Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29221

Date 05 May 2025
Number 29221
Day of week Monday
NITCH 72
Count of ref solvers 60
Ref solvers excluded with errors 7
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29221

* 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 05:52 04:05 69 95
Paul Gilbert 05:54 04:46 80 111
cmjhutton 05:56 05:35 94 130
Magoo 06:02 02:57 48 66
lili 06:06 05:18 86 119
Diskus 06:14 04:07 66 91
Jason 06:20 04:31 71 98
verlaine Verlaine 06:25 03:23 52 72
aphis99 aphis99 07:27 05:34 74 102
mistigris 07:28 05:06 68 94
Umpire 09:01 06:28 71 98
asaldanha 09:27 10:34 111 154
richard 09:31 06:34 69 95
AlanS 09:35 06:01 62 86
markdobell 09:54 08:59 90 125
Ciolf 10:09 04:38 45 62
KenD51 10:10 13:41 134 186
SimonAnthony 10:38 06:24 60 83
Kinghedger 10:44 07:45 72 100
Deane Short Deane Short 10:47 07:58 73 101
lickert 10:51 11:42 107 148
chindit 10:54 10:17 94 130
keriothe_ keriothe 11:08 09:16 83 115
neilr neilr 11:12 10:25 93 129
scrabbler 11:13 09:09 81 112
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:30 09:28 82 113
Morphosis 11:31 09:11 79 109
David Crooks dcrooks 11:36 09:19 80 111
Amoeba89 Amoeba 11:45 07:19 62 86
fuzz 11:53 12:08 102 141
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:57 10:29 87 120
tilbee 12:08 09:06 75 104
Sheapey Sheapey 12:16 09:07 74 102
Freemers 12:22 08:39 69 95
aphasic 12:28 09:16 74 102
Silva 12:50 09:20 72 100
JimboFS 12:54 14:31 112 155
Groucho 13:02 10:15 78 108
Paul Bacon 13:03 13:22 102 141
Secondbass 13:08 12:55 98 136
Stavros Stavrolex 13:21 17:46 133 184
Adelaider 13:39 09:26 69 95
alexh 13:42 12:56 94 130
LouWeed LouWeed 13:47 08:03 58 80
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:48 10:22 75 104
TB22 14:01 10:02 71 98
EricK 14:06 10:57 77 106
GeorgeTz 14:11 11:07 78 108
Semillon 14:20 10:47 75 104
robertL 14:20 09:50 68 94
Pootle Pootle 14:24 13:01 90 125
Tibthorpe 14:35 09:25 64 88
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:40 11:07 75 104
MK76 14:48 12:52 86 119
Riche Riche 14:52 15:12 102 141
BlackburnRover 15:08 13:13 87 120
Finzi 15:12 13:37 89 123
DunPangolin 15:19 14:20 93 129
franceslc11 15:23 12:56 84 116
jimwetzler 15:26 11:31 74 102
tapbarker 15:46 07:52 49 68
cdb_100 15:50 10:19 65 90
johninterred Johninterred 15:54 09:36 60 83
andrewlake 15:55 10:26 65 90
RobR RobR 15:57 10:09 63 87
cmcnsmith 16:03 17:58 111 154
nmsellen 16:13 13:49 85 118
phthisis 16:23 16:17 99 137
hopkinb hopkinb 16:29 15:34 94 130
Encota 16:33 11:38 70 97
Valance 16:43 13:21 79 109
ilan 16:53 16:18 96 133
ajcauk1 17:05 16:40 97 134
rrricharrrd 17:07 09:43 56 77
Achernar 17:18 09:22 54 75
earlylight 17:35 13:26 76 105
whichcraft 17:39 13:03 73 101
Pxspxs 17:55 13:22 74 102
Gallion Fish 17:57 14:31 80 111
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 18:03 13:53 76 105
tds 18:05 18:00 99 137
LJCN 18:14 15:49 86 119
Jeremy Kenyon 18:14 09:07 50 69
Zander 18:18 15:35 85 118
GMcD 18:23 13:40 74 102
Craven 18:26 12:11 66 91
Squallaby 18:26 14:06 76 105
pterodactyl 18:36 16:34 89 123
daniel.faith 18:37 14:35 78 108
MrChumley MrChumley 18:49 14:25 76 105
pc8 18:53 10:00 52 72
Mike C 19:02 11:30 60 83
John Arnold 19:02 16:20 85 118
Colin2355 19:13 17:50 92 127
Astonvilla.1 19:14 19:04 99 137
Nangle 19:24 19:13 99 137
KarenR 19:27 13:20 68 94
Upfisher 19:29 12:13 62 86
Curarist Curarist 19:32 13:08 67 93
Astonvilla1 19:38 19:04 97 134
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:15 19:14 94 130
Rosey6 20:40 17:44 85 118
UisceTe 20:47 15:07 72 100
dr.shred 20:51 19:44 94 130
george.garlick 20:55 19:12 91 126
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:55 18:27 88 122
Hamish.S 21:08 14:00 66 91
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 21:26 18:22 85 118
tonym 21:26 15:47 73 101
The Caffeine Kid 21:37 14:44 68 94
goblin 21:57 19:28 88 122
Rod B 22:06 18:13 82 113
david_ch 22:06 20:00 90 125
Jagsfan1971 22:22 13:04 58 80
rjhinde61 22:26 15:14 67 93
JayEm 23:17 10:30 45 62
Fidelio 23:19 23:29 100 138
Corymbia Corymbia 23:21 31:36 135 187
steve.laverock 23:51 18:25 77 106
Tudds 24:04 17:23 72 100
medodd 24:05 27:59 116 161
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 24:26 16:00 65 90
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 24:42 30:56 125 173
Crippens1 24:53 25:31 102 141
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:54 22:56 92 127
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:03 16:46 66 91
6098mr 25:14 26:51 106 147
Brenk Brenk1 25:27 23:37 92 127
chris661554 26:00 17:47 68 94
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:03 18:03 69 95
ulaca ulaca 26:11 21:06 80 111
En Cee 26:12 23:18 88 122
Dr_Bob 26:53 31:16 116 161
Jamie Fox 27:01 10:55 40 55
barracuda barracuda 27:07 24:25 90 125
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 27:33 21:10 76 105
Edprof 27:52 25:01 89 123
nekabue 28:15 16:55 59 81
Grumpole Grumpole 28:17 11:44 41 56
Word Psmith wordpsmith 28:25 35:43 125 173
gbestanley 28:47 22:26 77 106
Manveru 28:49 19:30 67 93
Winchelt618 29:05 20:06 69 95
wimpoldo 29:26 22:30 76 105
simjt simjt 29:43 39:30 132 183
crucihacker Crucihacker 30:16 13:50 45 62
BertieVII 31:22 32:27 103 143
tyrotim tyrotim 31:27 23:54 75 104
vinyl12345 vinyl1 31:41 27:51 87 120
hectorslave 32:53 28:29 86 119
koro kororareka 33:17 38:04 114 158
kapietro kapietro 34:13 20:39 60 83
Maggot 34:23 46:31 135 187
Shushannah 35:16 25:28 72 100
Jambo20 36:22 25:29 70 97
The Real Steve Snackman 36:23 23:24 64 88
Birdingbob 36:28 22:33 61 84
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 37:16 23:33 63 87
starstruck starstruck_au 37:30 26:48 71 98
SK42 37:32 14:48 39 54
NAPASAI napasai 38:48 18:17 47 65
maryht 40:15 34:23 85 118
Steve Wood 43:44 40:02 91 126
j.stanton734 45:15 25:41 56 77
empty 45:50 36:38 79 109
MichaelE 46:46 32:28 69 95
MartinP MartinP1 50:24 28:27 56 77
profsjpayne 54:36 42:23 77 106

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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