Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29237

Date 23 May 2025
Number 29237
Day of week Friday
NITCH 140
Count of ref solvers 61
Ref solvers excluded with errors 7
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29237

* 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 08:56 152 108
cmjhutton 05:56 13:48 232 165
Magoo 06:02 06:50 113 80
lili 06:06 08:42 142 101
Diskus 06:14 07:24 118 84
Jason 06:20 08:14 130 92
verlaine Verlaine 06:25 06:29 101 72
aphis99 aphis99 07:27 10:17 138 98
samgdavies 08:04 06:25 79 56
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:29 12:31 147 105
Umpire 09:01 14:17 158 112
fshephe 09:05 12:20 135 96
AlanS 09:35 12:33 130 92
markdobell 09:54 11:20 114 81
Ciolf 10:09 14:30 142 101
Deane Short Deane Short 10:47 19:12 178 127
lickert 10:51 13:55 128 91
keriothe_ keriothe 11:08 22:32 202 144
edwards.robert1 11:11 06:08 54 38
scrabbler 11:13 13:47 122 87
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:30 16:04 139 99
David Crooks dcrooks 11:36 22:11 191 136
Heyesey 11:37 15:47 135 96
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 11:44 21:47 185 132
Amoeba89 Amoeba 11:45 19:12 163 116
john.brassey 11:46 16:06 136 97
miked1961 11:53 13:46 115 82
fuzz 11:53 10:12 85 60
chriswords 11:55 16:19 136 97
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:57 13:02 109 77
tilbee 12:08 23:16 191 136
Sheapey Sheapey 12:16 23:20 190 135
Freemers 12:22 12:07 97 69
Stavros Stavrolex 13:21 29:53 223 159
LouWeed LouWeed 13:47 27:10 197 140
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:48 13:10 95 67
benbush 14:04 25:24 180 128
EricK 14:06 20:09 142 101
robertL 14:20 18:32 129 92
Semillon 14:20 32:55 229 163
Tibthorpe 14:35 24:20 166 118
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:40 23:40 161 115
Finzi 15:12 17:01 111 79
Looch 15:15 16:09 105 75
DunPangolin 15:19 20:10 131 93
tapbarker 15:46 25:03 158 112
cdb_100 15:50 16:50 106 75
johninterred Johninterred 15:54 24:05 151 107
andrewlake 15:55 22:06 138 98
RobR RobR 15:57 26:03 163 116
phthisis 16:23 29:39 180 128
Encota 16:33 26:39 161 115
ilan 16:53 22:50 135 96
earlylight 17:35 18:20 104 74
whichcraft 17:39 24:03 136 97
PGooden 17:52 23:42 132 94
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 18:03 36:58 204 145
robinh 18:13 19:56 109 77
Jeremy Kenyon 18:14 19:19 105 75
Zander 18:18 31:25 171 122
GMcD 18:23 30:39 166 118
pterodactyl 18:36 29:32 158 112
pc8 18:53 31:48 168 120
Sheen 19:01 20:51 109 77
John Arnold 19:02 26:28 139 99
Colin2355 19:13 33:32 174 124
KarenR 19:27 29:55 153 109
Upfisher 19:29 27:48 142 101
Curarist Curarist 19:32 29:21 150 107
brian.richards1 20:00 24:05 120 85
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:15 31:02 153 109
valerian1967 20:18 45:24 223 159
Onelug 20:42 30:58 149 106
george.garlick 20:55 27:20 130 92
stainl665 21:11 35:08 165 117
tonym 21:26 38:38 180 128
The Caffeine Kid 21:37 18:16 84 60
gsriordan52 21:47 35:33 163 116
goblin 21:57 30:33 139 99
JayEm 23:17 25:57 111 79
Fidelio 23:19 37:42 161 115
Corymbia Corymbia 23:21 37:20 159 113
medodd 24:05 35:37 147 105
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 24:26 42:50 175 125
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:54 37:07 149 106
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:03 40:10 160 114
mjsaunders9 25:16 23:46 94 67
mich_punk 25:29 63:19 248 177
chris661554 26:00 48:19 185 132
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:03 30:02 115 82
ratterz 26:05 26:30 101 72
En Cee 26:12 29:17 111 79
Dr_Bob 26:53 46:17 172 122
barracuda barracuda 27:07 25:08 92 65
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:11 37:49 139 99
FelicityTT 27:21 34:45 127 90
Yatton50 27:42 42:00 151 107
David Luke 28:09 29:59 106 75
nekabue 28:15 35:14 124 88
Grumpole Grumpole 28:17 35:25 125 89
Menelaus 28:35 34:17 119 85
gbestanley 28:47 37:25 129 92
Manveru 28:49 46:56 162 115
Winchelt618 29:05 29:19 100 71
Gussie 29:23 46:15 157 112
RogerC 29:26 50:01 169 120
wimpoldo 29:26 28:26 96 68
Mudge Mudge 31:17 35:48 114 81
BertieVII 31:22 94:52 302 215
alexngbr 32:22 45:21 140 100
koro kororareka 33:17 61:53 185 132
Cryptique 34:35 31:03 89 63
jackk.larg 35:06 36:13 103 73
intentional rounding 35:11 49:09 139 99
Jambo20 36:22 98:20 270 192
Birdingbob 36:28 50:36 138 98
starstruck starstruck_au 37:30 67:37 180 128
CoxBurglar coxburglar 37:50 71:58 190 135
E Bradford E Bradford 37:52 58:31 154 110
HanS 38:48 58:06 149 106
maryht 40:15 46:22 115 82
Steve Wood 43:44 57:16 130 92
empty 45:50 60:10 131 93
NJP1 58:29 114:37 195 139

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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