Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29242

Date 29 May 2025
Number 29242
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 99
Count of ref solvers 65
Ref solvers excluded with errors 12
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29242

* 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 05:14 89 89
cmjhutton 05:56 06:54 116 117
lili 06:06 09:19 152 153
Diskus 06:14 05:54 94 94
Jason 06:20 08:50 139 140
verlaine Verlaine 06:25 06:53 107 108
aphis99 aphis99 07:27 07:10 96 96
Alexis Johansen 07:29 07:25 99 100
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:29 07:59 94 94
Umpire 09:01 09:46 108 109
asaldanha 09:27 09:49 103 104
richard 09:31 12:44 133 134
AlanS 09:35 07:15 75 75
glheard glh 09:50 10:09 103 104
markdobell 09:54 10:37 107 108
Ciolf 10:09 14:24 141 142
SimonAnthony 10:38 16:49 158 159
chindit 10:54 11:30 105 106
keriothe_ keriothe 11:08 09:13 82 82
neilr neilr 11:12 10:14 91 91
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:30 11:28 99 100
Morphosis 11:31 11:59 104 105
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 11:32 14:29 125 126
ChuckB 11:36 18:23 158 159
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 11:44 11:14 95 95
Amoeba89 Amoeba 11:45 18:48 160 161
miked1961 11:53 12:01 101 102
njnclarke 11:54 14:55 125 126
chriswords 11:55 11:34 97 97
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:57 14:23 120 121
tilbee 12:08 14:03 115 116
Sheapey Sheapey 12:16 11:24 92 92
Freemers 12:22 13:29 109 110
aphasic 12:28 15:06 121 122
John Walsh 12:38 10:56 86 86
Silva 12:50 16:20 127 128
Groucho 13:02 14:37 112 113
Paul Bacon 13:03 14:50 113 114
Secondbass 13:08 09:00 68 68
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:17 14:50 111 112
Stavros Stavrolex 13:21 10:08 75 75
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:39 11:07 81 81
alexh 13:42 12:05 88 88
LouWeed LouWeed 13:47 18:15 132 133
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:48 10:11 73 73
Peponi13 14:04 14:44 104 105
Ben Staveley 14:06 15:26 109 110
EricK 14:06 12:35 89 89
robertL 14:20 14:36 101 102
Semillon 14:20 15:58 111 112
Pootle Pootle 14:24 29:05 201 203
Tibthorpe 14:35 12:09 83 83
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:40 16:37 113 114
MK76 14:48 20:31 138 139
chriswestontour Chris West 15:03 17:34 116 117
BlackburnRover 15:08 17:32 115 116
Finzi 15:12 16:00 105 106
Looch 15:15 14:20 93 93
JezWoolfrey 15:16 16:38 108 109
franceslc11 15:23 14:44 95 95
gabrojak 15:31 18:20 118 119
tapbarker 15:46 20:17 128 129
cdb_100 15:50 19:59 126 127
CentralLine CentralLine 16:03 17:59 112 113
nmsellen 16:13 14:18 88 88
Encota 16:33 12:31 75 75
ilan 16:53 17:05 101 102
ajcauk1 17:05 18:14 106 107
rrricharrrd 17:07 22:50 133 134
earlylight 17:35 20:14 115 116
DanSolo 17:38 30:09 170 171
KET 17:50 15:10 85 85
PGooden 17:52 17:02 95 95
Vannyx 17:56 21:24 119 120
Gallion Fish 17:57 17:57 100 101
robinh 18:13 21:40 118 119
Jeremy Kenyon 18:14 19:11 105 106
Zander 18:18 18:46 102 103
GMcD 18:23 20:02 108 109
Squallaby 18:26 20:20 110 111
pterodactyl 18:36 22:04 118 119
daniel.faith 18:37 14:21 77 77
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:38 26:32 142 143
pc8 18:53 16:10 85 85
John Arnold 19:02 20:42 108 109
Nangle 19:24 26:05 134 135
Curarist Curarist 19:32 22:00 112 113
uvofiz 19:44 19:14 97 97
DamienKnapma 19:51 20:27 103 104
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:15 17:36 86 86
valerian1967 20:18 14:08 69 69
kath 20:38 19:59 96 96
Waterloo 20:39 27:33 133 134
janesa 20:48 24:54 119 120
george.garlick 20:55 23:48 113 114
stainl665 21:11 21:30 101 102
Dvynys dvynys 21:31 19:36 91 91
gsriordan52 21:47 14:45 67 67
goblin 21:57 20:51 94 94
Rod B 22:06 21:10 95 95
Nigel1953 23:14 03:30 15 15
Fidelio 23:19 24:56 106 107
Corymbia Corymbia 23:21 24:58 106 107
Tudds 24:04 23:38 98 98
crosswordian 24:26 22:21 91 91
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 24:26 24:37 100 101
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 24:42 15:57 64 64
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:54 21:19 85 85
Coffell 24:57 33:08 132 133
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:03 19:58 79 79
mjsaunders9 25:16 19:31 77 77
chris661554 26:00 25:56 99 100
Aldus 26:03 17:55 68 68
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:03 16:21 62 62
ulaca ulaca 26:11 28:35 109 110
En Cee 26:12 19:52 75 75
Dr_Bob 26:53 33:44 125 126
Jamie Fox 27:01 63:14 234 236
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:11 30:58 113 114
plusjeremy (Jeremy Weissmann) plusjeremy 27:47 54:47 197 198
David Luke 28:09 28:23 100 101
Grumpole Grumpole 28:17 18:45 66 66
f4rch 28:30 32:33 114 115
wimpoldo 29:26 32:48 111 112
RogerC 29:26 27:17 92 92
simjt simjt 29:43 38:17 128 129
richardCV22 30:13 18:13 60 60
alistair.boere 31:18 41:29 132 133
BertieVII 31:22 28:41 91 91
vinyl12345 vinyl1 31:41 45:22 143 144
joss henry 31:45 57:14 180 181
koro kororareka 33:17 30:44 92 92
kapietro kapietro 34:13 37:18 109 110
intentional rounding 35:11 44:26 126 127
Shushannah 35:16 46:06 130 131
Rookie 36:02 28:57 80 80
The Real Steve Snackman 36:23 29:44 81 81
starstruck starstruck_au 37:30 31:54 85 85
MalcolmD 38:12 38:53 101 102
HanS 38:48 34:50 89 89
rv_1 39:26 37:05 94 94
Aidleys 43:28 61:28 141 142
Steve Wood 43:44 31:32 72 72
empty 45:50 54:54 119 120
MichaelE 46:46 30:16 64 64
MartinP MartinP1 50:24 38:54 77 77

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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