Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29343

Date 24 September 2025
Number 29343
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 95
Count of ref solvers 60
Ref solvers excluded with errors 3
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29343

* 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 04:05 89 93
Nathan Panning 05:40 05:36 98 103
Magoo 05:58 05:20 89 93
Paul Gilbert 06:10 08:29 137 144
lili 06:27 06:19 97 102
verlaine Verlaine 06:32 05:57 91 95
Diskus 06:38 06:12 93 97
hilarym 06:54 08:25 121 127
mistigris 07:30 06:05 81 85
aphis99 aphis99 07:48 08:22 107 112
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:27 08:23 99 104
asaldanha 09:16 11:06 119 125
glheard glh 09:28 12:59 137 144
markdobell 09:57 09:22 94 98
richard 09:57 09:31 95 100
toots 11:10 13:41 122 128
Deane Short Deane Short 11:24 12:09 106 111
lickert 11:26 12:41 110 115
neilr neilr 11:27 11:28 100 105
scrabbler 11:33 13:37 117 123
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:38 15:19 131 137
miked1961 11:41 10:05 86 90
keriothe_ keriothe 11:43 11:28 97 102
Heyesey 11:48 11:44 99 104
David Crooks dcrooks 11:49 11:21 96 101
chindit 11:50 14:34 123 129
SimonAnthony 11:58 10:51 90 94
Morphosis 11:59 12:49 106 111
Amoeba89 Amoeba 12:17 12:44 103 108
aphasic 12:27 11:56 95 100
Adelaider 12:29 15:48 126 132
andy 12:30 18:43 149 156
trux trux20 12:55 16:51 130 136
canismiser 12:59 13:07 101 106
Sheapey Sheapey 13:08 10:22 78 82
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:15 13:04 98 103
tilbee 13:18 13:51 104 109
Silva 13:19 12:21 92 96
EricK 13:23 12:32 93 97
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:29 11:26 84 88
Peponi13 13:39 14:12 104 109
Secondbass 13:42 15:21 112 117
Riche Riche 13:46 14:41 106 111
alexh 14:02 14:44 104 109
Eddddddd 14:17 12:01 84 88
LouWeed LouWeed 14:22 10:29 72 75
Aybee 14:28 13:36 94 98
Semillon 14:29 13:57 96 101
Tibthorpe 14:31 14:28 99 104
Stavros Stavrolex 14:44 10:59 74 77
gabrojak 14:56 15:52 106 111
Pootle Pootle 14:59 17:46 118 124
Finzi 15:02 14:27 96 101
whichcraft 15:07 15:33 102 107
Looch 15:07 20:02 132 138
JezWoolfrey 15:09 19:48 130 136
Rinteff Rinteff 15:16 15:58 104 109
BlackburnRover 15:20 15:42 102 107
myles 15:45 20:25 129 135
Ben Staveley 15:51 13:23 84 88
franceslc11 15:55 19:15 120 126
andrewlake 16:17 15:17 93 97
ajcauk1 16:40 18:43 112 117
Achernar 17:05 21:29 125 131
Vannyx 17:08 15:28 90 94
Jeremy S 17:17 23:31 136 143
rrricharrrd 17:17 15:41 90 94
phthisis 17:18 16:15 93 97
PGooden 17:29 16:10 92 96
Encota 17:44 17:25 98 103
Squallaby 18:09 23:10 127 133
cdb_100 18:20 10:19 56 58
DanSolo 18:32 16:03 86 90
KET 18:53 18:12 96 101
pterodactyl 18:58 27:47 146 153
Dzhigit dzhigit71 19:03 17:49 93 97
John Arnold 19:15 23:15 120 126
Zander 19:16 24:54 129 135
Rowlie26 Rowlie26 19:20 28:42 148 155
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 19:21 17:30 90 94
robinh 19:27 25:23 130 136
tony the butcher montana 19:44 30:13 153 161
LJCN 19:47 14:24 72 75
GMcD 19:47 20:38 104 109
daniel.faith 20:09 20:03 99 104
KarenR 20:09 17:30 86 90
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:09 21:06 104 109
Colin2355 20:18 23:38 116 122
Curarist Curarist 20:26 18:19 89 93
Nangle 20:32 24:17 118 124
Gallion Fish 20:42 24:34 118 124
valerian1967 20:54 16:25 78 82
pc8 20:56 19:33 93 97
The Caffeine Kid 21:07 22:37 107 112
Zabadak3 Zabadak 21:09 24:47 117 123
Waterloo 21:16 33:15 156 164
Solving slo mo 21:21 25:48 120 126
UisceTe 21:22 25:27 119 125
Willie F 21:33 20:43 96 101
JayEm 22:11 17:34 79 83
david_ch 22:20 18:20 82 86
Rod B 22:24 28:34 127 133
Tudds 22:25 26:06 116 122
Rosey6 22:40 29:39 130 136
Corymbia Corymbia 22:56 25:13 109 114
goblin 23:01 21:08 91 95
Hamish.S 23:26 22:04 94 98
mjsaunders9 24:47 15:57 64 67
Mkgnao Mkgnao 24:55 29:36 118 124
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:15 20:54 82 86
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 25:15 24:05 95 100
ulaca ulaca 25:30 26:22 103 108
Word Psmith wordpsmith 26:05 41:25 158 166
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:18 34:51 132 138
Menelaus 27:16 32:05 117 123
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:18 30:24 111 116
barracuda barracuda 28:06 23:49 84 88
Grumpole Grumpole 29:06 46:44 160 168
wimpoldo 29:21 29:22 100 105
Manveru 29:22 26:32 90 94
Dr_Bob 29:33 33:38 113 118
nekabue 29:34 19:40 66 69
Jonathan O 29:45 41:58 141 148
Mike Mansbridge 29:50 05:28 18 18
laurence_da 30:12 53:52 178 187
Pendrov 30:30 28:40 93 97
RogerC 31:10 26:01 83 87
jackk.larg 31:52 41:10 129 135
The Real Steve Snackman 32:16 30:06 93 97
intentional rounding 32:39 27:16 83 87
BertieVII 33:07 46:51 141 148
alexngbr 33:13 34:02 102 107
Bossbutbee 35:21 39:47 112 117
rv_1 35:48 31:17 87 91
Birdingbob 36:07 31:03 85 89
koro kororareka 36:16 50:12 138 145
MalcolmD 36:29 38:12 104 109
kapietro kapietro 36:39 41:29 113 118
starstruck starstruck_au 37:37 24:58 66 69
E Bradford E Bradford 38:11 45:00 117 123
Dr Dolittle 39:26 30:07 76 80
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 40:17 38:34 95 100
Aidleys 44:58 32:34 72 75
MichaelE 45:59 52:09 113 118
empty 46:09 60:42 131 137
kjbr 52:53 79:29 150 157

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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