Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29317

Date 25 August 2025
Number 29317
Day of week Monday
NITCH 64
Count of ref solvers 58
Ref solvers excluded with errors 4
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29317

* 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 04:27 03:06 69 107
Nathan Panning 05:48 03:21 57 89
Paul Gilbert 06:00 03:08 52 81
verlaine Verlaine 06:14 04:34 73 114
lili 06:20 04:23 69 107
cmjhutton 06:31 03:57 60 93
Jason 06:53 04:16 61 95
hilarym 06:58 05:48 83 129
mistigris 07:15 05:01 69 107
aphis99 aphis99 07:38 04:52 63 98
Alexis Johansen 07:49 05:44 73 114
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:18 07:37 91 142
boulemiche 08:49 05:41 64 100
Umpire 09:02 05:34 61 95
glheard glh 09:06 06:47 74 115
asaldanha 09:11 06:10 67 104
markdobell 09:45 06:07 62 96
Ciolf 10:07 06:19 62 96
tiggis 10:46 07:42 71 110
Kinghedger 10:47 07:18 67 104
toots 10:59 08:56 81 126
LoreleiBill 11:00 08:43 79 123
scrabbler 11:02 07:51 71 110
lickert 11:07 08:00 71 110
Freemers 11:11 09:53 88 137
neilr neilr 11:14 09:25 83 129
chindit 11:24 08:41 76 118
keriothe_ keriothe 11:29 07:40 66 103
Deane Short Deane Short 11:31 05:54 51 79
David Crooks dcrooks 11:40 10:57 93 145
miked1961 11:46 10:18 87 135
Amoeba89 Amoeba 11:50 07:36 64 100
fuzz 11:58 10:24 86 134
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 12:01 07:24 61 95
andy 12:07 07:16 59 92
chriswords 12:29 09:38 77 120
aphasic 12:35 09:28 75 117
Groucho 12:40 08:28 66 103
Sheapey Sheapey 12:46 07:35 59 92
JimboFS 12:50 09:19 72 112
canismiser 12:53 12:49 99 154
John Walsh 12:54 14:28 112 175
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:21 08:01 60 93
d.middleton 13:22 11:13 83 129
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:23 08:07 60 93
EricK 13:23 06:30 48 75
tilbee 13:27 09:03 67 104
Peponi13 13:30 11:58 88 137
Secondbass 13:31 11:15 83 129
Stavros Stavrolex 13:52 09:16 66 103
Riche Riche 13:55 09:02 64 100
Semillon 14:16 09:45 68 106
LouWeed LouWeed 14:18 08:54 62 96
johninterred Johninterred 14:21 11:25 79 123
Tibthorpe 14:25 08:50 61 95
Aybee 14:30 09:33 65 101
Pootle Pootle 14:51 07:25 49 76
CentralLine CentralLine 14:52 08:35 57 89
MK76 14:59 12:29 83 129
DunPangolin 15:00 10:07 67 104
Finzi 15:00 13:09 87 135
franceslc11 15:13 14:04 92 143
Penfold_61 Penfold 15:18 10:32 68 106
Ben Staveley 15:19 09:59 65 101
BlackburnRover 15:22 11:56 77 120
JezWoolfrey 15:22 10:15 66 103
cdb_100 15:38 09:24 60 93
myles 15:46 11:59 76 118
andrewlake 15:51 14:48 93 145
RobR RobR 15:55 12:40 79 123
TB22 15:57 09:58 62 96
Carol 15:57 09:26 59 92
tapbarker 16:04 11:49 73 114
Achernar 16:39 14:28 86 134
phthisis 16:40 08:53 53 82
Valance 16:45 09:48 58 90
Jeremy S 16:57 11:38 68 106
ajcauk1 16:58 13:03 76 118
Pxspxs 17:10 14:34 84 131
rrricharrrd 17:17 07:11 41 64
Crossiant 17:34 11:05 63 98
Foozler 17:44 17:35 99 154
Mike C 17:46 09:18 52 81
PGooden 18:00 14:34 80 125
Upfisher 18:09 14:11 78 121
David Bourne 18:10 14:20 78 121
Zander 18:34 11:55 64 100
DanSolo 18:34 11:07 59 92
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:55 11:01 58 90
pterodactyl 19:04 16:05 84 131
robinh 19:06 16:37 86 134
LJCN 19:08 12:31 65 101
Rowlie26 Rowlie26 19:12 10:25 54 84
daniel.faith 19:12 11:30 59 92
hugh schofield Leskoffer 19:26 12:14 62 96
UisceTe 19:31 21:13 108 168
uvofiz 19:39 13:25 68 106
GMcD 19:41 11:19 57 89
John Arnold 19:43 11:48 59 92
Gallion Fish 20:01 15:19 76 118
brian.richards1 20:12 15:33 76 118
Willie F 20:13 17:50 88 137
rjhinde61 20:20 17:36 86 134
Curarist Curarist 20:24 12:31 61 95
Nangle 20:33 18:02 87 135
dr.shred 20:52 11:02 52 81
Zabadak3 Zabadak 21:00 15:03 71 110
babka 21:15 09:37 45 70
tony the butcher montana 21:16 16:31 77 120
Aldus 21:34 15:56 73 114
Anomalospiza 21:45 15:23 70 109
James P Special_bitter 21:46 12:50 58 90
Rod B 21:55 15:10 69 107
JayEm 22:10 07:09 32 50
Tudds 22:27 18:39 83 129
Corymbia Corymbia 22:29 12:42 56 87
david_ch 22:43 14:30 63 98
Hamish.S 22:48 08:55 39 60
goblin 23:01 19:22 84 131
infinitejest 23:17 12:55 55 85
alwsn8 23:48 14:17 60 93
mjsaunders9 23:53 12:58 54 84
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 23:59 13:34 56 87
Mkgnao Mkgnao 24:26 19:23 79 123
Crippens1 24:33 19:50 80 125
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:55 16:06 64 100
ulaca ulaca 25:31 12:06 47 73
SlumdogEngineer 26:02 11:50 45 70
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 26:19 15:56 60 93
Brenk Brenk1 26:27 21:50 82 128
Yatton50 26:40 18:01 67 104
Mike Harper Mike Harper 26:43 18:34 69 107
Deezzaa Deezzaa 27:14 13:16 48 75
raincloud 27:26 16:59 61 95
f4rch 27:48 12:02 43 67
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 27:54 25:58 93 145
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 28:03 20:41 73 114
wimpoldo 28:59 34:46 119 185
Manveru 29:18 28:42 97 151
nekabue 29:50 16:52 56 87
RogerC 29:56 21:15 70 109
Gussie 29:57 13:03 43 67
simjt simjt 30:23 20:19 66 103
laurence_da 30:38 32:06 104 162
BertieVII 32:06 17:56 55 85
The Real Steve Snackman 33:06 23:01 69 107
Birdingbob 33:28 17:21 51 79
birthday girl 33:56 26:44 78 121
NAPASAI napasai 33:59 21:43 63 98
CoxBurglar coxburglar 34:34 73:52 213 332
koro kororareka 35:17 21:31 60 93
Cryptique 35:26 37:27 105 164
dosbarth 35:33 29:05 81 126
boltonwanderer 35:38 21:00 58 90
Maggot 35:45 25:22 70 109
Bossbutbee 35:57 29:09 81 126
rv_1 36:07 17:00 47 73
clivejharlow 36:46 29:12 79 123
Shushannah 37:20 32:00 85 132
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 38:06 17:06 44 68
MalcolmD 38:23 32:46 85 132
E Bradford E Bradford 38:27 27:40 71 110
Steve Wood 42:14 22:54 54 84
Aidleys 44:41 31:25 70 109
MichaelE 45:35 24:55 54 84
empty 45:56 37:16 81 126
profsjpayne 59:04 91:22 154 240

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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