Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28561

Date 27 March 2023
Number 28561
Day of week Monday
NITCH 57
Count of ref solvers 66
Ref solvers excluded with errors 6
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28561

* 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 04:11 02:53 68 119
Nathan Panning 05:45 03:23 58 101
Jason 06:19 03:18 52 91
mistigris 07:01 03:33 50 87
Diskus 07:03 04:54 69 121
verlaine Verlaine 07:05 04:06 57 100
Paul Gilbert 07:26 04:49 64 112
hilarym 07:30 05:22 71 124
aphis99 aphis99 07:37 03:54 51 89
lili 07:49 04:09 53 92
cmjhutton 08:09 05:53 72 126
richard 08:21 04:46 57 100
edwards.robert1 08:50 12:53 145 254
asaldanha 08:56 04:26 49 85
boulemiche 09:35 06:46 70 122
chindit 09:35 05:29 57 100
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:14 05:42 55 96
AlanS 10:26 08:10 78 136
glheard glh 10:31 07:22 70 122
jimpen 10:33 09:01 85 149
Kinghedger 10:40 05:44 53 92
chriswords 10:45 07:10 66 115
scrabbler 10:47 06:32 60 105
xyster 10:58 07:44 70 122
lickert 11:03 07:29 67 117
keriothe_ keriothe 11:09 05:35 50 87
Heyesey 11:18 05:11 45 78
andy 11:36 07:09 61 107
miked1961 11:53 06:02 50 87
markdobell 11:55 06:04 50 87
ChuckB 11:56 08:02 67 117
fshephe 12:01 10:15 85 149
tilbee 12:01 06:28 53 92
neilr neilr 12:11 07:34 62 108
fuzz 12:11 10:10 83 145
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:19 06:39 53 92
Sheapey Sheapey 12:23 06:26 51 89
Silva 12:34 08:20 66 115
JimboFS 12:41 06:20 49 85
David Crooks dcrooks 12:43 07:23 58 101
March (JeffCollins) mch1 12:49 07:18 56 98
aphasic 12:53 08:41 67 117
John Walsh 12:55 10:05 78 136
jonathan.leather 12:55 10:31 81 142
Stavros Stavrolex 13:03 06:31 49 85
d.middleton 13:13 09:24 71 124
canismiser 13:14 05:14 39 68
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:23 10:09 75 131
Secondbass 13:29 08:32 63 110
Finzi 13:33 10:48 79 138
SimonAnthony 13:41 06:58 50 87
JezWoolfrey 13:57 13:49 99 173
Ben Staveley 14:02 09:18 66 115
jamesah 14:11 10:21 72 126
Paul Bacon 14:14 12:01 84 147
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 14:28 07:59 55 96
LouWeed LouWeed 14:31 13:50 95 166
Peponi13 14:31 13:39 94 164
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 14:31 09:03 62 108
Groucho 14:48 11:06 75 131
Tibthorpe 14:56 08:44 58 101
Achernar 15:23 11:51 77 135
alexh 15:35 08:23 53 92
Semillon 15:35 08:31 54 94
CentralLine CentralLine 15:54 10:25 65 114
Pootle Pootle 15:55 09:45 61 107
AndyR 16:03 07:52 49 85
gabrojak 16:08 08:59 55 96
Looch 16:13 10:40 65 114
Ease This Jam 16:16 07:00 43 75
tapbarker 16:19 09:39 59 103
Squallaby 16:34 07:29 45 78
andrewlake 16:36 09:39 58 101
Craven 16:41 12:04 72 126
DunPangolin 17:30 14:50 84 147
Ludo 17:35 07:50 44 77
ajcauk1 17:59 11:29 63 110
GMcD 18:00 12:08 67 117
gsriordan52 18:30 14:33 78 136
Foozler 18:30 12:55 69 121
kath 18:56 16:39 87 152
pterodactyl 18:57 11:54 62 108
Colin2355 18:59 12:51 67 117
endafk 19:01 11:03 58 101
Zander 19:15 10:09 52 91
Jeremy S 19:18 16:48 87 152
Traveler [sic] 19:19 11:39 60 105
BlackburnRover 19:22 11:53 61 107
BinLinerBob 19:31 12:19 63 110
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 19:39 08:15 41 71
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:09 08:28 42 73
Hamish.S 20:15 07:53 38 66
John Arnold 20:18 16:18 80 140
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 20:33 18:13 88 154
pc8 20:37 09:48 47 82
Waterloo 21:07 14:57 70 122
barracuda barracuda 21:27 17:07 79 138
James P Special_bitter 21:46 07:59 36 63
LeyGal 21:53 18:01 82 143
Jagsfan1971 21:56 11:47 53 92
Nangle 22:05 11:42 52 91
npweston 22:23 15:44 70 122
UisceTe 22:33 08:23 37 64
goblin 22:54 24:10 105 184
1234 23:35 15:04 63 110
Tudds 24:13 13:47 56 98
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:47 13:06 52 91
Bert Dove 25:02 23:45 94 164
chris661554 25:27 15:54 62 108
medodd 25:31 12:50 50 87
Fidelio 26:01 16:08 62 108
Mkgnao Mkgnao 26:29 16:45 63 110
Crippens1 26:52 18:26 68 119
SlumdogEngineer 27:07 13:47 50 87
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 27:27 12:21 44 77
tony the butcher montana 27:40 17:14 62 108
ulaca ulaca 27:50 14:36 52 91
nekabue 27:53 14:07 50 87
Mike Harper Mike Harper 28:12 11:23 40 70
JoeyC 29:41 14:10 47 82
Manveru 29:53 25:46 86 150
Deezzaa Deezzaa 29:56 14:02 46 80
infinitejest 30:01 28:36 95 166
Gussie 31:00 12:57 41 71
Pendrov 31:07 28:12 90 157
gbestanley 31:20 18:35 59 103
boltonwanderer 31:24 19:00 60 105
BertieVII 31:40 27:18 86 150
maryht 33:19 30:38 91 159
Lloyd 35:36 16:45 47 82
HanS 36:02 32:15 89 156
symbenall2 36:34 24:42 67 117
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 37:02 17:06 46 80
McBeak McBeak 37:13 35:14 94 164
tyrotim tyrotim 37:30 31:32 84 147
Maggot 37:58 27:21 72 126
Shushannah 41:52 21:45 51 89
jackk.larg 42:53 17:31 40 70
MartinP MartinP1 44:05 25:30 57 100
Cryptique 45:04 28:58 64 112
Mg1984 51:22 26:56 52 91
Steve Wood 52:00 31:17 60 105
profsjpayne 52:32 37:37 71 124
Masha 55:44 27:08 48 84

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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