Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28394

Date 13 September 2022
Number 28394
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 61
Count of ref solvers 62
Ref solvers excluded with errors 14
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28394

* 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
mohn mohn2 04:49 03:03 63 103
Nathan Panning 05:53 03:53 66 108
Jason 06:20 05:52 92 150
Diskus 06:49 04:40 68 111
edwards.robert1 06:57 06:30 93 152
hilarym 07:23 05:56 80 131
verlaine Verlaine 07:33 03:33 47 77
aphis99 aphis99 07:40 04:19 56 91
lili 07:55 04:38 58 95
Paul Gilbert 08:24 03:19 39 63
asaldanha 08:55 05:45 64 104
richard 08:59 06:08 68 111
boulemiche 09:47 06:54 70 114
scrabbler 09:56 07:24 74 121
AlanS 10:06 08:25 83 136
Topical Tim Topical Tim 10:22 05:39 54 88
jimpen 10:31 09:56 94 154
chindit 10:33 06:48 64 104
andy 11:06 06:29 58 95
xyster 11:23 06:59 61 100
neilr neilr 11:55 08:51 74 121
Stavros Stavrolex 12:19 06:31 52 85
Sheapey Sheapey 12:32 08:27 67 109
markdobell 12:32 05:40 45 73
ChuckB 12:32 11:35 92 150
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:35 06:20 50 81
Secondbass 12:40 07:55 62 101
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 12:44 05:31 43 70
SimonAnthony 12:50 04:50 37 60
David Crooks dcrooks 12:55 11:03 85 139
Finzi 12:59 12:00 92 150
aphasic 13:07 11:03 84 137
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:10 06:48 51 83
HenryBW 13:12 09:09 69 113
JimboFS 13:12 09:28 71 116
Silva 13:19 08:33 64 104
Ben Staveley 13:19 08:44 65 106
John Walsh 13:22 11:24 85 139
Peponi13 13:26 12:01 89 145
Penfold_61 Penfold 13:56 06:43 48 78
Deane Short Deane Short 14:03 12:32 89 145
fuzz 14:04 11:21 80 131
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 14:10 06:52 48 78
jamesah 14:11 12:27 87 142
Tibthorpe 14:34 14:20 98 160
grape 14:37 09:17 63 103
Achernar 14:41 16:05 109 178
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 14:41 08:39 58 95
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 14:46 07:43 52 85
Groucho 14:50 08:50 59 96
JezWoolfrey 14:59 08:26 56 91
canismiser 15:18 07:35 49 80
MK76 15:20 11:51 77 126
gabrojak 15:22 08:45 56 91
johninterred Johninterred 15:31 11:16 72 118
Looch 15:32 12:41 81 132
franceslc11 15:49 08:29 53 86
Pootle Pootle 15:58 09:26 59 96
annelambirth 16:09 16:02 99 162
tapbarker 16:19 10:23 63 103
Derek Harrison 16:20 15:37 95 155
andrewlake 16:21 10:10 62 101
Squallaby 16:28 08:49 53 86
Semillon 16:37 08:55 53 86
LJCN 16:51 10:22 61 100
ajcauk1 17:00 16:30 97 159
wyn.dil 17:22 16:43 96 157
Ludo 17:22 12:35 72 118
DunPangolin 17:31 11:38 66 108
Foozler 18:02 13:10 73 119
GMcD 18:04 09:03 50 81
Zander 18:23 12:32 68 111
gsriordan52 18:24 13:30 73 119
Ease This Jam 18:24 10:19 56 91
endafk 18:26 08:27 45 73
OliviaRhineb oliviarhinebeck 18:30 11:51 64 104
maisiemae 18:39 11:50 63 103
Andrew Whiffin 18:43 10:24 55 90
pterodactyl 18:44 18:30 98 160
Colin2355 18:45 11:14 59 96
george.plumbly 18:46 10:14 54 88
John Arnold 18:47 08:54 47 77
uvofiz 18:52 11:32 61 100
Hamish.S 19:08 10:44 56 91
hugh schofield Leskoffer 19:16 11:03 57 93
Gallion Fish 19:28 14:13 73 119
Jeremy S 20:03 13:35 67 109
Solver52 20:09 13:41 67 109
pc8 20:21 09:44 47 77
barracuda barracuda 20:30 13:08 64 104
FrameShift 20:37 09:33 46 75
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 20:41 17:25 84 137
crosswordian 21:23 13:25 62 101
mjwiseman 21:55 11:10 50 81
cmcnsmith 22:45 14:27 63 103
Nangle 22:52 18:05 79 129
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 22:55 17:55 78 127
goblin 23:06 14:02 60 98
david_ch 23:48 17:38 74 121
Corymbia Corymbia 24:16 14:44 60 98
medodd 25:08 26:04 103 168
chris661554 25:59 19:26 74 121
stainl665 26:30 14:30 54 88
Onelug 26:43 12:18 46 75
Traveler [sic] 26:47 17:43 66 108
SlumdogEngineer 27:18 14:49 54 88
Lloyd 27:24 39:09 142 232
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 27:44 13:36 49 80
Curarist Curarist 28:15 12:35 44 72
Crippens1 28:43 16:33 57 93
nekabue 29:02 13:09 45 73
ulaca ulaca 29:22 11:20 38 62
99evers 29:33 15:25 52 85
Mkgnao Mkgnao 30:25 15:33 51 83
JGP 30:34 17:33 57 93
BertieVII 30:44 14:16 46 75
Mike Harper Mike Harper 30:55 13:06 42 68
boltonwanderer 31:35 16:00 50 81
koro kororareka 31:56 22:04 69 113
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 34:31 28:26 82 134
maryht 35:09 29:01 82 134
symbenall2 36:29 31:38 86 140
Msimmo 36:53 22:26 60 98
starstruck starstruck_au 37:27 26:49 71 116
BruceJohnston 37:31 14:35 38 62
6098mr 38:24 39:26 102 167
Ron's mum 38:50 17:32 45 73
Manveru 38:52 22:29 57 93
tyrotim tyrotim 40:32 28:03 69 113
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 40:53 24:44 60 98
kapietro kapietro 42:03 34:05 81 132
Rookie 42:29 32:51 77 126
Shushannah 42:30 27:32 64 104
jackk.larg 42:57 20:29 47 77
MartinP MartinP1 43:19 24:19 56 91
empty 44:21 23:48 53 86

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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