Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29319

Date 27 August 2025
Number 29319
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 84
Count of ref solvers 61
Ref solvers excluded with errors 5
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29319

* 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 04:34 78 92
Paul Gilbert 06:00 04:55 81 96
verlaine Verlaine 06:14 05:20 85 101
lili 06:20 03:47 59 70
Diskus 06:23 04:33 71 84
cmjhutton 06:31 05:01 76 90
Jason 06:53 07:11 104 123
hilarym 06:58 06:41 95 113
mistigris 07:15 06:29 89 105
aphis99 aphis99 07:38 07:25 97 115
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:18 06:59 84 100
Umpire 09:02 07:07 78 92
glheard glh 09:06 09:59 109 129
asaldanha 09:11 08:02 87 103
markdobell 09:45 07:33 77 91
Ciolf 10:07 07:58 78 92
Kinghedger 10:47 08:58 83 98
LoreleiBill 11:00 10:34 96 114
scrabbler 11:02 11:56 108 128
SimonAnthony 11:04 13:08 118 140
Freemers 11:11 12:29 111 132
neilr neilr 11:14 13:28 119 141
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:27 11:29 100 119
keriothe_ keriothe 11:29 08:19 72 85
Heyesey 11:29 07:39 66 78
Deane Short Deane Short 11:31 11:04 96 114
Morphosis 11:40 10:26 89 105
David Crooks dcrooks 11:40 10:50 92 109
miked1961 11:46 10:23 88 104
Amoeba89 Amoeba 11:50 07:54 66 78
Golvellius 11:52 08:23 70 83
fuzz 11:58 10:49 90 107
andy 12:07 10:28 86 102
chriswords 12:29 15:00 120 142
aphasic 12:35 11:48 93 110
Groucho 12:40 09:21 73 86
Sheapey Sheapey 12:46 08:46 68 80
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 12:50 10:56 85 101
JimboFS 12:50 14:06 109 129
njnclarke 12:51 14:57 116 138
John Walsh 12:54 15:36 120 142
Silva 13:02 12:39 97 115
Paul Bacon 13:06 14:09 108 128
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:21 12:51 96 114
d.middleton 13:22 14:50 110 130
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:23 09:15 69 82
EricK 13:23 10:30 78 92
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:24 12:24 92 109
tilbee 13:27 10:26 77 91
zinzan 13:31 18:42 138 164
Stavros Stavrolex 13:52 11:54 85 101
alexh 13:55 12:27 89 105
Semillon 14:16 14:35 102 121
LouWeed LouWeed 14:18 10:58 76 90
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 14:24 11:51 82 97
Aybee 14:30 13:06 90 107
gabrojak 14:43 14:28 98 116
CentralLine CentralLine 14:52 13:41 92 109
MK76 14:59 14:29 96 114
Finzi 15:00 15:01 100 119
benbush 15:01 11:26 76 90
Rinteff Rinteff 15:12 10:40 70 83
franceslc11 15:13 12:35 82 97
Penfold_61 Penfold 15:18 15:02 98 116
Ben Staveley 15:19 13:12 86 102
JezWoolfrey 15:22 17:01 110 130
julian_w 15:30 12:30 80 95
cdb_100 15:38 11:04 70 83
myles 15:46 22:33 143 170
andrewlake 15:51 17:05 107 127
RobR RobR 15:55 17:16 108 128
hopkinb hopkinb 16:01 14:54 93 110
tapbarker 16:04 09:50 61 72
tds 16:23 16:15 99 117
Achernar 16:39 15:21 92 109
Valance 16:45 15:15 91 108
chriswestontour Chris West 16:48 17:32 104 123
Vannyx 16:51 13:53 82 97
Jeremy S 16:57 22:08 130 154
ajcauk1 16:58 16:28 97 115
rrricharrrd 17:17 09:56 57 67
Mike C 17:46 16:11 91 108
PGooden 18:00 16:29 91 108
Squallaby 18:27 12:53 69 82
KET 18:34 20:11 108 128
DanSolo 18:34 12:03 64 76
Zander 18:34 14:59 80 95
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:55 16:26 86 102
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 18:57 13:27 70 83
pterodactyl 19:04 23:20 122 145
robinh 19:06 16:26 86 102
LJCN 19:08 18:48 98 116
daniel.faith 19:12 12:13 63 75
Rowlie26 Rowlie26 19:12 14:04 73 86
hugh schofield Leskoffer 19:26 21:13 109 129
Colin2355 19:34 23:01 117 139
uvofiz 19:39 19:23 98 116
GMcD 19:41 17:08 87 103
Gallion Fish 20:01 22:32 112 133
Willie F 20:13 13:58 69 82
rjhinde61 20:20 17:57 88 104
pc8 20:21 19:18 94 111
Curarist Curarist 20:24 18:29 90 107
george.garlick 20:31 21:09 103 122
Waterloo 20:49 22:45 109 129
dr.shred 20:52 16:45 80 95
gsriordan52 20:57 19:48 94 111
Zabadak3 Zabadak 21:00 19:38 93 110
babka 21:15 11:36 54 64
tony the butcher montana 21:16 19:23 91 108
Anomalospiza 21:45 25:07 115 136
James P Special_bitter 21:46 21:26 98 116
Rod B 21:55 20:42 94 111
Rembleforth 22:06 24:21 110 130
JayEm 22:10 26:05 117 139
Tudds 22:27 18:09 80 95
Corymbia Corymbia 22:29 17:22 77 91
david_ch 22:43 15:40 68 80
Hamish.S 22:48 18:42 82 97
goblin 23:01 27:24 119 141
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 23:18 26:16 112 133
alwsn8 23:48 17:19 72 85
mjsaunders9 23:53 20:12 84 100
Fidelio 24:20 23:16 95 113
Mkgnao Mkgnao 24:26 22:13 90 107
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:55 24:29 98 116
medodd 25:21 18:32 73 86
ulaca ulaca 25:31 18:36 72 85
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 26:19 23:01 87 103
Brenk Brenk1 26:27 24:20 91 108
Yatton50 26:40 21:46 81 96
Mike Harper Mike Harper 26:43 21:28 80 95
chris661554 27:03 24:29 90 107
Edprof 27:10 27:42 101 120
Deezzaa Deezzaa 27:14 24:43 90 107
raincloud 27:26 18:37 67 79
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 28:03 40:00 142 169
David Luke 29:32 24:29 82 97
nekabue 29:50 35:42 119 141
simjt simjt 30:23 32:18 106 126
vinyl12345 vinyl1 30:26 24:15 79 94
laurence_da 30:38 28:54 94 111
Jonathan O 30:39 35:13 114 135
tyrotim tyrotim 30:50 29:18 95 113
alistair.boere 31:17 22:04 70 83
The Real Steve Snackman 33:06 24:01 72 85
Birdingbob 33:28 35:24 105 125
birthday girl 33:56 25:49 76 90
NAPASAI napasai 33:59 19:56 58 69
Rookie 34:05 26:37 78 92
JoeyC 34:29 20:23 59 70
CoxBurglar coxburglar 34:34 26:37 77 91
Alias Noble 34:36 24:03 69 82
Mudge Mudge 34:38 26:51 77 91
Lloyd 35:03 33:15 94 111
koro kororareka 35:17 22:42 64 76
Cryptique 35:26 41:16 116 138
rv_1 36:07 27:36 76 90
Peloton 36:52 21:26 58 69
Shushannah 37:20 29:54 80 95
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 38:06 29:25 77 91
E Bradford E Bradford 38:27 35:33 92 109
starstruck starstruck_au 38:33 27:59 72 85
baronrob 44:11 29:40 67 79
Aidleys 44:41 33:37 75 89
MichaelE 45:35 34:21 75 89
empty 45:56 43:22 94 111
NJP1 56:26 83:14 147 175
profsjpayne 59:04 32:44 55 65

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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