Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29156

Date 18 February 2025
Number 29156
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 87
Count of ref solvers 67
Ref solvers excluded with errors 3
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29156

* 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 04:42 04:08 87 100
Diskus 06:02 05:33 91 104
lili 06:11 04:35 74 85
Jason 06:21 08:15 129 148
cmjhutton 06:22 03:57 62 71
Magoo 06:30 05:56 91 104
verlaine Verlaine 06:38 05:21 80 91
Paul Gilbert 06:57 05:02 72 82
hilarym 06:59 09:15 132 151
aphis99 aphis99 07:21 10:04 136 156
mistigris 07:24 05:21 72 82
Contrarian3 07:53 08:57 113 129
Mike Mansbridge 08:44 03:57 45 51
boulemiche 08:49 08:32 96 110
richard 09:12 08:59 97 111
fshephe 09:16 10:18 111 127
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 09:20 09:04 97 111
Umpire 09:22 07:46 82 94
asaldanha 09:29 09:57 104 119
markdobell 09:49 09:53 100 114
tiggis 09:54 14:04 142 163
glheard glh 10:25 10:05 96 110
SimonAnthony 10:38 07:47 73 83
chindit 10:40 12:08 113 129
m28ale 10:52 17:27 160 183
Kinghedger 10:58 08:00 72 82
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 11:00 14:20 130 149
lickert 11:03 11:12 101 116
Ciolf 11:04 08:39 78 89
Heyesey 11:08 15:10 136 156
edwards.robert1 11:16 05:29 48 55
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:18 08:01 70 80
andy 11:21 14:38 128 147
scrabbler 11:26 09:23 82 94
neilr neilr 11:28 10:44 93 106
keriothe_ keriothe 11:29 09:09 79 90
David Crooks dcrooks 11:31 13:23 116 133
chriswords 11:47 14:46 125 143
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:51 09:33 80 91
tilbee 11:51 11:29 96 110
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 11:58 11:02 92 105
Sheapey Sheapey 12:02 11:21 94 108
Morphosis 12:02 08:47 72 82
aphasic 12:20 13:11 106 121
Golvellius 12:24 13:25 108 124
d.middleton 12:39 14:49 117 134
Amoeba89 Amoeba 12:44 12:07 95 109
Freemers 12:51 10:37 82 94
Stavros Stavrolex 13:00 11:04 85 97
JimboFS 13:11 09:14 70 80
Silva 13:19 10:52 81 93
Paul Bacon 13:24 16:02 119 136
LouWeed LouWeed 13:42 10:04 73 83
Secondbass 13:42 11:41 85 97
Penfold_61 Penfold 13:49 15:23 111 127
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:50 13:51 100 114
Eddddddd 13:51 13:48 99 113
Groucho 13:52 13:28 97 111
Rinteff Rinteff 13:56 17:24 124 142
EricK 14:04 20:20 144 165
Semillon 14:11 13:30 95 109
Pootle Pootle 14:21 12:14 85 97
Tibthorpe 14:26 10:02 69 79
BlackburnRover 14:33 14:03 96 110
Crucifer Crucifer 14:39 09:58 68 78
Ben Staveley 14:48 09:36 64 73
JezWoolfrey 14:54 11:46 78 89
Looch 15:07 15:37 103 118
Adelaider 15:22 15:25 100 114
Riche Riche 15:28 15:01 97 111
andrewlake 15:31 15:34 100 114
Finzi 15:33 16:27 105 120
DunPangolin 15:52 21:23 134 154
chriswestontour Chris West 15:52 15:11 95 109
tapbarker 15:59 13:01 81 93
cdb_100 16:07 10:55 67 77
RobR RobR 16:08 17:42 109 125
Encota 16:15 19:36 120 137
doublecross anguswalker 16:26 15:48 96 110
ajcauk1 16:33 25:07 151 173
LJCN 16:40 14:02 84 96
Jeremy S 16:45 15:22 91 104
Squallaby 16:50 08:51 52 59
Crossiant 16:57 11:55 70 80
cmcnsmith 16:59 13:33 79 90
julian_w 17:05 14:15 83 95
McBeakLives 17:14 21:13 123 141
robinh 17:15 20:01 116 133
Achernar 17:34 17:34 100 114
DanSolo 17:50 17:09 96 110
GMcD 17:58 11:05 61 70
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:59 14:33 80 91
hopkinb hopkinb 18:02 18:06 100 114
rrricharrrd 18:05 14:11 78 89
Jeremy Kenyon 18:06 20:07 111 127
Gallion Fish 18:13 13:44 75 86
Craven 18:28 22:30 121 139
Zander 18:30 20:23 110 126
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:31 14:43 79 90
FraserH 18:34 16:48 90 103
daniel.faith 18:45 12:37 67 77
pc8 18:59 13:57 73 83
David Bourne 19:01 18:02 94 108
tds 19:05 21:24 112 128
Curarist Curarist 19:07 16:49 87 100
pterodactyl 19:08 29:10 152 174
John Arnold 19:13 28:16 147 168
SeamusX 19:13 15:16 79 90
MrChumley MrChumley 19:22 19:42 101 116
valerian1967 19:32 18:52 96 110
Nangle 19:41 15:58 81 93
Zabadak3 Zabadak 19:45 25:26 128 147
Upfisher 20:07 15:11 75 86
James P Special_bitter 20:22 20:33 100 114
george.garlick 20:43 21:57 105 120
Rowlie26 Rowlie26 21:00 27:52 132 151
Waterloo 21:11 24:01 113 129
whichcraft 21:12 11:22 53 60
stainl665 21:13 20:11 95 109
janesa 21:23 20:02 93 106
Hamish.S 21:24 20:28 95 109
Dvynys dvynys 21:43 20:13 93 106
goblin 21:54 23:44 108 124
david_ch 22:09 29:50 134 154
Rod B 22:18 20:13 90 103
DianeRS 22:23 18:14 81 93
jimancliffe 22:26 24:08 107 122
6098mr 23:02 23:51 103 118
Rosey6 23:25 25:11 107 122
JayEm 23:40 15:55 67 77
The Caffeine Kid 23:48 18:54 79 90
Tudds 23:52 20:09 84 96
medodd 24:11 28:43 118 135
Deezzaa Deezzaa 25:00 28:50 115 132
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:04 25:29 101 116
chris661554 25:15 18:48 74 85
Brenk Brenk1 25:22 22:30 88 101
1234 25:41 23:42 92 105
SlumdogEngineer 25:55 22:36 87 100
ulaca ulaca 26:10 29:52 114 131
barracuda barracuda 26:19 27:20 103 118
Dr_Bob 26:29 23:52 90 103
hugapug 26:39 29:47 111 127
mjsaunders9 26:44 13:50 51 58
David Luke 26:51 22:24 83 95
Jamie Fox 27:37 23:26 84 96
Yatton50 27:55 23:59 85 97
timbo 27:59 21:25 76 87
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:59 22:56 81 93
Menelaus 28:27 33:19 117 134
Mudge Mudge 28:30 25:41 90 103
Aldus 28:32 15:44 55 63
nekabue 28:44 30:23 105 120
ofarrell 28:51 22:10 76 87
Edprof 29:08 26:18 90 103
annikins 29:18 20:55 71 81
alexngbr 29:19 32:41 111 127
raincloud 29:23 27:04 92 105
Winchelt618 29:28 29:56 101 116
Manveru 29:46 25:32 85 97
Word Psmith wordpsmith 30:12 25:31 84 96
RogerC 30:12 33:44 111 127
td349 30:17 33:20 110 126
wimpoldo 31:56 31:31 98 112
symbenall2 32:17 25:17 78 89
dosbarth 32:49 25:17 77 88
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 33:21 20:47 62 71
vinyl12345 vinyl1 33:40 38:37 114 131
BertieVII 34:04 28:48 84 96
koro kororareka 34:19 27:02 78 89
boltonwanderer 34:19 28:00 81 93
Cryptique 34:49 29:11 83 95
MalcolmD 35:11 38:38 109 125
starstruck starstruck_au 35:53 35:53 100 114
baronrob 36:03 25:09 69 79
Maggot 36:06 35:21 97 111
Shushannah 37:00 30:09 81 93
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 38:03 30:50 81 93
intentional rounding 38:52 33:42 86 98
HanS 40:48 32:47 80 91
E Bradford E Bradford 41:27 44:17 106 121
The Real Steve Snackman 41:31 22:21 53 60
CoxBurglar coxburglar 42:03 43:41 103 118
Aidleys 46:08 53:34 116 133

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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