Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29277

Date 09 July 2025
Number 29277
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 74
Count of ref solvers 70
Ref solvers excluded with errors 3
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29277

* 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 03:33 80 108
lili 05:54 05:07 86 116
Magoo 05:56 04:25 74 100
cmjhutton 06:16 04:52 77 104
verlaine Verlaine 06:20 03:41 58 78
Jason 06:29 04:51 74 100
mistigris 07:25 05:24 72 97
Alexis Johansen 07:33 06:02 79 106
aphis99 aphis99 07:39 04:28 58 78
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:19 08:10 98 132
asaldanha 09:16 08:05 87 117
AlanS 09:33 07:14 75 101
glheard glh 09:39 07:09 74 100
Ciolf 10:04 10:19 102 137
SimonAnthony 10:18 09:13 89 120
Kinghedger 10:39 08:24 78 105
Freemers 10:43 13:17 123 166
toots 10:51 10:29 96 129
scrabbler 10:55 08:46 80 108
chindit 11:08 07:40 68 91
keriothe_ keriothe 11:17 08:28 75 101
Amoeba89 Amoeba 11:26 09:07 79 106
Deane Short Deane Short 11:30 08:04 70 94
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:33 08:56 77 104
Morphosis 11:36 09:24 81 109
andy 11:43 10:45 91 122
miked1961 11:45 07:05 60 81
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 11:59 07:25 61 82
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 12:15 09:44 79 106
chriswords 12:19 08:39 70 94
Sheapey Sheapey 12:23 07:56 64 86
Adelaider 12:23 09:59 80 108
Topical Tim Topical Tim 12:28 07:39 61 82
John Walsh 12:39 15:29 122 164
tilbee 12:41 08:42 68 91
Groucho 12:44 09:44 76 102
Silva 12:48 10:15 80 108
canismiser 12:54 15:12 117 158
d.middleton 13:13 14:53 112 151
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:14 10:24 78 105
EricK 13:16 12:35 94 127
Stavros Stavrolex 13:21 07:12 53 71
Secondbass 13:25 09:16 69 93
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:26 16:45 124 167
Aybee 13:46 14:27 104 140
LouWeed LouWeed 14:00 14:06 100 135
Pootle Pootle 14:10 10:59 77 104
Ben Staveley 14:30 11:12 77 104
Riche Riche 14:30 12:01 82 110
johninterred Johninterred 14:34 10:40 73 98
benbush 14:34 09:51 67 90
Rinteff Rinteff 14:38 12:48 87 117
Tibthorpe 14:42 12:51 87 117
Looch 15:05 10:54 72 97
Finzi 15:09 10:06 66 89
whichcraft 15:12 10:16 67 90
JezWoolfrey 15:18 12:37 82 110
julian_w 15:19 15:10 99 133
cdb_100 15:20 09:58 65 87
andrewlake 15:48 12:50 81 109
myles 15:56 17:29 109 147
LuckOfLucien 16:19 14:26 88 118
Jeremy S 16:37 20:36 123 166
rrricharrrd 16:48 11:41 69 93
Achernar 16:52 18:42 110 148
Encota 16:57 13:58 82 110
ilan 16:57 12:19 72 97
phthisis 16:59 13:51 81 109
ajcauk1 17:14 11:35 67 90
SeamusX 17:19 24:10 139 187
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:14 15:57 87 117
Squallaby 18:28 13:41 74 100
Foozler 18:32 13:07 70 94
DanSolo 18:36 12:52 69 93
Jeremy Kenyon 19:04 16:52 88 118
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 19:13 14:07 73 98
LJCN 19:15 13:02 67 90
John Arnold 19:17 15:58 82 110
GMcD 19:17 13:33 70 94
pterodactyl 19:19 20:32 106 143
Colin2355 19:20 12:17 63 85
pc8 19:40 11:38 59 79
Gallion Fish 19:43 22:52 115 155
Rowlie26 Rowlie26 20:11 25:24 125 168
Curarist Curarist 20:18 12:40 62 83
janesa 20:38 16:11 78 105
Nangle 20:39 15:46 76 102
Rembleforth 20:52 22:05 105 141
The Caffeine Kid 20:57 16:23 78 105
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:57 22:25 107 144
jimancliffe 21:14 23:45 111 150
tony the butcher montana 21:30 19:38 91 122
Hamish.S 21:37 16:25 75 101
Solving slo mo 21:46 17:36 80 108
Waterloo 21:56 18:54 86 116
david_ch 22:16 19:05 85 114
Grestyman Grestyman 22:20 15:18 68 91
Anomalospiza 22:23 21:17 95 128
James P Special_bitter 22:31 15:47 70 94
goblin 22:49 16:59 74 100
Tudds 22:55 18:00 78 105
Aldus 23:07 14:21 62 83
JayEm 23:09 15:41 67 90
Fidelio 23:16 28:39 123 166
mjsaunders9 23:41 09:42 40 54
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 24:45 19:44 79 106
Crippens1 24:47 19:46 79 106
medodd 24:54 28:09 113 152
1234 25:00 14:32 58 78
ulaca ulaca 25:39 19:18 75 101
chris661554 26:06 16:30 63 85
Jamie Fox 26:33 21:27 80 108
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:46 15:34 58 78
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:04 16:05 59 79
barracuda barracuda 27:25 19:08 69 93
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 27:52 34:00 122 164
Manveru 28:06 24:52 88 118
alwsn8 28:17 20:37 72 97
plusjeremy (Jeremy Weissmann) plusjeremy 28:28 21:23 75 101
Menelaus 28:38 30:05 105 141
Dr_Bob 28:46 29:43 103 139
nekabue 29:23 21:41 73 98
Grumpole Grumpole 29:23 18:50 64 86
laurence_da 29:47 26:37 89 120
tyrotim tyrotim 30:36 25:20 82 110
birthday girl 32:08 35:55 111 150
sagesse sagesse 32:14 25:03 77 104
intentional rounding 33:38 21:57 65 87
Mudge Mudge 33:41 19:48 58 78
The Real Steve Snackman 33:47 27:37 81 109
Birdingbob 34:07 26:15 76 102
Rookie 34:23 28:45 83 112
Lloyd 34:47 43:10 124 167
Cryptique 34:50 40:08 115 155
koro kororareka 34:56 27:32 78 105
Bossbutbee 34:56 31:08 89 120
boltonwanderer 35:07 34:00 96 129
JoeyC 35:14 16:03 45 60
dosbarth 35:35 40:28 113 152
Alias Noble 36:39 21:53 59 79
Shushannah 36:55 31:39 85 114
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 36:57 26:34 71 95
rv_1 37:05 29:06 78 105
starstruck starstruck_au 37:08 26:24 71 95
HanS 38:12 35:17 92 124
E Bradford E Bradford 38:39 34:46 89 120
JGP 38:44 58:59 152 205
maryht 40:05 38:47 96 129
Steve Wood 42:50 29:38 69 93
empty 45:19 28:51 63 85
MichaelE 46:32 28:21 60 81
kjbr 53:13 39:25 74 100
NJP1 54:25 49:24 90 121

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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