Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29182

Date 20 March 2025
Number 29182
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 85
Count of ref solvers 68
Ref solvers excluded with errors 26
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29182

* 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 04:27 97 114
cmjhutton 06:11 05:03 81 95
lili 06:12 05:24 87 102
Jason 06:16 04:10 66 77
Magoo 06:24 05:51 91 107
verlaine Verlaine 06:32 06:11 94 110
aphis99 aphis99 07:15 07:40 105 123
mistigris 07:19 06:46 92 108
taberdar 08:48 04:11 47 55
fshephe 09:13 10:59 119 140
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 09:15 04:58 53 62
asaldanha 09:32 09:59 104 122
AlanS 09:54 07:34 76 89
markdobell 10:03 09:14 91 107
Deane Short Deane Short 10:39 09:17 87 102
chindit 10:46 08:04 74 87
Ciolf 10:52 10:12 93 109
lickert 10:53 11:02 101 118
Heyesey 10:53 07:35 69 81
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:54 11:16 103 121
scrabbler 11:11 07:09 63 74
neilr neilr 11:18 11:04 97 114
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:35 12:00 103 121
David Crooks dcrooks 11:39 11:36 99 116
fuzz 11:39 11:45 100 117
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:41 08:43 74 87
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 11:58 15:30 129 151
miked1961 11:59 09:47 81 95
tilbee 12:00 10:16 85 100
Sheapey Sheapey 12:01 09:51 81 95
Golvellius 12:17 10:51 88 103
John Walsh 12:45 13:05 102 120
Glencairn 12:46 10:13 80 94
Stavros Stavrolex 12:48 06:22 49 57
Freemers 12:51 09:41 75 88
canismiser 12:57 11:12 86 101
Paul Bacon 13:17 15:39 117 137
Silva 13:28 12:27 92 108
LouWeed LouWeed 14:00 09:52 70 82
Semillon 14:16 08:20 58 68
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:20 10:57 76 89
Ben Staveley 14:26 13:21 92 108
Tibthorpe 14:33 10:41 73 85
Adelaider 14:35 13:01 89 104
BlackburnRover 14:45 16:33 112 131
Looch 15:12 13:09 86 101
franceslc11 15:13 10:19 67 78
andrewlake 15:36 16:08 103 121
cdb_100 15:48 10:32 66 77
DunPangolin 15:53 22:02 138 162
tapbarker 16:22 12:15 74 87
Encota 16:23 16:55 103 121
Jeremy S 16:34 17:57 108 127
Squallaby 16:51 25:07 149 175
Valance 16:59 13:54 81 95
robinh 17:02 13:53 81 95
ilan 17:05 18:09 106 124
Crossiant 17:39 18:51 106 124
DanSolo 17:54 12:21 68 80
rrricharrrd 17:55 20:35 114 134
Foozler 18:00 20:32 114 134
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 18:08 20:59 115 135
daniel.faith 18:20 19:29 106 124
Mike C 18:26 14:34 79 92
Zander 18:28 19:17 104 122
FraserH 18:31 14:54 80 94
Jeremy Kenyon 18:36 14:21 77 90
Craven 18:40 12:40 67 78
GMcD 18:40 19:20 103 121
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:49 26:05 138 162
pc8 18:53 17:54 94 110
dec 18:58 22:17 117 137
whichcraft 19:07 17:30 91 107
Curarist Curarist 19:09 24:59 130 152
drginacoco 19:15 02:09 11 12
KarenR 19:17 25:34 132 155
valerian1967 19:34 18:09 92 108
pterodactyl 19:35 16:06 82 96
Astonvilla.1 19:56 24:51 124 145
Zabadak3 Zabadak 19:58 16:41 83 97
squark 20:15 24:00 118 138
DamienKnapma 20:22 21:16 104 122
Waterloo 21:12 22:05 104 122
tony the butcher montana 21:13 24:55 117 137
Hamish.S 21:18 23:43 111 130
janesa 21:33 20:21 94 110
gsriordan52 21:56 22:00 100 117
goblin 22:08 18:17 82 96
Rod B 22:16 22:52 102 120
JayEm 23:09 23:19 100 117
The Caffeine Kid 23:21 22:47 97 114
Corymbia Corymbia 24:00 19:31 81 95
Tudds 24:25 18:44 76 89
steve.laverock 24:38 27:53 113 132
Coffell 24:44 15:36 63 74
infinitejest 24:53 28:45 115 135
Brenk Brenk1 24:54 16:50 67 78
mjsaunders9 24:54 22:01 88 103
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:09 23:48 94 110
SlumdogEngineer 25:31 34:44 136 160
ratterz 25:37 24:54 97 114
Grumpole Grumpole 26:06 25:31 97 114
En Cee 26:33 27:12 102 120
barracuda barracuda 26:34 25:59 97 114
Dr_Bob 27:01 33:43 124 145
Edprof 27:26 29:19 106 124
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:32 23:52 86 101
Yatton50 27:42 17:31 63 74
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 27:50 24:28 87 102
crucihacker Crucihacker 28:11 50:01 177 208
richardCV22 28:27 27:47 97 114
td349 28:33 29:21 102 120
Menelaus 29:06 34:30 118 138
alexngbr 29:19 41:48 142 167
Winchelt618 29:48 15:31 52 61
gbestanley 29:49 24:55 83 97
Mudge Mudge 30:57 47:28 153 180
dosbarth 31:28 45:37 144 169
gothick gothick 34:26 17:00 49 57
koro kororareka 34:28 26:12 76 89
Cryptique 34:35 28:23 82 96
Lloyd 34:35 43:09 124 145
Rookie 35:14 26:58 76 89
Birdingbob 35:21 39:41 112 131
SK42 35:29 23:16 65 76
Shushannah 36:07 31:50 88 103
Maggot 36:21 38:11 105 123
clivejharlow 36:54 97:54 265 311
Dr Dolittle 37:29 31:16 83 97
rv_1 39:25 32:12 81 95
maryht 40:31 32:01 79 92
HanS 41:37 40:06 96 112
Aidleys 41:51 59:23 141 165
empty 46:16 53:36 115 135
MartinP MartinP1 50:35 49:12 97 114
profsjpayne 59:02 57:45 97 114

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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