Thomas Snyder won $10,000 and a trip to India last week. Proving that your elementary school substitute teacher was doing you a favor by forcing you to do crossword puzzles to pass time, Snyder won the cash and the free ride by completing a Sudoku puzzle super fast.

The Philadelphia Inquirer hosted the first annual Sudoku National Championship on Sunday Oct. 21.

Snyder, 27, from Palo Alto, Calif., won the grand cash prize, in addition to a trip to India to defend his title at the world championship. The competition, which featured three levels of difficulty, was held at the Convention Center and commented on by Will Shortz, whose name has been forever linked to puzzles.

Is this all ridiculous? Absolutely yes. But, Brian Tierney, chief executive officer of Philadelphia Media Holdings, owner of The Inquirer, the Daily News and Philly.com, knows about marketing. He knows hosting the only national competition for an awfully popular game will, at the very least, get people mentioning the Inqy across the country again.

What’s more, the game brought people to town from throughout the country, even British Columbia.

Pretty good for Tierney, who has ushered in a redesigned Philly.com, a regional focus, and tighter coverage, considering when he was first highered he was called an “enemy of the First Amendment.”

*Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Inquirer, taken by ELIZABETH ROBERTSON, depicts Philadelphian Matt Fabrizio, who won second place at the intermediate level