Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29289

Date 23 July 2025
Number 29289
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 69
Count of ref solvers 67
Ref solvers excluded with errors 9
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29289

* 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 03:25 58 84
lili 05:54 04:22 74 107
Magoo 05:56 03:40 61 88
Paul Gilbert 06:07 03:16 53 76
cmjhutton 06:16 06:12 98 142
Diskus 06:16 04:35 73 105
verlaine Verlaine 06:20 04:29 70 101
Jason 06:29 05:10 79 114
hilarym 06:56 04:45 68 98
mistigris 07:25 04:28 60 86
Alexis Johansen 07:33 05:52 77 111
aphis99 aphis99 07:39 04:41 61 88
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:19 05:56 71 102
boulemiche 08:43 07:32 86 124
Umpire 08:52 05:32 62 89
asaldanha 09:16 09:02 97 140
richard 09:19 10:15 110 159
AlanS 09:33 06:02 63 91
glheard glh 09:39 05:30 56 81
markdobell 09:43 07:28 76 110
Ciolf 10:04 08:06 80 115
SimonAnthony 10:18 05:42 55 79
Kinghedger 10:39 07:28 70 101
Freemers 10:43 10:41 99 143
scrabbler 10:55 10:48 98 142
lickert 11:04 08:18 75 108
chindit 11:08 08:07 72 104
keriothe_ keriothe 11:17 13:08 116 168
Amoeba89 Amoeba 11:26 09:34 83 120
neilr neilr 11:30 08:19 72 104
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:33 06:53 59 85
andy 11:43 08:53 75 108
miked1961 11:45 07:16 61 88
David Crooks dcrooks 11:48 11:57 101 146
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 11:59 07:03 58 84
fuzz 12:10 10:22 85 123
ChuckB 12:11 12:32 102 147
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 12:15 13:19 108 156
aphasic 12:18 09:23 76 110
Adelaider 12:23 09:35 77 111
Sheapey Sheapey 12:23 06:39 53 76
Topical Tim Topical Tim 12:28 11:24 91 131
Groucho 12:44 09:33 75 108
Silva 12:48 12:56 101 146
njnclarke 12:54 07:51 60 86
canismiser 12:54 10:11 78 113
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 12:58 11:49 91 131
JimboFS 13:04 08:25 64 92
d.middleton 13:13 12:47 96 139
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:14 09:56 75 108
EricK 13:16 07:35 57 82
Stavros Stavrolex 13:21 08:22 62 89
Secondbass 13:25 08:49 65 94
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:26 07:42 57 82
Eddddddd 13:33 14:54 109 157
Peponi13 13:45 15:28 112 162
Aybee 13:46 12:40 92 133
alexh 14:00 11:55 85 123
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 14:01 09:04 64 92
Semillon 14:14 11:06 77 111
Riche Riche 14:30 11:20 78 113
Rinteff Rinteff 14:38 12:55 88 127
Tibthorpe 14:42 10:48 73 105
gabrojak 14:45 12:16 83 120
Carol 14:51 12:03 81 117
MK76 14:52 13:34 91 131
DunPangolin 14:56 17:01 113 163
Looch 15:05 09:54 65 94
Finzi 15:09 11:47 77 111
whichcraft 15:12 10:16 67 97
Penfold_61 Penfold 15:13 11:46 77 111
JezWoolfrey 15:18 10:18 67 97
julian_w 15:19 11:20 73 105
cdb_100 15:20 08:00 52 75
CentralLine CentralLine 15:25 10:49 70 101
andrewlake 15:48 12:21 78 113
myles 15:56 16:37 104 150
hopkinb hopkinb 15:57 14:13 89 128
RobR RobR 16:00 11:15 70 101
robertL 16:01 13:00 81 117
Jeremy S 16:37 18:53 113 163
Vannyx 16:45 16:48 100 144
rrricharrrd 16:48 12:13 72 104
Achernar 16:52 13:22 79 114
Valance 16:55 09:35 56 81
ilan 16:57 17:51 105 152
Encota 16:57 13:40 80 115
doublecross anguswalker 17:02 14:06 82 118
ajcauk1 17:14 14:28 83 120
Crossiant 17:18 10:39 61 88
tds 17:41 15:44 88 127
Craven 17:49 16:32 92 133
David Bourne 17:57 09:08 50 72
PGooden 18:00 10:43 59 85
earlylight 18:04 14:28 80 115
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:14 15:31 85 123
Zander 18:27 16:14 87 126
Squallaby 18:28 09:31 51 73
DanSolo 18:36 11:32 62 89
robinh 18:41 11:04 59 85
daniel.faith 19:04 19:18 101 146
KarenR 19:09 19:40 102 147
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 19:13 19:39 102 147
GMcD 19:17 23:40 122 176
pterodactyl 19:19 13:26 69 100
Colin2355 19:20 13:36 70 101
pc8 19:40 11:10 56 81
UisceTe 20:00 17:17 86 124
Rowlie26 Rowlie26 20:11 15:40 77 111
Curarist Curarist 20:18 16:29 81 117
Jagsfan1971 20:23 09:49 48 69
Nangle 20:39 17:36 85 123
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:57 15:00 71 102
george.garlick 20:58 18:37 88 127
babka 21:01 24:27 116 168
Dvynys dvynys 21:20 15:30 72 104
gsriordan52 21:47 18:31 85 123
Rod B 21:55 12:04 55 79
Waterloo 21:56 12:31 57 82
Corymbia Corymbia 22:28 18:10 80 115
goblin 22:49 16:06 70 101
Tudds 22:55 15:57 69 100
Aldus 23:07 24:02 103 149
JayEm 23:09 13:01 56 81
mjsaunders9 23:41 10:28 44 63
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:24 26:21 107 155
mich_punk 24:42 13:11 53 76
En Cee 24:44 20:53 84 121
Brian McNamar 25:37 18:28 72 104
ulaca ulaca 25:39 14:59 58 84
Brenk Brenk1 26:00 27:50 107 155
Jamie Fox 26:33 21:21 80 115
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:46 19:34 73 105
Yatton50 26:47 21:44 81 117
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:04 16:03 59 85
Word Psmith wordpsmith 27:30 19:28 70 101
wimpoldo 27:36 23:54 86 124
raincloud 27:40 28:08 101 146
Manveru 28:06 19:57 70 101
alwsn8 28:17 12:53 45 65
annikins 28:25 18:25 64 92
Menelaus 28:38 27:15 95 137
gbestanley 28:39 29:47 103 149
RogerC 28:46 19:51 69 100
nekabue 29:23 20:54 71 102
vinyl12345 vinyl1 30:04 22:36 75 108
simjt simjt 31:06 26:54 86 124
sagesse sagesse 32:14 23:49 73 105
BertieVII 32:20 29:46 92 133
CoxBurglar coxburglar 33:30 24:27 72 104
intentional rounding 33:38 22:05 65 94
Mudge Mudge 33:41 23:59 71 102
The Real Steve Snackman 33:47 21:59 65 94
Rookie 34:23 24:36 71 102
Cryptique 34:50 27:30 78 113
koro kororareka 34:56 26:27 75 108
boltonwanderer 35:07 31:00 88 127
dosbarth 35:35 24:43 69 100
Alias Noble 36:39 21:10 57 82
Shushannah 36:55 36:40 99 143
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 36:57 31:06 84 121
JGP 38:44 27:23 70 101
MalcolmD 38:54 31:12 80 115
Dr Dolittle 39:05 39:16 100 144
NAPASAI napasai 41:11 16:33 40 57
Jambo20 42:29 25:11 59 85
Steve Wood 42:50 21:03 49 71
empty 45:19 44:04 97 140
Aidleys 46:20 49:54 107 155
MichaelE 46:32 32:02 68 98
NJP1 54:25 70:30 129 186

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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