India, May 2 -- The end of Phase I of the three-phase annual national inter-school CCCC Cryptic Crossword Contest has seen Bihar teams scripting a rare achievement, cornering the first three positions on the national leaderboard.

While Nanya Dev Singh and Hemang Chandra playing as a team from DPS Patna are at the top of the national chart, Dhairya Pandey, playing solo for Don BoscoAcademy, Patna, and the team comprising SudhanshuNayak and Shubhi Srivastava from Darbhanga Public School have, respectively, clinched the 2nd and the 3rdspots.

As many as 13 teams from schools across India have topped their respective states. While many of the teams have consistently done well in all three online rounds in Phase I, there are a few surprises t...