Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29186

Date 25 March 2025
Number 29186
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 99
Count of ref solvers 72
Ref solvers excluded with errors 12
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29186

* 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
Nathan Panning 05:56 06:00 101 102
Diskus 06:07 05:59 97 97
cmjhutton 06:11 07:37 123 124
lili 06:12 06:10 99 100
Jason 06:16 07:59 127 128
Magoo 06:24 06:15 97 97
aphis99 aphis99 07:15 11:07 153 154
mistigris 07:19 08:24 114 115
samgdavies 08:07 06:35 81 81
Umpire 09:08 08:47 96 96
richard 09:12 06:22 69 69
fshephe 09:13 12:44 138 139
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 09:15 10:23 112 113
AlanS 09:54 08:45 88 88
markdobell 10:03 09:09 91 91
tiggis 10:08 19:09 188 189
glheard glh 10:10 12:25 122 123
Deane Short Deane Short 10:39 18:25 172 173
chindit 10:46 11:00 102 103
Ciolf 10:52 13:34 124 125
lickert 10:53 12:29 114 115
Kinghedger 11:00 15:33 141 142
scrabbler 11:11 12:48 114 115
keriothe_ keriothe 11:14 11:28 102 103
neilr neilr 11:18 12:24 109 110
toots 11:19 09:36 84 84
andy 11:30 14:41 127 128
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:35 11:53 102 103
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:41 14:08 120 121
Morphosis 11:51 15:08 127 128
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 11:58 14:47 123 124
miked1961 11:59 14:31 121 122
tilbee 12:00 12:44 106 107
Sheapey Sheapey 12:01 10:38 88 88
Amoeba89 Amoeba 12:02 14:32 120 121
Golvellius 12:17 13:42 111 112
aphasic 12:31 15:30 123 124
Stavros Stavrolex 12:48 16:06 125 126
Freemers 12:51 09:09 71 71
canismiser 12:57 16:24 126 127
JimboFS 13:06 11:16 86 86
grape 13:11 18:16 138 139
Silva 13:28 14:59 111 112
Groucho 13:28 13:34 100 101
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:34 13:50 101 102
Secondbass 13:43 13:11 96 96
Eddddddd 13:47 14:40 106 107
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:58 17:10 122 123
Peponi13 14:00 18:58 135 136
LouWeed LouWeed 14:00 09:48 70 70
EricK 14:03 14:46 105 106
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 14:04 12:40 90 90
Semillon 14:16 13:57 97 97
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:20 15:55 111 112
Adelaider 14:35 13:55 95 95
BlackburnRover 14:45 15:56 108 109
myles 15:03 17:08 113 114
MK76 15:05 15:21 101 102
Looch 15:12 20:17 133 134
JezWoolfrey 15:13 12:30 82 82
andrewlake 15:36 15:02 96 96
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 15:47 19:16 122 123
cdb_100 15:48 20:32 129 130
RobR RobR 16:03 17:34 109 110
TB22 16:12 09:19 57 57
tapbarker 16:22 14:02 85 85
Encota 16:23 21:40 132 133
Squallaby 16:51 15:47 93 93
LJCN 16:52 16:56 100 101
McBeakLives 17:01 22:42 133 134
robinh 17:02 18:24 108 109
ilan 17:05 15:12 88 88
Crossiant 17:39 16:00 90 90
PGooden 17:42 17:03 96 96
Achernar 17:45 16:47 94 94
DanSolo 17:54 13:42 76 76
rrricharrrd 17:55 17:16 96 96
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 18:08 16:02 88 88
Mike C 18:26 21:45 117 118
Zander 18:28 18:25 99 100
FraserH 18:31 19:46 106 107
Jeremy Kenyon 18:36 16:22 87 87
tds 18:37 19:44 105 106
ramf 18:38 13:19 71 71
GMcD 18:40 16:55 90 90
Craven 18:40 20:38 110 111
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:49 15:30 82 82
pc8 18:53 19:07 101 102
Colin2355 19:06 16:24 85 85
whichcraft 19:07 15:56 83 83
Curarist Curarist 19:09 18:50 98 98
drginacoco 19:15 01:55 9 9
KarenR 19:17 26:53 139 140
Vannyx 19:20 21:37 111 112
uvofiz 19:30 19:46 101 102
valerian1967 19:34 21:11 108 109
tonym 19:50 22:33 113 114
Astonvilla.1 19:56 20:57 105 106
Zabadak3 Zabadak 19:58 14:26 72 72
brian.richards1 20:22 18:32 90 90
dr.shred 20:30 25:55 126 127
george.garlick 20:38 23:31 113 114
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:38 28:25 137 138
Onelug 20:42 17:25 84 84
Rowlie26 Rowlie26 20:54 19:53 95 95
UisceTe 21:10 21:58 103 104
Waterloo 21:12 16:44 78 78
Hamish.S 21:18 17:29 82 82
Dvynys dvynys 21:31 26:19 122 123
janesa 21:33 19:37 91 91
gsriordan52 21:56 23:29 107 108
goblin 22:08 21:50 98 98
Rod B 22:16 24:06 108 109
JayEm 23:09 34:19 148 149
Corymbia Corymbia 24:00 21:52 91 91
Tudds 24:25 24:43 101 102
steve.laverock 24:38 19:44 80 80
Coffell 24:44 31:31 127 128
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 24:50 19:55 80 80
mjsaunders9 24:54 15:41 62 62
Brenk Brenk1 24:54 25:30 102 103
Crippens1 25:02 27:39 110 111
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:09 26:59 107 108
SlumdogEngineer 25:31 33:42 132 133
Grumpole Grumpole 26:06 27:24 104 105
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:08 27:03 103 104
barracuda barracuda 26:34 34:32 129 130
ulaca ulaca 26:45 25:37 95 95
Dr_Bob 27:01 27:19 101 102
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:32 32:06 116 117
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 27:50 41:00 147 148
timbo 27:53 19:50 71 71
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 27:56 41:18 147 148
td349 28:33 20:22 71 71
Menelaus 29:06 37:45 129 130
RogerC 29:21 49:12 167 168
Winchelt618 29:48 24:07 80 80
gbestanley 29:49 25:25 85 85
simjt simjt 30:12 30:32 101 102
tyrotim tyrotim 32:45 30:19 92 92
koro kororareka 34:28 30:56 89 89
Cryptique 34:35 32:05 92 92
Lloyd 34:35 38:58 112 113
Rookie 35:14 35:09 99 100
MalcolmD 35:58 32:37 90 90
Shushannah 36:07 36:31 101 102
starstruck starstruck_au 37:56 32:57 86 86
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 38:01 35:57 94 94
The Real Steve Snackman 39:22 28:40 72 72
rv_1 39:25 50:33 128 129
HanS 41:37 41:56 100 101
Aidleys 41:51 45:14 108 109
E Bradford E Bradford 41:54 45:36 108 109
j.stanton734 42:10 34:00 80 80
Steve Wood 44:36 29:20 65 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.

Loading...
Loading...
Back