Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29293

Date 28 July 2025
Number 29293
Day of week Monday
NITCH 72
Count of ref solvers 64
Ref solvers excluded with errors 8
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29293

* 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
Magoo 05:48 05:26 93 129
Nathan Panning 05:48 03:26 59 81
Paul Gilbert 06:00 06:17 104 144
verlaine Verlaine 06:14 05:21 85 118
lili 06:20 04:11 66 91
Diskus 06:23 05:05 79 109
Jason 06:53 06:41 97 134
hilarym 06:58 06:18 90 125
mistigris 07:15 05:45 79 109
Alexis Johansen 07:49 06:29 82 113
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:18 05:57 71 98
Umpire 09:02 05:56 65 90
markdobell 09:45 07:02 72 100
Ciolf 10:07 05:49 57 79
scrabbler 11:02 08:03 72 100
SimonAnthony 11:04 09:34 86 119
lickert 11:07 08:25 75 104
Freemers 11:11 09:51 88 122
neilr neilr 11:14 09:11 81 112
chindit 11:24 08:13 72 100
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:27 10:15 89 123
Heyesey 11:29 07:34 65 90
keriothe_ keriothe 11:29 09:43 84 116
Deane Short Deane Short 11:31 07:37 66 91
David Crooks dcrooks 11:40 09:12 78 108
Morphosis 11:40 12:20 105 145
miked1961 11:46 11:54 101 140
Amoeba89 Amoeba 11:50 08:10 69 95
andy 12:07 10:32 86 119
chriswords 12:29 11:10 89 123
aphasic 12:35 12:10 96 133
Groucho 12:40 09:58 78 108
Sheapey Sheapey 12:46 07:27 58 80
JimboFS 12:50 13:09 102 141
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 12:50 13:02 101 140
canismiser 12:53 11:26 88 122
John Walsh 12:54 13:28 104 144
Topical Tim Topical Tim 12:57 10:02 77 106
Silva 13:02 12:45 97 134
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:21 12:12 91 126
d.middleton 13:22 12:07 90 125
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:23 12:02 89 123
EricK 13:23 07:52 58 80
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:24 10:11 75 104
Peponi13 13:30 11:06 82 113
Secondbass 13:31 09:31 70 97
Stavros Stavrolex 13:52 07:06 51 70
Riche Riche 13:55 13:41 98 136
alexh 13:55 12:53 92 127
nmsellen 14:07 11:36 82 113
Semillon 14:16 12:15 85 118
LouWeed LouWeed 14:18 10:12 71 98
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 14:24 12:46 88 122
Tibthorpe 14:25 11:53 82 113
gabrojak 14:43 11:51 80 111
whichcraft 14:47 11:59 81 112
Pootle Pootle 14:51 06:50 46 63
CentralLine CentralLine 14:52 15:11 102 141
Finzi 15:00 15:01 100 138
DunPangolin 15:00 14:36 97 134
benbush 15:01 10:04 67 93
Looch 15:06 12:00 79 109
Rinteff Rinteff 15:12 10:19 67 93
franceslc11 15:13 10:55 71 98
Ben Staveley 15:19 09:20 60 83
BlackburnRover 15:22 10:42 69 95
cdb_100 15:38 09:26 60 83
cmcnsmith 15:46 13:46 87 120
andrewlake 15:51 16:06 101 140
jimwetzler 15:51 14:22 90 125
RobR RobR 15:55 11:02 69 95
tapbarker 16:04 11:01 68 94
Valance 16:45 12:27 74 102
chriswestontour Chris West 16:48 13:42 81 112
Vannyx 16:51 13:43 81 112
ilan 16:52 13:43 81 112
ajcauk1 16:58 17:05 100 138
rrricharrrd 17:17 12:32 72 100
Crossiant 17:34 11:38 66 91
earlylight 17:48 12:48 71 98
Upfisher 18:09 12:40 69 95
Astonvilla1 18:17 31:38 173 240
Squallaby 18:27 09:27 51 70
Zander 18:34 17:53 96 133
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:55 17:23 91 126
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 18:57 09:54 52 72
pterodactyl 19:04 22:21 117 162
daniel.faith 19:12 12:01 62 86
Rowlie26 Rowlie26 19:12 16:37 86 119
hugh schofield Leskoffer 19:26 21:10 108 150
UisceTe 19:31 20:28 104 144
uvofiz 19:39 14:55 75 104
GMcD 19:41 19:59 101 140
KarenR 19:50 10:29 52 72
Grestyman Grestyman 19:55 11:05 55 76
Leegoods 20:02 18:17 91 126
Willie F 20:13 16:59 84 116
The Caffeine Kid 20:19 17:29 86 119
pc8 20:21 10:24 51 70
Curarist Curarist 20:24 14:43 72 100
george.garlick 20:31 17:02 83 115
Nangle 20:33 14:29 70 97
janesa 20:47 19:55 95 131
Waterloo 20:49 16:34 79 109
dr.shred 20:52 13:35 65 90
gsriordan52 20:57 17:08 81 112
Zabadak3 Zabadak 21:00 23:11 110 152
Aldus 21:34 17:02 78 108
Solving slo mo 21:44 18:23 84 116
James P Special_bitter 21:46 10:49 49 68
Rod B 21:55 16:00 73 101
Tudds 22:27 18:21 81 112
david_ch 22:43 09:50 43 59
Hamish.S 22:48 22:33 98 136
goblin 23:01 16:29 71 98
infinitejest 23:17 21:06 90 125
alwsn8 23:48 13:16 55 76
mjsaunders9 23:53 70:19 294 408
Mkgnao Mkgnao 24:26 18:17 74 102
Crippens1 24:33 18:54 76 105
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:55 21:07 84 116
symbenall2 25:00 35:55 143 198
ulaca ulaca 25:31 25:19 99 137
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 26:19 12:42 48 66
Brenk Brenk1 26:27 15:25 58 80
Mike Harper Mike Harper 26:43 18:38 69 95
raincloud 27:26 18:56 69 95
barracuda barracuda 27:30 17:29 63 87
Jamie Fox 27:52 15:58 57 79
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 28:03 22:00 78 108
Menelaus 28:22 28:20 99 137
Grumpole Grumpole 28:55 12:43 43 59
Manveru 29:18 24:05 82 113
nekabue 29:50 19:53 66 91
RogerC 29:56 14:56 49 68
Gussie 29:57 15:28 51 70
simjt simjt 30:23 16:52 55 76
intentional rounding 31:53 17:19 54 75
BertieVII 32:06 48:03 149 206
alexngbr 32:59 23:16 70 97
The Real Steve Snackman 33:06 20:00 60 83
birthday girl 33:56 23:07 68 94
NAPASAI napasai 33:59 16:39 48 66
Rookie 34:05 37:52 111 154
JoeyC 34:29 15:20 44 61
koro kororareka 35:17 39:29 111 154
Cryptique 35:26 35:08 99 137
boltonwanderer 35:38 31:00 86 119
Bossbutbee 35:57 26:52 74 102
Kernowdoc 36:01 19:48 54 75
rv_1 36:07 22:46 63 87
Peloton 36:52 21:54 59 81
crucihacker Crucihacker 37:33 14:23 38 52
Dr Dolittle 37:48 24:53 65 90
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 38:06 22:43 59 81
E Bradford E Bradford 38:27 34:55 90 125
JGP 38:48 25:16 65 90
Steve Wood 42:14 27:33 65 90
Aidleys 44:41 27:39 61 84
empty 45:56 23:54 52 72
NJP1 56:26 22:20 39 54

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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