Alan Connor continues his global trip, seeing how different countries approach the crossword. Next stop: India, with Shuchi Upadhyay from Crossword Unclued

Having visited America and Australia, the next stop on our crosswording tour is India.

Our guide is Shuchi Upadhyay (@ShuchiU), whose lively, comprehensive blog Crossword Unclued covers the Indian and the global scenes and developments in the crosswording world with a light touch that doesn't stint on the detail, and gives many helping hands to cryptic newcomers.

How does the Indian crosswording world differ from the UK's?

From the solvers' perspective, they're pretty alike. We feel the same tingle of anticipation at the sight of a blank grid, we savour the penny-drop moments and we get into impassioned debates over the placement of commas and validity of connectors. There is perhaps less emphasis on solving time and more tolerance for homophone variations at our end.

A bigger difference is the value attached to crosswords by the non-crosswording world. British publications carry features about their veteran setters. Some, like Jonathan Crowther (the Observer's Azed) and John Graham (Araucaria) have been awarded the OBE - that kind of thing is unheard of in India. I would love to see this change!

Indian cryptics recently celebrated their 40th birthday, I understand. How has the form evolved over the decades?

The first Indian cryptic was published on 15 February 1971 in the Hindu. In the early days, Indian cryptics modelled themselves closely after British cryptics, right down to British names and idioms in wordplay, even if they were not commonly used in India.

Of late Indian cryptics have become more confidently rooted in local references. They're also more open to taking risks and trying out new devices. The first nina – a hidden extra message – appeared in an Indian cryptic on 1 January 2010; there have been many more since then including this creative one by Cryptonyte. Recently the setter Gridman invited solvers to suggest words for his upcoming grid, and Buzzer produced a crossword in which every clue started with the letter B.

The internet has played a major role in the evolution of Indian cryptics - with ready access to puzzles, forums, books and so on from outside India, our crossword community has more sources to refer to and use as a benchmark.

Indian crosswords exist in a polyglot culture. Is there something about the English language that lends itself well to wordplay, and are there equivalents in Hindi, Bengali and so on?

Word puzzles do get published in Indian regional languages but they are closer to quick crosswords than they are to cryptics. Languages like Hindi are more structured than English and I've written about how this limits the scope for wordplay.

Elements of wordplay can be found in some of our regional crosswords, such as Prajavani (Kannada) and a "Tenglish" (Telugu-English bilingual) crossword in the Telugu paper Sakshi.

I read that the Hindu doesn't have a crossword editor. How does that affect the puzzles? And why are its squares grey?

Having no editor puts the onus on the setters to be extra-conscientious. Some of the Hindu setters say that when they're in doubt about a clue, they seek feedback from their trusted peers.

Why are its squares grey? I guess for the same reason that the UK Times Crossword Club provides the 'print grey' option - to save on ink!

Can you give us an example of a clue that could only work in an Indian context?

Here's a clue from the Hindu by setter Spiffytrix:

Incumbent government lost a developed state (5,7)

The answer is UTTAR PRADESH. "Incumbent government" suggests UPA, short for United Progressive Alliance, the coalition party in political power since 2004. You lose an A and get UP, the abbreviation for the state Uttar Pradesh, which you "develop" or expand for the entry.

Finally, what is the dictionary of choice for Indian crossworders?

We refer to the British big three: Chambers, OED, Collins, but the Hindu and Mint crosswords do not have a stated preference for any specific dictionary or reference source.

An interesting dilemma faced by our setters is the use of words from local languages that have become commonplace in informal English but which aren't in a standard English dictionary. A recent example is Gridman's clue from the Hindu:

On roistering in Tamil Nadu, Al leaves boat race (7)

The answer is REGATTA; while the Tamil word "galatta" for "roistering" is well-known in south India, it would leave north Indian solvers flummoxed. Stepping outside the bounds of dictionary definitions often leads to polarised reactions from solvers.

Many thanks to Shuchi. If you have any thoughts about Indian crosswords, or other countries you'd like us to visit, let us know below.

• A Young Doctor's Notebook, a comedy-drama co-written by Alan Connor, starts tonight on Sky Arts.