Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29187

Date 26 March 2025
Number 29187
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 70
Count of ref solvers 61
Ref solvers excluded with errors 12
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29187

* 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 03:28 58 82
cmjhutton 06:11 04:24 71 101
lili 06:12 04:32 73 104
Magoo 06:24 04:05 63 90
verlaine Verlaine 06:32 03:58 60 85
Paul Gilbert 06:52 04:59 72 102
aphis99 aphis99 07:15 06:19 87 124
mistigris 07:19 06:28 88 125
samgdavies 08:07 07:40 94 134
taberdar 08:48 05:36 63 90
Umpire 09:08 07:21 80 114
richard 09:12 08:06 88 125
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 09:15 05:52 63 90
AlanS 09:54 06:29 65 92
tiggis 10:08 09:53 97 138
glheard glh 10:10 06:26 63 90
SimonAnthony 10:32 08:56 84 120
KenD51 10:40 11:17 105 150
chindit 10:46 06:28 60 85
Ciolf 10:52 07:43 71 101
Heyesey 10:53 12:48 117 167
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:54 08:33 78 111
Kinghedger 11:00 06:26 58 82
scrabbler 11:11 07:39 68 97
keriothe_ keriothe 11:14 09:37 85 121
neilr neilr 11:18 07:44 68 97
toots 11:19 09:11 81 115
andy 11:30 10:47 93 132
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:35 08:40 74 105
ChuckB 11:38 13:48 118 168
chriswords 11:39 10:27 89 127
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:41 06:58 59 84
Morphosis 11:51 08:04 68 97
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 11:58 08:50 73 104
miked1961 11:59 06:26 53 75
tilbee 12:00 09:49 81 115
Sheapey Sheapey 12:01 08:24 69 98
Amoeba89 Amoeba 12:02 10:34 87 124
Golvellius 12:17 12:35 102 145
aphasic 12:31 12:36 100 142
John Walsh 12:45 11:42 91 130
Glencairn 12:46 09:05 71 101
Stavros Stavrolex 12:48 09:12 71 101
canismiser 12:57 10:23 80 114
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 12:59 11:20 87 124
JimboFS 13:06 13:39 104 148
Paul Bacon 13:17 12:09 91 130
Silva 13:28 08:05 60 85
Secondbass 13:43 08:36 62 88
Rinteff Rinteff 13:55 12:20 88 125
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:58 11:14 80 114
Peponi13 14:00 08:46 62 88
EricK 14:03 11:23 81 115
alexh 14:07 11:48 83 118
Semillon 14:16 09:51 69 98
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:20 11:49 82 117
Pootle Pootle 14:28 11:58 82 117
Adelaider 14:35 08:31 58 82
BlackburnRover 14:45 12:42 86 122
MK76 15:05 12:01 79 112
Looch 15:12 11:25 75 107
JezWoolfrey 15:13 12:39 83 118
Riche Riche 15:13 15:34 102 145
Finzi 15:15 10:42 70 100
zinzan 15:29 15:08 97 138
andrewlake 15:36 07:56 50 71
chriswestontour Chris West 15:40 16:14 103 147
cdb_100 15:48 08:02 50 71
DunPangolin 15:53 11:01 69 98
johninterred Johninterred 16:01 16:46 104 148
tapbarker 16:22 11:42 71 101
cmcnsmith 16:23 18:42 114 162
Encota 16:23 10:48 65 92
Jeremy S 16:34 12:19 74 105
andrewfeist96 16:36 12:27 75 107
phthisis 16:43 12:49 76 108
Squallaby 16:51 26:24 156 222
LJCN 16:52 14:17 84 120
robinh 17:02 14:18 83 118
ilan 17:05 12:14 71 101
hopkinb hopkinb 17:29 11:20 64 91
PGooden 17:42 11:37 65 92
Achernar 17:45 13:26 75 107
rrricharrrd 17:55 14:16 79 112
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 18:08 13:06 72 102
daniel.faith 18:20 11:37 63 90
Zander 18:28 15:26 83 118
tds 18:37 13:41 73 104
ramf 18:38 09:50 52 74
GMcD 18:40 14:26 77 110
Craven 18:40 19:43 105 150
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:49 15:09 80 114
pc8 18:53 17:10 90 128
John Arnold 19:06 23:18 121 172
Colin2355 19:06 14:30 75 107
whichcraft 19:07 08:54 46 65
Curarist Curarist 19:09 17:49 93 132
drginacoco 19:15 02:20 12 17
KarenR 19:17 14:13 73 104
Vannyx 19:20 12:48 66 94
uvofiz 19:30 15:36 80 114
valerian1967 19:34 14:37 74 105
pterodactyl 19:35 15:45 80 114
Nangle 19:45 14:29 73 104
Zabadak3 Zabadak 19:58 13:48 69 98
Upfisher 20:07 13:45 68 97
brian.richards1 20:22 16:59 83 118
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:38 17:14 83 118
stainl665 20:41 17:06 82 117
Onelug 20:42 15:22 74 105
Rowlie26 Rowlie26 20:54 19:19 92 131
UisceTe 21:10 13:42 64 91
Waterloo 21:12 18:41 88 125
tony the butcher montana 21:13 14:55 70 100
Hamish.S 21:18 12:52 60 85
goblin 22:08 18:52 85 121
Rod B 22:16 17:49 80 114
david_ch 22:26 30:10 134 191
DianeRS 22:29 17:03 75 107
Fidelio 22:38 17:23 76 108
JayEm 23:09 19:02 82 117
Brian McNamar 23:35 25:27 107 152
Corymbia Corymbia 24:00 17:25 72 102
medodd 24:22 26:26 108 154
Tudds 24:25 13:39 55 78
Coffell 24:44 20:31 82 117
mjsaunders9 24:54 16:02 64 91
chris661554 24:58 20:24 81 115
JoeyC 25:02 22:08 88 125
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:09 19:34 77 110
hugapug 25:57 18:25 70 100
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 26:02 15:28 59 84
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:08 22:57 87 124
Edprof 27:26 17:54 65 92
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:32 16:14 58 82
Yatton50 27:42 20:19 73 104
Jamie Fox 27:52 19:55 71 101
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 27:56 12:29 44 62
uffindellbirtjn 27:58 14:35 52 74
Aldus 28:05 18:59 67 95
td349 28:33 13:33 47 67
Word Psmith wordpsmith 28:58 17:12 59 84
Menelaus 29:06 21:28 73 104
alexngbr 29:19 34:05 116 165
Manveru 29:30 13:27 45 64
Winchelt618 29:48 25:58 87 124
gbestanley 29:49 26:05 87 124
wimpoldo 30:07 32:23 107 152
simjt simjt 30:12 26:56 89 127
tyrotim tyrotim 32:45 20:32 62 88
BertieVII 34:01 27:54 82 117
NAPASAI napasai 34:26 09:16 26 37
koro kororareka 34:28 26:58 78 111
Cryptique 34:35 39:57 115 164
kapietro kapietro 35:10 33:15 94 134
SK42 35:29 15:15 42 60
Shushannah 36:07 27:21 75 107
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 38:01 35:17 92 131
The Real Steve Snackman 39:22 24:56 63 90
HanS 41:37 22:42 54 77
CoxBurglar coxburglar 44:09 18:24 41 58
Steve Wood 44:36 32:19 72 102
empty 46:16 32:42 70 100

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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