Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29240

Date 27 May 2025
Number 29240
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 83
Count of ref solvers 60
Ref solvers excluded with errors 4
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29240

* 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
Nathan Panning 05:52 05:07 87 104
Paul Gilbert 05:54 09:53 167 201
cmjhutton 05:56 03:32 59 71
Magoo 06:02 03:33 58 69
lili 06:06 05:55 96 115
Diskus 06:14 04:53 78 93
Jason 06:20 07:20 115 138
verlaine Verlaine 06:25 06:02 94 113
aphis99 aphis99 07:27 05:56 79 95
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:29 06:11 72 86
Umpire 09:01 10:09 112 134
asaldanha 09:27 12:04 127 153
AlanS 09:35 10:48 112 134
glheard glh 09:50 08:50 89 107
Ciolf 10:09 07:01 69 83
SimonAnthony 10:38 08:32 80 96
Kinghedger 10:44 08:35 79 95
Deane Short Deane Short 10:47 11:27 106 127
lickert 10:51 10:57 100 120
chindit 10:54 10:15 94 113
keriothe_ keriothe 11:08 10:52 97 116
neilr neilr 11:12 11:28 102 122
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:30 10:24 90 108
Morphosis 11:31 11:43 101 121
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 11:32 11:28 99 119
David Crooks dcrooks 11:36 09:22 80 96
ChuckB 11:36 12:09 104 125
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 11:44 10:50 92 110
Amoeba89 Amoeba 11:45 06:44 57 68
miked1961 11:53 10:32 88 106
njnclarke 11:54 08:22 70 84
chriswords 11:55 12:19 103 124
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:57 09:29 79 95
tilbee 12:08 13:54 114 137
Sheapey Sheapey 12:16 10:50 88 106
Freemers 12:22 12:03 97 116
aphasic 12:28 10:52 87 104
canismiser 12:47 06:33 51 61
Silva 12:50 10:47 84 101
JimboFS 12:54 10:13 79 95
d.middleton 12:57 17:38 136 163
Groucho 13:02 10:43 82 98
Paul Bacon 13:03 13:22 102 122
Secondbass 13:08 11:00 83 100
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:17 16:56 127 153
Stavros Stavrolex 13:21 10:40 79 95
Eddddddd 13:32 16:14 119 143
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:39 16:45 122 146
Adelaider 13:39 14:52 108 130
alexh 13:42 14:01 102 122
LouWeed LouWeed 13:47 09:12 66 79
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:48 12:32 90 108
benbush 14:04 12:30 88 106
EricK 14:06 09:07 64 77
Ben Staveley 14:06 12:00 85 102
grape 14:07 17:37 124 149
Semillon 14:20 14:09 98 118
robertL 14:20 11:00 76 91
Pootle Pootle 14:24 11:55 82 98
Rinteff Rinteff 14:26 12:14 84 101
Tibthorpe 14:35 14:48 101 121
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:40 11:40 79 95
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 14:42 12:04 82 98
Riche Riche 14:52 15:44 105 126
myles 14:57 20:30 137 165
chriswestontour Chris West 15:03 19:38 130 156
BlackburnRover 15:08 12:33 82 98
Finzi 15:12 12:16 80 96
Looch 15:15 15:29 101 121
JezWoolfrey 15:16 15:13 99 119
DunPangolin 15:19 17:53 116 139
franceslc11 15:23 18:21 119 143
gabrojak 15:31 11:56 76 91
tapbarker 15:46 11:43 74 89
cdb_100 15:50 10:06 63 75
andrewlake 15:55 12:30 78 93
cmcnsmith 16:03 19:42 122 146
CentralLine CentralLine 16:03 15:55 99 119
Encota 16:33 13:39 82 98
Valance 16:43 08:22 50 60
Jeremy S 16:52 15:04 89 107
ilan 16:53 15:42 92 110
ajcauk1 17:05 15:26 90 108
rrricharrrd 17:07 12:05 70 84
DanSolo 17:38 15:13 86 103
PGooden 17:52 15:37 87 104
Vannyx 17:56 16:23 91 109
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 18:03 13:46 76 91
LJCN 18:14 16:51 92 110
Jeremy Kenyon 18:14 17:47 97 116
Zander 18:18 14:25 78 93
GMcD 18:23 11:13 61 73
Squallaby 18:26 13:58 75 90
SeamusX 18:32 10:41 57 68
pterodactyl 18:36 18:48 101 121
daniel.faith 18:37 19:49 106 127
David Bourne 18:47 27:03 144 173
pc8 18:53 22:42 120 144
John Arnold 19:02 17:33 92 110
Colin2355 19:13 23:50 124 149
KarenR 19:27 13:13 67 80
Upfisher 19:29 13:05 67 80
Curarist Curarist 19:32 13:24 68 81
DamienKnapma 19:51 24:52 125 150
brian.richards1 20:00 15:34 77 92
Rembleforth 20:10 28:41 142 171
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:15 18:17 90 108
valerian1967 20:18 13:18 65 78
kath 20:38 27:42 134 161
Waterloo 20:39 19:49 95 114
tony the butcher montana 20:47 15:41 75 90
george.garlick 20:55 26:12 125 150
Hamish.S 21:08 22:26 106 127
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 21:26 25:21 118 142
Dvynys dvynys 21:31 15:35 72 86
gsriordan52 21:47 20:23 93 112
goblin 21:57 23:17 106 127
Rod B 22:06 22:25 101 121
martinr486 22:47 17:32 76 91
Nigel1953 23:14 03:40 15 18
infinitejest 23:16 21:16 91 109
JayEm 23:17 18:39 80 96
Fidelio 23:19 20:38 88 106
Corymbia Corymbia 23:21 20:13 86 103
Tudds 24:04 18:36 77 92
medodd 24:05 22:44 94 113
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 24:26 21:56 89 107
Crippens1 24:53 26:28 106 127
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:54 18:14 73 87
Coffell 24:57 30:56 123 148
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:03 16:42 66 79
mich_punk 25:29 18:19 71 85
chris661554 26:00 17:16 66 79
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:03 23:36 90 108
Aldus 26:03 21:37 82 98
ulaca ulaca 26:11 30:41 117 140
En Cee 26:12 24:12 92 110
Dr_Bob 26:53 29:45 110 132
Jamie Fox 27:01 18:35 68 81
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:11 21:29 79 95
nekabue 28:15 23:14 82 98
gbestanley 28:47 25:17 87 104
Manveru 28:49 21:43 75 90
wimpoldo 29:26 24:42 83 100
RogerC 29:26 27:55 94 113
simjt simjt 29:43 33:24 112 134
alistair.boere 31:18 49:52 159 191
dosbarth 31:18 24:28 78 93
BertieVII 31:22 26:13 83 100
vinyl12345 vinyl1 31:41 26:28 83 100
joss henry 31:45 26:11 82 98
koro kororareka 33:17 27:24 82 98
kapietro kapietro 34:13 27:46 81 97
Cryptique 34:35 34:19 99 119
intentional rounding 35:11 23:24 66 79
The Real Steve Snackman 36:23 31:13 85 102
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 37:16 41:10 110 132
starstruck starstruck_au 37:30 32:23 86 103
E Bradford E Bradford 37:52 30:16 79 95
HanS 38:48 40:27 104 125
rv_1 39:26 30:07 76 91
maryht 40:15 83:04 206 248
Steve Wood 43:44 25:22 58 69
empty 45:50 54:41 119 143
MichaelE 46:46 36:15 77 92
MartinP MartinP1 50:24 34:42 68 81
profsjpayne 54:36 87:42 160 192

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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