Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28666

Date 27 July 2023
Number 28666
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 99
Count of ref solvers 64
Ref solvers excluded with errors 8
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28666

* 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 05:31 04:21 78 78
Jason 06:24 07:47 121 122
verlaine Verlaine 06:44 07:56 117 118
Diskus 06:52 05:43 83 83
Paul Gilbert 07:12 07:49 108 109
mistigris 07:14 07:23 102 103
cmjhutton 07:35 05:01 66 66
lili 07:48 06:15 80 80
asaldanha 08:58 08:07 90 90
richard 09:06 07:48 85 85
lickert 10:12 15:05 147 148
Kinghedger 10:20 10:23 100 101
xyster 10:38 09:00 84 84
AlanS 10:47 13:45 127 128
chriswords 10:55 14:13 130 131
glheard glh 10:57 13:22 122 123
keriothe_ keriothe 11:11 08:51 79 79
miked1961 11:17 14:50 131 132
markdobell 11:25 08:57 78 78
trux trux20 11:27 11:20 98 98
Heyesey 11:36 10:45 92 92
Deane Short Deane Short 11:39 15:40 134 135
fuzz 11:43 12:36 107 108
fshephe 12:00 12:05 100 101
Sheapey Sheapey 12:09 12:27 102 103
tilbee 12:33 10:37 84 84
JimboFS 12:33 14:37 116 117
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:47 14:01 109 110
Henry White 13:00 15:26 118 119
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:11 16:11 122 123
Silva 13:12 16:25 124 125
Stavros Stavrolex 13:25 12:12 90 90
jimwetzler 13:28 20:27 151 152
LouWeed LouWeed 13:38 13:05 95 95
Ben Staveley 13:42 12:06 88 88
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:56 14:01 100 101
michaelbell53 13:58 10:05 72 72
jonathan.leather 14:00 18:22 131 132
Finzi 14:11 15:18 107 108
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 14:22 16:37 115 116
JezWoolfrey 14:40 15:50 107 108
Groucho 14:41 13:19 90 90
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:42 11:20 77 77
AndyR 14:51 14:59 100 101
franceslc11 14:54 16:25 110 111
alexh 14:55 17:19 116 117
phthisis 15:00 16:41 111 112
Tibthorpe 15:01 23:31 156 157
Semillon 15:06 13:58 92 92
SimonAnthony 15:14 08:37 56 56
gabrojak 15:28 17:59 116 117
BlackburnRover 15:39 17:22 110 111
Ease This Jam 15:44 17:31 111 112
robinh 15:51 21:47 137 138
Squallaby 16:00 14:54 93 93
andrewlake 16:09 26:42 165 166
Looch 16:09 19:32 120 121
Eddddddd 16:17 15:07 92 92
tapbarker 16:20 13:26 82 82
Pootle Pootle 16:20 13:34 83 83
LJCN 17:13 16:31 95 95
Craven 17:15 20:34 119 120
DunPangolin 17:47 26:01 146 147
Colin2355 17:49 21:55 123 124
GMcD 18:23 25:59 141 142
pterodactyl 18:24 20:27 111 112
Crossiant 18:34 15:37 84 84
uvofiz 18:42 19:05 102 103
Solver52 18:50 21:40 115 116
martinede 18:54 23:56 126 127
Zander 18:59 17:22 91 91
doublecross anguswalker 19:39 19:46 100 101
PGooden 19:48 23:56 120 121
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 19:52 25:34 128 129
endafk 19:57 23:10 116 117
Jeremy S 20:07 24:17 120 121
Hamish.S 20:09 29:04 144 145
James P Special_bitter 21:11 25:15 119 120
pc8 21:11 17:25 82 82
Jagsfan1971 21:28 26:24 122 123
julian_w 21:28 21:56 102 103
daulbs 21:44 17:51 82 82
Nangle 22:14 23:45 106 107
cyrillic 22:20 20:20 91 91
Waterloo 22:21 31:01 138 139
barracuda barracuda 22:26 21:23 95 95
UisceTe 22:31 24:27 108 109
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 22:33 14:54 66 66
gsriordan52 23:00 25:24 110 111
brian.mcnamara 23:12 22:05 95 95
goblin 23:37 23:31 99 100
tony the butcher montana 23:53 24:56 104 105
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 23:54 25:08 105 106
Brenk Brenk1 23:58 26:17 109 110
david_ch 24:13 26:25 109 110
1234 24:28 24:22 99 100
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 24:41 16:23 66 66
Corymbia Corymbia 24:54 22:47 91 91
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:17 22:07 87 87
Fidelio 25:19 28:29 112 113
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:32 25:29 99 100
Terrier 25:38 20:23 79 79
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 26:19 16:30 62 62
ulaca ulaca 26:40 31:57 119 120
chris661554 26:50 22:51 85 85
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 27:09 33:48 124 125
daniel.faith 27:24 19:32 71 71
Lloyd 27:27 46:04 167 168
JoeyC 27:32 17:57 65 65
NAPASAI napasai 27:35 27:06 98 98
nekabue 28:17 34:39 122 123
Deezzaa Deezzaa 28:20 29:23 103 104
Mike Harper Mike Harper 29:29 32:52 111 112
gbestanley 30:02 34:54 116 117
Manveru 30:14 25:45 85 85
BertieVII 31:21 28:18 90 90
koro kororareka 32:22 31:20 96 96
cheryllayne cheryllayne 32:32 28:11 86 86
symbenall2 34:03 39:03 114 115
dosbarth 34:22 26:45 77 77
boltonwanderer 34:38 34:00 98 98
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 34:46 41:06 118 119
pvoller 34:55 32:53 94 94
HanS 36:00 37:42 104 105
starstruck starstruck_au 36:07 21:34 59 59
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 36:31 41:31 113 114
alexngbr 37:39 38:30 102 103
branch branch 37:51 36:35 96 96
Rookie 39:15 33:01 84 84
Shushannah 39:35 31:33 79 79
empty 43:25 44:06 101 102
baronrob 44:17 43:06 97 97
paulmcl paulmcl 45:51 59:56 130 131
Steve Wood 48:57 46:35 95 95
Masha 53:02 45:42 86 86

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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