Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29199

Date 09 April 2025
Number 29199
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 95
Count of ref solvers 65
Ref solvers excluded with errors 9
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29199

* 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
Paul Gilbert 05:52 05:36 95 100
Magoo 05:55 06:48 114 120
lili 06:07 04:36 75 78
Jason 06:08 07:29 122 128
verlaine Verlaine 06:29 05:58 92 96
hilarym 06:51 07:45 113 118
aphis99 aphis99 07:18 06:50 93 97
mistigris 07:19 09:05 124 130
samgdavies 08:11 10:35 129 135
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:46 08:45 99 104
boulemiche 08:47 13:06 149 156
Umpire 09:03 06:38 73 76
fshephe 09:12 09:37 104 109
asaldanha 09:28 08:23 88 92
AlanS 09:38 09:26 97 102
markdobell 09:57 13:25 134 141
KenD51 10:23 04:43 45 47
Ciolf 10:31 11:06 105 110
Kinghedger 10:43 13:09 122 128
SimonAnthony 10:47 11:50 109 114
Deane Short Deane Short 10:49 13:15 122 128
neilr neilr 11:11 11:31 102 107
keriothe_ keriothe 11:25 07:50 68 71
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 11:28 14:12 123 129
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 11:32 15:17 132 138
David Crooks dcrooks 11:33 14:31 125 131
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:37 16:31 142 149
chriswords 11:39 14:40 125 131
Heyesey 11:44 23:16 198 208
andy 11:52 10:30 88 92
john.brassey 11:55 11:52 99 104
Sheapey Sheapey 11:57 15:46 131 137
Topical Tim Topical Tim 12:00 10:17 85 89
Amoeba89 Amoeba 12:07 11:42 96 101
njnclarke 12:14 14:05 115 121
m28ale 12:20 42:57 348 366
aphasic 12:34 14:59 119 125
John Walsh 12:39 15:03 118 124
Freemers 12:42 11:59 94 98
JimboFS 13:11 10:42 81 85
Paul Bacon 13:14 15:14 115 121
Groucho 13:16 11:53 89 93
Stavros Stavrolex 13:28 12:29 92 96
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:32 13:10 97 102
LouWeed LouWeed 13:40 16:47 122 128
alexh 13:55 12:04 86 90
Peponi13 14:11 15:04 106 111
Semillon 14:15 20:58 147 154
EricK 14:17 14:05 98 103
drginacoco 14:28 01:53 13 13
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 14:35 20:29 140 147
Pootle Pootle 14:49 15:55 107 112
zinzan 15:10 13:32 89 93
Looch 15:11 15:39 103 108
Finzi 15:11 13:14 87 91
JezWoolfrey 15:21 18:49 122 128
DunPangolin 15:32 13:45 88 92
johninterred Johninterred 15:44 16:04 102 107
andrewlake 15:45 16:00 101 106
cdb_100 15:47 10:32 66 69
RobR RobR 15:50 14:36 92 96
SBQuick 15:54 19:45 124 130
tapbarker 15:59 11:58 74 77
CentralLine CentralLine 16:10 15:18 94 98
Encota 16:24 15:05 91 95
McBeakLives 16:40 11:38 69 72
Jeremy S 16:40 16:01 96 101
phthisis 16:43 15:32 92 96
hopkinb hopkinb 16:44 19:40 117 123
Valance 16:52 13:14 78 82
rrricharrrd 17:06 15:29 90 94
earlylight 17:23 18:18 105 110
Cookincats 17:27 22:51 130 136
robinh 17:33 18:31 105 110
Achernar 17:35 19:13 109 114
PGooden 17:40 18:18 103 108
LJCN 17:52 18:48 105 110
Gallion Fish 17:53 15:21 85 89
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 18:02 26:29 146 153
Mike Mansbridge 18:10 50:20 277 291
daniel.faith 18:12 24:23 133 140
Vannyx 18:12 20:59 115 121
Jeremy Kenyon 18:13 17:09 94 98
Squallaby 18:17 15:50 86 90
FraserH 18:22 18:24 100 105
SeamusX 18:25 12:19 66 69
Rembleforth 18:36 18:36 100 105
GMcD 18:49 18:01 95 100
ramf 19:04 25:25 133 140
Colin2355 19:06 19:05 99 104
Nangle 19:15 26:03 135 142
pc8 19:15 19:10 99 104
pterodactyl 19:22 17:09 88 92
uvofiz 19:37 17:29 89 93
Zabadak3 Zabadak 19:46 19:46 100 105
valerian1967 20:01 21:21 106 111
george.garlick 20:41 18:54 91 95
brian.richards1 20:44 23:56 115 121
stainl665 20:45 26:05 125 131
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:53 16:45 80 84
Dvynys dvynys 20:59 26:55 128 134
dr.shred 21:33 27:14 126 132
goblin 22:06 20:23 92 96
david_ch 22:14 14:20 64 67
Rod B 22:17 27:08 121 127
gsriordan52 22:21 18:24 82 86
Corymbia Corymbia 23:12 17:46 76 80
JayEm 23:28 22:13 94 98
Tudds 24:05 37:18 154 162
Brenk Brenk1 24:25 29:15 119 125
mjsaunders9 24:38 17:30 71 74
6098mr 24:43 28:19 114 120
chris661554 25:03 32:57 131 137
Coffell 25:03 28:16 112 117
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:08 26:41 106 111
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:15 24:25 96 101
Grumpole Grumpole 26:13 53:45 205 215
Edprof 26:57 25:33 94 98
Dr_Bob 27:02 24:22 90 94
Jamie Fox 27:19 29:00 106 111
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:34 26:42 96 101
Yatton50 27:34 26:07 94 98
Aldus 27:39 16:07 58 61
David Luke 28:00 30:47 109 114
FelicityTT 28:14 19:48 70 73
td349 28:20 19:46 69 72
nekabue 28:23 21:57 77 81
Word Psmith wordpsmith 28:29 27:58 98 103
Manveru 28:37 39:17 137 144
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 28:48 24:27 84 88
Menelaus 28:52 27:04 93 97
Pendrov 29:16 25:13 86 90
wimpoldo 29:16 37:10 126 132
RogerC 29:21 24:15 82 86
Winchelt618 29:23 33:22 113 118
gbestanley 29:30 26:56 91 95
richardCV22 30:10 32:35 108 113
Mudge Mudge 31:03 33:39 108 113
Gussie 31:26 22:01 70 73
vinyl12345 vinyl1 31:31 37:11 117 123
tyrotim tyrotim 32:08 29:05 90 94
BertieVII 32:32 39:49 122 128
koro kororareka 33:03 24:03 72 75
alexngbr 33:12 26:04 78 82
boltonwanderer 33:32 39:00 116 122
JGP 33:45 113:58 337 354
Cryptique 34:34 35:11 101 106
kapietro kapietro 34:52 27:38 79 83
Rookie 35:18 34:56 98 103
JoeyC 35:18 21:19 60 63
intentional rounding 35:53 33:46 94 98
CoxBurglar coxburglar 36:34 56:12 153 161
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 37:19 44:28 119 125
MalcolmD 37:58 37:10 97 102
The Real Steve Snackman 38:06 24:04 63 66
baronrob 38:56 46:24 119 125
rv_1 39:31 34:35 87 91
HanS 39:33 44:05 111 116
maryht 40:12 33:48 84 88
Steve Wood 43:53 35:42 81 85
MartinP MartinP1 50:39 49:14 97 102
paulmcl paulmcl 54:11 61:42 113 118
profsjpayne 58:16 75:52 130 136

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