Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28459

Date 28 November 2022
Number 28459
Day of week Monday
NITCH 51
Count of ref solvers 65
Ref solvers excluded with errors 8
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28459

* 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 04:43 02:57 62 121
Nathan Panning 05:57 03:31 59 115
Jason 06:41 02:52 42 82
edwards.robert1 06:56 06:16 90 176
Diskus 07:07 04:19 60 117
hilarym 07:12 04:21 60 117
verlaine Verlaine 07:22 03:38 49 96
aphis99 aphis99 07:36 06:20 83 162
lili 07:42 02:57 38 74
Paul Gilbert 07:55 03:53 49 96
richard 08:23 06:04 72 141
cmjhutton 08:29 04:47 56 109
asaldanha 08:56 04:45 53 103
boulemiche 09:32 06:28 67 131
AlanS 09:48 05:43 58 113
tiggis 10:01 06:32 65 127
chindit 10:02 06:41 66 129
glheard glh 10:21 07:35 73 143
jimpen 10:21 06:38 64 125
lickert 10:51 05:47 53 103
Heyesey 10:56 04:32 41 80
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 11:04 04:29 40 78
andy 11:06 06:20 57 111
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:11 05:54 52 101
keriothe_ keriothe 11:13 05:08 45 88
Kinghedger 11:16 06:12 55 107
xyster 11:18 07:01 62 121
Sue Sweeper 11:55 07:15 60 117
neilr neilr 12:08 08:32 70 137
markdobell 12:11 08:06 66 129
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:12 05:34 45 88
ChuckB 12:15 07:15 59 115
tilbee 12:27 05:50 46 90
Stavros Stavrolex 12:31 05:40 45 88
Sheapey Sheapey 12:39 05:17 41 80
John Walsh 12:43 08:33 67 131
Silva 12:51 06:50 53 103
David Crooks dcrooks 12:54 06:41 51 100
March (JeffCollins) mch1 12:59 06:43 51 100
Finzi 13:00 08:26 64 125
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:08 06:20 48 94
JimboFS 13:10 08:09 61 119
Deane Short Deane Short 13:13 06:19 47 92
SimonAnthony 13:15 08:52 66 129
d.middleton 13:23 10:59 82 160
canismiser 13:34 06:11 45 88
Peponi13 13:45 09:25 68 133
Penfold_61 Penfold 13:54 08:00 57 111
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 14:22 06:43 46 90
Paul Bacon 14:23 09:09 63 123
Derek Harrison 14:25 07:16 50 98
tunflog 14:31 08:38 59 115
JezWoolfrey 14:33 06:46 46 90
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 14:49 06:50 46 90
LouWeed LouWeed 14:50 10:21 69 135
johninterred Johninterred 15:00 06:40 44 86
franceslc11 15:08 07:59 52 101
Groucho 15:08 07:37 50 98
Tibthorpe 15:12 06:59 45 88
phthisis 15:26 09:17 60 117
Pootle Pootle 15:48 10:55 69 135
Looch 15:55 08:28 53 103
Semillon 16:12 06:33 40 78
tapbarker 16:13 10:40 65 127
CentralLine CentralLine 16:15 07:13 44 86
gabrojak 16:25 09:36 58 113
andrewlake 16:29 07:58 48 94
MK76 16:30 08:27 51 100
Ease This Jam 16:36 10:44 64 125
Squallaby 16:40 07:02 42 82
Ludo 16:48 09:54 58 113
Craven 16:49 11:13 66 129
LJCN 17:10 08:14 47 92
wyn.dil 17:18 14:50 85 166
DunPangolin 17:22 14:09 81 158
Valance 17:22 09:36 55 107
endafk 17:32 07:12 41 80
robinh 17:46 08:26 47 92
ajcauk1 17:49 08:37 48 94
Foozler 18:06 13:39 75 147
pterodactyl 18:40 14:13 76 149
uvofiz 18:55 07:50 41 80
Solver52 18:58 15:44 82 160
Andrew Whiffin 19:04 09:35 50 98
Colin2355 19:11 11:35 60 117
jaraab 19:13 09:55 51 100
annbrew 19:16 12:28 64 125
cyrillic 19:39 08:37 43 84
Jeremy S 19:43 14:32 73 143
hugh schofield Leskoffer 19:44 09:01 45 88
benedick 19:46 09:49 49 96
KET 19:55 09:20 46 90
Hamish.S 20:01 11:24 56 109
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 20:14 14:23 71 139
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 20:19 06:58 34 66
David Bourne 20:33 09:37 46 90
FraserH 20:38 12:29 60 117
pc8 20:40 10:58 53 103
barracuda barracuda 20:45 12:31 60 117
crosswordian 21:17 13:41 64 125
Waterloo 21:31 10:32 48 94
FrameShift 21:31 08:40 40 78
cmcnsmith 21:43 14:03 64 125
david_ch 22:14 13:19 59 115
george.garlick 22:31 12:51 57 111
Nangle 22:45 22:19 98 192
James P Special_bitter 22:47 09:11 40 78
Edprof 23:04 14:29 62 121
BlackburnRover 23:05 14:51 64 125
goblin 23:06 11:00 47 92
1234 23:16 11:33 49 96
Curarist Curarist 23:17 10:00 42 82
MartianAlien 23:26 19:17 82 160
Jagsfan1971 23:39 11:11 47 92
Corymbia Corymbia 24:10 08:19 34 66
npweston 24:20 09:51 40 78
Rowleyrag 24:24 15:15 62 121
Onelug 24:33 13:43 55 107
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:40 09:42 39 76
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 25:01 11:52 47 92
suethepotterer 25:14 15:26 61 119
Tudds 25:19 11:55 47 92
medodd 25:27 21:21 83 162
timbo 26:08 13:45 52 101
chris661554 26:23 08:05 30 58
Fidelio 26:47 14:49 55 107
Yatton50 27:00 13:40 50 98
Crippens1 27:25 14:53 54 105
infinitejest 27:49 24:02 86 168
tony the butcher montana 28:03 10:52 38 74
NAPASAI napasai 28:35 13:37 47 92
Mike Harper Mike Harper 28:38 12:23 43 84
ulaca ulaca 29:50 15:58 53 103
nekabue 29:59 17:33 58 113
Pendrov 29:59 13:35 45 88
Mkgnao Mkgnao 30:59 16:01 51 100
boltonwanderer 31:00 17:00 54 105
Manveru 31:20 24:26 77 150
gbestanley 31:43 18:16 57 111
koro kororareka 31:50 17:14 54 105
BertieVII 31:57 18:07 56 109
JGP 32:09 17:26 54 105
maryht 32:46 19:22 59 115
HanS 34:51 30:38 87 170
symbenall2 35:31 20:34 57 111
Lloyd 36:07 16:38 46 90
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 38:02 23:55 62 121
tyrotim tyrotim 38:47 20:14 52 101
furlough77 39:08 32:48 83 162
jackk.larg 39:39 20:27 51 100
Maggot 40:09 33:29 83 162
algyw 41:54 22:21 53 103
kapietro kapietro 42:40 28:03 65 127
MartinP MartinP1 43:16 16:21 37 72
empty 44:43 17:54 40 78
Steve Wood 51:59 37:57 73 143
TonyK 54:34 31:49 58 113
Masha 56:45 30:01 52 101
profsjpayne 57:41 22:35 39 76
Cryptique 60:02 23:17 38 74

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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