Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29223

Date 07 May 2025
Number 29223
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 86
Count of ref solvers 64
Ref solvers excluded with errors 11
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29223

* 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 04:18 73 84
Paul Gilbert 05:54 06:03 102 118
cmjhutton 05:56 10:08 170 197
Magoo 06:02 04:48 79 91
lili 06:06 04:50 79 91
Diskus 06:14 05:22 86 100
verlaine Verlaine 06:25 05:17 82 95
aphis99 aphis99 07:27 04:46 63 73
mistigris 07:28 06:01 80 93
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:29 07:32 88 102
boulemiche 08:48 09:17 105 122
Umpire 09:01 07:25 82 95
fshephe 09:05 04:13 46 53
asaldanha 09:27 06:59 73 84
AlanS 09:35 09:21 97 112
glheard glh 09:50 12:59 132 153
markdobell 09:54 07:00 70 81
Ciolf 10:09 06:55 68 79
KenD51 10:10 07:01 69 80
SimonAnthony 10:38 20:25 192 223
Kinghedger 10:44 11:30 107 124
Deane Short Deane Short 10:47 08:33 79 91
lickert 10:51 10:02 92 106
chindit 10:54 09:04 83 96
edwards.robert1 11:11 16:20 146 169
neilr neilr 11:12 13:54 124 144
scrabbler 11:13 11:51 105 122
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:30 11:25 99 115
Morphosis 11:31 12:08 105 122
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 11:32 11:04 95 110
drginacoco 11:33 02:03 17 19
David Crooks dcrooks 11:36 13:17 114 132
Heyesey 11:37 09:22 80 93
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 11:44 13:19 113 131
Amoeba89 Amoeba 11:45 07:59 67 77
john.brassey 11:46 13:33 115 133
miked1961 11:53 08:29 71 82
fuzz 11:53 12:38 106 123
njnclarke 11:54 15:38 131 152
chriswords 11:55 11:21 95 110
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:57 20:11 168 195
MJLD 12:08 03:50 31 36
tilbee 12:08 11:51 97 112
Sheapey Sheapey 12:16 13:48 112 130
Freemers 12:22 09:40 78 90
Groucho 13:02 14:21 110 127
Secondbass 13:08 09:22 71 82
m28ale 13:09 15:10 115 133
Stavros Stavrolex 13:21 07:48 58 67
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:39 22:53 167 194
Adelaider 13:39 14:21 105 122
alexh 13:42 15:06 110 127
LouWeed LouWeed 13:47 15:49 114 132
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:48 16:42 121 140
benbush 14:04 11:27 81 94
Peponi13 14:04 11:31 81 94
Ben Staveley 14:06 10:24 73 84
EricK 14:06 09:56 70 81
GeorgeTz 14:11 11:34 81 94
Semillon 14:20 11:47 82 95
robertL 14:20 18:18 127 147
Rinteff Rinteff 14:26 12:54 89 103
Tibthorpe 14:35 12:30 85 98
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:40 16:00 109 126
myles 14:57 17:21 116 134
chriswestontour Chris West 15:03 13:31 89 103
Finzi 15:12 16:43 109 126
Looch 15:15 15:19 100 116
franceslc11 15:23 10:21 67 77
gabrojak 15:31 16:04 103 119
julian_w 15:42 10:31 66 76
tapbarker 15:46 13:47 87 101
cdb_100 15:50 10:48 68 79
andrewlake 15:55 13:53 87 101
CentralLine CentralLine 16:03 10:34 65 75
cmcnsmith 16:03 17:44 110 127
doublecross anguswalker 16:17 15:01 92 106
phthisis 16:23 14:32 88 102
hopkinb hopkinb 16:29 16:33 100 116
Encota 16:33 14:33 87 101
ilan 16:53 14:11 84 97
Cookincats 17:06 19:32 114 132
rrricharrrd 17:07 08:15 48 55
DanSolo 17:38 14:27 81 94
whichcraft 17:39 11:38 65 75
thewanderingeditor 17:56 19:30 108 125
Vannyx 17:56 12:03 67 77
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 18:03 12:40 70 81
robinh 18:13 13:23 73 84
Jeremy Kenyon 18:14 14:28 79 91
LJCN 18:14 14:41 80 93
Zander 18:18 14:30 79 91
GMcD 18:23 14:14 77 89
Craven 18:26 20:39 112 130
pterodactyl 18:36 16:43 89 103
daniel.faith 18:37 17:29 93 108
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:38 17:09 92 106
David Bourne 18:47 15:52 84 97
pc8 18:53 18:14 96 111
Astonvilla.1 19:14 13:50 71 82
KarenR 19:27 18:11 93 108
Astonvilla1 19:38 13:50 70 81
brian.richards1 20:00 16:41 83 96
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:15 22:10 109 126
Rowlie26 Rowlie26 20:17 18:44 92 106
valerian1967 20:18 30:59 152 176
Waterloo 20:39 22:45 110 127
Onelug 20:42 18:48 90 104
UisceTe 20:47 16:41 80 93
dr.shred 20:51 17:46 85 98
george.garlick 20:55 22:03 105 122
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:55 14:25 68 79
Hamish.S 21:08 19:30 92 106
tonym 21:26 25:47 120 139
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 21:26 35:18 164 190
The Caffeine Kid 21:37 23:21 108 125
gsriordan52 21:47 31:27 144 167
goblin 21:57 20:38 94 109
Rod B 22:06 18:04 81 94
hofzinser 22:12 22:44 102 118
Nigel1953 23:14 03:51 16 18
infinitejest 23:16 29:22 126 146
JayEm 23:17 22:19 95 110
Fidelio 23:19 17:17 74 86
Corymbia Corymbia 23:21 16:45 71 82
Tudds 24:04 16:50 69 80
crosswordian 24:26 19:41 80 93
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 24:42 20:09 81 94
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:54 31:12 125 145
Coffell 24:57 28:16 113 131
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:03 27:15 108 125
6098mr 25:14 19:42 78 90
mjsaunders9 25:16 25:41 101 117
chris661554 26:00 27:45 106 123
En Cee 26:12 21:58 83 96
Dr_Bob 26:53 27:35 102 118
Jamie Fox 27:01 17:49 65 75
barracuda barracuda 27:07 27:50 102 118
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:11 26:43 98 113
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 27:33 27:00 98 113
Yatton50 27:42 27:52 100 116
Edprof 27:52 37:41 135 156
David Luke 28:09 30:54 109 126
nekabue 28:15 26:39 94 109
Word Psmith wordpsmith 28:25 25:04 88 102
f4rch 28:30 16:47 58 67
Menelaus 28:35 43:56 153 177
Manveru 28:49 24:19 84 97
Winchelt618 29:05 25:53 88 102
wimpoldo 29:26 40:27 137 159
richardCV22 30:13 25:04 82 95
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 31:20 13:25 42 48
BertieVII 31:22 28:46 91 105
tyrotim tyrotim 31:27 37:23 118 137
vinyl12345 vinyl1 31:41 37:59 119 138
alexngbr 32:22 34:16 105 122
koro kororareka 33:17 32:25 97 112
JoeyC 33:50 20:50 61 70
kapietro kapietro 34:13 43:28 127 147
Shushannah 35:16 30:48 87 101
Rookie 36:02 37:40 104 120
Birdingbob 36:28 29:50 81 94
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 37:16 38:18 102 118
starstruck starstruck_au 37:30 34:57 93 108
SK42 37:32 25:24 67 77
E Bradford E Bradford 37:52 34:21 90 104
Dr Dolittle 38:46 31:01 80 93
NAPASAI napasai 38:48 28:37 73 84
rv_1 39:26 26:46 67 77
maryht 40:15 63:36 158 183
Aidleys 43:28 35:19 81 94
Steve Wood 43:44 43:01 98 113
j.stanton734 45:15 37:04 81 94
empty 45:50 42:01 91 105
MichaelE 46:46 34:01 72 83
MartinP MartinP1 50:24 52:24 103 119

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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