Crossword SNITCH

Score	Grade
Less than 64	Very easy
64-93	Easier
94-108	Moderate
109-138	Harder
More than 138	Very hard

The SNITCH (Same-day Numeric Index of Times Cryptic Hardness) is a score of the difficulty for each Times Cryptic Crossword as shown in the table.

It is based on the time taken by reference solvers to complete the crossword with no errors. On this page the movement of the SNITCH (as reference solvers complete the puzzle) is shown for recent days. Scroll down to see the final NITCH value and a link to the underlying details for many past crosswords.

How hard is each Times Cryptic Crossword? A good way to judge this is to work out how long it takes a group of experienced solvers to complete the solution without errors. This site uses a group of over 100 solvers who regularly complete the crossword on the Club site. Each solver's time to complete the puzzle is compared to their average over the last six months. This is averaged again across all the solvers to provide an overall rating, the Numeric Index of Times Cryptic Hardness (NITCH). See the actual results for each six-month period at the Trends page.

A NITCH value of 100 means that the crossword is solved in the average time. A value of 150 means that the crossword takes (on average) one and a half times the normal time; a figure of 67 means that it is solved in two thirds of the normal time.

That's fine for a historical view (after everyone's completed the crossword), but it would be nice to see how today's crossword is going. So this site also calculates the SNITCH, Same-day NITCH, by updating the NITCH value regularly. Early results may be a bit misleading, so the movement of the SNITCH and the number of reference users who've completed the puzzle is graphed to give you some idea of how the value has varied during the day.

A sanity check of the NITCH code against the senitments in the Times for the Times blog has been done. Crosswords that have a high NITCH tend to be regarded as difficult in the blog, and those with a low NITCH are generally seen as easy. No measuring system will be perfect, but the NITCH seems to be a reasonable way to score the difficulty.

Did you know?

You can find out the reference solvers used for cacluation of the SNITCH from the Trends page. Just click on the "Show" link on the right hand side of the table for the month you are interested in.

If you would like to help cover the costs of running the SNITCH site, please "buy me a coffee".

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Recent crosswords

Day:	Friday
Date:	2024-12-20
Number:	29105
PDF link:	PDF 29105
SNITCH:	121
Blog Link:	Times for the Times 29105
More details:	Detail and results

Day:	Thursday
Date:	2024-12-19
Number:	29104
PDF link:	PDF 29104
SNITCH:	105
Blog Link:	Times for the Times 29104
More details:	Detail and results

Day:	Wednesday
Date:	2024-12-18
Number:	29103
PDF link:	PDF 29103
SNITCH:	109
Blog Link:	Times for the Times 29103
More details:	Detail and results

Why does the number of Reference solvers often decrease during the day?

For the SNITCH calculation, only the Reference solvers in the top 100 of the leader board are used. The main reason for this is to make the SNITCH/NITCH calculation repeatable. Only the data for the top 100 solvers is available to all users. Members can see their own results (and the few surrounding) outside the top 100, but these are not available to everyone. So, if Reference solver results get pushed outside of the top 100, I remove them from the SNITCH calculation and show this reduction in the Reference solver count.

Past crosswords

This table contains NITCH scores and links for the last year of crosswords. The Saturday and Sunday data is not used in the calculation of overall averages for solvers or for crosswords. The completion times for the reference solvers that complete these weekend puzzles are used to give an estimate of their difficulty.

Please see the full archive link for the complete set.

Week beginning		Monday		Tuesday		Wednesday		Thursday		Friday		Saturday		Sunday
91	2024-12-16	29101	70	29102	53	29103	109	29104	105	29105	121
92	2024-12-09	29095	64	29096	86	29097	58	29098	82	29099	174	29100	79
85	2024-12-02	29089	74	29090	72	29091	68	29092	76	29093	139	29094	77	5141	102
93	2024-11-25	29083	90	29084	72	29085	91	29086	96	29087	118	29088	121	5140	92
91	2024-11-18	29077	63	29078	67	29079	92	29080	147	29081	86	29082	69	5139	135
113	2024-11-11	29071	77	29072	135	29073	117	29074	68	29075	168	29076	82	5138	91
85	2024-11-04	29065	55	29066	105	29067	66	29068	68	29069	134	29070	116	5137	111
85	2024-10-28	29059	90	29060	86	29061	80	29062	89	29063	82	29064	97	5136	136
96	2024-10-21	29053	103	29054	66	29055	85	29056	111	29057	119	29058	115	5135	94
89	2024-10-14	29047	118	29048	88	29049	76	29050	63	29051	104	29052	101	5134	82
97	2024-10-07	29041	80	29042	75	29043	101	29044	115	29045	115	29046	129	5133	139
99	2024-09-30	29035	108	29036	97	29037	75	29038	87	29039	132	29040	87	5132	101
97	2024-09-23	29029	74	29030	70	29031	110	29032	141	29033	94	29034	101	5131	94
93	2024-09-16	29023	71	29024	102	29025	88	29026	110	29027	96	29028	131	5130	107
99	2024-09-09	29017	89	29018	102	29019	78	29020	82	29021	148	29022	56	5129	92
90	2024-09-02	29011	103	29012	71	29013	91	29014	82	29015	103	29016	99	5128	124
98	2024-08-26	29005	61	29006	98	29007	121	29008	103	29009	111	29010	126	5127	103
92	2024-08-19	28999	81	29000	85	29001	79	29002	113	29003	106	29004	86	5126	105
96	2024-08-12	28993	79	28994	116	28995	104	28996	77	28997	106	28998	71	5125	108
90	2024-08-05	28987	73	28988	93	28989	96	28990	94	28991	95	28992	112	5124	140
77	2024-07-29	28981	55	28982	75	28983	79	28984	76	28985	104	28986	92	5123	109
91	2024-07-22	28975	83	28976	70	28977	109	28978	86	28979	107	28980	153	5122	116
99	2024-07-15	28969	67	28970	105	28971	136	28972	93	28973	95	28974	122	5121	153
95	2024-07-08	28963	66	28964	83	28965	97	28966	114	28967	119	28968	130	5120	142
105	2024-07-01	28957	59	28958	85	28959	109	28960	129	28961	147	28962	88	5119	88
99	2024-06-24	28951	60	28952	98	28953	96	28954	98	28955	146	28956	59	5118	103
94	2024-06-17	28945	78	28946	106	28947	98	28948	99	28949	90	1	110	5117	143
94	2024-06-10	28939	73	28940	77	28941	114	28942	99	28943	107	28944	115	5116	74
96	2024-06-03	28933	72	28934	100	28935	73	28936	106	28937	132	28938	101	5115	106
96	2024-05-27	28927	97	28928	82	28929	106	28930	82	28931	113	28932	96	5114	114
101	2024-05-20	28921	76	28922	80	28923	85	28924	117	28925	147	28926	85	5113	77
97	2024-05-13	28915	76	28916	55	28917	126	28918	119	28919	113	28920	108	5112	117
99	2024-05-06	28909	99	28910	65	28911	80	28912	110	28913	144	28914	66	5111	105
76	2024-04-29	28903	67	28904	79	28905	86	28906	60	28907	91	28908	121	5110	85
87	2024-04-22	28897	57	28898	94	28899	125	28900	85	28901	78	28902	102	5109	100
101	2024-04-15	28891	85	28892	80	28893	117	28894	107	28895	119	28896	84	5108	75
86	2024-04-08	28885	67	28886	70	28887	75	28888	113	28889	107	28890	92	5107	95
92	2024-04-01	28879	89	28880	92	28881	79	28882	70	28883	130	28884	91	5106	113
86	2024-03-25	28873	65	28874	83	28875	93	28876	114	28877	79	28878	139	5105	111
101	2024-03-18	28867	61	28868	96	28869	127	28870	92	28871	133	28872	89	5104	83
98	2024-03-11	28861	89	28862	96	28863	98	28864	98	28865	109	28866	139	5103	122
91	2024-03-04	28855	73	28856	63	28857	95	28858	102	28859	124	28860	102	5102	92
99	2024-02-26	28849	77	28850	95	28851	112	28852	117	28853	97	28854	103	5101	95
78	2024-02-19	28843	63	28844	57	28845	85	28846	88	28847	101	28848	87	5100	122
92	2024-02-12	28837	89	28838	59	28839	98	28840	112	28841	106	28842	84	5099	83
76	2024-02-05	28831	68	28832	74	28833	89	28834	72	28835	78	28836	81	5098	116
87	2024-01-29	28825	64	28826	78	28827	85	28828	128	28829	83	28830	100	5097	148
101	2024-01-22	28819	65	28820	104	28821	108	28822	138	28823	94	28824	89	5096	99
100	2024-01-15	28813	59	28814	95	28815	90	28816	115	28817	142	28818	87	5095	76
83	2024-01-08	28807	70	28808	69	28809	68	28810	99	28811	111	28812	111	5094	80
72	2024-01-01	28801	72	28802	64	28803	71	28804	76	28805	77	28806	133	5093	146
93	2023-12-25	28795	66	28796	86	28797	133	28798	78	28799	106
99	2023-12-18	28789	96	28790	59	28791	116	28792	105	28793	120