Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29215

Date 28 April 2025
Number 29215
Day of week Monday
NITCH 69
Count of ref solvers 62
Ref solvers excluded with errors 4
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29215

* 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 05:54 03:57 66 95
cmjhutton 05:56 04:49 81 117
Magoo 06:02 03:50 63 91
lili 06:06 03:36 59 85
Jason 06:20 03:56 62 89
verlaine Verlaine 06:25 04:43 73 105
hilarym 06:48 06:21 93 134
aphis99 aphis99 07:27 05:55 79 114
mistigris 07:28 06:45 90 130
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:29 05:09 60 86
boulemiche 08:48 08:13 93 134
Umpire 09:01 08:12 90 130
asaldanha 09:27 05:33 58 84
richard 09:31 06:15 65 94
AlanS 09:35 07:36 79 114
markdobell 09:54 07:47 78 113
Ciolf 10:09 08:39 85 123
KenD51 10:10 11:37 114 165
tiggis 10:16 07:08 69 100
SimonAnthony 10:38 09:18 87 126
Kinghedger 10:44 07:06 66 95
Deane Short Deane Short 10:47 10:00 92 133
lickert 10:51 07:28 68 98
chindit 10:54 08:59 82 118
keriothe_ keriothe 11:08 07:54 70 101
edwards.robert1 11:11 10:28 93 134
neilr neilr 11:12 07:12 64 92
scrabbler 11:13 08:32 76 110
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:30 07:53 68 98
Morphosis 11:31 11:47 102 147
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 11:32 08:40 75 108
drginacoco 11:33 01:51 16 23
David Crooks dcrooks 11:36 10:44 92 133
ChuckB 11:36 12:18 106 153
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 11:44 10:37 90 130
Amoeba89 Amoeba 11:45 06:03 51 73
john.brassey 11:46 12:26 105 152
andy 11:46 09:12 78 113
miked1961 11:53 10:16 86 124
fuzz 11:53 10:42 90 130
njnclarke 11:54 09:49 82 118
chriswords 11:55 09:38 80 115
adamhanley71 11:56 09:10 76 110
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:57 09:15 77 111
tilbee 12:08 10:09 83 120
Sheapey Sheapey 12:16 12:59 105 152
Freemers 12:22 10:26 84 121
aphasic 12:28 11:01 88 127
John Walsh 12:38 11:18 89 128
canismiser 12:47 13:04 102 147
Silva 12:50 12:36 98 142
JimboFS 12:54 08:28 65 94
Groucho 13:02 08:43 66 95
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 13:06 12:07 92 133
Secondbass 13:08 11:41 88 127
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:17 14:11 106 153
Stavros Stavrolex 13:21 08:59 67 97
Eddddddd 13:32 11:02 81 117
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:39 09:44 71 102
Adelaider 13:39 13:13 96 139
alexh 13:42 13:16 96 139
LouWeed LouWeed 13:47 09:32 69 100
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:48 07:32 54 78
TB22 14:01 05:58 42 60
benbush 14:04 10:17 73 105
EricK 14:06 07:17 51 73
Ben Staveley 14:06 11:49 83 120
grape 14:07 13:18 94 136
zinzan 14:15 13:51 97 140
Semillon 14:20 12:20 86 124
Tibthorpe 14:35 12:55 88 127
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 14:42 09:28 64 92
MK76 14:48 09:50 66 95
Riche Riche 14:52 11:13 75 108
myles 14:57 15:24 103 149
chriswestontour Chris West 15:03 16:18 108 156
Finzi 15:12 11:25 75 108
JezWoolfrey 15:16 13:33 88 127
DunPangolin 15:19 16:25 107 155
franceslc11 15:23 13:15 86 124
tapbarker 15:46 11:10 70 101
andrewlake 15:55 09:22 58 84
RobR RobR 15:57 12:19 77 111
CentralLine CentralLine 16:03 12:35 78 113
cmcnsmith 16:03 19:15 119 172
LuckOfLucien 16:19 08:56 54 78
phthisis 16:23 12:13 74 107
hopkinb hopkinb 16:29 09:29 57 82
Encota 16:33 10:55 65 94
Valance 16:43 11:50 70 101
Jeremy S 16:52 15:37 92 133
ajcauk1 17:05 13:47 80 115
Achernar 17:18 16:24 94 136
Crossiant 17:25 12:22 71 102
earlylight 17:35 12:49 72 104
DanSolo 17:38 11:27 64 92
whichcraft 17:39 14:55 84 121
KET 17:50 20:27 114 165
Pxspxs 17:55 14:56 83 120
Vannyx 17:56 08:55 49 71
Gallion Fish 17:57 18:00 100 144
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 18:03 20:53 115 166
Foozler 18:08 16:16 89 128
robinh 18:13 16:08 88 127
Jeremy Kenyon 18:14 09:15 50 72
LJCN 18:14 11:33 63 91
Zander 18:18 10:44 58 84
GMcD 18:23 16:01 87 126
Craven 18:26 17:20 94 136
FraserH 18:30 11:22 61 88
pterodactyl 18:36 13:20 71 102
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:38 08:44 46 66
ramf 18:50 11:57 63 91
pc8 18:53 14:55 78 113
John Arnold 19:02 18:15 95 137
Colin2355 19:13 13:18 69 100
Nangle 19:24 26:19 135 195
dec 19:24 16:17 83 120
KarenR 19:27 09:55 50 72
Astonvilla1 19:38 15:12 77 111
uvofiz 19:44 18:33 94 136
brian.richards1 20:00 16:04 80 115
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:15 20:04 99 143
Rowlie26 Rowlie26 20:17 17:26 85 123
Waterloo 20:39 13:03 63 91
Rosey6 20:40 26:38 128 185
UisceTe 20:47 16:07 77 111
janesa 20:48 17:56 86 124
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:55 14:49 70 101
Hamish.S 21:08 14:01 66 95
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 21:26 16:45 78 113
DianeRS 21:28 13:47 64 92
goblin 21:57 16:54 76 110
Rod B 22:06 11:12 50 72
James P Special_bitter 22:10 14:07 63 91
Grestyman Grestyman 22:24 09:06 40 57
Nigel1953 23:14 03:39 15 21
infinitejest 23:16 22:13 95 137
JayEm 23:17 22:14 95 137
Fidelio 23:19 23:27 100 144
Corymbia Corymbia 23:21 17:04 73 105
Tudds 24:04 12:48 53 76
medodd 24:05 28:10 116 168
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 24:26 16:31 67 97
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 24:42 14:37 59 85
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:54 24:49 99 143
Coffell 24:57 13:41 54 78
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:03 17:35 70 101
mjsaunders9 25:16 15:48 62 89
Brenk Brenk1 25:27 23:43 93 134
chris661554 26:00 21:56 84 121
Aldus 26:03 16:26 63 91
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:03 24:49 95 137
ulaca ulaca 26:11 22:45 86 124
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:11 19:14 70 101
Edprof 27:52 14:08 50 72
nekabue 28:15 18:34 65 94
Menelaus 28:35 38:29 134 194
gbestanley 28:47 22:33 78 113
Manveru 28:49 22:43 78 113
wimpoldo 29:26 20:14 68 98
simjt simjt 29:43 29:23 98 142
Mudge Mudge 31:17 21:17 68 98
BertieVII 31:22 29:44 94 136
tyrotim tyrotim 31:27 24:40 78 113
vinyl12345 vinyl1 31:41 26:36 83 120
piltdown man 31:51 21:34 67 97
koro kororareka 33:17 31:06 93 134
kapietro kapietro 34:13 23:57 69 100
Maggot 34:23 30:37 89 128
Shushannah 35:16 33:34 95 137
The Real Steve Snackman 36:23 31:35 86 124
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 37:16 25:52 69 100
starstruck starstruck_au 37:30 37:57 101 146
JGP 37:35 49:12 130 188
CoxBurglar coxburglar 37:50 29:43 78 113
E Bradford E Bradford 37:52 32:36 86 124
MalcolmD 38:12 22:04 57 82
HanS 38:48 33:13 85 123
maryht 40:15 32:45 81 117
Steve Wood 43:44 36:12 82 118
empty 45:50 37:08 81 117
MichaelE 46:46 37:04 79 114
MartinP MartinP1 50:24 41:41 82 118

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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