Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29174

Date 11 March 2025
Number 29174
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 63
Count of ref solvers 65
Ref solvers excluded with errors 10
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29174

* 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 04:34 03:04 67 106
Diskus 06:07 04:54 80 126
cmjhutton 06:11 04:33 73 115
lili 06:12 03:29 56 88
Jason 06:16 04:12 67 106
Magoo 06:24 03:53 60 95
verlaine Verlaine 06:32 04:18 65 103
hilarym 06:53 07:40 111 176
aphis99 aphis99 07:15 08:07 111 176
samgdavies 08:07 13:20 164 260
boulemiche 08:48 08:18 94 149
Umpire 09:08 06:03 66 104
richard 09:12 07:13 78 123
fshephe 09:13 09:41 105 166
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 09:15 05:12 56 88
AlanS 09:54 06:07 61 96
Mike Mansbridge 10:02 02:42 26 41
markdobell 10:03 08:25 83 131
tiggis 10:08 08:22 82 130
glheard glh 10:10 08:38 84 133
SimonAnthony 10:32 07:53 74 117
Deane Short Deane Short 10:39 10:24 97 153
chindit 10:46 08:14 76 120
Ciolf 10:52 07:24 68 107
lickert 10:53 09:36 88 139
Heyesey 10:53 06:04 55 87
Kinghedger 11:00 06:23 58 92
scrabbler 11:11 09:24 84 133
keriothe_ keriothe 11:14 06:05 54 85
neilr neilr 11:18 09:49 86 136
toots 11:19 10:41 94 149
andy 11:30 07:40 66 104
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:35 10:41 92 146
ChuckB 11:38 09:49 84 133
fuzz 11:39 10:33 90 142
chriswords 11:39 07:25 63 100
David Crooks dcrooks 11:39 09:00 77 122
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:41 10:58 93 147
Morphosis 11:51 10:05 85 134
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 11:58 05:47 48 76
miked1961 11:59 07:13 60 95
tilbee 12:00 10:55 90 142
Sheapey Sheapey 12:01 10:09 84 133
Amoeba89 Amoeba 12:02 05:04 42 66
njnclarke 12:12 11:19 92 146
Golvellius 12:17 10:43 87 138
aphasic 12:31 08:18 66 104
John Walsh 12:45 13:25 105 166
Stavros Stavrolex 12:48 07:29 58 92
Freemers 12:51 09:30 73 115
canismiser 12:57 09:57 76 120
grape 13:11 12:45 96 152
Groucho 13:28 09:15 68 107
Silva 13:28 09:27 70 111
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:34 09:17 68 107
Secondbass 13:43 09:30 69 109
robertL 13:49 10:21 74 117
Rinteff Rinteff 13:55 07:24 53 84
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:58 10:16 73 115
LouWeed LouWeed 14:00 09:33 68 107
EricK 14:03 06:42 47 74
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 14:04 14:13 101 160
alexh 14:07 09:17 65 103
Semillon 14:16 09:26 66 104
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:20 10:33 73 115
Ben Staveley 14:26 08:29 58 92
Pootle Pootle 14:28 10:43 74 117
Tibthorpe 14:33 14:34 100 158
Adelaider 14:35 08:33 58 92
BlackburnRover 14:45 12:37 85 134
Crucifer Crucifer 14:47 06:37 44 69
MK76 15:05 10:07 67 106
Looch 15:12 08:35 56 88
JezWoolfrey 15:13 08:26 55 87
Riche Riche 15:13 11:53 78 123
Finzi 15:15 10:42 70 111
zinzan 15:29 14:06 91 144
andrewlake 15:36 12:56 82 130
chriswestontour Chris West 15:40 17:14 110 174
gabrojak 15:43 09:33 60 95
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 15:47 09:19 59 93
cdb_100 15:48 04:57 31 49
DunPangolin 15:53 09:49 61 96
johninterred Johninterred 16:01 10:23 64 101
tapbarker 16:22 06:55 42 66
cmcnsmith 16:23 13:33 82 130
Encota 16:23 10:31 64 101
julian_w 16:51 09:10 54 85
Squallaby 16:51 15:19 90 142
LJCN 16:52 11:55 70 111
Valance 16:59 09:42 57 90
McBeakLives 17:01 11:33 67 106
robinh 17:02 13:11 77 122
ajcauk1 17:03 13:56 81 128
ilan 17:05 11:28 67 106
hopkinb hopkinb 17:29 11:48 67 106
Crossiant 17:39 08:31 48 76
PGooden 17:42 04:10 23 36
DanSolo 17:54 09:14 51 80
rrricharrrd 17:55 14:22 80 126
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 18:08 10:13 56 88
Gallion Fish 18:17 12:40 69 109
KET 18:21 11:14 61 96
Mike C 18:26 13:38 73 115
Zander 18:28 12:26 67 106
FraserH 18:31 12:33 67 106
Jeremy Kenyon 18:36 13:47 74 117
GMcD 18:40 11:03 59 93
Craven 18:40 13:01 69 109
pc8 18:53 13:03 69 109
David Bourne 18:55 10:37 56 88
John Arnold 19:06 16:44 87 138
Colin2355 19:06 13:42 71 112
SeamusX 19:06 12:42 66 104
whichcraft 19:07 11:32 60 95
Curarist Curarist 19:09 12:51 67 106
drginacoco 19:15 01:44 9 14
KarenR 19:17 12:41 65 103
Vannyx 19:20 09:04 46 73
uvofiz 19:30 18:05 92 146
pterodactyl 19:35 10:08 51 80
Nangle 19:45 15:43 79 125
Zabadak3 Zabadak 19:58 13:48 69 109
george.garlick 20:38 15:12 73 115
stainl665 20:41 15:12 73 115
Rowlie26 Rowlie26 20:54 14:06 67 106
Kalakuta72 20:55 03:43 17 26
UisceTe 21:10 15:24 72 114
Waterloo 21:12 19:47 93 147
Hamish.S 21:18 17:03 80 126
Rosey6 21:23 17:14 80 126
janesa 21:33 14:25 66 104
gsriordan52 21:56 15:34 70 111
goblin 22:08 16:27 74 117
david_ch 22:26 14:40 65 103
jimancliffe 22:56 13:58 60 95
JayEm 23:09 22:43 98 155
The Caffeine Kid 23:21 14:27 61 96
Corymbia Corymbia 24:00 11:21 47 74
Tudds 24:25 12:12 49 77
Coffell 24:44 13:55 56 88
mjsaunders9 24:54 15:58 64 101
Brenk Brenk1 24:54 23:50 95 150
JoeyC 25:02 15:39 62 98
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:09 17:57 71 112
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:25 15:29 60 95
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:08 15:05 57 90
barracuda barracuda 26:34 18:23 69 109
ulaca ulaca 26:45 22:06 82 130
Dr_Bob 27:01 14:39 54 85
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:32 18:27 67 106
Jamie Fox 27:52 13:16 47 74
David Luke 27:59 14:37 52 82
Aldus 28:05 17:19 61 96
td349 28:33 11:21 39 61
nekabue 28:49 16:56 58 92
Word Psmith wordpsmith 28:58 21:48 75 119
Menelaus 29:06 18:51 64 101
raincloud 29:15 21:42 74 117
Charpentier 29:19 21:26 73 115
Manveru 29:30 24:00 81 128
gbestanley 29:49 21:24 71 112
simjt simjt 30:12 30:13 100 158
alistair.boere 31:19 14:24 45 71
dosbarth 31:28 25:05 79 125
joss henry 31:37 26:05 82 130
symbenall2 32:43 18:18 55 87
tyrotim tyrotim 32:45 24:33 74 117
JGP 32:45 51:10 156 247
boltonwanderer 34:00 21:00 61 96
BertieVII 34:01 20:08 59 93
Cryptique 34:35 15:04 43 68
Lloyd 34:35 22:43 65 103
kapietro kapietro 35:10 25:17 71 112
Shushannah 36:07 24:17 67 106
Maggot 36:21 27:11 74 117
baronrob 37:13 28:06 75 119
intentional rounding 37:23 17:44 47 74
Dr Dolittle 37:29 38:10 101 160
starstruck starstruck_au 37:56 17:04 44 69
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 38:01 14:49 38 60
The Real Steve Snackman 39:22 27:57 70 111
rv_1 39:25 24:26 61 96
CoxBurglar coxburglar 44:09 16:38 37 58
Steve Wood 44:36 25:50 57 90
MartinP MartinP1 50:35 33:15 65 103
MichaelE 53:37 25:37 47 74

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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