Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29249

Date 06 June 2025
Number 29249
Day of week Friday
NITCH 122
Count of ref solvers 71
Ref solvers excluded with errors 4
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29249

* 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 05:49 05:43 98 80
lili 05:56 08:22 141 115
cmjhutton 06:05 06:15 102 83
Diskus 06:11 06:37 107 87
verlaine Verlaine 06:17 06:41 106 86
Jason 06:23 06:56 108 88
Alexis Johansen 07:27 08:05 108 88
aphis99 aphis99 07:30 12:49 170 139
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:25 08:33 101 82
asaldanha 09:31 09:50 103 84
Ciolf 10:08 12:19 121 99
SimonAnthony 10:23 12:02 115 94
Kinghedger 10:41 19:48 185 151
Freemers 10:49 13:16 122 100
lickert 10:55 14:03 128 104
keriothe_ keriothe 10:56 23:13 212 173
scrabbler 11:02 12:52 116 95
Deane Short Deane Short 11:04 14:37 132 108
chindit 11:04 25:19 228 186
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:21 14:24 126 103
David Crooks dcrooks 11:31 14:03 121 99
Morphosis 11:39 16:32 141 115
Amoeba89 Amoeba 11:41 17:09 146 119
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 11:49 10:50 91 74
miked1961 11:51 10:34 89 72
ChuckB 12:02 16:42 138 113
chriswords 12:03 20:47 172 140
Topical Tim Topical Tim 12:09 13:19 109 89
Nigel1953 12:12 04:03 33 27
Sheapey Sheapey 12:24 15:14 122 100
njnclarke 12:27 20:02 160 131
Silva 12:41 17:51 140 114
Secondbass 13:02 17:19 132 108
JimboFS 13:07 17:42 134 109
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:16 31:37 238 195
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:22 17:55 134 109
Stavros Stavrolex 13:25 15:08 112 91
Aybee 13:36 16:02 117 95
EricK 13:49 12:06 87 71
Ben Staveley 13:50 20:43 149 122
LouWeed LouWeed 13:51 23:08 167 136
alexh 13:54 19:39 141 115
Semillon 14:10 12:21 87 71
benbush 14:17 16:01 112 91
Rinteff Rinteff 14:17 18:28 129 105
Pootle Pootle 14:19 20:21 142 116
MK76 14:20 22:01 153 125
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 14:21 16:23 114 93
Tibthorpe 14:34 21:43 149 122
Riche Riche 14:35 15:44 107 87
robertL 14:56 13:30 90 73
Penfold_61 Penfold 15:03 16:18 108 88
Finzi 15:03 17:10 114 93
julian_w 15:22 21:14 138 113
JezWoolfrey 15:26 19:43 127 104
tapbarker 15:44 23:00 146 119
CentralLine CentralLine 15:51 16:42 105 86
andrewlake 15:54 15:48 99 81
RobR RobR 16:03 15:22 95 77
whichcraft 16:08 19:03 118 96
hopkinb hopkinb 16:20 27:41 169 138
phthisis 16:29 18:59 115 94
Valance 16:45 17:06 102 83
Encota 16:54 31:37 187 153
rrricharrrd 17:04 24:53 145 118
ajcauk1 17:06 24:24 142 116
ilan 17:08 17:45 103 84
Crossiant 17:30 19:39 112 91
cdb_100 17:40 15:21 86 70
DanSolo 17:41 20:54 118 96
earlylight 17:53 16:36 92 75
Craven 18:03 19:23 107 87
PGooden 18:05 20:42 114 93
Zander 18:11 24:08 132 108
robinh 18:20 21:00 114 93
Jeremy Kenyon 18:27 30:01 162 132
David Bourne 18:28 20:35 111 90
pterodactyl 18:30 23:23 126 103
Colin2355 18:33 33:56 182 149
LJCN 18:39 24:27 131 107
thewanderingeditor 18:43 19:31 104 85
daniel.faith 18:46 24:12 128 104
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 18:52 43:29 230 188
Gallion Fish 18:56 58:48 310 254
Mike C 18:58 22:02 116 95
GMcD 19:01 35:43 187 153
KarenR 19:05 19:16 100 81
KET 19:25 20:34 105 86
pc8 19:37 27:32 140 114
Curarist Curarist 19:53 20:40 103 84
Nangle 20:16 33:35 165 135
valerian1967 20:45 20:05 96 78
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:54 24:11 115 94
Waterloo 21:04 28:45 136 111
george.garlick 21:09 24:58 118 96
The Caffeine Kid 21:16 20:47 97 79
Hamish.S 21:25 28:22 132 108
gsriordan52 21:43 29:23 135 110
Rod B 21:46 25:29 117 95
goblin 22:08 35:37 160 131
david_ch 22:22 41:35 185 151
Anomalospiza 22:29 39:46 176 144
Fidelio 22:31 38:37 171 140
James P Special_bitter 22:37 30:25 134 109
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 22:40 52:52 233 190
JayEm 23:07 26:07 112 91
Corymbia Corymbia 23:27 21:54 93 76
mjsaunders9 23:27 25:53 110 90
crosswordian 24:12 26:24 109 89
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 24:18 41:53 172 140
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 24:31 36:01 146 119
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:37 26:30 107 87
Mkgnao Mkgnao 24:52 28:38 115 94
Coffell 25:21 25:51 101 82
Brenk Brenk1 25:42 27:26 106 86
chris661554 25:45 34:00 132 108
ulaca ulaca 26:12 47:24 180 147
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:14 28:12 107 87
Jamie Fox 26:21 55:09 209 171
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 26:45 59:07 220 180
barracuda barracuda 27:13 40:06 147 120
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:15 46:15 169 138
Manveru 28:17 25:34 90 73
nekabue 28:20 46:29 164 134
plusjeremy (Jeremy Weissmann) plusjeremy 28:25 59:07 208 170
gbestanley 28:35 31:18 109 89
David Luke 29:28 36:56 125 102
RogerC 29:29 48:37 164 134
laurence_da 31:43 23:53 75 61
alistair.boere 31:48 49:55 156 127
vinyl12345 vinyl1 31:53 38:21 120 98
BertieVII 31:59 38:07 119 97
Mudge Mudge 32:15 43:54 136 111
boltonwanderer 33:51 45:00 132 108
intentional rounding 34:01 47:23 139 113
koro kororareka 34:08 48:24 141 115
The Real Steve Snackman 34:37 48:27 139 113
hectorslave 34:41 47:51 137 112
Lloyd 34:41 56:19 162 132
Cryptique 34:42 39:50 114 93
Shushannah 36:08 60:20 166 136
Birdingbob 36:09 42:13 116 95
starstruck starstruck_au 37:35 67:31 179 146
HanS 38:20 51:20 133 109
rv_1 39:13 56:19 143 117
Jambo20 39:58 79:23 198 162
maryht 41:04 86:31 210 172
Steve Wood 43:01 37:58 88 72
empty 45:38 55:24 121 99
MichaelE 48:25 45:09 93 76
MartinP MartinP1 49:17 67:39 137 112
NJP1 56:03 58:24 104 85

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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