Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29271

Date 02 July 2025
Number 29271
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 85
Count of ref solvers 70
Ref solvers excluded with errors 11
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29271

* 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
mohn mohn2 04:25 04:09 93 109
lili 05:54 06:18 106 124
cmjhutton 06:16 06:30 103 121
aphis99 aphis99 07:39 08:26 110 129
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:19 08:03 96 112
asaldanha 09:16 09:00 97 114
AlanS 09:33 10:00 104 122
markdobell 09:43 08:40 89 104
SimonAnthony 10:18 08:53 86 101
Kinghedger 10:39 09:24 88 103
Freemers 10:43 12:19 114 134
scrabbler 10:55 09:47 89 104
keriothe_ keriothe 11:17 06:52 60 70
Deane Short Deane Short 11:30 07:41 66 77
andy 11:43 12:50 109 128
miked1961 11:45 09:03 77 90
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 12:15 09:44 79 92
chriswords 12:19 13:34 110 129
Sheapey Sheapey 12:23 09:51 79 92
John Walsh 12:39 14:50 117 137
tilbee 12:41 15:21 121 142
Silva 12:48 15:03 117 137
canismiser 12:54 10:50 83 97
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:14 13:04 98 115
Stavros Stavrolex 13:21 12:43 95 111
Secondbass 13:25 10:45 80 94
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:26 12:31 93 109
Peponi13 13:45 14:32 105 123
Aybee 13:46 09:25 68 80
LouWeed LouWeed 14:00 13:39 97 114
Pootle Pootle 14:10 15:20 108 127
Riche Riche 14:30 11:56 82 96
Ben Staveley 14:30 15:01 103 121
johninterred Johninterred 14:34 12:25 85 100
Rinteff Rinteff 14:38 12:38 86 101
Tibthorpe 14:42 10:36 72 84
MK76 14:52 12:07 81 95
DunPangolin 14:56 13:15 88 103
Looch 15:05 12:19 81 95
Finzi 15:09 15:42 103 121
BlackburnRover 15:14 18:30 121 142
JezWoolfrey 15:18 12:10 79 92
cdb_100 15:20 07:21 47 55
CentralLine CentralLine 15:25 13:57 90 105
andrewlake 15:48 10:47 68 80
hopkinb hopkinb 15:57 12:04 75 88
rrricharrrd 16:48 17:56 106 124
Achernar 16:52 18:00 106 124
Encota 16:57 12:12 71 83
ilan 16:57 13:10 77 90
phthisis 16:59 14:26 84 98
ajcauk1 17:14 20:39 119 140
PGooden 18:00 11:55 66 77
Kalakuta72 18:02 27:51 154 181
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:14 15:08 82 96
Zander 18:27 14:19 77 90
Squallaby 18:28 16:34 89 104
DanSolo 18:36 15:24 82 96
Upfisher 18:53 14:25 76 89
Jeremy Kenyon 19:04 15:17 80 94
KarenR 19:09 16:52 88 103
John Arnold 19:17 28:11 146 171
GMcD 19:17 14:26 74 87
pterodactyl 19:19 15:04 77 90
Colin2355 19:20 19:06 98 115
uvofiz 19:33 18:10 92 108
Willie F 19:40 16:12 82 96
pc8 19:40 22:47 115 135
Gallion Fish 19:43 27:42 140 164
UisceTe 20:00 16:30 82 96
Rowlie26 Rowlie26 20:11 17:08 84 98
Curarist Curarist 20:18 14:58 73 85
Nangle 20:39 14:21 69 81
dr.shred 20:52 21:35 103 121
The Caffeine Kid 20:57 16:43 79 92
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:57 17:53 85 100
valerian1967 21:01 25:38 121 142
tony the butcher montana 21:30 09:54 46 54
Hamish.S 21:37 16:42 77 90
Corymbia Corymbia 22:28 18:17 81 95
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 22:32 20:46 92 108
goblin 22:49 18:58 83 97
Tudds 22:55 25:18 110 129
Aldus 23:07 21:36 93 109
JayEm 23:09 22:54 98 115
mjsaunders9 23:41 15:57 67 78
Mkgnao Mkgnao 24:14 23:25 96 112
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:24 31:17 128 150
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 24:45 19:20 78 91
medodd 24:54 23:35 94 110
ulaca ulaca 25:39 12:29 48 56
SlumdogEngineer 25:48 29:33 114 134
Coffell 26:03 25:20 97 114
Jamie Fox 26:33 20:03 75 88
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:46 22:56 85 100
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:04 31:09 115 135
barracuda barracuda 27:25 22:52 83 97
wimpoldo 27:36 30:01 108 127
Manveru 28:06 19:48 70 82
alwsn8 28:17 11:15 39 45
Menelaus 28:38 26:52 93 109
Dr_Bob 28:46 30:24 105 123
nekabue 29:23 27:28 93 109
Grumpole Grumpole 29:23 21:45 74 87
tyrotim tyrotim 30:36 37:40 123 144
birthday girl 32:08 42:23 131 154
sagesse sagesse 32:14 16:51 52 61
CoxBurglar coxburglar 33:30 25:20 75 88
intentional rounding 33:38 23:33 70 82
The Real Steve Snackman 33:47 27:55 82 96
gothick gothick 33:53 54:00 159 187
Birdingbob 34:07 17:46 52 61
joss henry 34:20 33:24 97 114
Rookie 34:23 25:56 75 88
Bossbutbee 34:56 28:43 82 96
koro kororareka 34:56 25:10 72 84
Maggot 34:59 33:52 96 112
boltonwanderer 35:07 41:00 116 136
JoeyC 35:14 16:08 45 52
dosbarth 35:35 43:46 122 143
Alias Noble 36:39 29:58 81 95
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 36:57 33:00 89 104
rv_1 37:05 33:39 90 105
starstruck starstruck_au 37:08 31:38 85 100
HanS 38:12 42:58 112 131
JGP 38:44 33:38 86 101
maryht 40:05 36:28 90 105
Steve Wood 42:50 31:32 73 85
baronrob 43:14 42:48 98 115
empty 45:19 43:49 96 112
MichaelE 46:32 43:58 94 110
MartinP MartinP1 47:43 35:15 73 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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