Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29301

Date 06 August 2025
Number 29301
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 61
Count of ref solvers 66
Ref solvers excluded with errors 19
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29301

* Requires access to the Times Crossword Club

Detailed solving results

 

If you would like to help cover the costs of running the SNITCH site, please "buy me a coffee".

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
Paul Gilbert 06:00 03:36 60 98
verlaine Verlaine 06:14 05:34 89 145
lili 06:20 03:26 54 88
Diskus 06:23 04:47 74 121
mistigris 07:15 03:49 52 85
aphis99 aphis99 07:38 05:20 69 113
Alexis Johansen 07:49 05:05 65 106
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:18 05:56 71 116
boulemiche 08:49 09:41 109 178
asaldanha 09:11 07:35 82 134
richard 09:13 05:09 55 90
markdobell 09:45 07:23 75 122
Kinghedger 10:47 05:35 51 83
LoreleiBill 11:00 06:55 62 101
scrabbler 11:02 08:44 79 129
SimonAnthony 11:04 07:20 66 108
lickert 11:07 07:19 65 106
Freemers 11:11 07:43 69 113
neilr neilr 11:14 07:39 68 111
chindit 11:24 06:04 53 86
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:27 07:02 61 100
Heyesey 11:29 06:00 52 85
Deane Short Deane Short 11:31 05:36 48 78
David Crooks dcrooks 11:40 07:41 65 106
Amoeba89 Amoeba 11:50 07:39 64 104
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 12:01 05:57 49 80
andy 12:07 07:32 62 101
chriswords 12:29 10:31 84 137
aphasic 12:35 10:18 81 132
Groucho 12:40 09:47 77 126
Sheapey Sheapey 12:46 05:19 41 67
njnclarke 12:51 09:23 73 119
canismiser 12:53 04:35 35 57
John Walsh 12:54 09:48 75 122
Topical Tim Topical Tim 12:57 08:09 62 101
Silva 13:02 08:58 68 111
d.middleton 13:22 13:39 102 167
EricK 13:23 08:58 66 108
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:23 08:27 63 103
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:24 07:52 58 95
tilbee 13:27 08:42 64 104
Secondbass 13:31 09:19 68 111
Stavros Stavrolex 13:52 12:10 87 142
Semillon 14:16 11:06 77 126
LouWeed LouWeed 14:18 09:53 69 113
Tibthorpe 14:25 06:46 46 75
Aybee 14:30 09:44 67 109
gabrojak 14:43 12:11 82 134
Pootle Pootle 14:51 09:44 65 106
CentralLine CentralLine 14:52 08:08 54 88
DunPangolin 15:00 12:08 80 131
Finzi 15:00 09:01 60 98
Rinteff Rinteff 15:12 09:40 63 103
Penfold_61 Penfold 15:18 10:14 66 108
Ben Staveley 15:19 09:55 64 104
JezWoolfrey 15:22 06:54 44 72
BlackburnRover 15:22 16:01 104 170
julian_w 15:30 12:41 81 132
cmcnsmith 15:46 11:33 73 119
myles 15:46 12:39 80 131
andrewlake 15:51 10:10 64 104
hopkinb hopkinb 16:01 13:16 82 134
tapbarker 16:04 10:24 64 104
Achernar 16:39 17:42 106 173
phthisis 16:40 12:09 72 118
Jeremy S 16:57 11:53 70 114
ajcauk1 16:58 14:13 83 136
rrricharrrd 17:17 11:11 64 104
doublecross anguswalker 17:30 07:15 41 67
Crossiant 17:34 11:43 66 108
PGooden 18:00 09:43 53 86
Astonvilla1 18:17 14:00 76 124
Squallaby 18:27 09:30 51 83
Zander 18:34 11:33 62 101
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 18:57 10:24 54 88
pterodactyl 19:04 12:59 68 111
robinh 19:06 08:57 46 75
LJCN 19:08 12:21 64 104
Rowlie26 Rowlie26 19:12 12:54 67 109
UisceTe 19:31 11:55 61 100
Colin2355 19:34 12:20 63 103
GMcD 19:41 13:54 70 114
John Arnold 19:43 11:00 55 90
KarenR 19:50 09:39 48 78
Gallion Fish 20:01 12:55 64 104
brian.richards1 20:12 10:25 51 83
Curarist Curarist 20:24 12:23 60 98
george.garlick 20:31 10:49 52 85
Nangle 20:33 12:12 59 96
janesa 20:47 13:50 66 108
Waterloo 20:49 16:44 80 131
dr.shred 20:52 20:06 96 157
gsriordan52 20:57 13:52 66 108
tony the butcher montana 21:16 13:05 61 100
Aldus 21:34 19:17 89 145
Anomalospiza 21:45 20:19 93 152
James P Special_bitter 21:46 09:00 41 67
Rembleforth 22:06 13:06 59 96
JayEm 22:10 08:32 38 62
Tudds 22:27 11:59 53 86
david_ch 22:43 13:10 57 93
Hamish.S 22:48 10:56 47 77
goblin 23:01 13:31 58 95
stainl665 23:06 17:22 75 122
1234 23:09 20:05 86 140
alwsn8 23:48 11:29 48 78
mjsaunders9 23:53 12:16 51 83
Mkgnao Mkgnao 24:26 13:49 56 91
symbenall2 25:00 18:31 74 121
ulaca ulaca 25:31 15:16 59 96
Coffell 26:05 18:51 72 118
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 26:19 18:20 69 113
Brenk Brenk1 26:27 11:50 44 72
Yatton50 26:40 15:06 56 91
Mike Harper Mike Harper 26:43 20:25 76 124
Deezzaa Deezzaa 27:14 18:58 69 113
barracuda barracuda 27:30 16:32 60 98
Jamie Fox 27:52 15:48 56 91
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 28:03 15:30 55 90
gbestanley 28:45 20:52 72 118
wimpoldo 28:59 21:46 75 122
RogerC 29:56 17:16 57 93
simjt simjt 30:23 23:40 77 126
vinyl12345 vinyl1 30:26 13:35 44 72
Jonathan O 30:39 29:56 97 159
piltdown man 30:51 13:04 42 68
alistair.boere 31:17 21:55 70 114
intentional rounding 31:53 25:49 80 131
The Real Steve Snackman 33:06 28:39 86 140
Rookie 34:05 32:07 94 154
JoeyC 34:29 16:54 49 80
CoxBurglar coxburglar 34:34 103:51 300 491
Lloyd 35:03 24:54 71 116
kapietro kapietro 35:14 17:25 49 80
koro kororareka 35:17 22:11 62 101
Cryptique 35:26 19:56 56 91
boltonwanderer 35:38 18:00 50 81
Maggot 35:45 41:05 114 186
Kernowdoc 36:01 11:14 31 50
rv_1 36:07 18:32 51 83
Shushannah 37:20 21:22 57 93
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 38:06 16:44 43 70
starstruck starstruck_au 38:33 18:13 47 77
hydrochoos hydrochoos 43:57 30:00 68 111
Aidleys 44:41 31:58 71 116
empty 45:56 23:27 51 83
profsjpayne 59:04 48:39 82 134

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.

Loading...
Loading...
Back