Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 27586

Date 13 February 2020
Number 27586
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 104
Count of ref solvers 65
Ref solvers excluded with errors 5
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 27586

* Requires access to the Times Crossword Club

Detailed solving results

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
Nigel1953 03:24 04:00 117 112
Magoo 06:00 05:53 98 94
Jason 07:06 06:32 92 88
verlaine Verlaine 07:36 11:29 151 145
mistigris 07:52 09:08 116 111
aphis99 aphis99 08:44 11:56 136 130
Midas 09:38 10:36 110 105
richard 09:41 11:26 118 113
asaldanha 09:43 08:46 90 86
hilarym 09:51 11:52 120 115
chindit 10:30 12:50 122 117
robertL 11:12 14:20 127 122
AlanS 11:19 09:33 84 80
chriswords 11:35 13:58 120 115
tiggis 11:41 13:51 118 113
keriothe_ keriothe 12:45 11:55 93 89
trux trux20 12:45 14:57 117 112
Kinghedger 12:47 15:17 119 114
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:52 09:08 70 67
andy 12:57 18:59 146 140
jimpen 13:06 09:17 70 67
noidea 13:13 17:36 133 127
p.wild 13:19 12:37 94 90
neilr neilr 13:24 20:32 153 147
Topical Tim Topical Tim 13:36 10:29 77 74
Silva 13:40 18:57 138 132
Sheapey Sheapey 13:46 15:05 109 104
fshephe 13:54 15:32 111 106
Groucho 13:58 13:40 97 93
aphasic 14:15 18:35 130 125
Ben Staveley 14:26 09:54 68 65
Stavros Stavrolex 14:34 11:28 78 75
Tibthorpe 15:20 16:33 107 102
Malcj malcj 15:34 19:37 126 121
mikegrocott 15:36 17:00 108 103
Sue Sweeper 15:38 15:30 99 95
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 15:41 17:16 110 105
KenG 16:04 22:03 137 131
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 16:04 22:03 137 131
cyrillic 16:19 17:47 108 103
David Crooks dcrooks 17:01 19:58 117 112
OliviaRhineb oliviarhinebeck 18:05 18:21 101 97
LouWeed LouWeed 18:13 21:47 119 114
robinh 18:15 20:27 112 107
Golvellius 18:26 24:38 133 127
fuzz 18:39 25:00 134 128
Squallaby 18:49 16:24 87 83
Craven 18:52 22:05 117 112
RobR RobR 18:52 22:31 119 114
GMcD 19:19 29:29 152 146
annelambirth 19:37 27:09 138 132
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 20:23 16:30 80 76
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 20:36 18:56 91 87
pterodactyl 21:20 17:50 83 79
gbestanley 21:23 25:51 120 115
barracuda barracuda 22:04 28:52 130 125
mcjwright 22:08 22:41 102 98
John Arnold 22:29 33:02 146 140
colin2355 22:45 18:25 80 76
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 22:53 27:38 120 115
george.garlick 23:41 29:08 123 118
brian.mcnamara 23:57 23:08 96 92
Zander 24:40 20:09 81 77
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:55 19:47 79 75
goblin 25:18 27:38 109 104
timbo 26:01 36:29 140 134
pc8 26:05 23:47 91 87
Dzhigit dzhigit71 26:06 25:28 97 93
endafk 26:07 33:56 129 124
Mike Harper Mike Harper 26:33 47:06 177 170
KET 26:33 20:48 78 75
GeorgeTz 26:41 25:09 94 90
Edprof 27:12 28:21 104 100
zythum 27:46 25:48 92 88
jdavidliddell 28:15 25:52 91 87
Manveru 28:30 52:00 182 175
phmfantom phmfantom 28:36 55:10 192 184
Jagsfan1971 28:43 36:16 126 121
Clovis 29:38 31:30 106 101
Mkgnao Mkgnao 30:15 40:14 133 127
nekabue 30:18 32:47 108 103
rosselliot 30:24 26:16 86 82
alwsn8 30:42 27:20 89 85
JoeyC 31:34 25:08 79 75
HanS 31:48 33:54 106 101
ulaca ulaca 32:12 32:44 101 97
Semillon 32:21 22:50 70 67
Agsurfer 32:38 20:46 63 60
koro kororareka 33:12 28:21 85 81
Jeeves 33:32 27:11 81 77
Tudds 33:33 32:16 96 92
joss henry 34:15 33:02 96 92
SwissWavey 34:17 27:29 80 76
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 34:57 23:14 66 63
Crippens1 36:27 27:15 74 71
empty 40:40 40:25 99 95
Gussie 41:40 29:31 70 67
Nangle 41:51 35:05 83 79
Ronnie 44:05 52:29 119 114
MartinP MartinP1 45:24 31:41 69 66
Msimmo 46:03 52:13 113 108
symbenall2 46:34 43:55 94 90
FrameShift 47:42 64:18 134 128
starstruck starstruck_au 47:42 70:36 148 142
andrewmr 51:01 43:30 85 81
jackk.larg 55:46 85:13 152 146

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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