Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29269

Date 30 June 2025
Number 29269
Day of week Monday
NITCH 68
Count of ref solvers 59
Ref solvers excluded with errors 3
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29269

* Requires access to the Times Crossword Club

Detailed solving results

 

If you would like to help cover the costs of running the SNITCH site, please "buy me a coffee".

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
mohn mohn2 04:25 03:12 72 105
Nathan Panning 05:49 03:24 58 85
Magoo 05:56 03:17 55 80
Paul Gilbert 06:07 04:13 68 100
Diskus 06:16 04:58 79 116
cmjhutton 06:16 04:49 76 111
verlaine Verlaine 06:20 03:35 56 82
Alexis Johansen 07:33 05:03 66 97
aphis99 aphis99 07:39 04:38 60 88
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:19 07:30 90 132
Umpire 08:52 05:49 65 95
asaldanha 09:16 05:38 60 88
glheard glh 09:39 07:46 80 117
markdobell 09:43 06:27 66 97
Ciolf 10:04 05:33 55 80
SimonAnthony 10:18 08:42 84 123
Kinghedger 10:39 08:43 81 119
Freemers 10:43 08:29 79 116
scrabbler 10:55 08:00 73 107
chindit 11:08 07:25 66 97
Heyesey 11:09 05:49 52 76
keriothe_ keriothe 11:17 09:06 80 117
Amoeba89 Amoeba 11:26 07:36 66 97
Deane Short Deane Short 11:30 07:54 68 100
neilr neilr 11:30 12:06 105 154
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:33 07:19 63 92
miked1961 11:45 08:38 73 107
David Crooks dcrooks 11:48 11:13 95 139
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 12:15 10:57 89 130
aphasic 12:18 08:30 69 101
chriswords 12:19 08:31 69 101
Adelaider 12:23 11:14 90 132
Sheapey Sheapey 12:23 08:15 66 97
John Walsh 12:39 13:28 106 155
tilbee 12:41 11:15 88 129
Groucho 12:44 09:57 78 114
Silva 12:48 15:39 122 179
njnclarke 12:54 13:45 106 155
canismiser 12:54 10:44 83 122
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 12:58 07:51 60 88
JimboFS 13:04 11:57 91 133
EricK 13:16 10:54 82 120
Paul Bacon 13:17 12:49 96 141
Secondbass 13:25 10:41 79 116
Peponi13 13:45 07:51 57 83
LouWeed LouWeed 14:00 08:53 63 92
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 14:01 07:12 51 75
Pootle Pootle 14:10 12:21 87 127
Semillon 14:14 07:35 53 77
Ben Staveley 14:30 13:31 93 136
Riche Riche 14:30 11:50 81 119
Rinteff Rinteff 14:38 11:38 79 116
Tibthorpe 14:42 13:34 92 135
Carol 14:51 11:20 76 111
MK76 14:52 09:05 61 89
DunPangolin 14:56 19:09 128 188
franceslc11 15:02 12:24 82 120
Looch 15:05 09:59 66 97
Finzi 15:09 13:15 87 127
whichcraft 15:12 08:24 55 80
BlackburnRover 15:14 16:49 110 161
chriswestontour Chris West 15:17 13:19 87 127
JezWoolfrey 15:18 15:10 99 145
julian_w 15:19 10:54 71 104
cdb_100 15:20 11:31 75 110
CentralLine CentralLine 15:25 09:51 63 92
andrewlake 15:48 09:59 63 92
cmcnsmith 15:52 14:39 92 135
tapbarker 15:59 12:13 76 111
RobR RobR 16:00 15:37 97 142
robertL 16:01 08:00 49 72
LuckOfLucien 16:19 09:49 60 88
Jeremy S 16:37 14:38 88 129
jimwetzler 16:37 09:31 57 83
Vannyx 16:45 13:39 81 119
rrricharrrd 16:48 12:01 71 104
ilan 16:57 12:51 75 110
Encota 16:57 10:46 63 92
phthisis 16:59 12:22 72 105
ajcauk1 17:14 14:09 82 120
SeamusX 17:19 25:52 149 219
PGooden 18:00 07:46 43 63
earlylight 18:04 11:57 66 97
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:14 16:36 91 133
KET 18:16 12:01 65 95
Zander 18:27 13:00 70 102
Squallaby 18:28 10:29 56 82
robinh 18:41 13:53 74 108
DamienKnapma 18:46 22:25 119 175
FraserH 18:52 11:27 60 88
hugh schofield Leskoffer 19:03 24:10 126 185
daniel.faith 19:04 13:46 72 105
Jeremy Kenyon 19:04 14:26 75 110
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 19:13 09:56 51 75
John Arnold 19:17 18:03 93 136
GMcD 19:17 09:56 51 75
Sheen 19:18 12:16 63 92
uvofiz 19:33 13:54 71 104
Willie F 19:40 17:08 87 127
pc8 19:40 14:19 72 105
UisceTe 20:00 17:35 87 127
dec 20:03 14:43 73 107
Rowlie26 Rowlie26 20:11 17:27 86 126
Nangle 20:39 13:43 66 97
dr.shred 20:52 17:16 82 120
The Caffeine Kid 20:57 17:01 81 119
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:57 13:48 65 95
george.garlick 20:58 17:56 85 125
babka 21:01 11:49 56 82
valerian1967 21:01 12:21 58 85
Dvynys dvynys 21:20 18:47 88 129
Hamish.S 21:37 10:40 49 72
gsriordan52 21:47 20:18 93 136
Rod B 21:55 15:28 70 102
Waterloo 21:56 15:46 71 104
Anomalospiza 22:23 13:44 61 89
Corymbia Corymbia 22:28 15:12 67 98
James P Special_bitter 22:31 14:30 64 94
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 22:32 16:11 71 104
goblin 22:49 20:37 90 132
Tudds 22:55 19:07 83 122
Aldus 23:07 13:13 57 83
JayEm 23:09 07:46 33 48
infinitejest 23:48 18:35 78 114
Mkgnao Mkgnao 24:14 19:34 80 117
En Cee 24:44 23:07 93 136
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 24:45 12:33 50 73
Crippens1 24:47 22:40 91 133
Brian McNamar 25:37 19:34 76 111
ulaca ulaca 25:39 20:36 80 117
Brenk Brenk1 26:00 10:00 38 55
Coffell 26:03 20:05 77 113
Jamie Fox 26:33 17:39 66 97
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:46 17:33 65 95
Yatton50 26:47 16:19 60 88
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:04 13:43 50 73
barracuda barracuda 27:25 20:35 75 110
Word Psmith wordpsmith 27:30 20:10 73 107
Manveru 28:06 26:23 93 136
alwsn8 28:17 11:10 39 57
plusjeremy (Jeremy Weissmann) plusjeremy 28:28 11:41 41 60
Menelaus 28:38 24:16 84 123
Dr_Bob 28:46 14:11 49 72
Grumpole Grumpole 29:23 22:32 76 111
nekabue 29:23 21:46 74 108
laurence_da 29:47 22:51 76 111
David Luke 30:19 20:53 68 100
tyrotim tyrotim 30:36 30:08 98 144
simjt simjt 31:06 25:49 83 122
BertieVII 32:20 25:18 78 114
CoxBurglar coxburglar 33:30 23:41 70 102
Mudge Mudge 33:41 15:34 46 67
The Real Steve Snackman 33:47 14:24 42 61
Birdingbob 34:07 19:39 57 83
joss henry 34:20 27:32 80 117
koro kororareka 34:56 28:03 80 117
boltonwanderer 35:07 22:00 62 91
JoeyC 35:14 16:12 45 66
dosbarth 35:35 23:44 66 97
hectorslave 36:14 23:31 64 94
Peloton 36:47 15:42 42 61
Shushannah 36:55 22:33 61 89
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 36:57 39:35 107 157
starstruck starstruck_au 37:08 26:46 72 105
MalcolmD 38:54 21:22 54 79
maryht 40:05 35:49 89 130
Steve Wood 42:50 31:17 73 107
empty 45:19 44:52 99 145
Aidleys 46:20 24:51 53 77
MichaelE 46:32 31:52 68 100
MartinP MartinP1 47:43 24:32 51 75

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.

Loading...
Loading...
Back