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?

For each reference and tracked solver, we keep track of their Top 10 results on their individual solver page. You can find this individual page from the daily detailed results (the user's name is a link) or from their link on the Neutrinos page.

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:	Monday
Date:	2025-04-28
Number:	29215
PDF link:	PDF 29215
SNITCH:	70
Blog Link:	Times for the Times 29215
More details:	Detail and results

Day:	Friday
Date:	2025-04-25
Number:	29213
PDF link:	PDF 29213
SNITCH:	96
Blog Link:	Times for the Times 29213
More details:	Detail and results

Day:	Thursday
Date:	2025-04-24
Number:	29212
PDF link:	PDF 29212
SNITCH:	122
Blog Link:	Times for the Times 29212
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
70	2025-04-28	29215	70
87	2025-04-21	29209	75	29210	73	29211	70	29212	122	29213	96
101	2025-04-14	29203	68	29204	66	29205	72	29206	112	29207	191	29208	78	5160	154
97	2025-04-07	29197	81	29198	99	29199	95	29200	72	29201	140	29202	145	5159	104
99	2025-03-31	29191	63	29192	88	29193	86	29194	128	29195	133	29196	111	5158	100
86	2025-03-24	29185	58	29186	99	29187	70	29188	115	29189	90	29190	85	5157	78
122	2025-03-17	29179	45	29180	116	29181	108	29182	85	29183	260	29184	133	5156	92
84	2025-03-10	29173	55	29174	63	29175	103	29176	78	29177	122	29178	90	5155	131
90	2025-03-03	29167	99	29168	59	29169	83	29170	90	29171	119	29172	128	5154	81
83	2025-02-24	29161	72	29162	100	29163	80	29164	76	29165	91	29166	167	5153	170
106	2025-02-17	29155	64	29156	87	29157	105	29158	108	29159	170	29160	103	5152	114
86	2025-02-10	29149	57	29150	68	29151	100	29152	90	29153	119	29154	116	5151	85
82	2025-02-03	29143	59	29144	57	29145	84	29146	97	29147	115	29148	116	5150	116
91	2025-01-27	29137	74	29138	100	29139	84	29140	75	29141	122	29142	99	5149	100
108	2025-01-20	29131	59	29132	91	29133	90	29134	89	29135	213	29136	108	5148	109
86	2025-01-13	29125	77	29126	77	29127	75	29128	84	29129	121	29130	99	5147	183
85	2025-01-06	29119	70	29120	68	29121	69	29122	75	29123	143	29124	102	1975	88
112	2024-12-30	29113	91	29114	109	29115	119	29116	91	29117	151	29118	53	5145	144
120	2024-12-23	29107	96	29108	120	29109	119	29110	109	29111	156	29112	85	2024	91
91	2024-12-16	29101	70	29102	53	29103	109	29104	105	29105	120	29106	146	5143	112
92	2024-12-09	29095	64	29096	86	29097	58	29098	82	29099	174	29100	79	5142	77
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