Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 27937

Date 29 March 2021
Number 27937
Day of week Monday
NITCH 78
Count of ref solvers 63
Ref solvers excluded with errors 9
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 27937

* 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 03:43 03:32 95 121
mohn mohn2 05:03 04:47 94 120
Jason 06:31 05:56 91 116
verlaine Verlaine 07:01 05:28 77 98
mistigris 07:33 06:44 89 114
edwards.robert1 07:39 06:41 87 111
hilarym 07:49 06:46 86 110
aphis99 aphis99 07:57 04:45 59 75
Diskus 08:04 05:09 63 80
Paul Gilbert 08:40 06:51 79 101
Midas 08:59 07:14 80 102
richard 09:00 07:07 79 101
boulemiche 09:42 10:53 112 143
chindit 09:48 07:08 72 92
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 09:56 07:44 77 98
scrabbler 10:07 08:25 83 106
AlanS 10:31 09:37 91 116
Kinghedger 10:57 07:43 70 89
lickert 11:03 08:22 75 96
glheard glh 11:05 07:36 68 87
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:20 07:34 66 84
tiggis 11:29 07:58 69 88
jimpen 11:35 11:08 96 123
miked1961 12:14 12:18 100 128
neilr neilr 12:23 09:39 77 98
SimonAnthony 12:25 08:35 69 88
Sheapey Sheapey 12:38 11:07 87 111
HenryBW 12:45 11:57 93 119
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:55 13:48 106 135
p.wild 12:58 11:52 91 116
Stavros Stavrolex 13:13 09:38 72 92
fshephe 13:15 04:56 37 47
xyster 13:21 09:37 72 92
Silva 13:22 13:29 100 128
keriothe_ keriothe 13:23 09:53 73 93
Ben Staveley 13:23 11:17 84 107
jamesah 13:29 12:25 92 117
Secondbass 13:40 10:27 76 97
Malcj malcj 13:47 11:14 81 103
tilbee 13:50 11:28 82 105
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:51 11:49 85 108
canismiser 14:16 09:11 64 82
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:17 11:36 81 103
Groucho 14:22 11:46 81 103
March (JeffCollins) mch1 14:24 13:38 94 120
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 14:36 10:05 69 88
David Crooks dcrooks 15:02 10:33 70 89
Crucifer Crucifer 15:13 14:09 92 117
tunflog 15:26 16:01 103 132
cyrillic 15:40 13:29 86 110
johninterred Johninterred 15:55 12:37 79 101
oshinmark 16:03 15:48 98 125
Golvellius 16:20 14:39 89 114
Squallaby 16:21 13:17 81 103
JezWoolfrey 16:24 16:44 102 130
phthisis 16:33 11:41 70 89
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 16:33 10:27 63 80
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 16:54 15:42 92 117
tapbarker 16:58 11:58 70 89
Looch 17:23 15:47 90 115
LJCN 17:33 10:55 62 79
george.plumbly 17:34 13:40 77 98
GMcD 17:42 14:56 84 107
annelambirth 18:01 20:37 114 146
OliviaRhineb oliviarhinebeck 18:12 16:37 91 116
Pootle Pootle 18:13 12:33 68 87
LouWeed LouWeed 18:24 17:37 95 121
robinh 18:26 21:17 115 147
CentralLine CentralLine 18:39 09:57 53 67
gsriordan52 18:51 15:09 80 102
alexh 19:00 17:20 91 116
pterodactyl 19:17 17:10 89 114
Swanny 19:28 20:07 103 132
colin2355 19:28 14:48 76 97
Terrier 19:29 18:00 92 117
Semillon 19:43 14:27 73 93
ajcauk1 19:54 14:34 73 93
wyn.dil 19:57 18:08 90 115
barracuda barracuda 20:03 20:31 102 130
Edprof 20:08 21:14 105 134
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 21:40 20:26 94 120
Richard Bull 22:51 25:55 113 144
sampson 22:58 24:15 105 134
James P Special_bitter 23:02 16:01 69 88
brian.mcnamara 23:13 28:24 122 156
pc8 23:14 22:43 97 124
Nangle 23:16 27:49 119 152
alwsn8 23:36 15:47 66 84
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:07 17:58 74 94
endafk 24:24 19:48 81 103
zythum 24:25 18:34 76 97
npweston 25:18 19:13 75 96
pph22 25:27 25:42 100 128
gbestanley 25:56 29:04 112 143
Mkgnao Mkgnao 26:11 28:16 107 137
Fidelio 26:28 27:59 105 134
timbo 27:01 29:15 108 138
andrewlake 27:34 17:31 63 80
nekabue 27:52 25:51 92 117
Manveru 27:55 17:26 62 79
1234 28:09 20:26 72 92
Tudds 28:36 25:26 88 112
Pauline Minter 28:36 30:35 106 135
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 28:41 26:58 94 120
Peter Sykes 28:42 26:36 92 117
rosselliot 29:21 26:24 89 114
ulaca ulaca 29:53 25:39 85 108
boltonwanderer 30:50 18:00 58 74
koro kororareka 31:23 36:47 117 150
klamery4 32:26 31:26 96 123
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 32:26 29:29 90 115
medodd 32:42 29:55 91 116
Mike Harper Mike Harper 32:48 28:13 86 110
JoeyC 34:01 40:08 117 150
Cookincats 34:23 33:35 97 124
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 34:25 31:38 91 116
maryht 36:51 30:11 81 103
Curarist Curarist 37:14 25:10 67 85
FrameShift 38:31 05:45 14 17
empty 38:43 33:56 87 111
Ronnie 40:20 40:39 100 128
NAPASAI napasai 41:53 26:37 63 80
MartinP MartinP1 44:33 50:50 114 146
tyrotim tyrotim 45:28 37:48 83 106
andrewmr 46:03 50:03 108 138
marp 47:00 35:03 74 94
Shushannah 47:08 45:35 96 123
jackk.larg 51:46 48:01 92 117
JGP 85:50 37:00 43 55

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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