Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29348

Date 30 September 2025
Number 29348
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 72
Count of ref solvers 61
Ref solvers excluded with errors 3
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29348

* 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 04:34 03:32 77 106
Nathan Panning 05:33 03:08 56 77
Magoo 06:00 03:29 58 80
Paul Gilbert 06:15 04:35 73 101
verlaine Verlaine 06:34 07:12 109 151
lili 06:36 05:38 85 118
Diskus 06:44 04:44 70 97
Jason 06:57 05:43 82 113
hilarym 07:04 06:14 88 122
mistigris 07:31 05:31 73 101
aphis99 aphis99 07:39 06:24 83 115
Alexis Johansen 07:49 05:42 72 100
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:31 06:12 72 100
Torquay53 08:35 09:18 108 150
asaldanha 09:20 05:39 60 83
markdobell 09:51 07:59 81 112
Heyesey 11:12 12:59 115 159
Deane Short Deane Short 11:12 08:52 79 109
Kinghedger 11:13 09:13 82 113
toots 11:19 08:57 79 109
keriothe_ keriothe 11:37 07:02 60 83
neilr neilr 11:42 08:33 73 101
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:50 08:22 70 97
miked1961 11:52 09:09 77 106
David Crooks dcrooks 11:53 10:06 84 116
Amoeba89 Amoeba 11:54 10:06 84 116
chindit 12:02 06:31 54 75
Morphosis 12:04 12:20 102 141
andy 12:14 10:52 88 122
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 12:15 10:48 88 122
Groucho 12:26 08:53 71 98
Adelaider 12:35 13:18 105 145
Golvellius 12:57 09:11 70 97
Paul Bacon 12:58 10:58 84 116
chriswords 12:58 11:56 92 127
EricK 13:04 12:41 97 134
Sheapey Sheapey 13:12 09:00 68 94
njnclarke 13:13 11:08 84 116
John Walsh 13:18 14:16 107 148
Silva 13:20 11:56 89 123
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:23 07:58 59 81
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:24 11:18 84 116
Topical Tim Topical Tim 13:28 10:50 80 111
tilbee 13:30 06:57 51 70
Secondbass 13:38 11:56 87 120
trux trux20 14:00 10:10 72 100
Eddddddd 14:04 08:44 62 86
alexh 14:13 15:43 110 152
CentralLine CentralLine 14:15 17:50 125 173
LouWeed LouWeed 14:24 07:17 50 69
Semillon 14:26 09:58 69 95
Tibthorpe 14:40 12:30 85 118
MK76 14:54 16:24 110 152
JezWoolfrey 14:58 11:34 77 106
whichcraft 15:04 11:47 78 108
Looch 15:04 11:49 78 108
Finzi 15:06 15:06 100 138
benbush 15:06 14:41 97 134
DunPangolin 15:13 15:56 104 144
Pootle Pootle 15:18 09:59 65 90
gabrojak 15:23 15:16 99 137
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 15:26 20:58 135 187
Grestyman Grestyman 16:02 30:00 187 259
cmcnsmith 16:07 16:13 100 138
robertL 16:09 12:02 74 102
andrewlake 16:11 14:33 89 123
RobR RobR 16:12 10:04 62 86
franceslc11 16:14 10:11 62 86
myles 16:21 10:26 63 87
tds 16:26 16:04 97 134
tapbarker 16:40 15:38 93 129
ajcauk1 16:46 15:38 93 129
Mike C 16:54 12:41 75 104
Vannyx 16:55 16:54 99 137
phthisis 17:07 14:18 83 115
Squallaby 17:15 22:35 130 180
rrricharrrd 17:20 14:31 83 115
Foozler 17:26 17:53 102 141
Encota 17:29 14:45 84 116
ilan 17:35 15:39 89 123
Jeremy S 17:36 18:58 107 148
PGooden 17:39 14:55 84 116
Crossiant 18:00 11:44 65 90
cdb_100 18:01 12:58 71 98
LJCN 18:36 11:42 62 86
David Bourne 18:38 11:58 64 88
DanSolo 18:44 13:45 73 101
Zander 18:49 17:37 93 129
dr.shred 19:09 20:40 107 148
John Arnold 19:19 26:38 137 190
KarenR 19:22 14:58 77 106
KET 19:29 23:49 122 169
uvofiz 19:30 19:07 98 136
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 19:40 14:12 72 100
pterodactyl 19:41 14:28 73 101
GMcD 19:49 20:52 105 145
hugh schofield Leskoffer 19:58 17:35 88 122
Curarist Curarist 20:04 18:03 89 123
robinh 20:05 18:02 89 123
Nangle 20:21 17:31 86 119
pc8 20:25 17:17 84 116
Anomalospiza 20:32 10:01 48 66
Aldus 20:39 20:28 99 137
daniel.faith 20:39 17:01 82 113
gsriordan52 20:47 16:56 81 112
Gallion Fish 20:54 13:23 64 88
The Caffeine Kid 21:12 18:22 86 119
Colin2355 21:15 15:13 71 98
James P Special_bitter 21:16 16:01 75 104
Willie F 21:28 18:53 87 120
Waterloo 21:31 14:54 69 95
Zabadak3 Zabadak 21:33 12:53 59 81
JayEm 21:36 27:03 125 173
janesa 21:37 15:41 72 100
UisceTe 21:43 17:05 78 108
Rod B 22:01 17:00 77 106
Tudds 22:43 15:30 68 94
infinitejest 22:51 26:42 116 161
goblin 22:52 16:29 72 100
1234 22:52 21:32 94 130
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 23:35 22:12 94 130
En Cee 24:46 14:21 57 79
mjsaunders9 24:50 14:00 56 77
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:03 18:15 72 100
Solving slo mo 25:21 11:52 46 63
medodd 25:34 29:17 114 158
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:40 16:31 64 88
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 25:43 18:31 72 100
Word Psmith wordpsmith 26:23 33:11 125 173
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:25 22:34 85 118
SlumdogEngineer 26:28 27:09 102 141
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:04 24:06 89 123
Menelaus 27:05 32:58 121 168
crosswordian 27:20 22:38 82 113
chris661554 27:33 25:21 92 127
Hamish.S 27:36 21:19 77 106
Snorter 27:36 22:03 79 109
Gussie 28:31 19:25 68 94
Grumpole Grumpole 28:52 25:36 88 122
Jamie Fox 29:19 20:12 68 94
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 29:22 25:00 85 118
Dr_Bob 29:35 33:45 114 158
Manveru 29:36 25:05 84 116
Jonathan O 30:15 25:03 82 113
plusjeremy (Jeremy Weissmann) plusjeremy 30:33 14:42 48 66
The Real Steve Snackman 31:40 22:13 70 97
intentional rounding 32:06 17:32 54 75
birthday girl 32:18 28:41 88 122
vinyl12345 vinyl1 32:48 18:28 56 77
BertieVII 33:19 35:44 107 148
NAPASAI napasai 33:19 21:34 64 88
Mudge Mudge 33:47 12:22 36 50
laurence_da 33:58 24:56 73 101
Bossbutbee 34:31 28:31 82 113
rv_1 34:43 30:11 86 119
Alias Noble 35:20 28:55 81 112
Peloton 35:55 33:34 93 129
starstruck starstruck_au 36:31 19:34 53 73
koro kororareka 37:00 25:43 69 95
dosbarth 37:03 43:57 118 163
SK42 37:30 19:05 50 69
boltonwanderer 38:12 29:00 75 104
Shushannah 38:35 36:37 94 130
Maggot 40:18 20:03 49 68
Steve Wood 40:28 33:03 81 112
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 40:35 31:44 78 108
Dr Dolittle 45:04 26:05 57 79
MichaelE 46:19 29:37 63 87
empty 46:28 41:44 89 123
profsjpayne 59:41 113:40 190 263

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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