Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28593

Date 03 May 2023
Number 28593
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 95
Count of ref solvers 68
Ref solvers excluded with errors 18
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28593

* 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 05:38 03:53 68 71
Magoo 06:15 06:02 96 101
Diskus 06:59 05:17 75 78
verlaine Verlaine 07:05 04:13 59 62
mistigris 07:19 05:43 78 82
lili 07:33 04:39 61 64
aphis99 aphis99 07:37 06:35 86 90
cmjhutton 07:49 07:34 96 101
asaldanha 08:56 08:05 90 94
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:07 13:36 134 141
xyster 10:25 10:59 105 110
lickert 10:30 13:15 126 132
scrabbler 10:37 11:59 112 117
Kinghedger 10:41 09:52 92 96
AlanS 10:48 13:35 125 131
chriswords 10:57 10:15 93 97
keriothe_ keriothe 11:06 16:51 151 158
miked1961 11:30 12:59 112 117
andy 11:32 09:52 85 89
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:39 10:49 92 96
fuzz 11:45 11:01 93 97
Deane Short Deane Short 11:47 18:52 160 168
markdobell 11:54 10:20 86 90
Sheapey Sheapey 11:59 15:02 125 131
neilr neilr 12:08 08:47 72 75
fshephe 12:12 12:12 100 105
tilbee 12:18 12:23 100 105
Mike Mansbridge 12:28 19:57 160 168
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:37 11:03 87 91
Silva 12:40 13:52 109 114
JimboFS 12:50 14:49 115 121
John Walsh 12:57 13:37 105 110
Jim Conner 13:00 11:16 86 90
canismiser 13:06 15:50 120 126
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:09 09:25 71 74
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:18 13:36 102 107
d.middleton 13:30 14:58 110 115
Stavros Stavrolex 13:37 12:32 92 96
Finzi 13:58 12:44 91 95
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:03 11:54 84 88
Aloysius 14:05 14:00 99 104
Secondbass 14:06 10:16 72 75
jamesah 14:07 17:25 123 129
LouWeed LouWeed 14:10 13:37 96 101
SimonAnthony 14:22 19:38 136 143
Peponi13 14:30 16:27 113 118
Groucho 14:50 16:54 113 118
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 14:55 09:27 63 66
Semillon 15:19 19:50 129 135
johninterred Johninterred 15:20 16:34 108 113
alexh 15:24 15:04 97 102
john.marshall 15:39 12:55 82 86
gabrojak 15:49 16:35 104 109
Looch 16:01 21:59 137 144
Pootle Pootle 16:04 14:29 90 94
andrewlake 16:11 10:11 62 65
MK76 16:12 21:08 130 136
robinh 16:13 13:49 85 89
tapbarker 16:18 17:21 106 111
Valance 16:48 15:18 91 95
wyn.dil 16:54 15:15 90 94
Craven 17:01 16:43 98 103
LJCN 17:30 15:49 90 94
DunPangolin 17:36 18:34 105 110
uvofiz 18:23 16:30 89 93
Foozler 18:30 18:01 97 102
Solver52 18:31 20:55 112 117
OliviaRhineb oliviarhinebeck 18:41 20:54 111 116
FraserH 18:43 20:00 106 111
Zander 18:43 23:03 123 129
pterodactyl 18:54 20:37 109 114
MrChumley MrChumley 18:59 17:30 92 96
PGooden 19:10 25:41 134 141
endafk 19:33 19:15 98 103
pc8 20:44 30:56 149 156
cyrillic 20:53 19:37 93 97
James P Special_bitter 20:59 29:32 140 147
barracuda barracuda 21:51 29:27 134 141
george.garlick 21:52 17:07 78 82
Waterloo 21:52 27:34 126 132
David Bourne 21:59 18:12 82 86
Jagsfan1971 22:06 22:12 100 105
crosswordian 22:10 18:34 83 87
brian.mcnamara 22:55 33:39 146 153
goblin 23:12 22:28 96 101
david_ch 23:46 18:04 76 80
squark 23:50 21:39 90 94
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 23:51 16:57 71 74
1234 24:12 16:47 69 72
klamery4 24:20 35:14 144 151
Curarist Curarist 24:38 20:38 83 87
Umpire 24:40 21:59 89 93
medodd 24:45 25:20 102 107
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:04 24:02 95 100
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 25:31 20:49 81 85
Fidelio 25:39 19:20 75 78
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:47 20:54 81 85
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 26:38 19:25 72 75
ulaca ulaca 26:59 26:22 97 102
Bert Dove 27:06 34:00 125 131
JE59 27:48 30:27 109 114
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 28:00 24:34 87 91
bobbb 28:01 16:33 59 62
JoeyC 28:16 22:08 78 82
Manveru 28:42 22:19 77 81
Mike Harper Mike Harper 28:42 23:18 81 85
Deezzaa Deezzaa 28:59 20:21 70 73
Yatton50 29:00 22:35 77 81
Gussie 29:27 22:26 76 80
Jeeves 30:02 25:52 86 90
gbestanley 30:20 27:16 89 93
rosselliot 31:34 29:27 93 97
koro kororareka 31:52 37:25 117 123
boltonwanderer 32:29 48:00 147 154
FelicityTT 34:45 30:35 88 92
McBeak McBeak 35:14 29:07 82 86
HanS 35:26 34:39 97 102
marp 35:57 42:56 119 125
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 36:11 24:24 67 70
starstruck starstruck_au 36:23 56:58 156 164
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 36:28 40:51 112 117
dosbarth 37:38 38:02 101 106
Rookie 37:44 34:46 92 96
kapietro kapietro 37:51 53:25 141 148
tyrotim tyrotim 38:45 37:38 97 102
Shushannah 40:53 39:34 96 101
Cryptique 41:44 24:40 59 62
toerag 43:44 53:22 122 128
CoxBurglar coxburglar 45:05 47:04 104 109
TonyK 49:33 58:10 117 123
Rapscallions 52:18 35:04 67 70
profsjpayne 54:17 22:15 40 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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