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 84
Count of ref solvers 59
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 93 110
Nathan Panning 05:49 05:20 91 108
lili 05:54 06:18 106 126
Magoo 05:56 05:49 98 116
Paul Gilbert 06:07 05:16 86 102
cmjhutton 06:16 06:30 103 122
Diskus 06:16 04:52 77 91
Jason 06:29 07:16 112 133
hilarym 06:56 07:11 103 122
mistigris 07:25 05:00 67 79
aphis99 aphis99 07:39 08:26 110 130
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:19 08:03 96 114
Umpire 08:52 06:50 77 91
asaldanha 09:16 09:00 97 115
AlanS 09:33 10:00 104 123
markdobell 09:43 08:40 89 105
SimonAnthony 10:18 08:53 86 102
Kinghedger 10:39 09:24 88 104
Freemers 10:43 12:19 114 135
toots 10:51 12:18 113 134
scrabbler 10:55 09:47 89 105
chindit 11:08 10:51 97 115
keriothe_ keriothe 11:17 06:52 60 71
Amoeba89 Amoeba 11:26 06:38 58 69
Deane Short Deane Short 11:30 07:41 66 78
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:33 11:07 96 114
andy 11:43 12:50 109 129
miked1961 11:45 09:03 77 91
fuzz 12:10 10:12 83 98
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 12:15 09:44 79 94
aphasic 12:18 11:37 94 111
chriswords 12:19 13:34 110 130
Sheapey Sheapey 12:23 09:51 79 94
John Walsh 12:39 14:50 117 139
tilbee 12:41 15:21 121 144
Silva 12:48 15:03 117 139
canismiser 12:54 10:50 83 98
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 12:58 14:53 114 135
JimboFS 13:04 11:53 90 107
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:14 13:04 98 116
EricK 13:16 10:14 77 91
Stavros Stavrolex 13:21 12:43 95 113
Secondbass 13:25 10:45 80 95
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:26 12:31 93 110
Peponi13 13:45 14:32 105 125
Aybee 13:46 09:25 68 80
LouWeed LouWeed 14:00 13:39 97 115
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 14:01 16:13 115 136
Pootle Pootle 14:10 15:20 108 128
Semillon 14:14 12:29 87 103
Riche Riche 14:30 11:56 82 97
Ben Staveley 14:30 15:01 103 122
johninterred Johninterred 14:34 12:25 85 101
Rinteff Rinteff 14:38 12:38 86 102
Tibthorpe 14:42 10:36 72 85
gabrojak 14:45 13:28 91 108
MK76 14:52 12:07 81 96
DunPangolin 14:56 13:15 88 104
Looch 15:05 12:19 81 96
Finzi 15:09 15:42 103 122
BlackburnRover 15:14 18:30 121 144
JezWoolfrey 15:18 12:10 79 94
cdb_100 15:20 07:21 47 55
CentralLine CentralLine 15:25 13:57 90 107
andrewlake 15:48 10:47 68 80
hopkinb hopkinb 15:57 12:04 75 89
Pxspxs 16:32 19:39 118 140
rrricharrrd 16:48 17:56 106 126
Achernar 16:52 18:00 106 126
Encota 16:57 12:12 71 84
ilan 16:57 13:10 77 91
phthisis 16:59 14:26 84 100
ajcauk1 17:14 20:39 119 141
Crossiant 17:18 15:43 90 107
PGooden 18:00 11:55 66 78
Kalakuta72 18:02 27:51 154 183
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:14 15:08 82 97
KET 18:16 14:40 80 95
Zander 18:27 14:19 77 91
Squallaby 18:28 16:34 89 105
Foozler 18:32 15:58 86 102
DanSolo 18:36 15:24 82 97
FraserH 18:52 16:24 86 102
Upfisher 18:53 14:25 76 90
hugh schofield Leskoffer 19:03 15:15 80 95
Jeremy Kenyon 19:04 15:17 80 95
KarenR 19:09 16:52 88 104
LJCN 19:15 12:05 62 73
John Arnold 19:17 28:11 146 173
GMcD 19:17 14:26 74 88
pterodactyl 19:19 15:04 77 91
Colin2355 19:20 19:06 98 116
uvofiz 19:33 18:10 92 109
Willie F 19:40 16:12 82 97
pc8 19:40 22:47 115 136
Gallion Fish 19:43 27:42 140 166
brian.richards1 19:49 20:26 103 122
UisceTe 20:00 16:30 82 97
Rowlie26 Rowlie26 20:11 17:08 84 100
Curarist Curarist 20:18 14:58 73 86
janesa 20:38 20:01 97 115
Nangle 20:39 14:21 69 82
dr.shred 20:52 21:35 103 122
The Caffeine Kid 20:57 16:43 79 94
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:57 17:53 85 101
george.garlick 20:58 16:07 76 90
valerian1967 21:01 25:38 121 144
babka 21:01 16:34 78 92
tony the butcher montana 21:30 09:54 46 54
Hamish.S 21:37 16:42 77 91
Solving slo mo 21:46 19:10 88 104
Rod B 21:55 14:29 66 78
Corymbia Corymbia 22:28 18:17 81 96
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 22:32 20:46 92 109
goblin 22:49 18:58 83 98
Tudds 22:55 25:18 110 130
Aldus 23:07 21:36 93 110
JayEm 23:09 22:54 98 116
mjsaunders9 23:41 15:57 67 79
Mkgnao Mkgnao 24:14 23:25 96 114
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:24 31:17 128 152
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 24:45 19:20 78 92
medodd 24:54 23:35 94 111
ulaca ulaca 25:39 12:29 48 57
SlumdogEngineer 25:48 29:33 114 135
Brenk Brenk1 26:00 20:21 78 92
Coffell 26:03 25:20 97 115
Jamie Fox 26:33 20:03 75 89
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:46 22:56 85 101
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:04 31:09 115 136
barracuda barracuda 27:25 22:52 83 98
Word Psmith wordpsmith 27:30 21:21 77 91
wimpoldo 27:36 30:01 108 128
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 27:52 42:00 150 178
Manveru 28:06 19:48 70 83
alwsn8 28:17 11:15 39 46
Menelaus 28:38 26:52 93 110
Dr_Bob 28:46 30:24 105 125
nekabue 29:23 27:28 93 110
Grumpole Grumpole 29:23 21:45 74 88
tyrotim tyrotim 30:36 37:40 123 146
birthday girl 32:08 42:23 131 155
sagesse sagesse 32:14 16:51 52 61
CoxBurglar coxburglar 33:30 25:20 75 89
intentional rounding 33:38 23:33 70 83
The Real Steve Snackman 33:47 27:55 82 97
gothick gothick 33:53 54:00 159 189
Birdingbob 34:07 17:46 52 61
joss henry 34:20 33:24 97 115
Rookie 34:23 25:56 75 89
Bossbutbee 34:56 28:43 82 97
koro kororareka 34:56 25:10 72 85
Maggot 34:59 33:52 96 114
boltonwanderer 35:07 41:00 116 138
JoeyC 35:14 16:08 45 53
dosbarth 35:35 43:46 122 145
Alias Noble 36:39 29:58 81 96
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 36:57 33:00 89 105
rv_1 37:05 33:39 90 107
starstruck starstruck_au 37:08 31:38 85 101
HanS 38:12 42:58 112 133
E Bradford E Bradford 38:39 39:05 101 120
JGP 38:44 33:38 86 102
maryht 40:05 36:28 90 107
Steve Wood 42:50 31:32 73 86
baronrob 43:14 42:48 98 116
empty 45:19 43:49 96 114
MichaelE 46:32 43:58 94 111
MartinP MartinP1 47:43 35:15 73 86

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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