Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29354

Date 07 October 2025
Number 29354
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 87
Count of ref solvers 62
Ref solvers excluded with errors 5
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29354

* 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 05:39 101 116
Magoo 06:00 03:38 60 68
Paul Gilbert 06:15 05:22 85 97
verlaine Verlaine 06:34 04:07 62 71
cmjhutton 06:35 04:41 71 81
lili 06:36 06:28 97 111
Diskus 06:44 05:30 81 93
aphis99 aphis99 07:39 10:40 139 159
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 08:31 08:55 104 119
Torquay53 08:35 05:04 59 67
asaldanha 09:20 05:25 58 66
richard 09:24 08:32 90 103
glheard glh 09:48 10:35 107 122
markdobell 09:51 10:41 108 124
LoreleiBill 10:32 06:30 61 70
Deane Short Deane Short 11:12 10:07 90 103
Kinghedger 11:13 08:36 76 87
toots 11:19 11:11 98 112
lickert 11:36 06:22 54 62
keriothe_ keriothe 11:37 06:47 58 66
neilr neilr 11:42 10:18 88 101
scrabbler 11:49 11:36 98 112
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:50 14:45 124 142
miked1961 11:52 12:11 102 117
David Crooks dcrooks 11:53 10:38 89 102
Amoeba89 Amoeba 11:54 22:16 187 214
SimonAnthony 11:56 07:58 66 75
chindit 12:02 09:05 75 86
Morphosis 12:04 11:08 92 105
andy 12:14 10:45 87 100
Wizard of Aus 12:16 15:35 127 145
Adelaider 12:35 09:58 79 90
aphasic 12:43 19:19 151 173
chriswords 12:58 13:39 105 120
Paul Bacon 12:58 16:17 125 143
Sue Sweeper 13:03 15:57 122 140
EricK 13:04 10:46 82 94
Sheapey Sheapey 13:12 13:29 102 117
njnclarke 13:13 11:19 85 97
Silva 13:20 12:32 94 108
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:23 17:46 132 151
JimboFS 13:24 17:07 127 145
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:24 16:23 122 140
canismiser 13:27 12:04 89 102
Topical Tim Topical Tim 13:28 15:56 118 135
tilbee 13:30 18:11 134 154
Secondbass 13:38 13:25 98 112
Peponi13 13:41 11:53 86 98
Riche Riche 13:50 15:00 108 124
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:55 13:51 99 113
trux trux20 14:00 10:29 74 85
Eddddddd 14:04 13:41 97 111
alexh 14:13 17:37 123 141
CentralLine CentralLine 14:15 15:38 109 125
Stavros Stavrolex 14:16 13:55 97 111
Aybee 14:19 14:09 98 112
LouWeed LouWeed 14:24 13:01 90 103
Semillon 14:26 10:07 70 80
Tibthorpe 14:40 14:56 101 116
MK76 14:54 15:45 105 120
Looch 15:04 14:59 99 113
Finzi 15:06 14:31 96 110
DunPangolin 15:13 17:57 117 134
Pootle Pootle 15:18 19:04 124 142
julian_w 15:33 15:47 101 116
Ben Staveley 15:41 12:05 77 88
johninterred Johninterred 15:55 15:46 99 113
cmcnsmith 16:07 17:24 107 122
robertL 16:09 12:00 74 85
andrewlake 16:11 12:28 77 88
RobR RobR 16:12 18:38 115 132
myles 16:21 19:27 118 135
doublecross anguswalker 16:27 15:08 91 104
tapbarker 16:40 16:35 99 113
ajcauk1 16:46 15:46 94 108
Mike C 16:54 19:03 112 128
Vannyx 16:55 13:20 78 89
Cookincats 17:12 17:16 100 114
Squallaby 17:15 11:34 67 77
thewanderingeditor 17:19 12:49 74 85
rrricharrrd 17:20 12:09 70 80
Achernar 17:21 15:26 88 101
Jeremy S 17:36 27:32 156 179
PGooden 17:39 20:54 118 135
Onelug 17:59 20:05 111 127
Crossiant 18:00 16:20 90 103
cdb_100 18:01 15:56 88 101
David Bourne 18:38 10:46 57 65
John Arnold 19:19 24:22 126 144
KarenR 19:22 10:16 53 60
Jagsfan1971 19:25 16:02 82 94
KET 19:29 23:13 119 136
uvofiz 19:30 18:25 94 108
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 19:40 25:38 130 149
pterodactyl 19:41 21:56 111 127
GMcD 19:49 17:43 89 102
hugh schofield Leskoffer 19:58 28:28 142 163
Curarist Curarist 20:04 19:18 96 110
robinh 20:05 15:28 77 88
valerian1967 20:17 14:26 71 81
Nangle 20:21 18:45 92 105
pc8 20:25 14:30 71 81
daniel.faith 20:39 16:09 78 89
Aldus 20:39 22:46 110 126
gsriordan52 20:47 21:03 101 116
Gallion Fish 20:54 22:30 107 122
The Caffeine Kid 21:12 44:36 210 241
Colin2355 21:15 17:43 83 95
James P Special_bitter 21:16 16:34 77 88
Zabadak3 Zabadak 21:33 23:49 110 126
JayEm 21:36 23:59 111 127
UisceTe 21:43 19:43 90 103
Dvynys dvynys 21:49 21:02 96 110
Rod B 22:01 29:33 134 154
david_ch 22:14 26:10 117 134
Tudds 22:43 26:42 117 134
1234 22:52 22:03 96 110
goblin 22:52 26:55 117 134
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 23:35 24:14 102 117
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:03 24:02 95 109
ulaca ulaca 25:14 25:03 99 113
symbenall2 25:17 51:31 203 233
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:40 19:45 76 87
Word Psmith wordpsmith 26:23 27:12 103 118
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:25 20:02 75 86
Brenk Brenk1 26:51 29:27 109 125
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:04 38:35 142 163
Menelaus 27:05 32:01 118 135
crosswordian 27:20 25:09 92 105
chris661554 27:33 27:30 99 113
Hamish.S 27:36 18:51 68 78
Snorter 27:36 34:20 124 142
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 27:54 28:35 102 117
Grumpole Grumpole 28:52 29:34 102 117
Jamie Fox 29:19 33:58 115 132
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 29:22 21:31 73 83
nekabue 29:25 22:19 75 86
Dr_Bob 29:35 25:52 87 100
Manveru 29:36 24:55 84 96
Terrier 30:08 19:19 64 73
The Real Steve Snackman 31:40 37:26 118 135
intentional rounding 32:06 26:50 83 95
birthday girl 32:18 36:25 112 128
vinyl12345 vinyl1 32:48 26:47 81 93
NAPASAI napasai 33:19 32:04 96 110
Rookie 33:39 30:44 91 104
Mudge Mudge 33:47 43:16 128 147
laurence_da 33:58 26:19 77 88
Bossbutbee 34:31 37:05 107 122
Mike Mansbridge 34:33 04:19 12 13
rv_1 34:43 25:29 73 83
Alias Noble 35:20 44:01 124 142
Peloton 35:55 29:16 81 93
Pelforth 36:10 48:07 133 152
Lloyd 36:21 30:43 84 96
starstruck starstruck_au 36:31 46:24 127 145
koro kororareka 37:00 51:14 138 158
E Bradford E Bradford 37:23 38:30 102 117
JGP 37:54 49:29 130 149
boltonwanderer 38:12 47:00 123 141
baronrob 39:40 34:26 86 98
joss henry 40:15 30:42 76 87
Steve Wood 40:28 31:19 77 88
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 40:35 39:25 97 111
Dr Dolittle 45:04 35:16 78 89
MichaelE 46:19 39:35 85 97
empty 46:28 46:39 100 114
NJP1 59:58 45:46 76 87

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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