Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29233

Date 19 May 2025
Number 29233
Day of week Monday
NITCH 67
Count of ref solvers 59
Ref solvers excluded with errors 21
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29233

* 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 03:27 58 86
Paul Gilbert 05:54 04:51 82 122
cmjhutton 05:56 03:42 62 92
lili 06:06 03:41 60 89
Jason 06:20 04:53 77 114
verlaine Verlaine 06:25 05:50 90 134
hilarym 06:48 08:23 123 183
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:29 05:51 68 101
boulemiche 08:48 07:29 85 126
Umpire 09:01 06:42 74 110
asaldanha 09:27 04:38 49 73
richard 09:31 06:38 69 102
AlanS 09:35 07:21 76 113
glheard glh 09:50 06:28 65 97
Ciolf 10:09 06:55 68 101
KenD51 10:10 13:18 130 194
SimonAnthony 10:38 06:24 60 89
Deane Short Deane Short 10:47 09:46 90 134
lickert 10:51 07:24 68 101
toots 10:54 07:50 71 105
scrabbler 11:13 06:43 59 88
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:30 08:10 71 105
Morphosis 11:31 08:29 73 108
David Crooks dcrooks 11:36 08:22 72 107
ChuckB 11:36 12:44 109 162
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 11:44 11:30 98 146
andy 11:46 07:43 65 97
miked1961 11:53 08:27 71 105
chriswords 11:55 08:34 71 105
Freemers 12:22 10:27 84 125
aphasic 12:28 09:44 78 116
Silva 12:50 10:58 85 126
JimboFS 12:54 10:49 83 123
Groucho 13:02 08:27 64 95
Paul Bacon 13:03 10:56 83 123
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:17 11:16 84 125
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:39 09:35 70 104
Adelaider 13:39 08:51 64 95
alexh 13:42 11:21 82 122
LouWeed LouWeed 13:47 09:37 69 102
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:48 08:25 60 89
TB22 14:01 07:47 55 82
Peponi13 14:04 13:58 99 147
benbush 14:04 07:48 55 82
Ben Staveley 14:06 09:50 69 102
EricK 14:06 08:25 59 88
Semillon 14:20 07:41 53 79
robertL 14:20 18:17 127 189
Pootle Pootle 14:24 10:55 75 111
Carol 14:33 14:32 99 147
Tibthorpe 14:35 09:22 64 95
MK76 14:48 15:32 104 155
Riche Riche 14:52 10:41 71 105
Finzi 15:12 10:49 71 105
Looch 15:15 13:17 87 129
DunPangolin 15:19 13:33 88 131
gabrojak 15:31 10:48 69 102
tapbarker 15:46 18:00 114 170
andrewlake 15:55 09:15 58 86
RobR RobR 15:57 09:29 59 88
cmcnsmith 16:03 16:22 101 150
nmsellen 16:13 11:24 70 104
doublecross anguswalker 16:17 09:22 57 85
phthisis 16:23 10:00 61 91
hopkinb hopkinb 16:29 12:10 73 108
Encota 16:33 14:51 89 132
Valance 16:43 18:36 111 165
Jeremy S 16:52 11:11 66 98
ilan 16:53 17:16 102 152
Achernar 17:18 19:14 111 165
Crossiant 17:25 14:23 82 122
whichcraft 17:39 09:47 55 82
PGooden 17:52 16:02 89 132
Gallion Fish 17:57 19:02 106 158
Foozler 18:08 16:17 89 132
Zander 18:18 08:28 46 68
Craven 18:26 16:29 89 132
SeamusX 18:32 13:18 71 105
daniel.faith 18:37 12:41 68 101
MrChumley MrChumley 18:49 15:46 83 123
John Arnold 19:02 15:36 81 120
Colin2355 19:13 15:18 79 117
KarenR 19:27 09:38 49 73
Upfisher 19:29 14:38 75 111
Astonvilla1 19:38 11:00 56 83
uvofiz 19:44 15:38 79 117
DamienKnapma 19:51 16:53 85 126
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:15 12:24 61 91
valerian1967 20:18 13:54 68 101
Onelug 20:42 11:22 54 80
tony the butcher montana 20:47 06:25 30 44
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:55 10:56 52 77
Hamish.S 21:08 11:04 52 77
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 21:26 20:49 97 144
Dvynys dvynys 21:31 19:09 89 132
The Caffeine Kid 21:37 15:09 70 104
jimancliffe 21:40 16:25 75 111
goblin 21:57 21:35 98 146
david_ch 22:06 19:30 88 131
James P Special_bitter 22:10 16:42 75 111
Jagsfan1971 22:22 14:37 65 97
martinr486 22:47 23:33 103 153
Nigel1953 23:14 03:16 14 20
JayEm 23:17 11:48 50 74
Corymbia Corymbia 23:21 15:56 68 101
steve.laverock 23:51 18:14 76 113
Tudds 24:04 13:35 56 83
medodd 24:05 15:37 64 95
1234 24:24 17:17 70 104
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 24:26 17:21 71 105
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:54 18:34 74 110
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:03 22:21 89 132
6098mr 25:14 25:09 99 147
SlumdogEngineer 25:50 18:46 72 107
Aldus 26:03 12:56 49 73
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:03 17:22 66 98
En Cee 26:12 24:21 92 137
ofarrell 26:39 24:32 92 137
Dr_Bob 26:53 18:13 67 100
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:11 21:20 78 116
Yatton50 27:42 18:49 67 100
nekabue 28:15 18:02 63 94
Menelaus 28:35 30:44 107 159
uffindellbirtjn 28:45 19:39 68 101
gbestanley 28:47 17:12 59 88
Manveru 28:49 23:41 82 122
Winchelt618 29:05 22:02 75 111
wimpoldo 29:26 22:35 76 113
simjt simjt 29:43 26:10 88 131
richardCV22 30:13 13:00 43 64
dosbarth 31:18 29:53 95 141
vinyl12345 vinyl1 31:41 23:59 75 111
koro kororareka 33:17 23:00 69 102
boltonwanderer 33:27 19:00 56 83
Wanderlust 34:01 31:48 93 138
kapietro kapietro 34:13 21:05 61 91
Lloyd 34:41 38:44 111 165
jackk.larg 35:06 28:33 81 120
intentional rounding 35:11 19:50 56 83
Shushannah 35:16 29:41 84 125
Rookie 36:02 30:41 85 126
The Real Steve Snackman 36:23 19:19 53 79
Birdingbob 36:28 19:56 54 80
clivejharlow 36:58 25:34 69 102
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 37:16 36:55 99 147
starstruck starstruck_au 37:30 26:21 70 104
E Bradford E Bradford 37:52 26:44 70 104
MalcolmD 38:12 24:32 64 95
HanS 38:48 40:22 104 155
rv_1 39:26 22:06 56 83
Steve Wood 43:44 31:00 70 104
empty 45:50 36:05 78 116
MichaelE 46:46 33:46 72 107
MartinP MartinP1 50:24 31:19 62 92
kjbr 51:45 65:24 126 188

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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