Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29270

Date 01 July 2025
Number 29270
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 65
Count of ref solvers 64
Ref solvers excluded with errors 1
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29270

* 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 03:58 68 104
lili 05:54 04:17 72 110
Magoo 05:56 03:33 59 90
Paul Gilbert 06:07 03:00 49 75
cmjhutton 06:16 03:12 51 78
Diskus 06:16 03:59 63 96
hilarym 06:56 06:57 100 153
mistigris 07:25 04:35 61 93
Alexis Johansen 07:33 05:14 69 106
aphis99 aphis99 07:39 04:42 61 93
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:19 06:52 82 126
boulemiche 08:43 08:37 98 150
Umpire 08:52 05:56 66 101
asaldanha 09:16 06:21 68 104
AlanS 09:33 09:15 96 147
glheard glh 09:39 07:16 75 115
markdobell 09:43 06:45 69 106
Ciolf 10:04 06:28 64 98
SimonAnthony 10:18 08:03 78 120
Kinghedger 10:39 08:15 77 118
Freemers 10:43 12:07 113 173
scrabbler 10:55 09:38 88 135
lickert 11:04 07:53 71 109
chindit 11:08 07:18 65 100
Heyesey 11:09 05:10 46 70
keriothe_ keriothe 11:17 07:14 64 98
Amoeba89 Amoeba 11:26 04:51 42 64
Deane Short Deane Short 11:30 07:15 63 96
andy 11:43 07:37 65 100
miked1961 11:45 07:33 64 98
David Crooks dcrooks 11:48 11:44 99 152
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 11:59 08:55 74 113
fuzz 12:10 10:35 86 132
ChuckB 12:11 09:49 80 123
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 12:15 10:43 87 133
aphasic 12:18 12:51 104 160
chriswords 12:19 07:19 59 90
Sheapey Sheapey 12:23 07:33 60 92
Topical Tim Topical Tim 12:28 09:02 72 110
John Walsh 12:39 12:47 101 155
Groucho 12:44 09:26 74 113
Silva 12:48 08:54 69 106
njnclarke 12:54 10:12 79 121
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 12:58 09:16 71 109
JimboFS 13:04 10:54 83 127
d.middleton 13:13 12:43 96 147
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:14 10:26 78 120
EricK 13:16 06:56 52 80
Paul Bacon 13:17 12:19 92 141
Stavros Stavrolex 13:21 11:11 83 127
Secondbass 13:25 09:07 67 103
Eddddddd 13:33 05:18 39 60
Peponi13 13:45 12:39 92 141
LouWeed LouWeed 14:00 10:41 76 116
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 14:01 12:39 90 138
Pootle Pootle 14:10 13:01 91 140
Semillon 14:14 07:05 49 75
Ben Staveley 14:30 09:48 67 103
Riche Riche 14:30 11:27 78 120
johninterred Johninterred 14:34 13:49 94 144
Rinteff Rinteff 14:38 09:30 64 98
Tibthorpe 14:42 10:59 74 113
Carol 14:51 10:11 68 104
nmsellen 14:53 11:30 77 118
DunPangolin 14:56 13:27 90 138
franceslc11 15:02 11:58 79 121
Looch 15:05 12:21 81 124
Finzi 15:09 13:08 86 132
BlackburnRover 15:14 12:51 84 129
chriswestontour Chris West 15:17 15:59 104 160
JezWoolfrey 15:18 08:57 58 89
cdb_100 15:20 09:49 64 98
CentralLine CentralLine 15:25 07:07 46 70
andrewlake 15:48 13:29 85 130
cmcnsmith 15:52 15:07 95 146
hopkinb hopkinb 15:57 15:41 98 150
RobR RobR 16:00 13:44 85 130
robertL 16:01 12:43 79 121
LuckOfLucien 16:19 11:10 68 104
Jeremy S 16:37 19:22 116 178
Achernar 16:52 12:22 73 112
Valance 16:55 10:27 61 93
Encota 16:57 08:33 50 76
ilan 16:57 10:05 59 90
phthisis 16:59 10:06 59 90
ajcauk1 17:14 13:51 80 123
PGooden 18:00 13:29 74 113
earlylight 18:04 15:43 86 132
KET 18:16 19:11 105 161
Squallaby 18:28 12:39 68 104
hugh schofield Leskoffer 19:03 09:14 48 73
Jeremy Kenyon 19:04 27:49 145 223
daniel.faith 19:04 09:55 52 80
KarenR 19:09 10:50 56 86
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 19:13 15:20 79 121
LJCN 19:15 13:12 68 104
John Arnold 19:17 19:14 99 152
GMcD 19:17 18:03 93 143
pterodactyl 19:19 17:01 88 135
Colin2355 19:20 15:13 78 120
uvofiz 19:33 10:13 52 80
pc8 19:40 10:53 55 84
Willie F 19:40 13:04 66 101
Gallion Fish 19:43 18:13 92 141
UisceTe 20:00 22:32 112 172
Curarist Curarist 20:18 09:27 46 70
Jagsfan1971 20:23 14:26 70 107
The Caffeine Kid 20:57 11:24 54 83
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:57 17:29 83 127
george.garlick 20:58 23:25 111 170
babka 21:01 12:29 59 90
valerian1967 21:01 14:08 67 103
Hamish.S 21:37 16:46 77 118
gsriordan52 21:47 10:43 49 75
Rod B 21:55 11:57 54 83
Waterloo 21:56 16:58 77 118
Grestyman Grestyman 22:20 14:25 64 98
stainl665 22:21 15:39 70 107
Anomalospiza 22:23 19:37 87 133
Corymbia Corymbia 22:28 17:11 76 116
James P Special_bitter 22:31 11:57 53 81
goblin 22:49 16:39 72 110
Tudds 22:55 14:45 64 98
Aldus 23:07 13:10 56 86
JayEm 23:09 09:09 39 60
mjsaunders9 23:41 15:52 66 101
Mkgnao Mkgnao 24:14 20:51 86 132
En Cee 24:44 14:56 60 92
Crippens1 24:47 14:25 58 89
ulaca ulaca 25:39 15:56 62 95
Brenk Brenk1 26:00 17:46 68 104
Coffell 26:03 17:05 65 100
symbenall2 26:11 16:46 64 98
Jamie Fox 26:33 18:00 67 103
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:46 25:23 94 144
Yatton50 26:47 21:30 80 123
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:04 19:18 71 109
barracuda barracuda 27:25 14:56 54 83
wimpoldo 27:36 32:12 116 178
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 27:52 17:23 62 95
Manveru 28:06 19:01 67 103
alwsn8 28:17 14:42 51 78
annikins 28:25 20:02 70 107
Menelaus 28:38 14:34 50 76
gbestanley 28:39 20:28 71 109
Dr_Bob 28:46 24:05 83 127
f4rch 29:02 15:16 52 80
nekabue 29:23 18:15 62 95
Grumpole Grumpole 29:23 21:28 73 112
vinyl12345 vinyl1 30:04 26:25 87 133
birthday girl 32:08 23:03 71 109
BertieVII 32:20 21:24 66 101
intentional rounding 33:38 18:00 53 81
The Real Steve Snackman 33:47 26:18 77 118
Lloyd 34:47 28:18 81 124
koro kororareka 34:56 24:37 70 107
Maggot 34:59 21:30 61 93
boltonwanderer 35:07 34:00 96 147
dosbarth 35:35 42:17 118 181
Shushannah 36:55 30:53 83 127
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 36:57 43:23 117 180
rv_1 37:05 22:23 60 92
starstruck starstruck_au 37:08 18:33 49 75
HanS 38:12 25:39 67 103
E Bradford E Bradford 38:39 22:05 57 87
JGP 38:44 16:15 41 63
MalcolmD 38:54 23:16 59 90
Dr Dolittle 39:05 28:54 73 112
maryht 40:05 30:24 75 115
NAPASAI napasai 41:11 17:23 42 64
Steve Wood 42:50 25:36 59 90
empty 45:19 28:17 62 95
Aidleys 46:20 16:38 35 53
MartinP MartinP1 47:43 30:41 64 98

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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