Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29197

Date 07 April 2025
Number 29197
Day of week Monday
NITCH 81
Count of ref solvers 64
Ref solvers excluded with errors 13
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29197

* 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
Magoo 05:55 04:02 68 83
Nathan Panning 05:57 04:21 73 90
cmjhutton 06:06 07:50 128 158
lili 06:07 06:51 111 137
Jason 06:08 04:37 75 92
verlaine Verlaine 06:29 03:48 58 71
mauefw Mauefw 06:33 05:54 90 111
aphis99 aphis99 07:18 05:39 77 95
mistigris 07:19 04:30 61 75
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:46 05:34 63 77
Umpire 09:03 08:46 96 118
fshephe 09:12 10:36 115 141
asaldanha 09:28 05:44 60 74
AlanS 09:38 08:12 85 104
glheard glh 09:53 10:36 107 132
markdobell 09:57 09:39 96 118
tiggis 10:26 09:44 93 114
Ciolf 10:31 08:45 83 102
chindit 10:40 10:48 101 124
Kinghedger 10:43 09:56 92 113
SimonAnthony 10:47 08:47 81 100
Deane Short Deane Short 10:49 13:12 122 150
lickert 10:55 09:01 82 101
scrabbler 11:10 09:03 81 100
neilr neilr 11:11 09:34 85 104
toots 11:15 10:52 96 118
keriothe_ keriothe 11:25 07:54 69 85
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 11:28 10:50 94 116
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 11:32 13:34 117 144
David Crooks dcrooks 11:33 12:09 105 129
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:37 09:25 81 100
chriswords 11:39 09:43 83 102
adamhanley71 11:43 08:19 70 86
Heyesey 11:44 08:28 72 88
miked1961 11:47 08:45 74 91
Morphosis 11:49 10:27 88 108
andy 11:52 07:57 66 81
Sheapey Sheapey 11:57 10:27 87 107
Topical Tim Topical Tim 12:00 10:00 83 102
tilbee 12:01 12:40 105 129
Golvellius 12:07 09:03 74 91
njnclarke 12:14 13:30 110 135
Freemers 12:42 11:55 93 114
Glencairn 12:46 11:13 87 107
JimboFS 13:11 12:30 94 116
Secondbass 13:13 09:25 71 87
Paul Bacon 13:14 15:16 115 141
Silva 13:16 15:49 119 146
Groucho 13:16 10:27 78 96
Stavros Stavrolex 13:28 11:21 84 103
grape 13:30 15:26 114 140
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:32 10:02 74 91
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:38 10:43 78 96
LouWeed LouWeed 13:40 09:52 72 88
robertL 13:59 15:52 113 139
Semillon 14:15 10:06 70 86
EricK 14:17 11:47 82 101
Adelaider 14:25 12:29 86 106
drginacoco 14:28 01:47 12 14
MK76 14:31 10:07 69 85
Tibthorpe 14:38 12:02 82 101
Pootle Pootle 14:49 10:08 68 83
BlackburnRover 15:10 15:28 101 124
Looch 15:11 15:14 100 123
Finzi 15:11 15:22 101 124
JezWoolfrey 15:21 08:40 56 69
TB22 15:26 14:55 96 118
DunPangolin 15:32 16:58 109 134
andrewlake 15:45 12:20 78 96
cdb_100 15:47 10:46 68 83
RobR RobR 15:50 16:39 105 129
tapbarker 15:59 15:06 94 116
cmcnsmith 16:15 16:46 103 127
doublecross anguswalker 16:20 07:54 48 59
Encota 16:24 20:53 127 156
Jeremy S 16:40 17:37 105 129
phthisis 16:43 14:19 85 104
Valance 16:52 15:48 93 114
LuckOfLucien 16:59 12:12 71 87
rrricharrrd 17:06 12:06 70 86
earlylight 17:23 16:31 95 117
robinh 17:33 19:03 108 133
Achernar 17:35 15:32 88 108
PGooden 17:40 08:17 46 56
LJCN 17:52 19:48 110 135
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 18:02 18:24 102 125
whichcraft 18:05 16:01 88 108
KET 18:06 18:09 100 123
daniel.faith 18:12 20:20 111 137
Zander 18:20 17:34 95 117
Craven 18:26 15:05 81 100
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:46 20:20 108 133
GMcD 18:49 14:48 78 96
David Bourne 18:56 18:34 98 120
ramf 19:04 13:24 70 86
John Arnold 19:13 22:02 114 140
KarenR 19:14 26:06 135 166
pc8 19:15 12:56 67 82
Curarist Curarist 19:16 41:50 217 267
pterodactyl 19:22 17:24 89 109
tonym 19:59 27:55 139 171
Astonvilla.1 20:01 16:53 84 103
Rowlie26 Rowlie26 20:17 24:36 121 149
janesa 20:35 21:47 105 129
george.garlick 20:41 18:14 88 108
Kalakuta72 20:42 17:07 82 101
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:53 21:10 101 124
Hamish.S 21:09 23:43 112 138
James P Special_bitter 21:18 19:45 92 113
goblin 22:06 20:18 91 112
The Caffeine Kid 22:16 11:46 52 64
Rod B 22:17 20:20 91 112
gsriordan52 22:21 18:56 84 103
Fidelio 22:55 22:03 96 118
Brenk Brenk1 24:25 18:00 73 90
mjsaunders9 24:38 26:53 109 134
6098mr 24:43 24:48 100 123
chris661554 25:03 21:44 86 106
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:15 22:22 88 108
Crippens1 25:18 21:46 86 106
Deezzaa Deezzaa 25:59 25:53 99 122
mich_punk 26:32 13:44 51 62
En Cee 26:33 17:09 64 79
Edprof 26:57 32:50 121 149
ulaca ulaca 26:57 22:05 81 100
Dr_Bob 27:02 31:46 117 144
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 27:02 04:33 16 19
Jamie Fox 27:19 26:47 98 120
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:34 27:05 98 120
Yatton50 27:34 27:31 99 122
Aldus 27:39 22:58 83 102
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 27:52 23:00 82 101
annikins 28:06 25:46 91 112
nekabue 28:23 29:13 102 125
Manveru 28:37 19:46 69 85
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 28:48 17:27 60 74
wimpoldo 29:16 17:43 60 74
Winchelt618 29:23 31:23 106 130
gbestanley 29:30 29:35 100 123
simjt simjt 30:01 35:44 119 146
richardCV22 30:10 32:32 107 132
Mudge Mudge 31:03 25:39 82 101
joss henry 31:04 30:22 97 119
dosbarth 31:21 34:43 110 135
vinyl12345 vinyl1 31:31 33:15 105 129
piltdown man 31:52 36:24 114 140
tyrotim tyrotim 32:08 27:48 86 106
BertieVII 32:32 24:08 74 91
koro kororareka 33:03 35:36 107 132
alexngbr 33:12 36:17 109 134
boltonwanderer 33:32 23:00 68 83
kapietro kapietro 34:52 35:14 101 124
JoeyC 35:18 27:35 78 96
Rookie 35:18 35:58 101 124
Shushannah 35:22 36:42 103 127
Maggot 35:42 37:13 104 128
Birdingbob 35:49 30:17 84 103
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 37:19 28:02 75 92
MalcolmD 37:58 42:57 113 139
The Real Steve Snackman 38:06 21:22 56 69
starstruck starstruck_au 38:09 40:07 105 129
E Bradford E Bradford 39:12 44:27 113 139
HanS 39:33 42:26 107 132
maryht 40:12 45:58 114 140
Steve Wood 43:53 45:24 103 127
j.stanton734 46:13 21:52 47 58
empty 46:22 41:39 89 109
MartinP MartinP1 50:39 30:27 60 74
kjbr 51:51 42:18 81 100
profsjpayne 58:16 35:34 61 75

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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