Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29349

Date 01 October 2025
Number 29349
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 70
Count of ref solvers 60
Ref solvers excluded with errors 32
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29349

* 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 05:33 05:05 91 130
Paul Gilbert 06:15 04:46 76 108
verlaine Verlaine 06:34 04:07 62 88
cmjhutton 06:35 05:29 83 118
lili 06:36 04:30 68 97
Diskus 06:44 04:53 72 102
hilarym 07:04 04:51 68 97
aphis99 aphis99 07:39 04:04 53 75
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:31 05:36 65 92
asaldanha 09:20 06:18 67 95
glheard glh 09:48 08:44 89 127
markdobell 09:51 05:21 54 77
LoreleiBill 10:32 07:19 69 98
Heyesey 11:12 07:57 70 100
Kinghedger 11:13 08:26 75 107
toots 11:19 12:30 110 157
keriothe_ keriothe 11:37 07:41 66 94
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:50 12:02 101 144
David Crooks dcrooks 11:53 08:56 75 107
Amoeba89 Amoeba 11:54 04:59 41 58
chindit 12:02 05:35 46 65
Adelaider 12:35 13:42 108 154
aphasic 12:43 10:21 81 115
Paul Bacon 12:58 12:54 99 141
Sheapey Sheapey 13:12 08:16 62 88
Silva 13:20 09:06 68 97
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:23 08:12 61 87
Secondbass 13:38 08:41 63 90
Peponi13 13:41 14:34 106 151
trux trux20 14:00 10:58 78 111
Eddddddd 14:04 08:09 57 81
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 14:06 12:55 91 130
CentralLine CentralLine 14:15 11:37 81 115
Stavros Stavrolex 14:16 10:54 76 108
Semillon 14:26 11:38 80 114
Tibthorpe 14:40 11:03 75 107
MK76 14:54 13:29 90 128
JezWoolfrey 14:58 12:15 81 115
whichcraft 15:04 11:50 78 111
Finzi 15:06 13:57 92 131
Pootle Pootle 15:18 14:45 96 137
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 15:26 11:38 75 107
johninterred Johninterred 15:55 10:31 66 94
robertL 16:09 11:38 72 102
andrewlake 16:11 11:24 70 100
RobR RobR 16:12 12:50 79 112
franceslc11 16:14 13:08 80 114
chriswestontour Chris West 16:30 15:46 95 135
tapbarker 16:40 08:00 48 68
ajcauk1 16:46 12:01 71 101
Mike C 16:54 15:49 93 132
Vannyx 16:55 10:15 60 85
phthisis 17:07 19:36 114 162
Squallaby 17:15 11:21 65 92
Valance 17:15 10:05 58 82
Achernar 17:21 14:04 81 115
Encota 17:29 18:46 107 152
ilan 17:35 15:10 86 122
Onelug 17:59 14:42 81 115
Crossiant 18:00 13:54 77 110
cdb_100 18:01 08:27 46 65
LJCN 18:36 18:23 98 140
Zander 18:49 10:32 55 78
John Arnold 19:19 12:26 64 91
KarenR 19:22 12:15 63 90
KET 19:29 16:03 82 117
uvofiz 19:30 13:16 68 97
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 19:40 14:41 74 105
pterodactyl 19:41 16:02 81 115
GMcD 19:49 16:10 81 115
hugh schofield Leskoffer 19:58 21:46 109 155
Curarist Curarist 20:04 15:26 76 108
pc8 20:25 11:25 55 78
daniel.faith 20:39 13:42 66 94
Aldus 20:39 15:27 74 105
The Caffeine Kid 21:12 16:16 76 108
James P Special_bitter 21:16 19:00 89 127
Zabadak3 Zabadak 21:33 13:54 64 91
JayEm 21:36 22:33 104 148
UisceTe 21:43 16:51 77 110
tony the butcher montana 21:51 15:26 70 100
Rod B 22:01 18:41 84 120
Tudds 22:43 14:48 65 92
infinitejest 22:51 34:55 152 217
goblin 22:52 18:06 79 112
Crippens1 23:34 30:09 127 181
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 23:35 11:59 50 71
Rosey6 23:36 21:41 91 130
Rembleforth 23:50 15:59 67 95
mjsaunders9 24:50 14:45 59 84
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:03 15:46 62 88
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:40 26:17 102 145
Brenk Brenk1 26:51 19:16 71 101
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:04 19:46 73 104
Menelaus 27:05 25:27 93 132
JoeyC 27:17 29:26 107 152
crosswordian 27:20 27:24 100 142
Hamish.S 27:36 18:30 67 95
Snorter 27:36 13:22 48 68
Dr_Bob 29:35 28:54 97 138
Manveru 29:36 21:27 72 102
wimpoldo 29:39 35:37 120 171
simjt simjt 29:51 30:23 101 144
Jonathan O 30:15 29:42 98 140
The Real Steve Snackman 31:40 18:07 57 81
vinyl12345 vinyl1 32:48 20:36 62 88
Bossbutbee 34:31 19:48 57 81
Mike Mansbridge 34:33 46:04 133 190
rv_1 34:43 19:41 56 80
Peloton 35:55 27:29 76 108
kapietro kapietro 36:05 34:36 95 135
koro kororareka 37:00 24:34 66 94
E Bradford E Bradford 37:23 24:30 65 92
JGP 37:54 23:01 60 85
boltonwanderer 38:12 32:00 83 118
Shushannah 38:35 28:27 73 104
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 40:35 25:52 63 90
Aidleys 43:27 40:01 92 131
MichaelE 46:19 38:28 83 118
CoxBurglar coxburglar 49:45 55:34 111 158
Merlin_55 56:02 50:13 89 127
profsjpayne 59:41 110:44 185 264

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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