Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29329

Date 08 September 2025
Number 29329
Day of week Monday
NITCH 79
Count of ref solvers 65
Ref solvers excluded with errors 7
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29329

* 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 04:33 03:34 78 98
Nathan Panning 05:40 04:46 84 106
Magoo 05:58 04:28 74 93
Paul Gilbert 06:10 04:49 78 98
lili 06:27 06:02 93 117
verlaine Verlaine 06:32 04:25 67 84
cmjhutton 06:36 04:20 65 82
Diskus 06:38 05:21 80 101
hilarym 06:54 07:09 103 130
mistigris 07:30 04:10 55 69
Alexis Johansen 07:45 11:07 143 181
aphis99 aphis99 07:48 05:11 66 83
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:27 06:15 73 92
asaldanha 09:16 07:59 86 108
markdobell 09:57 06:41 67 84
richard 09:57 07:40 77 97
AlanS 10:04 08:44 86 108
LoreleiBill 10:37 11:23 107 135
Kinghedger 11:05 09:35 86 108
Freemers 11:20 12:19 108 136
Deane Short Deane Short 11:24 10:56 95 120
lickert 11:26 11:45 102 129
neilr neilr 11:27 10:06 88 111
scrabbler 11:33 07:25 64 81
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:38 09:54 85 107
miked1961 11:41 12:29 106 134
keriothe_ keriothe 11:43 07:43 65 82
Heyesey 11:48 17:40 149 188
chindit 11:50 07:08 60 75
Morphosis 11:59 10:32 87 110
Golvellius 12:01 15:00 124 156
Amoeba89 Amoeba 12:17 08:29 69 87
TB22 12:27 07:35 60 75
aphasic 12:27 15:07 121 153
Adelaider 12:29 10:59 87 110
andy 12:30 10:42 85 107
Groucho 12:39 09:08 72 91
canismiser 12:59 22:09 170 215
John Walsh 13:01 12:29 95 120
JimboFS 13:02 14:08 108 136
Sheapey Sheapey 13:08 12:21 94 118
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:15 15:19 115 145
tilbee 13:18 11:13 84 106
EricK 13:23 11:31 86 108
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:29 10:14 75 94
Topical Tim Topical Tim 13:36 09:43 71 89
Peponi13 13:39 18:05 132 167
Secondbass 13:42 07:51 57 72
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:49 12:29 90 113
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:53 14:07 101 127
Tibthorpe 14:31 11:16 77 97
Stavros Stavrolex 14:44 10:07 68 86
Pootle Pootle 14:59 18:16 121 153
benbush 14:59 12:16 81 102
Finzi 15:02 13:56 92 116
DunPangolin 15:08 12:48 84 106
JezWoolfrey 15:09 12:02 79 100
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 15:14 11:44 77 97
julian_w 15:25 17:44 115 145
myles 15:45 21:58 139 175
robertL 15:47 24:21 154 194
franceslc11 15:55 08:28 53 67
tapbarker 16:13 13:46 84 106
andrewlake 16:17 11:13 68 86
ajcauk1 16:40 12:51 77 97
Valance 16:57 12:38 74 93
Achernar 17:05 16:31 96 121
Vannyx 17:08 18:43 109 137
Jeremy S 17:17 16:53 97 122
ilan 17:27 12:31 71 89
Encota 17:44 12:24 69 87
cdb_100 18:20 09:51 53 67
David Bourne 18:32 14:07 76 96
pterodactyl 18:58 21:26 113 143
Dzhigit dzhigit71 19:03 19:12 100 126
Zander 19:16 15:32 80 101
Rowlie26 Rowlie26 19:20 20:00 103 130
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 19:21 51:25 265 335
tony the butcher montana 19:44 25:47 130 164
LJCN 19:47 12:57 65 82
GMcD 19:47 17:46 89 112
uvofiz 19:50 17:29 88 111
dr.shred 19:57 15:35 78 98
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:09 17:24 86 108
Curarist Curarist 20:26 18:37 91 115
Nangle 20:32 24:27 119 150
valerian1967 20:54 15:08 72 91
pc8 20:56 14:39 69 87
Dvynys dvynys 21:05 22:18 105 132
The Caffeine Kid 21:07 18:25 87 110
Aldus 21:08 19:24 91 115
Zabadak3 Zabadak 21:09 16:31 78 98
Anomalospiza 21:13 20:27 96 121
Waterloo 21:16 22:24 105 132
Solving slo mo 21:21 17:53 83 105
george.garlick 21:22 19:30 91 115
James P Special_bitter 21:32 14:51 68 86
alwsn8 21:55 13:21 60 75
david_ch 22:20 18:20 82 103
Rod B 22:24 12:12 54 68
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 22:39 25:42 113 143
goblin 23:01 22:40 98 124
1234 23:18 28:52 123 155
Hamish.S 23:26 22:41 96 121
mjsaunders9 24:47 14:13 57 72
Mkgnao Mkgnao 24:55 28:57 116 146
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 25:15 23:06 91 115
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:15 18:14 72 91
ulaca ulaca 25:30 20:00 78 98
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:18 22:39 86 108
Brenk Brenk1 26:20 18:57 71 89
crosswordian 27:02 20:09 74 93
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:18 26:33 97 122
barracuda barracuda 28:06 27:01 96 121
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 28:57 21:40 74 93
Grumpole Grumpole 29:06 22:01 75 94
wimpoldo 29:21 27:47 94 118
Manveru 29:22 23:58 81 102
gbestanley 29:24 33:44 114 144
simjt simjt 29:29 25:28 86 108
nekabue 29:34 22:43 76 96
Mike Mansbridge 29:50 03:39 12 15
laurence_da 30:12 28:58 95 120
vinyl12345 vinyl1 31:29 27:32 87 110
piltdown man 31:33 37:32 118 149
jackk.larg 31:52 33:07 103 130
The Real Steve Snackman 32:16 33:23 103 130
intentional rounding 32:39 37:15 114 144
BertieVII 33:07 63:13 190 240
Kernowdoc 33:23 24:32 73 92
Rookie 33:57 34:19 101 127
Bossbutbee 35:21 31:13 88 111
Lloyd 35:28 32:29 91 115
Alias Noble 35:38 30:21 85 107
rv_1 35:48 29:58 83 105
Cryptique 36:03 42:47 118 149
Birdingbob 36:07 39:32 109 137
Pelforth 36:08 36:55 102 129
koro kororareka 36:16 19:52 54 68
MalcolmD 36:29 25:11 69 87
boltonwanderer 37:12 39:00 104 131
starstruck starstruck_au 37:37 41:21 109 137
E Bradford E Bradford 38:11 17:34 46 58
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 40:17 33:20 82 103
baronrob 43:03 30:18 70 88
MichaelE 45:59 32:30 70 88

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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