Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29131

Date 20 January 2025
Number 29131
Day of week Monday
NITCH 59
Count of ref solvers 66
Ref solvers excluded with errors 12
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29131

* Requires access to the Times Crossword Club

Detailed solving results

Reference, Tracked and Blog solvers with error-free solutions to this puzzle are shown below.

We also show the solver's Personal NITCH, which is their result on this puzzle compared to their average time, and the Wavelength Index of Times Cryptic Hardness, the WITCH, which is the Personal NITCH compared to the SNITCH.

Name TfTT Name Average time This time Personal NITCH WITCH
mohn mohn2 04:40 03:56 84 142
Nathan Panning 05:59 03:02 50 84
lili 06:11 04:56 79 133
Paul Gilbert 06:14 04:47 76 128
verlaine Verlaine 06:27 05:09 79 133
cmjhutton 06:37 03:17 49 83
hilarym 06:57 05:37 80 135
Contrarian3 08:00 05:05 63 106
samgdavies 08:09 07:11 88 149
richard 08:48 05:48 65 110
boulemiche 08:52 08:11 92 155
asaldanha 09:21 05:00 53 89
Umpire 09:28 07:06 75 127
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 09:49 05:30 56 94
markdobell 09:54 04:56 49 83
AlanS 09:58 05:28 54 91
glheard glh 10:20 07:06 68 115
Mike Mansbridge 10:30 02:55 27 45
lickert 10:48 06:16 58 98
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:52 09:02 83 140
Kinghedger 10:53 05:59 54 91
Ciolf 11:03 06:34 59 100
neilr neilr 11:12 08:28 75 127
keriothe_ keriothe 11:16 04:53 43 72
SimonAnthony 11:17 06:32 57 96
David Crooks dcrooks 11:22 07:07 62 105
fuzz 11:25 12:11 106 179
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:27 07:59 69 116
edwards.robert1 11:33 12:38 109 184
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:41 11:27 98 166
miked1961 11:43 07:11 61 103
ChuckB 11:43 11:33 98 166
chriswords 11:45 08:41 73 123
andy 11:49 09:27 79 133
tilbee 11:56 06:09 51 86
Sue Sweeper 12:09 09:14 75 127
Sheapey Sheapey 12:22 07:44 62 105
Golvellius 12:23 08:10 65 110
canismiser 12:33 07:26 59 100
aphasic 12:33 09:11 73 123
d.middleton 12:44 13:18 104 176
njnclarke 12:44 07:54 62 105
John Walsh 12:49 12:16 95 161
Stavros Stavrolex 12:50 08:02 62 105
Amoeba89 Amoeba 13:13 05:46 43 72
Paul Bacon 13:22 11:35 86 145
Freemers 13:28 10:15 76 128
Silva 13:31 08:03 59 100
LouWeed LouWeed 13:34 09:58 73 123
Peponi13 13:40 14:27 105 177
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:49 07:24 53 89
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:50 10:01 72 122
Eddddddd 13:56 11:17 80 135
Secondbass 13:56 08:44 62 105
Tibthorpe 14:00 12:09 86 145
Carol 14:02 08:17 59 100
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 14:06 08:07 57 96
Groucho 14:07 09:48 69 116
alexh 14:11 09:44 68 115
myles 14:14 13:48 96 162
EricK 14:15 07:26 52 88
Semillon 14:22 10:14 71 120
Pootle Pootle 14:32 11:44 80 135
GeorgeTz 14:37 14:26 98 166
BlackburnRover 14:45 14:37 99 167
daulbs 15:02 08:09 54 91
franceslc11 15:04 08:33 56 94
CentralLine CentralLine 15:13 09:30 62 105
MK76 15:14 09:25 61 103
JezWoolfrey 15:15 11:53 77 130
Looch 15:18 08:42 56 94
Riche Riche 15:29 09:32 61 103
andrewlake 15:37 08:34 54 91
grape 15:38 10:11 65 110
jimwetzler 15:42 13:15 84 142
RobR RobR 16:00 11:30 71 120
phthisis 16:05 09:16 57 96
Adelaider 16:11 09:14 57 96
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 16:13 10:00 61 103
Jeremy S 16:33 20:27 123 208
cdb_100 16:33 11:27 69 116
ajcauk1 16:40 16:38 99 167
Encota 16:51 12:21 73 123
Crossiant 16:51 12:02 71 120
Achernar 17:02 11:04 64 108
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:04 07:48 45 76
robinh 17:04 14:24 84 142
Jeremy Kenyon 17:16 14:19 82 138
McBeakLives 17:35 08:49 50 84
TB22 17:49 07:27 41 69
GMcD 17:51 14:08 79 133
Gallion Fish 18:13 16:15 89 150
rrricharrrd 18:21 10:08 55 93
KET 18:21 08:59 48 81
SeamusX 18:25 09:19 50 84
hopkinb hopkinb 18:34 13:50 74 125
daniel.faith 18:34 09:32 51 86
Curarist Curarist 18:36 10:01 53 89
valerian1967 18:41 15:04 80 135
pterodactyl 18:45 18:09 96 162
John Arnold 18:48 18:07 96 162
Zander 18:56 16:14 85 144
Colin2355 18:57 16:24 86 145
Dzhigit dzhigit71 19:05 10:40 55 93
squark 19:13 12:23 64 108
pc8 19:14 12:43 66 111
James P Special_bitter 19:23 10:17 53 89
Nangle 19:27 17:31 90 152
Zabadak3 Zabadak 19:42 13:21 67 113
KarenR 19:51 08:39 43 72
DamienKnapma 20:28 17:50 87 147
kath 20:32 21:27 104 176
UisceTe 20:34 13:12 64 108
Dvynys dvynys 20:46 12:13 58 98
drginacoco 20:57 02:04 9 15
Rowlie26 Rowlie26 21:29 16:11 75 127
JoeyC 21:48 23:30 107 181
hugh schofield Leskoffer 21:51 15:42 71 120
stainl665 21:52 15:16 69 116
david_ch 21:53 16:30 75 127
goblin 22:02 19:27 88 149
Rod B 22:16 11:33 51 86
mjsaunders9 22:36 10:23 45 76
Leegoods 23:07 18:19 79 133
jimancliffe 23:17 13:29 57 96
Tudds 23:29 17:20 73 123
gsriordan52 24:14 16:08 66 111
Jagsfan1971 25:04 12:21 49 83
Edprof 25:07 18:22 73 123
1234 25:07 15:03 59 100
Crippens1 25:09 15:26 61 103
Deezzaa Deezzaa 25:10 17:14 68 115
chris661554 25:54 10:33 40 67
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:55 20:21 78 132
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 25:55 15:41 60 101
Brenk Brenk1 26:00 20:06 77 130
En Cee 26:50 21:48 81 137
Dixiegrand 27:18 14:49 54 91
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 27:25 17:08 62 105
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 27:28 19:00 69 116
Menelaus 27:57 18:41 66 111
sicoll 28:06 21:54 77 130
Mike Harper Mike Harper 28:30 22:01 77 130
Yatton50 28:37 14:57 52 88
NAPASAI napasai 28:41 15:03 52 88
annikins 29:35 17:23 58 98
nekabue 29:47 16:13 54 91
gbestanley 29:52 25:21 84 142
Jamie Fox 30:11 11:44 38 64
Manveru 30:23 17:14 56 94
Gussie 30:26 12:07 39 66
Winchelt618 30:40 23:28 76 128
symbenall2 31:31 23:54 75 127
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 32:46 23:40 72 122
Cryptique 33:55 26:48 79 133
vinyl12345 vinyl1 33:58 19:49 58 98
Birdingbob 34:15 15:58 46 77
BertieVII 34:43 28:43 82 138
boltonwanderer 34:56 24:00 68 115
kapietro kapietro 35:44 33:28 93 157
wimpoldo 36:11 18:41 51 86
Maggot 36:24 26:05 71 120
Shushannah 36:45 27:43 75 127
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 37:54 17:17 45 76
rv_1 39:07 25:54 66 111
baronrob 39:50 36:14 90 152
The Real Steve Snackman 42:07 20:11 47 79
CoxBurglar coxburglar 44:26 21:09 47 79
SlowSteady 45:11 40:58 90 152
empty 45:33 37:35 82 138
Steve Wood 45:38 38:01 83 140
Aidleys 46:21 31:30 67 113
MartinP MartinP1 51:14 41:09 80 135
kjbr 51:55 36:09 69 116
profsjpayne 58:24 25:53 44 74
datahaven 58:48 53:21 90 152

A guide to the solver status

Legend
 Reference solver used for SNITCH
 Other Reference solver
 Tracked solver
 Blog solver

Blog Solvers

Blog Solvers are those who have allowed their times to be taken from the Times for the Times blog.

Notes for Blog Solvers:

  • the most reliable format for reporting times is with format "mm:ss" or as "x minutes" in the title or at the start of the entry
  • only the first main comment for each blogger is used; responses to other comments or a second comment is ignored
  • to report errors, include "n errors" just after the time
  • If you just have a time it is assumed you have no errors unless you mention DNF or pink squares or giving up, etc, in the text
  • Examples of good time notifications are "38:30, 0 errors" and "39 minutes, 0 errors" in the comment title or as the first part of your comment

Notes

The definition of Reference and Tracked solvers is described on the Neutrinos page.

The results for Reference solvers are normally used to calcuate the SNITCH. When this happens they are shown in the list with a solid blue line to the left. In the previous SNITCH results listing for each crossword, these were the only entries shown.

The most common causes for Reference solver results not to be used are: (a) that they did not meet the criteria this month to be used as a reference (e.g. they may not have completed enough puzzles on each day of the week) or (b) they have been pushed out of the top 100 on the leader board. In these cases, the results are now shown, but their data is not used for the SNITCH calculation.

Where there is data for Tracked solvers, I show them also in this table. The solving data is not always available, as the Crossword Club site only shows the top 100 solvers to everyone. Logged-in users get their own leaderboard position and those around them, but this is not available to everyone. So the SNITCH site only gets data for those who have made the top 100 in the leaderboard at some point during the day.

As a result there are a few geographically advantaged solvers; those of us who solve early in the day (e.g. we in the Antipodes, those in Asia and those staying up late in North America) are more likely to hit the leaderboard even with slower times. Solvers who are just as capable but solve later in the UK day might not make the top 100 and I have no way to capture their results.

You may wonder why there are Tracked solvers (in red) with low average solving times, mixed in with the Reference solvers (in blue). These are usually those that, while they don't seem to be Neutrinos, are not well aligned to the SNITCH. So I don't use them as Reference solvers in the SNITCH calculation, but still show their overall results.

You might also notice that there's some inconsistency at the tail end of the Reference solver list. My cutoff point is an average solving time of 45 minutes. But if someone around this mark is chosen as a Reference solver, their next month's results might end up being over 45 minutes and they will still be used. Alternatively, a Tracked solver might creep in under 45 minutes on the next calculation, but didn't make the cut for the prior Reference list. It's on the to-do list to see if I can make this a bit more predictable.

Stored SNITCH Values

Here are the SNITCH values (stored on the day) from the crossword.

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