Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28689

Date 23 August 2023
Number 28689
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 155
Count of ref solvers 66
Ref solvers excluded with errors 18
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28689

* 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 04:29 06:53 153 98
verlaine Verlaine 06:39 12:25 186 120
Diskus 06:42 11:51 176 113
mistigris 06:57 10:16 147 94
Paul Gilbert 07:14 11:04 152 98
aphis99 aphis99 07:27 15:10 203 130
lili 07:43 09:43 125 80
asaldanha 08:46 18:49 214 138
lickert 10:08 18:33 183 118
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:15 24:31 239 154
glheard glh 10:39 17:44 166 107
xyster 10:43 18:25 171 110
chriswords 11:05 14:50 133 85
markdobell 11:09 20:26 183 118
keriothe_ keriothe 11:11 13:21 119 76
miked1961 11:12 14:14 127 81
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:29 26:27 230 148
fshephe 11:58 14:51 124 80
Sheapey Sheapey 12:01 16:20 135 87
tilbee 12:27 20:06 161 103
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:32 23:19 186 120
JimboFS 12:34 40:21 321 207
Henry White 12:52 35:00 272 175
Silva 13:26 19:50 147 94
LouWeed LouWeed 13:30 16:17 120 77
Stavros Stavrolex 13:35 23:45 174 112
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:42 17:27 127 81
Mike Mansbridge 13:44 07:30 54 34
Finzi 14:14 23:07 162 104
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:24 19:43 136 87
Groucho 14:38 20:27 139 89
phthisis 14:44 13:41 92 59
franceslc11 14:44 22:56 155 100
Semillon 15:02 21:59 146 94
SimonAnthony 15:34 18:01 115 74
robinh 15:45 21:27 136 87
BlackburnRover 15:59 21:11 132 85
Pootle Pootle 16:02 26:38 166 107
johninterred Johninterred 16:03 27:24 170 109
andrewlake 16:12 22:03 136 87
Looch 16:19 25:12 154 99
Crucifer Crucifer 16:23 24:08 147 94
ilan 16:45 22:13 132 85
KenD51 16:46 30:43 183 118
LJCN 16:56 40:08 237 152
Craven 17:00 23:05 135 87
ajcauk1 17:06 20:23 119 76
Colin2355 17:48 33:37 188 121
DunPangolin 17:51 26:04 146 94
GMcD 18:11 15:42 86 55
Crossiant 18:25 21:17 115 74
monkfish 18:33 24:11 130 83
Solver52 19:02 22:16 116 74
PGooden 19:06 36:44 192 123
endafk 20:18 39:16 193 124
Umpire 20:27 28:17 138 89
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:48 39:44 191 123
julian_w 20:48 36:21 174 112
James P Special_bitter 21:21 16:36 77 49
george.garlick 21:50 24:51 113 72
Curarist Curarist 22:15 20:43 93 60
Waterloo 22:38 46:29 205 132
Tudds 23:29 40:44 173 111
brian.mcnamara 23:32 37:16 158 101
goblin 23:45 32:24 136 87
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 24:15 34:15 141 90
Terrier 24:39 39:04 158 101
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:00 36:50 147 94
MartianAlien 25:01 27:30 109 70
Fidelio 25:05 44:13 176 113
Crippens1 25:53 38:22 148 95
ulaca ulaca 26:00 56:04 215 138
infinitejest 26:45 52:48 197 127
JoeyC 27:39 42:44 154 99
Deezzaa Deezzaa 27:40 44:56 162 104
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 27:46 38:33 138 89
nekabue 27:49 43:54 157 101
Manveru 27:54 35:49 128 82
JMbrow29 27:56 45:29 162 104
Mike Harper Mike Harper 28:19 43:52 154 99
Gussie 28:23 64:34 227 146
Yatton50 28:33 30:15 105 67
NAPASAI napasai 30:04 39:22 130 83
BertieVII 30:23 34:15 112 72
cheryllayne cheryllayne 31:09 46:15 148 95
koro kororareka 31:54 34:37 108 69
Jeeves 32:20 41:15 127 81
Vagans 33:22 54:48 164 105
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 33:49 47:12 139 89
boltonwanderer 34:33 44:00 127 81
Cryptique 35:59 47:47 132 85
starstruck starstruck_au 36:00 49:01 136 87
HanS 36:06 40:29 112 72
maryht 36:09 60:10 166 107
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 36:21 51:56 142 91
6098mr 36:43 27:59 76 49
kapietro kapietro 38:05 62:27 163 105
tyrotim tyrotim 38:38 45:00 116 74
Rozz 39:07 51:39 132 85
empty 43:12 57:45 133 85
alistair.boere 43:28 38:22 88 56
CoxBurglar coxburglar 44:30 33:50 76 49
baronrob 44:56 95:50 213 137
Winchelt618 46:34 32:50 70 45
Dalai Farmer 47:13 74:19 157 101
Masha 53:52 56:11 104 67

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.

Loading...
Loading...
Back