Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29229

Date 14 May 2025
Number 29229
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 76
Count of ref solvers 62
Ref solvers excluded with errors 8
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29229

* Requires access to the Times Crossword Club

Detailed solving results

 

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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 05:19 90 118
cmjhutton 05:56 03:39 61 80
Magoo 06:02 05:24 89 117
lili 06:06 03:59 65 85
Diskus 06:14 05:26 87 114
Jason 06:20 05:17 83 109
verlaine Verlaine 06:25 05:06 79 103
hilarym 06:48 05:48 85 111
aphis99 aphis99 07:27 06:18 84 110
Alexis Johansen 07:29 05:15 70 92
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:29 04:49 56 73
Umpire 09:01 07:15 80 105
asaldanha 09:27 04:19 45 59
AlanS 09:35 05:25 56 73
Legbiter 09:42 18:15 188 247
markdobell 09:54 10:32 106 139
Ciolf 10:09 07:18 71 93
tiggis 10:16 08:39 84 110
SimonAnthony 10:38 08:01 75 98
Kinghedger 10:44 08:40 80 105
Deane Short Deane Short 10:47 06:38 61 80
lickert 10:51 09:07 84 110
toots 10:54 08:48 80 105
chindit 10:54 09:56 91 119
keriothe_ keriothe 11:08 08:35 77 101
neilr neilr 11:12 12:12 108 142
scrabbler 11:13 08:19 74 97
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:30 10:03 87 114
Morphosis 11:31 09:33 82 107
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 11:32 08:05 70 92
David Crooks dcrooks 11:36 08:08 70 92
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 11:44 16:20 139 182
Amoeba89 Amoeba 11:45 05:38 47 61
miked1961 11:53 10:18 86 113
fuzz 11:53 11:50 99 130
chriswords 11:55 13:02 109 143
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:57 13:23 111 146
tilbee 12:08 09:35 78 102
Sheapey Sheapey 12:16 18:08 147 193
Freemers 12:22 11:16 91 119
aphasic 12:28 11:12 89 117
John Walsh 12:38 14:32 115 151
Silva 12:50 12:17 95 125
d.middleton 12:57 13:21 103 135
Groucho 13:02 13:36 104 136
Secondbass 13:08 12:07 92 121
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:17 10:26 78 102
Stavros Stavrolex 13:21 11:35 86 113
Adelaider 13:39 10:08 74 97
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:39 12:20 90 118
alexh 13:42 17:06 124 163
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:48 17:19 125 164
EricK 14:06 08:48 62 81
zinzan 14:15 19:01 133 175
robertL 14:20 13:38 95 125
Semillon 14:20 12:00 83 109
Pootle Pootle 14:24 09:30 65 85
Rinteff Rinteff 14:26 13:31 93 122
Tibthorpe 14:35 11:16 77 101
MK76 14:48 19:05 128 168
myles 14:57 16:35 110 144
Finzi 15:12 13:42 90 118
Looch 15:15 13:00 85 111
DunPangolin 15:19 14:15 93 122
franceslc11 15:23 11:56 77 101
jimwetzler 15:26 19:24 125 164
tapbarker 15:46 11:35 73 96
cdb_100 15:50 13:30 85 111
andrewlake 15:55 11:44 73 96
CentralLine CentralLine 16:03 10:19 64 84
doublecross anguswalker 16:17 09:34 58 76
LuckOfLucien 16:19 12:33 76 100
hopkinb hopkinb 16:29 17:57 108 142
Valance 16:43 12:14 73 96
Jeremy S 16:52 17:54 106 139
ilan 16:53 14:29 85 111
ajcauk1 17:05 14:23 84 110
rrricharrrd 17:07 12:51 75 98
Achernar 17:18 14:46 85 111
Crossiant 17:25 12:39 72 94
DanSolo 17:38 14:47 83 109
whichcraft 17:39 12:51 72 94
PGooden 17:52 17:34 98 128
Vannyx 17:56 15:27 86 113
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 18:03 19:42 109 143
robinh 18:13 12:45 69 90
Jeremy Kenyon 18:14 13:40 74 97
GMcD 18:23 14:23 78 102
pterodactyl 18:36 13:26 72 94
David Bourne 18:47 17:06 91 119
pc8 18:53 10:54 57 75
John Arnold 19:02 15:44 82 107
Colin2355 19:13 17:53 93 122
Astonvilla.1 19:14 23:05 120 157
KarenR 19:27 18:08 93 122
Curarist Curarist 19:32 20:14 103 135
Astonvilla1 19:38 23:09 117 153
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:15 17:47 87 114
valerian1967 20:18 09:22 46 60
Kalakuta72 20:31 13:46 67 88
Waterloo 20:39 19:43 95 125
UisceTe 20:47 22:21 107 140
janesa 20:48 17:13 82 107
george.garlick 20:55 15:40 74 97
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:55 21:37 103 135
Hamish.S 21:08 21:03 99 130
stainl665 21:11 19:00 89 117
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 21:26 19:13 89 117
The Caffeine Kid 21:37 20:09 93 122
gsriordan52 21:47 13:43 62 81
goblin 21:57 19:59 91 119
david_ch 22:06 15:30 70 92
Rod B 22:06 21:24 96 126
James P Special_bitter 22:10 13:10 59 77
JayEm 23:17 19:35 84 110
Fidelio 23:19 18:56 81 106
Corymbia Corymbia 23:21 20:32 87 114
medodd 24:05 25:46 106 139
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 24:42 26:15 106 139
Crippens1 24:53 26:19 105 138
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:54 19:48 79 103
Coffell 24:57 15:45 63 82
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:03 24:02 95 125
mjsaunders9 25:16 16:41 66 86
chris661554 26:00 19:23 74 97
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:03 30:55 118 155
Aldus 26:03 18:34 71 93
ulaca ulaca 26:11 15:51 60 78
En Cee 26:12 22:14 84 110
Dr_Bob 26:53 30:24 113 148
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:11 20:27 75 98
annikins 27:31 22:17 80 105
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 27:33 21:22 77 101
Yatton50 27:42 29:21 105 138
nekabue 28:15 23:04 81 106
Word Psmith wordpsmith 28:25 27:14 95 125
Menelaus 28:35 28:21 99 130
gbestanley 28:47 27:46 96 126
Manveru 28:49 18:54 65 85
wimpoldo 29:26 37:53 128 168
richardCV22 30:13 27:14 90 118
BertieVII 31:22 21:47 69 90
tyrotim tyrotim 31:27 27:43 88 115
vinyl12345 vinyl1 31:41 23:14 73 96
koro kororareka 33:17 37:31 112 147
kapietro kapietro 34:13 25:25 74 97
Lloyd 34:41 27:31 79 103
intentional rounding 35:11 29:27 83 109
The Real Steve Snackman 36:23 26:18 72 94
clivejharlow 36:58 29:16 79 103
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 37:16 29:41 79 103
starstruck starstruck_au 37:30 19:30 52 68
E Bradford E Bradford 37:52 31:31 83 109
Aidleys 43:28 45:23 104 136
Steve Wood 43:44 27:52 63 82
empty 45:50 47:10 102 134
MichaelE 46:46 44:37 95 125
MartinP MartinP1 50:24 26:42 52 68
profsjpayne 54:36 72:08 132 173
NJP1 58:29 37:38 64 84

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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