Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29344

Date 25 September 2025
Number 29344
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 83
Count of ref solvers 65
Ref solvers excluded with errors 6
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29344

* 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 03:54 85 102
Nathan Panning 05:40 05:49 102 122
Magoo 05:58 04:40 78 93
Paul Gilbert 06:10 04:29 72 86
lili 06:27 06:18 97 116
verlaine Verlaine 06:32 04:47 73 87
Diskus 06:38 05:40 85 102
hilarym 06:54 09:37 139 167
Jason 06:58 05:05 72 86
mistigris 07:30 04:27 59 71
Alexis Johansen 07:45 05:48 74 89
aphis99 aphis99 07:48 05:09 66 79
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:27 06:27 76 91
asaldanha 09:16 06:38 71 85
glheard glh 09:28 12:38 133 160
markdobell 09:57 07:04 71 85
LoreleiBill 10:37 06:54 64 77
Kinghedger 11:05 07:46 70 84
Deane Short Deane Short 11:24 08:44 76 91
neilr neilr 11:27 13:54 121 145
scrabbler 11:33 13:05 113 136
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:38 13:41 117 140
miked1961 11:41 10:21 88 106
keriothe_ keriothe 11:43 09:02 77 92
Heyesey 11:48 14:52 125 150
David Crooks dcrooks 11:49 10:26 88 106
chindit 11:50 09:16 78 93
SimonAnthony 11:58 08:11 68 81
Morphosis 11:59 12:41 105 126
Golvellius 12:01 12:04 100 120
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 12:08 17:13 141 169
Amoeba89 Amoeba 12:17 09:28 77 92
aphasic 12:27 12:23 99 119
Adelaider 12:29 13:17 106 127
andy 12:30 11:25 91 109
chriswords 12:44 12:30 98 118
trux trux20 12:55 12:52 99 119
canismiser 12:59 12:04 92 110
JimboFS 13:02 13:17 101 121
Paul Bacon 13:02 12:34 96 115
Sheapey Sheapey 13:08 07:23 56 67
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:15 11:12 84 101
Silva 13:19 12:07 90 108
EricK 13:23 14:48 110 132
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:29 12:28 92 110
Topical Tim Topical Tim 13:36 07:42 56 67
Peponi13 13:39 15:50 115 138
Secondbass 13:42 17:17 126 151
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:53 13:47 99 119
alexh 14:02 12:17 87 104
Eddddddd 14:17 19:36 137 165
LouWeed LouWeed 14:22 10:10 70 84
CentralLine CentralLine 14:23 15:31 107 128
Aybee 14:28 14:47 102 122
Semillon 14:29 08:18 57 68
Tibthorpe 14:31 13:50 95 114
Stavros Stavrolex 14:44 10:56 74 89
Pootle Pootle 14:59 15:36 104 125
benbush 14:59 11:30 76 91
Finzi 15:02 13:31 89 107
Looch 15:07 14:22 95 114
whichcraft 15:07 13:59 92 110
DunPangolin 15:08 16:29 108 130
johninterred Johninterred 15:10 14:11 93 112
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 15:14 13:53 91 109
nickname 15:27 18:31 119 143
myles 15:45 16:21 103 124
Ben Staveley 15:51 16:53 106 127
franceslc11 15:55 16:04 100 120
andrewlake 16:17 15:24 94 113
RobR RobR 16:24 11:11 68 81
chriswestontour Chris West 16:39 14:26 86 103
ajcauk1 16:40 14:10 85 102
Cookincats 16:42 20:06 120 144
Achernar 17:05 18:57 110 132
Vannyx 17:08 15:21 89 107
Jeremy S 17:17 18:43 108 130
Crossiant 17:17 12:29 72 86
phthisis 17:18 12:39 73 87
ilan 17:27 21:54 125 150
Encota 17:44 17:14 97 116
Squallaby 18:09 14:53 82 98
cdb_100 18:20 10:40 58 69
thewanderingeditor 18:29 13:54 75 90
DanSolo 18:32 13:45 74 89
pterodactyl 18:58 20:11 106 127
Dzhigit dzhigit71 19:03 14:15 74 89
John Arnold 19:15 26:56 139 167
Zander 19:16 13:40 70 84
Rowlie26 Rowlie26 19:20 24:02 124 149
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 19:21 14:35 75 90
tony the butcher montana 19:44 21:40 109 131
GMcD 19:47 23:23 118 142
LJCN 19:47 13:26 67 80
uvofiz 19:50 20:01 100 120
dr.shred 19:57 21:35 108 130
daniel.faith 20:09 24:23 121 145
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:09 20:45 102 122
KarenR 20:09 12:49 63 75
Curarist Curarist 20:26 15:51 77 92
Nangle 20:32 20:37 100 120
valerian1967 20:54 17:23 83 100
pc8 20:56 17:17 82 98
The Caffeine Kid 21:07 22:51 108 130
Aldus 21:08 17:49 84 101
Zabadak3 Zabadak 21:09 13:26 63 75
Anomalospiza 21:13 15:22 72 86
Astonvilla.1 21:14 22:35 106 127
UisceTe 21:22 16:18 76 91
george.garlick 21:22 19:45 92 110
James P Special_bitter 21:32 15:56 73 87
Willie F 21:33 18:47 87 104
alwsn8 21:55 16:08 73 87
JayEm 22:11 20:27 92 110
infinitejest 22:13 31:05 139 167
david_ch 22:20 20:00 89 107
Rod B 22:24 25:15 112 134
Corymbia Corymbia 22:56 17:24 75 90
goblin 23:01 22:15 96 115
Hamish.S 23:26 55:12 235 283
Brian McNamar 25:13 22:56 90 108
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 25:15 26:42 105 126
ulaca ulaca 25:30 29:33 115 138
Word Psmith wordpsmith 26:05 34:03 130 156
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:18 27:32 104 125
Yatton50 26:39 13:57 52 62
Menelaus 27:16 21:00 77 92
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:18 29:24 107 128
chris661554 27:23 25:40 93 112
Edprof 28:55 18:44 64 77
Jamie Fox 29:02 30:06 103 124
gbestanley 29:24 29:01 98 118
simjt simjt 29:29 31:25 106 127
nekabue 29:34 24:36 83 100
David Luke 29:40 24:07 81 97
laurence_da 30:12 32:58 109 131
The Real Steve Snackman 32:16 25:30 79 95
intentional rounding 32:39 37:27 114 137
BertieVII 33:07 53:17 160 192
Rookie 33:57 26:29 78 93
Mudge Mudge 34:03 30:20 89 107
Bossbutbee 35:21 33:04 93 112
Cryptique 36:03 25:45 71 85
koro kororareka 36:16 31:48 87 104
dosbarth 36:29 41:53 114 137
clivejharlow 37:15 33:00 88 106
Peloton 37:15 32:32 87 104
starstruck starstruck_au 37:37 29:24 78 93
E Bradford E Bradford 38:11 28:04 73 87
Shushannah 38:56 26:43 68 81
Dr Dolittle 39:26 24:09 61 73
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 40:17 23:23 58 69
Steve Wood 41:39 42:52 102 122
empty 46:09 61:47 133 160
CoxBurglar coxburglar 46:59 30:43 65 78
NJP1 58:39 77:33 132 159
Merlin_55 58:53 48:02 81 97

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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