Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29175

Date 12 March 2025
Number 29175
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 103
Count of ref solvers 65
Ref solvers excluded with errors 5
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29175

* 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 05:59 131 127
Nathan Panning 05:56 06:35 110 106
Diskus 06:07 07:18 119 115
cmjhutton 06:11 05:45 92 89
lili 06:12 05:02 81 78
Jason 06:16 11:27 182 176
Magoo 06:24 07:42 120 116
verlaine Verlaine 06:32 06:17 96 93
mauefw Mauefw 06:41 06:50 102 99
Paul Gilbert 06:52 08:57 130 126
aphis99 aphis99 07:15 10:03 138 133
mistigris 07:19 04:40 63 61
Umpire 09:08 08:45 95 92
richard 09:12 06:32 71 68
fshephe 09:13 08:52 96 93
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 09:15 08:55 96 93
asaldanha 09:32 11:29 120 116
AlanS 09:54 08:42 87 84
markdobell 10:03 14:30 144 139
glheard glh 10:10 09:58 98 95
SimonAnthony 10:32 13:18 126 122
Deane Short Deane Short 10:39 16:53 158 153
KenD51 10:40 06:38 62 60
chindit 10:46 10:31 97 94
Ciolf 10:52 09:45 89 86
Heyesey 10:53 19:44 181 175
lickert 10:53 11:56 109 105
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:54 13:41 125 121
Kinghedger 11:00 09:02 82 79
scrabbler 11:11 13:26 120 116
keriothe_ keriothe 11:14 11:56 106 102
neilr neilr 11:18 11:26 101 98
toots 11:19 14:54 131 127
andy 11:30 14:07 122 118
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:35 09:24 81 78
fuzz 11:39 17:48 152 147
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:41 08:37 73 70
john.brassey 11:47 13:19 113 109
Morphosis 11:51 11:52 100 97
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 11:58 11:59 100 97
Sheapey Sheapey 12:01 13:55 115 111
Amoeba89 Amoeba 12:02 27:24 227 220
njnclarke 12:12 15:17 125 121
m28ale 12:26 18:29 148 143
aphasic 12:31 16:33 132 128
Glencairn 12:46 11:25 89 86
Stavros Stavrolex 12:48 14:34 113 109
Freemers 12:51 11:03 85 82
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 12:59 17:28 134 130
Silva 13:28 12:33 93 90
Groucho 13:28 14:06 104 100
Carol 13:33 15:44 116 112
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:34 15:48 116 112
Secondbass 13:43 11:26 83 80
Eddddddd 13:47 14:48 107 103
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:58 21:32 154 149
Peponi13 14:00 18:28 131 127
LouWeed LouWeed 14:00 12:36 90 87
EricK 14:03 16:29 117 113
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 14:04 15:33 110 106
Semillon 14:16 23:00 161 156
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:20 19:22 135 131
Ben Staveley 14:26 21:21 147 142
Pootle Pootle 14:28 20:02 138 133
Tibthorpe 14:33 15:50 108 104
Adelaider 14:35 20:53 143 138
Crucifer Crucifer 14:47 12:16 82 79
MK76 15:05 17:25 115 111
Looch 15:12 13:41 90 87
Riche Riche 15:13 14:24 94 91
JezWoolfrey 15:13 17:25 114 110
Finzi 15:15 16:02 105 101
andrewlake 15:36 17:04 109 105
chriswestontour Chris West 15:40 17:03 108 104
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 15:47 14:02 88 85
johninterred Johninterred 16:01 17:18 108 104
RobR RobR 16:03 24:01 149 144
CentralLine CentralLine 16:06 21:49 135 131
tapbarker 16:22 20:04 122 118
Encota 16:23 21:20 130 126
andrewfeist96 16:36 19:46 119 115
julian_w 16:51 18:14 108 104
Squallaby 16:51 19:20 114 110
Valance 16:59 18:26 108 104
McBeakLives 17:01 16:44 98 95
ilan 17:05 15:30 90 87
earlylight 17:35 12:16 69 66
Aloysius 17:42 18:32 104 100
PGooden 17:42 16:11 91 88
Achernar 17:45 22:32 126 122
DanSolo 17:54 18:09 101 98
rrricharrrd 17:55 15:37 87 84
martinede 18:05 23:33 130 126
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 18:08 13:43 75 72
Mike C 18:26 21:40 117 113
Zander 18:28 14:37 79 76
FraserH 18:31 18:51 101 98
GMcD 18:40 23:28 125 121
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:49 18:02 95 92
pc8 18:53 24:42 130 126
SeamusX 19:06 17:33 91 88
whichcraft 19:07 15:59 83 80
Curarist Curarist 19:09 22:33 117 113
KarenR 19:17 26:16 136 132
uvofiz 19:30 21:34 110 106
pterodactyl 19:35 22:59 117 113
Nangle 19:45 28:11 142 137
Zabadak3 Zabadak 19:58 22:42 113 109
Upfisher 20:07 21:09 105 101
DamienKnapma 20:22 23:19 114 110
dr.shred 20:30 28:53 140 135
george.garlick 20:38 25:10 121 117
Grestyman Grestyman 20:41 17:28 84 81
stainl665 20:41 29:32 142 137
Rowlie26 Rowlie26 20:54 26:03 124 120
Kalakuta72 20:55 18:18 87 84
tony the butcher montana 21:13 27:06 127 123
Hamish.S 21:18 26:08 122 118
goblin 22:08 22:28 101 98
Rod B 22:16 22:19 100 97
Fidelio 22:38 23:05 101 98
jimancliffe 22:56 22:29 98 95
JayEm 23:09 25:36 110 106
The Caffeine Kid 23:21 23:45 101 98
rjhinde61 23:27 20:06 85 82
Brian McNamar 23:35 33:10 140 135
Corymbia Corymbia 24:00 27:09 113 109
medodd 24:22 32:10 132 128
Tudds 24:25 21:11 86 83
Jagsfan1971 24:34 17:41 71 68
Coffell 24:44 24:59 101 98
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 24:50 39:36 159 154
Brenk Brenk1 24:54 31:40 127 123
mjsaunders9 24:54 20:26 82 79
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:09 23:44 94 91
hugapug 25:57 31:54 122 118
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 26:02 23:33 90 87
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:08 24:21 93 90
barracuda barracuda 26:34 26:10 98 95
ulaca ulaca 26:45 31:47 118 114
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:32 33:35 121 117
Yatton50 27:42 43:00 155 150
Jamie Fox 27:52 33:45 121 117
timbo 27:53 27:12 97 94
Aldus 28:05 34:18 122 118
ofarrell 28:13 30:26 107 103
richardCV22 28:27 44:33 156 151
nekabue 28:49 32:23 112 108
Menelaus 29:06 35:48 123 119
alexngbr 29:19 36:16 123 119
RogerC 29:21 28:25 96 93
Manveru 29:30 39:26 133 129
wimpoldo 30:07 32:51 109 105
simjt simjt 30:12 43:01 142 137
Mudge Mudge 30:57 29:11 94 91
alistair.boere 31:19 25:24 81 78
tyrotim tyrotim 32:45 34:59 106 102
vinyl12345 vinyl1 33:24 28:15 84 81
boltonwanderer 34:00 53:00 155 150
BertieVII 34:01 39:18 115 111
koro kororareka 34:28 32:05 93 90
kapietro kapietro 35:10 57:19 162 157
Jax74 35:11 31:21 89 86
SK42 35:29 25:20 71 68
MalcolmD 35:58 43:45 121 117
Shushannah 36:07 30:44 85 82
Maggot 36:21 44:28 122 118
baronrob 37:13 56:41 152 147
intentional rounding 37:23 31:33 84 81
starstruck starstruck_au 37:56 42:02 110 106
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 38:01 40:21 106 102
The Real Steve Snackman 39:22 47:04 119 115
HanS 41:37 30:50 74 71
E Bradford E Bradford 41:54 35:49 85 82
j.stanton734 42:10 25:45 61 59
MartinP MartinP1 50:35 36:01 71 68
MichaelE 53:37 57:39 107 103
paulmcl paulmcl 55:50 37:37 67 65

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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