Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28029

Date 14 July 2021
Number 28029
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 103
Count of ref solvers 62
Ref solvers excluded with errors 23
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28029

* 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 05:13 140 135
Nathan Panning 06:13 05:30 88 85
mistigris 07:29 06:08 81 78
edwards.robert1 07:39 06:39 86 83
Diskus 07:47 06:10 79 76
hilarym 07:57 10:03 126 122
lili 08:06 08:10 100 97
Midas 08:51 10:55 123 119
richard 09:07 10:14 112 108
asaldanha 09:08 08:56 97 94
chindit 09:39 10:32 109 105
AlanS 10:08 13:26 132 128
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:10 09:13 90 87
scrabbler 10:14 13:24 130 126
Kinghedger 10:51 09:44 89 86
tiggis 10:58 17:22 158 153
glheard glh 11:10 09:55 88 85
jimpen 11:35 12:55 111 107
trux trux20 11:40 12:43 109 105
robertL 12:00 13:17 110 106
neilr neilr 12:14 14:49 121 117
aphasic 12:41 17:24 137 133
HenryBW 12:42 13:57 109 105
p.wild 12:48 13:04 102 99
fshephe 12:53 13:06 101 98
xyster 12:54 15:59 123 119
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 13:01 12:59 99 96
Sheapey Sheapey 13:02 11:36 89 86
jamesah 13:12 16:10 122 118
Silva 13:13 13:34 102 99
Malcj malcj 13:28 12:38 93 90
Secondbass 13:38 18:44 137 133
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:39 16:07 118 114
Groucho 14:03 16:59 120 116
qieduan 14:31 17:23 119 115
canismiser 14:45 19:21 131 127
grape 14:47 15:31 104 100
Aloysius 14:49 15:29 104 100
tunflog 15:18 12:15 80 77
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 15:46 19:57 126 122
johninterred Johninterred 15:55 23:36 148 143
phthisis 15:56 12:24 77 74
cyrillic 15:56 24:05 151 146
Squallaby 16:06 17:07 106 102
gabrojak 16:28 16:04 97 94
MK76 16:34 24:22 147 142
tapbarker 16:47 22:27 133 129
fuzz 17:09 17:56 104 100
Pootle Pootle 17:18 12:16 70 67
Valance 17:34 20:18 115 111
GMcD 17:41 16:27 93 90
RobR RobR 17:45 16:49 94 91
LouWeed LouWeed 17:48 24:59 140 135
wyn.dil 18:15 18:20 100 97
Semillon 18:21 22:18 121 117
robinh 18:24 16:49 91 88
OliviaRhineb oliviarhinebeck 18:24 18:24 100 97
Achernar 18:32 19:45 106 102
Zabadak (zabadak2) 19:01 17:10 90 87
pterodactyl 19:06 22:13 116 112
Terrier 19:27 22:52 117 113
LuckOfLucien 19:45 27:46 140 135
colin2355 20:15 24:06 119 115
barracuda barracuda 20:18 16:54 83 80
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:54 16:05 76 73
annbrew 21:53 16:57 77 74
James P Special_bitter 21:55 19:40 89 86
alwsn8 22:09 37:26 168 163
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 22:17 21:59 98 95
Jagsfan1971 22:22 04:18 19 18
pc8 22:41 39:08 172 166
sampson 22:58 23:16 101 98
crosswordian 23:14 24:09 103 100
goblin 23:36 28:50 122 118
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 24:00 27:30 114 110
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:17 23:54 98 95
Corymbia Corymbia 25:19 19:08 75 72
Waterloo 25:45 27:51 108 104
Mkgnao Mkgnao 26:51 30:26 113 109
Tudds 27:28 48:58 178 172
SlumdogEngineer 28:17 44:54 158 153
nekabue 28:50 30:54 107 103
rosselliot 30:11 28:05 93 90
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 30:44 37:08 120 116
boltonwanderer 30:50 41:00 132 128
koro kororareka 31:22 52:06 166 161
Cookincats 31:46 26:04 82 79
Mike Harper Mike Harper 32:08 51:13 159 154
medodd 32:08 18:48 58 56
HanS 33:07 31:51 96 93
symbenall2 34:23 47:16 137 133
Crippens1 34:26 35:50 104 100
dosbarth 36:41 23:38 64 62
klamery4 37:09 30:51 83 80
Curarist Curarist 37:14 22:51 61 59
empty 38:43 42:22 109 105
maryht 38:58 33:05 84 81
starstruck starstruck_au 40:23 29:15 72 69
tyrotim tyrotim 45:28 50:10 110 106
marp 47:00 48:05 102 99
jackk.larg 51:46 48:23 93 90
kjbr 51:51 66:29 128 124
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 52:00 41:45 80 77
Bertiethethird 56:12 35:48 63 61
Masha 56:29 54:13 95 92

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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