Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29272

Date 03 July 2025
Number 29272
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 106
Count of ref solvers 64
Ref solvers excluded with errors 10
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29272

* 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 05:00 113 106
Nathan Panning 05:49 04:44 81 76
lili 05:54 12:14 207 195
Magoo 05:56 07:24 124 116
Paul Gilbert 06:07 06:55 113 106
Diskus 06:16 06:15 99 93
cmjhutton 06:16 05:29 87 82
verlaine Verlaine 06:20 08:06 127 119
Jason 06:29 06:08 94 88
hilarym 06:56 10:28 150 141
mistigris 07:25 07:53 106 100
Alexis Johansen 07:33 20:16 268 252
aphis99 aphis99 07:39 07:32 98 92
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:19 08:58 107 100
Umpire 08:52 11:53 134 126
asaldanha 09:16 11:02 119 112
glheard glh 09:39 10:37 110 103
markdobell 09:43 09:11 94 88
Ciolf 10:04 14:17 141 133
SimonAnthony 10:18 16:35 161 151
Kinghedger 10:39 12:09 114 107
Freemers 10:43 16:01 149 140
scrabbler 10:55 11:55 109 102
lickert 11:04 17:04 154 145
chindit 11:08 12:05 108 101
keriothe_ keriothe 11:17 10:25 92 86
Amoeba89 Amoeba 11:26 12:17 107 100
Deane Short Deane Short 11:30 09:12 80 75
neilr neilr 11:30 14:10 123 116
miked1961 11:45 12:47 108 101
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 11:59 11:40 97 91
ChuckB 12:11 15:49 129 121
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 12:15 17:06 139 131
aphasic 12:18 12:11 99 93
chriswords 12:19 14:14 115 108
Sheapey Sheapey 12:23 09:57 80 75
Topical Tim Topical Tim 12:28 12:41 101 95
tilbee 12:41 11:29 90 84
Silva 12:48 18:36 145 136
njnclarke 12:54 13:28 104 98
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 12:58 14:56 115 108
JimboFS 13:04 18:15 139 131
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:14 14:59 113 106
EricK 13:16 09:32 71 66
Paul Bacon 13:17 15:18 115 108
Stavros Stavrolex 13:21 19:35 146 137
Secondbass 13:25 13:09 98 92
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:26 18:10 135 127
Peponi13 13:45 13:59 101 95
Aybee 13:46 14:45 107 100
LouWeed LouWeed 14:00 13:41 97 91
Pootle Pootle 14:10 19:50 140 132
Semillon 14:14 15:01 105 99
Ben Staveley 14:30 14:31 100 94
Rinteff Rinteff 14:38 15:38 106 100
Tibthorpe 14:42 17:15 117 110
gabrojak 14:45 17:09 116 109
MK76 14:52 18:06 121 114
Looch 15:05 17:03 113 106
BlackburnRover 15:14 18:38 122 115
JezWoolfrey 15:18 12:44 83 78
CentralLine CentralLine 15:25 22:14 144 135
andrewlake 15:48 16:37 105 99
tapbarker 15:59 18:49 117 110
LuckOfLucien 16:19 22:22 137 129
Pxspxs 16:32 20:06 121 114
Jeremy S 16:37 21:48 131 123
rrricharrrd 16:48 14:46 87 82
Achernar 16:52 17:05 101 95
Encota 16:57 14:51 87 82
ilan 16:57 19:02 112 105
phthisis 16:59 18:44 110 103
doublecross anguswalker 17:02 14:53 87 82
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:14 22:05 121 114
KET 18:16 47:02 257 242
thewanderingeditor 18:20 21:11 115 108
Zander 18:27 18:07 98 92
Squallaby 18:28 23:14 125 117
Foozler 18:32 18:14 98 92
DanSolo 18:36 20:00 107 100
Upfisher 18:53 19:41 104 98
hugh schofield Leskoffer 19:03 25:43 134 126
Jeremy Kenyon 19:04 17:21 90 84
KarenR 19:09 19:47 103 97
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 19:13 15:09 78 73
LJCN 19:15 18:30 96 90
GMcD 19:17 21:09 109 102
Sheen 19:18 20:26 105 99
pterodactyl 19:19 25:06 129 121
uvofiz 19:33 14:07 72 67
Willie F 19:40 17:39 89 83
pc8 19:40 19:09 97 91
Gallion Fish 19:43 22:42 115 108
Curarist Curarist 20:18 14:07 69 65
janesa 20:38 21:04 102 96
Nangle 20:39 16:23 79 74
valerian1967 21:01 17:14 81 76
Hamish.S 21:37 32:29 150 141
gsriordan52 21:47 19:33 89 83
Waterloo 21:56 21:19 97 91
stainl665 22:21 25:54 115 108
Anomalospiza 22:23 20:12 90 84
Corymbia Corymbia 22:28 22:17 99 93
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 22:32 26:20 116 109
goblin 22:49 23:53 104 98
Tudds 22:55 19:20 84 79
Aldus 23:07 32:45 141 133
JayEm 23:09 25:53 111 104
Fidelio 23:16 24:05 103 97
mjsaunders9 23:41 20:26 86 81
Mkgnao Mkgnao 24:14 31:51 131 123
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:24 21:26 87 82
En Cee 24:44 24:53 100 94
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 24:45 22:58 92 86
Crippens1 24:47 31:32 127 119
medodd 24:54 25:21 101 95
Brenk Brenk1 26:00 40:00 153 144
Coffell 26:03 26:59 103 97
chris661554 26:06 32:49 125 117
symbenall2 26:11 23:12 88 83
Jamie Fox 26:33 43:18 163 153
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:04 26:09 96 90
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 27:52 27:37 99 93
Manveru 28:06 25:39 91 85
alwsn8 28:17 21:08 74 69
gbestanley 28:39 39:02 136 128
Dr_Bob 28:46 27:29 95 89
Grumpole Grumpole 29:23 21:52 74 69
nekabue 29:23 32:18 109 102
laurence_da 29:47 29:54 100 94
vinyl12345 vinyl1 30:04 45:47 152 143
David Luke 30:19 24:46 81 76
tyrotim tyrotim 30:36 39:09 127 119
birthday girl 32:08 50:04 155 146
Mudge Mudge 33:41 25:52 76 71
kapietro kapietro 33:44 30:09 89 83
The Real Steve Snackman 33:47 34:35 102 96
joss henry 34:20 77:46 226 213
Rookie 34:23 36:39 106 100
koro kororareka 34:56 32:46 93 87
boltonwanderer 35:07 40:00 113 106
hectorslave 36:14 33:32 92 86
Alias Noble 36:39 30:48 84 79
Shushannah 36:55 29:27 79 74
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 36:57 36:22 98 92
rv_1 37:05 32:29 87 82
starstruck starstruck_au 37:08 33:44 90 84
HanS 38:12 35:01 91 85
E Bradford E Bradford 38:39 50:35 130 122
Dr Dolittle 39:05 31:53 81 76
NAPASAI napasai 41:11 23:07 56 52
empty 45:19 55:16 121 114
Aidleys 46:20 53:35 115 108
MichaelE 46:32 76:10 163 153
MartinP MartinP1 47:43 55:09 115 108

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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