Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28641

Date 28 June 2023
Number 28641
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 140
Count of ref solvers 67
Ref solvers excluded with errors 22
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28641

* 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 04:17 06:59 163 116
Magoo 06:42 07:43 115 82
verlaine Verlaine 06:50 08:32 124 88
Paul Gilbert 07:23 08:22 113 80
aphis99 aphis99 07:31 09:44 129 92
lili 07:34 08:39 114 81
asaldanha 08:55 11:59 134 95
richard 08:55 12:40 142 101
chindit 09:56 10:13 102 72
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:20 16:15 157 112
Kinghedger 10:25 17:03 163 116
lickert 10:26 09:19 89 63
AlanS 10:38 19:05 179 127
glheard glh 10:51 12:46 117 83
jimpen 11:05 14:47 133 95
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:23 17:05 150 107
miked1961 11:27 18:35 162 115
Heyesey 11:36 10:48 93 66
markdobell 11:40 23:01 197 140
Deane Short Deane Short 11:48 13:12 111 79
neilr neilr 12:03 14:45 122 87
fshephe 12:04 12:45 105 75
Sheapey Sheapey 12:09 21:28 176 125
David Crooks dcrooks 12:11 18:22 150 107
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:32 16:33 132 94
aphasic 12:37 15:23 121 86
Silva 12:45 18:02 141 100
Henry White 12:55 20:19 157 112
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:33 20:58 154 110
jonathan.leather 13:48 06:20 45 32
Secondbass 13:48 17:43 128 91
Finzi 13:57 14:41 105 75
LouWeed LouWeed 13:58 22:45 162 115
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:13 19:17 135 96
SimonAnthony 14:22 15:10 105 75
Peponi13 14:23 19:00 132 94
Tibthorpe 14:45 17:34 119 85
phthisis 15:10 26:16 173 123
Semillon 15:18 21:22 139 99
johninterred Johninterred 15:21 20:47 135 96
gabrojak 15:23 26:22 171 122
tapbarker 16:04 21:06 131 93
Pootle Pootle 16:08 35:34 220 157
robinh 16:09 18:55 117 83
Looch 16:10 20:45 128 91
Craven 17:09 25:59 151 107
KET 17:33 05:06 29 20
LJCN 17:36 28:37 162 115
DunPangolin 17:48 20:53 117 83
GMcD 17:55 23:36 131 93
Crossiant 18:12 34:11 187 133
gsriordan52 18:43 37:01 197 140
Zander 18:52 24:42 130 92
hugh schofield Leskoffer 19:51 41:38 209 149
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 19:52 37:34 189 135
endafk 19:55 39:13 196 140
Hamish.S 20:01 36:18 181 129
cyrillic 20:47 29:28 141 100
pc8 20:59 33:13 158 112
James P Special_bitter 21:08 40:02 189 135
george.garlick 21:50 30:58 141 100
Waterloo 21:51 36:52 168 120
barracuda barracuda 21:54 24:16 110 78
David Bourne 22:20 35:57 160 114
brian.mcnamara 22:54 33:09 144 102
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 22:59 40:30 176 125
goblin 23:16 38:41 166 118
squark 23:29 29:23 125 89
Tudds 23:33 35:14 149 106
MartianAlien 23:49 29:33 124 88
Curarist Curarist 23:57 32:40 136 97
david_ch 24:07 34:15 142 101
Terrier 24:07 34:16 142 101
Edprof 24:32 32:30 132 94
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:18 57:45 228 162
chris661554 26:37 35:36 133 95
NAPASAI napasai 27:06 22:54 84 60
Lloyd 27:09 48:13 177 126
nekabue 27:10 37:19 137 97
JoeyC 27:35 40:10 145 103
bobbb 28:18 60:47 214 152
Gussie 28:37 66:06 230 164
Mike Harper Mike Harper 28:48 43:17 150 107
ChrisBrea 30:27 41:19 135 96
Jeeves 30:58 38:47 125 89
koro kororareka 32:05 37:55 118 84
SK42 32:12 35:56 111 79
boltonwanderer 33:57 49:00 144 102
marp 35:19 60:24 171 122
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 35:31 52:58 149 106
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 36:16 48:43 134 95
HanS 36:29 41:02 112 80
starstruck starstruck_au 36:31 68:54 188 134
tyrotim tyrotim 38:26 46:20 120 85
Cryptique 39:26 27:16 69 49
6098mr 39:31 35:39 90 64
CoxBurglar coxburglar 42:04 74:51 177 126
baronrob 44:32 64:12 144 102
Steve Wood 48:37 80:43 166 118
profsjpayne 53:46 105:46 196 140

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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