Crossword SNITCH

A quantitative guide to the degree of difficulty of the Times Cryptic Crossword

ScoreGrade
Less than 64Very easy
64-93Easier
94-108Moderate
109-138Harder
More than 138Very 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?

From the main SNITCH page you can get a detailed breakdown of the results for each crossword. For the last three crosswords, select the "Detail and results" link. For past crosswords, click on the crossword number in the table.

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Recent crosswords

Day:Tuesday
Date:2024-10-29
Number:29060
PDF link:PDF 29060
SNITCH:87
Blog Link: Times for the Times 29060
More details:Detail and results
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Day:Monday
Date:2024-10-28
Number:29059
PDF link:PDF 29059
SNITCH:90
Blog Link: Times for the Times 29059
More details:Detail and results
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Day:Friday
Date:2024-10-25
Number:29057
PDF link:PDF 29057
SNITCH:119
Blog Link: Times for the Times 29057
More details:Detail and results
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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
88 2024-10-28 29059 90 29060 87
96 2024-10-21 29053 103 29054 66 29055 85 29056 111 29057 119
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
101 2023-12-11 28783 78 28784 117 28785 99 28786 121 28787 90
107 2023-12-04 28777 73 28778 93 28779 142 28780 99 28781 128
106 2023-11-27 28771 68 28772 108 28773 100 28774 150 28775 104
101 2023-11-20 28765 97 28766 109 28767 94 28768 89 28769 117
90 2023-11-13 28759 82 28760 66 28761 64 28762 104 28763 137
94 2023-11-06 28753 89 28754 83 28755 89 28756 84 28757 126
88 2023-10-30 28747 73 28748 83 28749 92 28750 86 28751 109