s made nearly 5,000 crosswords on Kannada films alone.
    Films apart, he’s also created crosswords on varied other themes like mythology, crime, food and even works of famous Kannada novelists. He started creating Kannada crosswords in 1984. Today, he writes at least three crosswords every day. This, apart from his regular work. “I ensure I use the time between 10.30 pm and midnight just for this. My greatest asset in this hobby has been my collection of dictionaries. I have bought almost all dictionaries available in the market. This apart, writing crosswords has also helped me learn more about technology’’ explains Prahlad.
    From the days when crosswords were made by assembling blocks to the modern print technology — he’s waded through them all. And becoming computer-literate too in the process.
    The first volume of his puzzles was released in February 2008. Three of his five Kannada crossword books so far are based on general knowledge, one on Kannada cinema, and another one for children. This apart, he has also contributed crosswords to 24 periodicals, three of them dailies.
    And there’s also a veteran fan following for Kannada crosswords as well. Senior journalist S V Jayasheel Rao is one of them. A few crosswords take him just minutes and a few others have him pondering late into the evening. He’s been solving crosswords for at least 50 years now. “Even as a high school student, I was fascinated by them. However, I started doing them seriously in college. It’s grown more into a hobby’’ Rao explains.
    The best part of this hobby is that it has made him ‘learn his own language’. It’s also increased his thinking capacity and vocabulary skills. He strongly recommends solving crosswords regularly to keep your brain cells ticking. “The purpose for which crosswords are published will be better attained if it’s not too difficult,’’ he explains.
    Crosswords’ enduring popularity rests in the fact even with those clues in line across and below to help out — ‘straight’ or ‘quick’, you could still be tricked! But still, it keeps you going and your vocabulary growing.
CROSSWORD TIDBITS
    Crossword is a word puzzle that normally takes the form of a square or rectangular grid of black and white squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the answers
    In languages which are written left-to-right, the answer words and phrases are placed in the grid from left to right and from top to bottom. The black squares are used to separate the words or phrases
    Common crossword variants vary more from a regular crossword than just in unusual grid shape or unusual clues; these may be based on different solving principles and require a different solving skill-set

Answer 3

The Hindu
Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 22, 2002  

Life Bangalore  

LEGEND HAS it that Indira Gandhi could complete The Times crossword in two minutes flat. Khushwant Singh is a great crossword buff, and a good many bureaucrats whom one doesn't associate with such an absorbing pastime are anything but clueless about how to clear this maze of little black and white squares.

And then, there are studies that reveal that five out of 10 people who commute long distances to work are addicted to crosswords, something that nearly every newspaper carries every day. In Mumbai, thousands of commuters are adept at deciphering clues, literally on their feet, with one hand holding their office bag and the other clinging to the iron post to keep from falling.

Here's a clue. Let's say "1 Across, HIJKLMNO (five letters)." Any self-respecting crossword enthusiast will tell you right away, and rightly, that it is "H{-2}0," or "WATER." And "3 Down," with a blank, eight letters, is even easier. It is "CLUELESS." These, incidentally, topped a survey that rated the best clues, some years ago.

Well, clues like these may be the lifeline to long-distance commuters everywhere. But has anyone wondered where these classic clues that make crossword solving an absorbing pastime come from?

And who are the folks who make humdrum commuting a cerebral activity? After all, the times when crossword solving was a revenue-earning proposition, with big prize-money, is a thing of past.

All the same, crossword puzzles get solved every day, millions of times, in dozens of languages. And that brings us to that special breed of people but for whom the world would be quite clueless about crosswords, cryptic or simple. The fellas who actually create the clues, and make grids to fit them in.

Like A.N. Prahlada Rao. To most people, he is the Public Relations Officer, Bangalore Mahanagara Palike. To readers of newspapers and magazines in Kannada, he is a modest little byline in a corner of the crossword puzzle that appears in all of them.

Every week, he composes at least 15 puzzles, and he has been doing it for years. In fact, he has nearly 1,000 puzzles to his credit, which appeared in Prajavani, Vignana Sangathi, Samyukta Karnataka, Aragini, Shakthi, Mangala, Karmaveera, Vijaya Karnataka, and Ee Sanje.

It started as a pastime, and of course, Rao began as a solver, not maker of crosswords.

"I scrawled on the sand for time-pass once, and was roundly scolded by elders for not sticking to my studies,'' he remembers.

He was always inclined to be literary and quite emotional about the world of words. Crossword solving in Kannada or English was also an education. He soon became a cornucopia of trivia, and one day decided to have a shot at creating his own puzzle, just for a lark.

He enjoyed it immensely, and soon, he was commandeering all the trivia at his disposal for creating puzzles, and readers who could never have enough were gorging on the theme-puzzles that he specialised in. Crime and police, cinema, art, literature, cuisine, celebrities, politics, everything falls into the grid just like Rao orchestrates.

There's practically no money in it. But for Rao, that's what makes it rewarding to create crosswords.

He also dabbles in making quizzes for magazines, and happily, his hobby and his profession have never been at cross-purposes. To celebrate his devotion to his passion, when he built his house, Rao had a crossword grid of black-and-white tiles installed on the front wall.

He joined the Karnataka Information Department in 1983, and between assignments as a PR person at events such as the Vishwa Kannada Sammelana (1995), the SAARC Conference in 1987, the Indian International Film Festival in 1991, the Mahamastakabhishekha in Sharavanabelagola in 1995, and the 1997 National Games, the crossword never left him.

In the beginning, it took him two hours to finish composing one puzzle. Now, he is done in 20 minutes. A website is a dream that might just about come true, and meanwhile, his own reference material, particularly on cinema, is there to fall back on.

A Kannada crossword dictionary on the Web, and crossword-inspired programmes on the electronic media are the stuff of Rao's dreams.

Some of his passion has rubbed off on his family. And his wife, who is a cinema buff, helps him compose many a filmy crossword.

When last heard, Rao was mulling over a suggestion to compose a crossword whose answers would be classic Kannada proverbs.

He sounded like he was tickled pink by the idea, and when we said goodbye, he asked: "Let me see, how does one create a clue for a proverb in Kannada about falling at the feet of a donkey if it means getting what you want?''

Watch the grids for more on Rao. Did anyone say, who is this namesake of Hiranyakashipu's son, seven letters?

Answer 4

Financial Daily
from THE HINDU group of publications
Monday, May 14, 2001
Making clues

Anjali Prayag
A recent study in the UK revealed that five out of 10 people who commute long distance to work have only one pastime ie., the day's crossword in the newspaper. It's not any different in India.
The daily stimulant of the crossword is a lifeline to many of us. But have you ever wondered about the quiet geniuses who craft these pieces of literary art? How do they tap into their creative wells for the juices to flow everyday of the year!
Meet one such wizard. As Public Relations Officer of the Bangalore City Corporation, A.N. Prahlada Rao, may have to cross words with many, but one thing that surely keeps his thousands of fans enthralled are his crosswords.
Prahlada Rao is probably the only man in the country to possess the unique achievement of having created more than 7,000 crosswords in a regional language -- Kannada. And the range of his subjects vary from one end of the spectrum to the other -- cinema, science, crime, women and child issues, culinary, and of course, the general crossword.
And if you could like to know the break-up of his accomplishment; cinema - 1,400, science - 50, crime and police related - 200, culinary - 30, women and child issues - 50 and the rest are general.
That's not all. Rao also is a quiz master, though not on stage. Various Kannada magazines subscribe to both his crosswords and quizzes. The magazines include Prajavani, Vignana Sangathi, Samyuktha Karnataka, Aragini, Shakthi, Mangala, Karmaveera, Vijaya Karnataka, E Sanje, and several others.
Resourceful though he is, Rao is practical too when it comes to the fruits of his labour. ``All I get for my efforts is a small bye-line at the corner. On the other hand, if I had composed 7,000 poems, I would have been respected and awarded for my liter ary abilities.'' We sure know that the effort is not any less here.
What about the rewards in monetary terms? It's definitely nowhere near what the quizmasters or the English crossword creators are paid. ``I get only about 10 per cent of what my English counterparts get. It's about Rs 50 - Rs 60 for a crossword.''
How did this penchant for composing crosswords start for Rao? ``It was during my college days -- in 1974-75 -- that I was a major crossword buff. At that time, I only used to solve them. Later I started creating them just for the lark of it.''
In 1983, when he joined the Karnataka Information Department as an Assistant, he decided to take up his hobby seriously and then there was no turning back. Rao now doubles up as a quiz master for many of the magazines that he creates crosswords for.
In an age when everything is computerised, does he not feel the need to use a PC or have a Web site of his own? Rao agrees, ``Definitely, my job will be easier if I possessed a PC, but I need to garner enough money for that.''
Currently, he makes a draft crossword, and then most of the times, makes the artwork himself. This is handed over to the newspaper for printing. Then he composes the clues. ``All this will be saved if I could obtain a PC.''
Initially, Rao used to take about two hours to prepare a crossword. Now the master that he has become, it's not more than 20 minutes. ``My wife also helps me in composing the clues, especially the cinema related ones,'' he says proudly.
Rao has indexed and maintained cinema-related topics which act as reference material to many producers and directors. ``I have details of about 1,000 films, such as who's the producer, director, music composer, lyricist, playback singers, actors, etc. Al l the small details are listed here.''
Rao also has plans of putting up a Kannada dictionary on his Web site so that it's easier for crossword buffs to solve them. Rao has also tried his hand at conducting a crossword for a video magazine which, however, could not be sustained. A local electr onic media once approached him to conduct a live show, but nothing happened after that.
When Rao invited us to his home, the only clue he gave us was that right at the entrance of his home, there's a huge crossword. And nobody can goof on that one.

Answer 5

Yes, he has created over 22,000 crosswords with over 6 lakh clues

Answer 6

A. N. Prahlada Rao (born 24 July 1953) is an Indian author and Kannada crossword writer who has created the highest number of crosswords in India.
He has created 22,000 crosswords in the Kannada language for Kannada daily newspapers and periodicals with 6,00,000 (Six lakhs) clues. He is also writer, poet. A.N. Prahlada Rao was born at Abbani in the Kolar district of Karnataka in India. He started his carrier as journlist. He was the founder Editor of HONNUDI the first regional district daily publishing editorial every day. He joined Information Department in 1983. He started writing Kannada crosswords in 1984. A.N.Prahlada Rao is probably the only man in the country to possess the unique achievement of having created more than 22,000 crosswords in a regional language -- Kannada. And the range of his subjects vary from one end of the spectrum to the other -- cinema, science, crime, mythology, women and child issues, culinary, and of course, the general crossword. Two major daily news papers i.e Vijaya Karnataka and Samyukta Karnataka and mangala aragini weeklies and balamangala fortnightly carrying his crosswords daily in addition to some of the major periodical's publishing in Kannada language. every day A. N. Prahlada Rao is creating 3 crosswords. He has contributed his crosswords to more than 40 kannada periodicles in lost 25 years. He also belongs to a family of kings in Abbani with a rich history.
The first-ever volumes of Kannada crossword puzzles compiled by A.N. Prahlad Rao were launched on 14 February 2008. Three of the five Kannada crossword books are based on general knowledge, one on Kannada cinema, and another one for children.
A. N. Prahlada Rao is an author of a book named Bangarada manushya, the chronicle of Dr. Rajakumar, a popular Kannada film actor. The book Bangarada Manushya surmises the achievements of Dr.Rajkumar both on and off the screen. This book is a referral volume on Kannada film industry, for it is rich in details of the growth and evolution of the Kannada Film Industry. The book released at Washington D.C, New Jercy and also at Kuwite.
His second book, Belliterey Belagidavaru, (Gems of the Silver Screen) contains profiles of 115 film stars of the Kannada silver screen with a foreword by director Girish Kasaravalli, who is also profiled. The book features everyone from patriarch Gubbi Veeranna to the golden oldies of the black-and-white era who reinvented the stage on celluloid, making the new medium a craze for first generation film-goers.
The English translation of his book 'Bangarada manushya' named Dr. Rajkumar: The Inimitable Actor With A Golden Voice was released in New Jersey, United States on 10 May 2008. The same book was released in London, England by Edward Thamson, Senetor during the month of August 2008.
Karnataka Governor Rameshwar Thakur released the books on 75 noted personalities who contributed to the progress of Kannada cinema on 2nd March 2009. Felicitating the Kannada cinema industry on celebrating the Platinum Jubilee” Kannada cinema-75 organised by Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce. Noted Writer and Film Director Baragur Ramachandrappa, has the Principal Editor of the books. Out of 75 books A.N.Prahladarao have written 2 books. The books are one is Rajakumar and onther one is T.S.Karibasaiah.
A. N. Prahlada Rao is also poet. His 9 poems CD VASANTA MALLIKA (beginning blossoms) released in the month of December 2008. The songs sung by Mrs 'Vasanta Shashi' a NRI residing in America and music composed by the great singer 'Puttur Narasihma Nayak'.
A. N. Prahlada Rao has been awarded the prestigious ARYABHATA and several awards.

Answer 7

Yes, as per wikepedie free encyclopedia it is correct. Hehas created 22,000 crosswords with 6 lakhs clues.

Answer 8

Yes as per wikepedie free encyclopedia it is correct. Hehas created 22,000 crosswords with 6 lakhs clues.