Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29299

Date 04 August 2025
Number 29299
Day of week Monday
NITCH 103
Count of ref solvers 68
Ref solvers excluded with errors 13
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29299

* 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 06:06 105 101
Paul Gilbert 06:00 05:41 94 91
verlaine Verlaine 06:14 07:27 119 115
lili 06:20 05:36 88 85
Diskus 06:23 06:13 97 94
Jason 06:53 07:06 103 100
mistigris 07:15 07:27 102 99
aphis99 aphis99 07:38 06:41 87 84
Alexis Johansen 07:49 08:19 106 102
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:18 11:14 135 131
richard 09:13 10:39 115 111
markdobell 09:45 12:28 127 123
AlanS 09:56 08:38 86 83
Ciolf 10:07 12:05 119 115
Kinghedger 10:47 12:41 117 113
toots 10:59 11:00 100 97
scrabbler 11:02 14:19 129 125
SimonAnthony 11:04 08:47 79 76
lickert 11:07 10:44 96 93
Freemers 11:11 11:32 103 100
neilr neilr 11:14 15:03 133 129
chindit 11:24 09:03 79 76
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:27 10:54 95 92
keriothe_ keriothe 11:29 13:27 117 113
Deane Short Deane Short 11:31 08:58 77 74
fuzz 11:58 10:11 85 82
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 12:01 10:54 90 87
andy 12:07 19:25 160 155
Adelaider 12:25 13:15 106 102
chriswords 12:29 12:50 102 99
aphasic 12:35 17:34 139 134
Groucho 12:40 12:14 96 93
Sheapey Sheapey 12:46 09:54 77 74
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 12:50 16:13 126 122
canismiser 12:53 16:23 127 123
Topical Tim Topical Tim 12:57 16:54 130 126
Silva 13:02 19:04 146 141
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:21 12:58 97 94
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:23 13:10 98 95
EricK 13:23 25:26 190 184
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:24 22:18 166 161
tilbee 13:27 14:51 110 106
Stavros Stavrolex 13:52 18:56 136 132
Eddddddd 14:02 15:19 109 105
Semillon 14:16 12:18 86 83
Tibthorpe 14:25 13:47 95 92
Aybee 14:30 18:44 129 125
gabrojak 14:43 15:47 107 103
whichcraft 14:47 13:50 93 90
CentralLine CentralLine 14:52 13:11 88 85
DunPangolin 15:00 16:50 112 108
Finzi 15:00 15:41 104 100
benbush 15:01 18:09 120 116
Looch 15:06 14:06 93 90
franceslc11 15:13 17:14 113 109
Ben Staveley 15:19 23:23 152 147
julian_w 15:30 17:47 114 110
cdb_100 15:38 13:35 86 83
andrewlake 15:51 16:46 105 101
RobR RobR 15:55 14:44 92 89
hopkinb hopkinb 16:01 19:55 124 120
tapbarker 16:04 16:32 102 99
phthisis 16:40 12:35 75 72
Jeremy S 16:57 20:27 120 116
ajcauk1 16:58 17:20 102 99
rrricharrrd 17:17 14:47 85 82
Encota 17:25 24:43 141 136
Foozler 17:44 21:08 119 115
PGooden 18:00 17:49 98 95
Squallaby 18:27 23:26 127 123
DanSolo 18:34 16:55 91 88
Zander 18:34 20:58 112 108
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:55 26:12 138 133
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 18:57 17:24 91 88
robinh 19:06 14:06 73 70
daniel.faith 19:12 28:37 149 144
Rowlie26 Rowlie26 19:12 27:29 143 138
hugh schofield Leskoffer 19:26 17:19 89 86
Colin2355 19:34 18:31 94 91
KarenR 19:50 28:24 143 138
Grestyman Grestyman 19:55 16:08 81 78
Gallion Fish 20:01 18:57 94 91
Willie F 20:13 24:13 119 115
rjhinde61 20:20 23:14 114 110
valerian1967 20:21 20:01 98 95
pc8 20:21 28:45 141 136
Curarist Curarist 20:24 12:34 61 59
Dvynys dvynys 20:45 23:15 112 108
gsriordan52 20:57 17:50 85 82
Zabadak3 Zabadak 21:00 23:58 114 110
Astonvilla.1 21:01 19:42 93 90
tony the butcher montana 21:16 25:21 119 115
JayEm 22:10 13:39 61 59
Tudds 22:27 32:14 143 138
Corymbia Corymbia 22:29 42:01 186 180
Hamish.S 22:48 31:45 139 134
goblin 23:01 27:13 118 114
stainl665 23:06 18:34 80 77
alwsn8 23:48 21:21 89 86
mjsaunders9 23:53 17:17 72 69
steve.laverock 24:20 26:41 109 105
Mkgnao Mkgnao 24:26 30:59 126 122
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:55 41:29 166 161
Coffell 26:05 21:09 81 78
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 26:19 35:11 133 129
crosswordian 26:43 25:02 93 90
Mike Harper Mike Harper 26:43 33:43 126 122
chris661554 27:03 31:02 114 110
Deezzaa Deezzaa 27:14 38:33 141 136
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 27:54 54:08 194 188
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 28:03 36:00 128 124
gbestanley 28:45 34:40 120 116
wimpoldo 28:59 32:43 112 108
Manveru 29:18 25:07 85 82
David Luke 29:32 28:14 95 92
nekabue 29:50 31:39 106 102
RogerC 29:56 35:39 119 115
vinyl12345 vinyl1 30:26 35:02 115 111
intentional rounding 31:53 35:24 111 107
The Real Steve Snackman 33:06 24:52 75 72
birthday girl 33:56 14:13 41 39
NAPASAI napasai 33:59 33:25 98 95
Rookie 34:05 40:23 118 114
Alias Noble 34:36 84:31 244 236
kapietro kapietro 35:14 28:48 81 78
koro kororareka 35:17 48:18 136 132
Cryptique 35:26 41:19 116 112
boltonwanderer 35:38 50:00 140 135
Kernowdoc 36:01 41:38 115 111
clivejharlow 36:46 53:09 144 139
Peloton 36:52 60:45 164 159
Shushannah 37:20 52:47 141 136
crucihacker Crucihacker 37:33 33:16 88 85
SK42 37:45 30:34 80 77
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 38:06 36:18 95 92
starstruck starstruck_au 38:33 44:16 114 110
maryht 39:16 42:32 108 104
Steve Wood 42:14 47:36 112 108
Aidleys 44:41 57:43 129 125
empty 45:56 52:50 115 111
profsjpayne 59:04 73:00 123 119

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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