Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28527

Date 15 February 2023
Number 28527
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 90
Count of ref solvers 70
Ref solvers excluded with errors 10
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28527

* 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
Nathan Panning 05:54 05:41 96 106
Magoo 06:18 07:12 114 126
Jason 06:24 05:20 83 92
Diskus 07:03 06:00 85 94
mistigris 07:08 08:17 116 128
lili 07:22 05:22 72 80
hilarym 07:27 09:34 128 142
mauefw Mauefw 07:36 05:18 69 76
aphis99 aphis99 07:45 08:04 104 115
edwards.robert1 08:02 15:50 197 218
richard 08:18 07:45 93 103
cmjhutton 08:20 07:03 84 93
asaldanha 08:57 05:34 62 68
boulemiche 09:38 10:46 111 123
chindit 09:45 09:55 101 112
AlanS 10:12 16:18 159 176
glheard glh 10:26 10:42 102 113
scrabbler 10:39 12:26 116 128
Kinghedger 10:46 09:34 88 97
lickert 10:59 11:27 104 115
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:03 11:04 100 111
Heyesey 11:07 15:40 140 155
xyster 11:08 10:49 97 107
keriothe_ keriothe 11:12 07:47 69 76
miked1961 11:39 08:53 76 84
fshephe 11:58 07:38 63 70
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:02 11:34 96 106
tilbee 12:16 09:10 74 82
fuzz 12:24 11:43 94 104
Silva 12:32 13:52 110 122
Sheapey Sheapey 12:32 09:22 74 82
Stavros Stavrolex 12:39 14:57 118 131
aphasic 12:41 12:30 98 108
March (JeffCollins) mch1 12:49 10:08 79 87
David Crooks dcrooks 12:49 16:15 126 140
canismiser 12:54 14:57 115 127
Finzi 13:20 13:12 99 110
SimonAnthony 13:23 11:16 84 93
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:26 08:57 66 73
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:02 12:24 88 97
Ben Staveley 14:03 12:31 89 98
jamesah 14:07 15:02 106 117
Peponi13 14:11 14:06 99 110
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 14:25 10:10 70 77
LouWeed LouWeed 14:45 15:12 103 114
Groucho 14:55 18:23 123 136
Achernar 14:56 15:37 104 115
Crucifer Crucifer 15:00 13:30 90 100
Tibthorpe 15:05 16:30 109 121
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 15:13 16:54 111 123
johninterred Johninterred 15:16 15:02 98 108
Semillon 15:47 12:58 82 91
Ease This Jam 15:54 17:03 107 118
alexh 15:54 16:07 101 112
Pootle Pootle 15:59 14:21 89 98
CentralLine CentralLine 16:05 13:51 86 95
AndyR 16:05 18:17 113 125
gabrojak 16:05 16:15 101 112
Looch 16:06 14:02 87 96
tapbarker 16:35 14:30 87 96
Craven 16:40 18:01 108 120
andrewlake 16:59 14:50 87 96
DunPangolin 17:00 16:35 97 107
wyn.dil 17:09 19:52 115 127
LJCN 17:22 17:40 101 112
Eddddddd 17:40 14:05 79 87
Crossiant 17:49 14:40 82 91
ajcauk1 18:02 16:17 90 100
endafk 18:31 13:30 72 80
Solver52 18:50 20:55 111 123
OliviaRhineb oliviarhinebeck 18:51 14:12 75 83
pterodactyl 18:58 15:36 82 91
Colin2355 19:04 18:33 97 107
Zander 19:04 12:16 64 71
doublecross anguswalker 19:08 18:59 99 110
PGooden 19:18 17:30 90 100
Hamish.S 19:32 21:30 110 122
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 19:43 18:56 96 106
Jeremy S 19:48 26:00 131 145
John Arnold 20:28 26:05 127 141
pc8 20:45 16:33 79 87
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 20:47 17:36 84 93
BlackburnRover 21:03 14:04 66 73
Waterloo 21:12 17:05 80 88
barracuda barracuda 21:35 12:45 59 65
crosswordian 21:42 19:38 90 100
James P Special_bitter 21:53 25:28 116 128
Nangle 22:04 21:18 96 106
Jagsfan1971 22:26 14:18 63 70
goblin 22:37 20:02 88 97
squark 22:51 21:44 95 105
Corymbia Corymbia 23:02 20:17 88 97
DanSolo 23:24 14:43 62 68
Onelug 23:34 23:46 100 111
1234 23:46 24:07 101 112
david_ch 23:46 24:36 103 114
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 24:13 24:55 102 113
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:32 33:56 138 153
brian.mcnamara 24:54 21:41 87 96
Tudds 24:56 33:58 136 151
Curarist Curarist 25:17 23:24 92 102
suethepotterer 25:27 27:52 109 121
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 25:47 25:48 100 111
Mkgnao Mkgnao 26:14 20:15 77 85
NAPASAI napasai 26:44 17:52 66 73
ulaca ulaca 28:14 42:05 149 165
Yatton50 28:17 25:23 89 98
nekabue 28:29 22:03 77 85
Pendrov 28:35 23:07 80 88
99evers 28:55 37:10 128 142
Mike Harper Mike Harper 29:10 29:37 101 112
Manveru 31:07 27:22 87 96
alastair52 31:33 35:48 113 125
koro kororareka 31:56 28:51 90 100
boltonwanderer 31:59 42:00 131 145
Gussie 32:19 22:41 70 77
maryht 33:09 37:16 112 124
HanS 35:11 33:04 93 103
Lloyd 35:42 31:48 89 98
starstruck starstruck_au 36:26 15:13 41 45
symbenall2 36:28 45:27 124 137
Rookie 37:10 34:01 91 101
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 37:19 44:07 118 131
marp 37:25 29:09 77 85
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 37:27 40:11 107 118
tyrotim tyrotim 38:41 44:46 115 127
Maggot 39:02 40:10 102 113
kapietro kapietro 41:40 34:40 83 92
empty 43:18 32:50 75 83
MartinP MartinP1 43:37 45:07 103 114
algyw 44:10 62:19 141 156
Steve Wood 52:41 47:33 90 100
profsjpayne 56:30 97:32 172 191
kjbr 59:10 52:12 88 97

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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