Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29134

Date 23 January 2025
Number 29134
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 89
Count of ref solvers 72
Ref solvers excluded with errors 4
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29134

* 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
Diskus 05:53 07:07 120 134
Nathan Panning 05:59 04:29 74 83
lili 06:11 05:30 88 98
Paul Gilbert 06:14 04:01 64 71
Magoo 06:19 05:07 81 91
Jason 06:26 06:22 98 110
verlaine Verlaine 06:27 08:30 131 147
cmjhutton 06:37 05:17 79 88
aphis99 aphis99 07:17 04:59 68 76
mistigris 07:23 07:46 105 117
Contrarian3 08:00 07:57 99 111
samgdavies 08:09 07:13 88 98
m28ale 09:09 33:51 369 414
asaldanha 09:21 09:17 99 111
fshephe 09:23 11:59 127 142
Umpire 09:28 09:54 104 116
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 09:49 07:56 80 89
tiggis 10:09 12:50 126 141
glheard glh 10:20 10:21 100 112
Mike Mansbridge 10:30 02:43 25 28
chindit 10:40 08:53 83 93
lickert 10:48 17:31 162 182
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:52 13:03 120 134
Ciolf 11:03 09:06 82 92
neilr neilr 11:12 11:10 99 111
keriothe_ keriothe 11:16 09:42 86 96
SimonAnthony 11:17 07:26 65 73
David Crooks dcrooks 11:22 09:03 79 88
fuzz 11:25 11:54 104 116
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:27 11:32 100 112
scrabbler 11:31 12:39 109 122
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:41 07:57 68 76
miked1961 11:43 10:48 92 103
chriswords 11:45 11:53 101 113
tilbee 11:56 08:08 68 76
Morphosis 12:06 08:05 66 74
Sue Sweeper 12:09 10:55 89 100
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 12:19 13:57 113 126
Sheapey Sheapey 12:22 07:18 59 66
Golvellius 12:23 17:19 139 156
Glencairn 12:29 15:39 125 140
canismiser 12:33 12:09 96 107
aphasic 12:33 12:02 95 106
d.middleton 12:44 12:08 95 106
Stavros Stavrolex 12:50 13:11 102 114
Amoeba89 Amoeba 13:13 10:45 81 91
JimboFS 13:24 17:30 130 146
Freemers 13:28 10:14 75 84
Silva 13:31 09:53 73 82
LouWeed LouWeed 13:34 10:35 78 87
Penfold_61 Penfold 13:37 11:36 85 95
Peponi13 13:40 15:15 111 124
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:49 10:59 79 88
Tibthorpe 14:00 14:44 105 117
Groucho 14:07 16:05 113 126
Crucifer Crucifer 14:11 13:48 97 108
EricK 14:15 13:13 92 103
Semillon 14:22 15:09 105 117
Pootle Pootle 14:32 16:47 115 129
GeorgeTz 14:37 14:05 96 107
BlackburnRover 14:45 13:44 93 104
franceslc11 15:04 15:28 102 114
CentralLine CentralLine 15:13 17:13 113 126
MK76 15:14 22:59 150 168
JezWoolfrey 15:15 16:57 111 124
Looch 15:18 13:54 90 101
Valance 15:28 12:33 81 91
Riche Riche 15:29 12:06 78 87
Finzi 15:31 15:15 98 110
andrewlake 15:37 12:50 82 92
jimwetzler 15:42 18:11 115 129
RobR RobR 16:00 19:01 118 132
phthisis 16:05 12:51 79 88
Adelaider 16:11 11:24 70 78
johninterred Johninterred 16:12 17:00 104 116
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 16:13 14:53 91 102
Jeremy S 16:33 16:59 102 114
cdb_100 16:33 14:30 87 97
ajcauk1 16:40 21:50 131 147
Squallaby 16:44 22:49 136 152
Encota 16:51 25:12 149 167
Crossiant 16:51 13:09 78 87
ilan 17:01 18:20 107 120
Achernar 17:02 27:42 162 182
doublecross anguswalker 17:03 17:05 100 112
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:04 10:02 58 65
robinh 17:04 19:12 112 125
LuckOfLucien 17:08 17:48 103 115
Jeremy Kenyon 17:16 18:07 104 116
PGooden 17:19 16:33 95 106
Foozler 17:24 28:59 166 186
McBeakLives 17:35 20:15 115 129
Grestyman Grestyman 17:41 20:17 114 128
DanSolo 17:46 20:23 114 128
GMcD 17:51 22:54 128 143
rrricharrrd 18:21 25:47 140 157
Craven 18:26 19:10 103 115
daniel.faith 18:34 15:47 85 95
Curarist Curarist 18:36 20:42 111 124
valerian1967 18:41 26:33 142 159
pterodactyl 18:45 20:52 111 124
Zander 18:56 16:35 87 97
Colin2355 18:57 17:34 92 103
pc8 19:14 17:49 92 103
James P Special_bitter 19:23 20:56 107 120
Nangle 19:27 18:29 95 106
Zabadak3 Zabadak 19:42 17:02 86 96
Vannyx 19:46 18:21 92 103
KarenR 19:51 15:23 77 86
uvofiz 19:57 15:37 78 87
DamienKnapma 20:28 17:50 87 97
Hamish.S 20:46 16:58 81 91
drginacoco 20:57 03:29 16 17
Rowlie26 Rowlie26 21:29 33:00 153 171
JoeyC 21:48 22:28 103 115
hugh schofield Leskoffer 21:51 18:22 84 94
stainl665 21:52 23:45 108 121
david_ch 21:53 18:40 85 95
goblin 22:02 25:06 113 126
Rod B 22:16 18:39 83 93
mjsaunders9 22:36 51:34 228 256
whichcraft 22:46 27:38 121 135
jimancliffe 23:17 19:17 82 92
Tudds 23:29 22:38 96 107
Corymbia Corymbia 23:53 25:55 108 121
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 23:58 14:01 58 65
gsriordan52 24:14 26:24 108 121
The Caffeine Kid 24:29 23:05 94 105
Deezzaa Deezzaa 25:10 23:28 93 104
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:10 21:20 84 94
infinitejest 25:23 24:33 96 107
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 25:55 32:28 125 140
Brenk Brenk1 26:00 32:00 123 138
steve.laverock 26:05 19:53 76 85
barracuda barracuda 26:18 23:05 87 97
ulaca ulaca 26:28 28:11 106 119
En Cee 26:50 33:51 126 141
Aldus 27:39 23:16 84 94
Menelaus 27:57 38:27 137 153
Mike Harper Mike Harper 28:30 22:33 79 88
Yatton50 28:37 21:39 75 84
NAPASAI napasai 28:41 71:15 248 278
alexngbr 29:19 27:37 94 105
nekabue 29:47 24:43 82 92
gbestanley 29:52 29:39 99 111
Jamie Fox 30:11 18:36 61 68
Manveru 30:23 23:29 77 86
alistair.boere 31:00 40:31 130 146
Word Psmith wordpsmith 33:22 27:13 81 91
Lloyd 33:51 33:49 99 111
vinyl12345 vinyl1 33:58 33:49 99 111
tyrotim tyrotim 33:59 41:30 122 137
MalcolmD 34:05 49:52 146 164
koro kororareka 34:12 27:20 79 88
boltonwanderer 34:56 42:00 120 134
Jax74 34:56 62:59 180 202
kapietro kapietro 35:44 40:23 113 126
Rookie 36:24 30:35 84 94
Shushannah 36:45 30:56 84 94
Dr Dolittle 37:11 25:14 67 75
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 37:54 33:58 89 100
intentional rounding 40:23 29:16 72 80
maryht 41:06 40:35 98 110
E Bradford E Bradford 41:19 36:26 88 98
CoxBurglar coxburglar 44:26 30:23 68 76
Steve Wood 45:38 52:43 115 129
Aidleys 46:21 63:55 137 153
MartinP MartinP1 51:14 67:12 131 147
kjbr 51:55 63:50 122 137
datahaven 58:48 41:11 70 78

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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