Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28583

Date 21 April 2023
Number 28583
Day of week Friday
NITCH 144
Count of ref solvers 59
Ref solvers excluded with errors 10
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28583

* 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 06:07 144 100
Magoo 06:28 09:29 146 101
Diskus 06:59 08:44 125 86
verlaine Verlaine 07:01 12:21 176 122
mistigris 07:10 13:33 189 131
Paul Gilbert 07:21 10:10 138 95
mauefw Mauefw 07:25 08:03 108 75
lili 07:30 10:43 142 98
aphis99 aphis99 07:38 12:10 159 110
cmjhutton 08:01 12:19 153 106
richard 08:24 15:54 189 131
asaldanha 08:55 16:41 187 129
chindit 09:45 16:08 165 114
edwards.robert1 10:16 11:21 110 76
lickert 10:37 18:17 172 119
scrabbler 10:43 13:51 129 89
Kinghedger 10:45 14:50 137 95
jimpen 10:58 15:22 140 97
Heyesey 11:09 15:44 141 97
keriothe_ keriothe 11:11 11:42 104 72
Peter Lewiston 11:22 22:58 202 140
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:29 21:39 188 130
markdobell 11:43 13:54 118 81
Deane Short Deane Short 11:57 13:52 116 80
tilbee 11:57 25:04 209 145
fshephe 12:01 15:55 132 91
Sheapey Sheapey 12:12 19:16 157 109
Silva 12:31 15:18 122 84
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:33 17:59 143 99
JimboFS 12:43 16:28 129 89
March (JeffCollins) mch1 12:56 24:05 186 129
Stavros Stavrolex 13:04 25:25 194 134
Finzi 13:47 19:29 141 97
Secondbass 13:50 25:22 183 127
Penfold_61 Penfold 13:57 16:00 114 79
Ben Staveley 14:14 16:31 116 80
Tibthorpe 14:36 26:44 183 127
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 14:37 28:15 193 134
johninterred Johninterred 15:15 24:53 163 113
franceslc11 15:22 22:47 148 102
phthisis 15:31 18:14 117 81
Semillon 15:38 15:56 101 70
Looch 16:03 22:09 138 95
tapbarker 16:12 19:55 122 84
Pootle Pootle 16:13 22:12 136 94
robinh 16:19 24:22 149 103
Ease This Jam 16:21 25:33 156 108
andrewlake 16:21 29:54 182 126
KET 16:41 33:04 198 137
Valance 16:51 28:09 167 115
george.plumbly 16:54 22:31 133 92
DunPangolin 17:16 18:51 109 75
Eddddddd 17:24 18:20 105 72
Crossiant 17:43 31:43 179 124
BlackburnRover 17:54 16:27 91 63
Solver52 18:30 23:59 129 89
Zander 18:53 23:36 124 86
endafk 19:20 26:55 139 96
cyrillic 20:00 32:49 164 113
Hamish.S 20:00 27:11 135 93
pc8 20:13 23:36 116 80
Waterloo 21:10 29:45 140 97
James P Special_bitter 21:30 25:56 120 83
crosswordian 21:53 25:35 116 80
UisceTe 22:25 33:48 150 104
Terrier 22:39 32:39 144 100
DianeRS 22:53 44:52 196 136
goblin 23:06 30:00 129 89
MartianAlien 23:28 26:35 113 78
david_ch 23:32 37:00 157 109
Corymbia Corymbia 24:16 32:47 135 93
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:54 33:44 135 93
Curarist Curarist 25:20 34:58 138 95
NAPASAI napasai 25:26 31:33 124 86
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:39 36:51 143 99
chris661554 25:41 44:12 172 119
Crippens1 25:58 34:58 134 93
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 26:19 26:56 102 70
Umpire 26:38 23:14 87 60
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 26:44 59:22 222 154
bobbb 27:39 27:33 99 68
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:47 50:03 180 125
JoeyC 27:52 35:52 128 88
Manveru 28:16 46:23 164 113
Yatton50 29:02 50:08 172 119
Jeeves 29:46 46:29 156 108
Gussie 30:02 45:27 151 104
gbestanley 30:40 40:09 130 90
BertieVII 31:56 74:17 232 161
boltonwanderer 31:56 75:00 234 162
maryht 33:32 34:44 103 71
HanS 35:47 31:22 87 60
Dalai Farmer 35:55 94:11 262 181
starstruck starstruck_au 35:56 44:45 124 86
dosbarth 36:31 76:44 210 145
McBeak McBeak 36:58 44:35 120 83
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 37:02 46:30 125 86
empty 42:12 68:52 163 113
algyw 43:26 58:16 134 93
MartinP MartinP1 43:51 71:25 162 112
Steve Wood 50:22 61:49 122 84
profsjpayne 53:06 93:41 176 122
Rapscallions 53:31 71:20 133 92
Winchelt618 57:53 39:51 68 47

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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