Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28579

Date 17 April 2023
Number 28579
Day of week Monday
NITCH 138
Count of ref solvers 68
Ref solvers excluded with errors 8
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28579

* 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 04:14 06:40 157 113
Magoo 06:28 08:44 135 97
Diskus 06:59 09:55 142 102
verlaine Verlaine 07:01 08:51 126 91
mistigris 07:10 07:47 108 78
lili 07:30 07:41 102 73
aphis99 aphis99 07:38 07:59 104 75
cmjhutton 08:01 10:21 129 93
richard 08:24 18:42 222 160
asaldanha 08:55 12:36 141 102
chindit 09:45 16:01 164 118
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:09 12:28 122 88
edwards.robert1 10:16 11:57 116 84
glheard glh 10:28 26:41 254 184
lickert 10:37 12:26 117 84
xyster 10:39 21:19 200 144
Heyesey 11:09 23:18 208 150
keriothe_ keriothe 11:11 11:05 99 71
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:29 11:51 103 74
andy 11:35 16:19 140 101
fuzz 11:48 10:38 90 65
tilbee 11:57 18:13 152 110
fshephe 12:01 15:54 132 95
Sheapey Sheapey 12:12 14:24 118 85
David Crooks dcrooks 12:24 24:30 197 142
aphasic 12:29 16:55 135 97
Silva 12:31 17:27 139 100
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:33 15:03 119 86
JimboFS 12:43 12:25 97 70
jonathan.leather 12:59 20:16 156 113
Stavros Stavrolex 13:04 23:40 181 131
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:20 21:41 162 117
Finzi 13:47 17:54 129 93
Penfold_61 Penfold 13:57 23:10 166 120
SimonAnthony 14:00 14:32 103 74
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 14:13 19:36 137 99
Ben Staveley 14:14 22:59 161 116
LouWeed LouWeed 14:16 18:35 130 94
Tibthorpe 14:36 17:13 117 84
Groucho 14:46 15:43 106 76
Crucifer Crucifer 14:58 27:29 183 132
johninterred Johninterred 15:15 30:07 197 142
phthisis 15:31 26:18 169 122
Semillon 15:38 20:13 129 93
john.marshall 15:40 33:46 215 155
gabrojak 16:02 15:15 95 68
Looch 16:03 15:31 96 69
tapbarker 16:12 22:56 141 102
Pootle Pootle 16:13 24:12 149 107
robinh 16:19 26:30 162 117
andrewlake 16:21 19:10 117 84
Craven 16:51 20:46 123 89
LJCN 17:02 37:39 221 160
DunPangolin 17:16 24:01 139 100
Eddddddd 17:24 17:05 98 71
GMcD 17:46 29:15 164 118
FraserH 18:07 38:04 210 152
Colin2355 18:11 30:19 166 120
Zander 18:53 26:58 142 102
endafk 19:20 20:35 106 76
Jeremy S 19:35 25:33 130 94
Andrew Whiffin 19:57 21:57 110 79
Hamish.S 20:00 24:01 120 86
pc8 20:13 35:20 174 126
DanSolo 20:22 23:25 114 82
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:30 32:13 157 113
Waterloo 21:10 32:01 151 109
george.garlick 21:14 34:04 160 115
barracuda barracuda 21:16 47:25 222 160
crosswordian 21:53 32:46 149 107
dec 22:42 30:06 132 95
DianeRS 22:53 55:33 242 175
goblin 23:06 24:55 107 77
david_ch 23:32 29:48 126 91
Tudds 23:32 37:14 158 114
Leegoods 23:33 32:48 139 100
Edprof 24:03 45:16 188 136
Corymbia Corymbia 24:16 41:54 172 124
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 24:17 29:40 122 88
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:54 48:07 193 139
Sheen 25:08 38:02 151 109
suethepotterer 25:12 25:21 100 72
Curarist Curarist 25:20 26:37 105 76
NAPASAI napasai 25:26 46:49 184 133
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:39 28:32 111 80
chris661554 25:41 50:51 197 142
Fidelio 25:46 32:44 127 92
Crippens1 25:58 33:41 129 93
stainl665 26:09 25:12 96 69
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 26:09 42:21 161 116
Umpire 26:38 22:41 85 61
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 26:44 43:55 164 118
ulaca ulaca 26:58 29:54 110 79
SlumdogEngineer 27:07 31:34 116 84
bobbb 27:39 33:25 120 86
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:47 38:20 137 99
JoeyC 27:52 35:11 126 91
Gussie 30:02 36:23 121 87
BertieVII 31:56 43:33 136 98
FelicityTT 34:49 42:10 121 87
HanS 35:47 35:13 98 71
starstruck starstruck_au 35:56 58:34 162 117
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 36:00 47:40 132 95
marp 36:12 37:39 104 75
dosbarth 36:31 64:26 176 127
alexngbr 39:51 39:44 99 71
Shushannah 41:13 70:10 170 123
jackk.larg 42:05 59:34 141 102
empty 42:12 43:03 102 73
Cryptique 43:17 36:06 83 60
MartinP MartinP1 43:51 66:37 151 109
baronrob 45:11 70:40 156 113
TonyK 50:16 55:36 110 79
Rapscallions 53:31 54:49 102 73
kjbr 56:23 102:53 182 131
Winchelt618 57:53 34:40 59 42

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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