Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29341

Date 22 September 2025
Number 29341
Day of week Monday
NITCH 78
Count of ref solvers 55
Ref solvers excluded with errors 10
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29341

* 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
Nathan Panning 05:40 03:26 60 76
Magoo 05:58 05:36 93 119
Paul Gilbert 06:10 07:02 114 146
lili 06:27 04:36 71 91
Diskus 06:38 05:20 80 102
hilarym 06:54 07:05 102 130
Jason 06:58 04:20 62 79
mistigris 07:30 05:58 79 101
aphis99 aphis99 07:48 05:35 71 91
DeLilith 07:53 06:09 78 100
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:27 09:12 108 138
glheard glh 09:28 11:33 122 156
richard 09:57 07:39 76 97
markdobell 09:57 07:50 78 100
AlanS 10:04 08:02 79 101
tiggis 10:04 16:12 160 205
LoreleiBill 10:37 09:18 87 111
Kinghedger 11:05 08:58 80 102
Deane Short Deane Short 11:24 06:19 55 70
lickert 11:26 09:50 86 110
neilr neilr 11:27 09:09 79 101
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:38 10:33 90 115
miked1961 11:41 12:47 109 139
keriothe_ keriothe 11:43 08:52 75 96
Heyesey 11:48 09:23 79 101
chindit 11:50 08:15 69 88
SimonAnthony 11:58 10:45 89 114
Morphosis 11:59 11:19 94 120
Golvellius 12:01 10:12 84 107
Amoeba89 Amoeba 12:17 08:56 72 92
aphasic 12:27 15:51 127 162
Adelaider 12:29 11:58 95 121
andy 12:30 11:31 92 117
chriswords 12:44 13:13 103 132
trux trux20 12:55 11:45 90 115
canismiser 12:59 11:17 86 110
njnclarke 13:06 12:44 97 124
Sheapey Sheapey 13:08 09:44 74 94
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:15 10:31 79 101
tilbee 13:18 12:57 97 124
Silva 13:19 10:37 79 101
EricK 13:23 11:02 82 105
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:29 11:09 82 105
Topical Tim Topical Tim 13:36 16:10 118 151
Peponi13 13:39 10:17 75 96
alexh 14:02 12:15 87 111
Eddddddd 14:17 09:21 65 83
LouWeed LouWeed 14:22 07:48 54 69
CentralLine CentralLine 14:23 17:03 118 151
Aybee 14:28 09:41 66 84
Semillon 14:29 10:18 71 91
Tibthorpe 14:31 15:49 108 138
MK76 14:46 12:46 86 110
jimwetzler 14:49 16:52 113 144
gabrojak 14:56 13:24 89 114
Pootle Pootle 14:59 11:30 76 97
Finzi 15:02 15:19 101 129
Looch 15:07 11:53 78 100
whichcraft 15:07 09:08 60 76
DunPangolin 15:08 20:04 132 169
johninterred Johninterred 15:10 13:48 90 115
Rinteff Rinteff 15:16 14:58 98 125
BlackburnRover 15:20 16:10 105 134
Carol 15:44 13:35 86 110
myles 15:45 19:25 123 157
robertL 15:47 11:09 70 89
franceslc11 15:55 06:11 38 48
tapbarker 16:13 14:06 86 110
andrewlake 16:17 13:30 82 105
hopkinb hopkinb 16:22 20:57 128 164
chriswestontour Chris West 16:39 15:27 92 117
ajcauk1 16:40 18:53 113 144
Valance 16:57 14:34 85 108
Achernar 17:05 17:29 102 130
rrricharrrd 17:17 09:53 57 73
Crossiant 17:17 14:35 84 107
phthisis 17:18 14:48 85 108
DamienKnapma 17:36 22:10 125 160
Encota 17:44 15:07 85 108
pterodactyl 18:58 19:34 103 132
Dzhigit dzhigit71 19:03 15:37 81 103
John Arnold 19:15 23:05 119 152
Zander 19:16 15:09 78 100
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 19:21 12:28 64 82
Jagsfan1971 19:42 15:05 76 97
LJCN 19:47 15:44 79 101
GMcD 19:47 22:11 112 143
uvofiz 19:50 23:03 116 148
babka 20:02 13:23 66 84
KarenR 20:09 15:07 75 96
daniel.faith 20:09 17:46 88 112
Curarist Curarist 20:26 16:19 79 101
Nangle 20:32 14:23 70 89
gsriordan52 20:43 29:32 142 182
valerian1967 20:54 20:09 96 123
pc8 20:56 15:43 75 96
Anomalospiza 21:13 12:36 59 75
James P Special_bitter 21:32 19:14 89 114
alwsn8 21:55 18:18 83 106
JayEm 22:11 17:47 80 102
Rod B 22:24 14:16 63 80
Tudds 22:25 18:50 84 107
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 22:39 19:09 84 107
Rosey6 22:40 18:58 83 106
Corymbia Corymbia 22:56 20:41 90 115
goblin 23:01 24:30 106 135
1234 23:18 15:02 64 82
stainl665 23:37 21:23 90 115
Crippens1 23:56 28:59 121 155
symbenall2 24:44 26:33 107 137
mjsaunders9 24:47 15:09 61 78
Mkgnao Mkgnao 24:55 20:55 83 106
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:15 19:55 78 100
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 25:15 25:02 99 126
ulaca ulaca 25:30 29:06 114 146
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:18 24:07 91 116
Brenk Brenk1 26:20 27:50 105 134
Yatton50 26:39 23:48 89 114
steve.laverock 27:09 18:30 68 87
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:18 20:47 76 97
barracuda barracuda 28:06 22:56 81 103
Jamie Fox 29:02 28:32 98 125
wimpoldo 29:21 35:33 121 155
Manveru 29:22 36:36 124 158
Dr_Bob 29:33 32:03 108 138
nekabue 29:34 27:30 93 119
Jonathan O 29:45 27:54 93 119
laurence_da 30:12 28:58 95 121
plusjeremy (Jeremy Weissmann) plusjeremy 30:23 19:57 65 83
tyrotim tyrotim 31:09 37:44 121 155
piltdown man 31:33 29:53 94 120
intentional rounding 32:39 18:01 55 70
alexngbr 33:13 39:11 117 150
Mudge Mudge 34:03 23:03 67 85
JoeyC 34:06 25:20 74 94
Alias Noble 35:38 33:11 93 119
Cryptique 36:03 28:43 79 101
Birdingbob 36:07 35:58 99 126
koro kororareka 36:16 22:42 62 79
dosbarth 36:29 38:44 106 135
kapietro kapietro 36:39 28:48 78 100
boltonwanderer 37:12 20:00 53 67
Peloton 37:15 23:31 63 80
starstruck starstruck_au 37:37 29:34 78 100
E Bradford E Bradford 38:11 30:30 79 101
joss henry 38:28 39:08 101 129
Shushannah 38:56 27:01 69 88
Dr Dolittle 39:26 25:35 64 82
JGP 39:59 36:02 90 115
Steve Wood 41:39 34:02 81 103
Aidleys 44:58 32:11 71 91
MichaelE 45:59 06:51 14 17
empty 46:09 59:00 127 162
CoxBurglar coxburglar 46:59 26:28 56 71

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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