Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28607

Date 19 May 2023
Number 28607
Day of week Friday
NITCH 111
Count of ref solvers 66
Ref solvers excluded with errors 14
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28607

* 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 04:25 05:02 113 101
Diskus 06:59 06:49 97 87
verlaine Verlaine 07:05 06:06 86 77
hilarym 07:32 07:19 97 87
lili 07:33 09:56 131 118
aphis99 aphis99 07:37 10:05 132 118
asaldanha 08:56 12:26 139 125
trux trux20 09:40 15:18 158 142
chindit 09:55 07:17 73 65
edwards.robert1 10:44 12:46 118 106
chriswords 10:57 10:25 95 85
Heyesey 11:20 17:09 151 136
miked1961 11:30 13:05 113 101
andy 11:32 15:27 133 119
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:39 08:41 74 66
fuzz 11:45 10:42 91 81
markdobell 11:54 12:00 100 90
Sheapey Sheapey 11:59 17:50 148 133
neilr neilr 12:08 18:38 153 137
fshephe 12:12 09:21 76 68
David Crooks dcrooks 12:20 15:05 122 109
aphasic 12:28 18:14 146 131
Peter Lewiston 12:33 05:14 41 36
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:37 13:53 110 99
Silva 12:40 14:03 110 99
JimboFS 12:50 12:34 97 87
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:09 25:00 190 171
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:18 19:27 146 131
Finzi 13:58 12:45 91 81
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:03 24:32 174 156
Aloysius 14:05 11:27 81 72
Secondbass 14:06 18:15 129 116
Ben Staveley 14:17 17:50 124 111
SimonAnthony 14:22 40:40 283 254
Tibthorpe 14:43 22:38 153 137
Groucho 14:50 18:45 126 113
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 14:55 12:48 85 76
Crucifer Crucifer 14:58 14:22 95 85
Achernar 15:17 15:19 100 90
Semillon 15:19 15:38 102 91
alexh 15:24 18:27 119 107
phthisis 15:31 16:16 104 93
franceslc11 15:31 14:31 93 83
john.marshall 15:39 14:11 90 81
gabrojak 15:49 16:37 105 94
Ease This Jam 15:59 14:35 91 81
Looch 16:01 19:41 122 109
Pootle Pootle 16:04 22:43 141 127
andrewlake 16:11 21:35 133 119
robinh 16:13 21:34 132 118
tapbarker 16:18 12:39 77 69
Eddddddd 16:32 21:19 128 115
Craven 17:01 20:42 121 109
LJCN 17:30 24:55 142 127
Crossiant 17:34 17:16 98 88
DunPangolin 17:36 15:47 89 80
GMcD 17:59 21:59 122 109
Ludo 18:09 14:20 78 70
Colin2355 18:22 20:24 111 100
uvofiz 18:23 22:10 120 108
Zander 18:43 26:17 140 126
endafk 19:33 23:03 117 105
Andrew Whiffin 19:48 22:14 112 100
Hamish.S 20:08 28:24 141 127
John Arnold 20:21 19:47 97 87
pc8 20:44 17:48 85 76
James P Special_bitter 20:59 16:05 76 68
barracuda barracuda 21:51 19:12 87 78
David Bourne 21:59 25:06 114 102
Jagsfan1971 22:06 24:36 111 100
crosswordian 22:10 20:43 93 83
Nangle 22:27 24:05 107 96
Brenk Brenk1 22:48 37:07 162 145
Terrier 22:55 25:34 111 100
goblin 23:12 25:28 109 98
david_ch 23:46 38:20 161 145
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 23:51 18:15 76 68
Corymbia Corymbia 24:08 24:10 100 90
Sheen 24:19 24:29 100 90
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 24:21 18:03 74 66
Curarist Curarist 24:38 20:27 83 74
Umpire 24:40 19:53 80 72
Edprof 24:43 23:05 93 83
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:04 32:37 130 117
stainl665 25:19 20:34 81 72
Fidelio 25:39 35:22 137 123
Crippens1 26:06 31:15 119 107
ulaca ulaca 26:59 31:47 117 105
nekabue 27:31 23:05 83 74
bobbb 28:01 35:04 125 112
timbo 28:14 38:41 137 123
JoeyC 28:16 31:24 111 100
Mike Harper Mike Harper 28:42 33:51 117 105
Yatton50 29:00 39:59 137 123
Gussie 29:27 27:38 93 83
ChrisBrea 29:37 33:38 113 101
gbestanley 30:20 29:03 95 85
SK42 31:27 39:45 126 113
koro kororareka 31:52 39:01 122 109
BertieVII 32:11 34:18 106 95
boltonwanderer 32:29 65:00 200 180
maryht 33:27 31:02 92 82
FelicityTT 34:45 42:41 122 109
McBeak McBeak 35:14 94:52 269 242
HanS 35:26 34:17 96 86
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 36:11 41:03 113 101
starstruck starstruck_au 36:23 47:53 131 118
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 36:28 44:48 122 109
Rookie 37:44 40:05 106 95
Shushannah 40:53 40:25 98 88
Cryptique 41:44 67:42 162 145
empty 42:15 75:20 178 160
algyw 43:56 36:16 82 73
CoxBurglar coxburglar 45:05 41:13 91 81
Steve Wood 49:12 68:35 139 125
Winchelt618 52:06 43:35 83 74
Rapscallions 52:18 08:59 17 15
Masha 52:41 70:18 133 119

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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