Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28706

Date 12 September 2023
Number 28706
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 88
Count of ref solvers 65
Ref solvers excluded with errors 7
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28706

* 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 04:35 03:48 82 93
Jason 06:12 04:40 75 85
verlaine Verlaine 06:32 05:58 91 103
Diskus 06:35 05:21 81 92
hilarym 06:45 05:59 88 100
mistigris 07:04 07:14 102 115
cmjhutton 07:23 05:59 81 92
aphis99 aphis99 07:24 06:21 85 96
lili 07:40 04:20 56 63
boulemiche 08:53 09:09 103 117
asaldanha 08:53 07:20 82 93
richard 09:07 09:49 107 121
chindit 09:30 11:56 125 142
lickert 10:19 11:39 112 127
tiggis 10:20 06:22 61 69
Kinghedger 10:23 11:41 112 127
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:30 07:28 71 80
AlanS 10:37 08:26 79 89
miked1961 11:04 08:59 81 92
markdobell 11:04 07:12 65 73
Heyesey 11:04 09:14 83 94
keriothe_ keriothe 11:16 13:19 118 134
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:35 07:27 64 72
ChuckB 11:42 11:26 97 110
Sheapey Sheapey 11:47 11:36 98 111
fuzz 11:47 10:36 89 101
fshephe 11:58 09:49 82 93
neilr neilr 12:15 13:28 109 123
tilbee 12:30 15:42 125 142
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:31 10:33 84 95
JimboFS 12:50 10:35 82 93
March (JeffCollins) mch1 12:54 13:35 105 119
Ben Staveley 13:09 14:38 111 126
edwards.robert1 13:16 14:11 106 120
Paul Bacon 13:20 16:12 121 137
jonathan.leather 13:22 17:17 129 146
SimonB 13:26 10:43 79 89
michaelbell53 13:26 12:05 89 101
Stavros Stavrolex 13:33 13:24 98 111
Derek Harrison 13:34 14:38 107 121
Silva 13:37 11:27 84 95
Henry White 13:40 17:15 126 143
LouWeed LouWeed 13:41 14:30 105 119
HoneyBadger 13:52 12:23 89 101
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 14:01 11:50 84 95
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 14:02 11:23 81 92
Mike Mansbridge 14:10 05:54 41 46
CentralLine CentralLine 14:15 12:28 87 98
Finzi 14:19 15:58 111 126
Jim Willis 14:26 18:41 129 146
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:29 14:07 97 110
JezWoolfrey 14:34 16:44 114 129
Groucho 14:37 12:17 84 95
alexh 14:39 17:46 121 137
Tibthorpe 14:49 13:55 93 105
phthisis 14:53 11:39 78 88
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 14:56 18:39 124 140
Semillon 14:58 11:49 78 88
Achernar 15:00 16:48 112 127
Eddddddd 15:23 15:04 97 110
Ease This Jam 15:26 14:51 96 109
Squallaby 15:33 10:36 68 77
SimonAnthony 15:52 11:24 71 80
tapbarker 16:07 15:46 97 110
samgdavies 16:14 10:04 62 70
Pootle Pootle 16:18 14:14 87 98
andrewlake 16:31 13:42 82 93
Looch 16:33 15:52 95 107
BlackburnRover 16:35 16:26 99 112
Crucifer Crucifer 16:53 13:20 78 88
Craven 17:06 16:41 97 110
LJCN 17:14 03:28 20 22
DunPangolin 17:49 20:30 115 130
Colin2355 17:52 19:29 109 123
Zander 18:02 21:49 120 136
kath 18:13 32:15 177 201
GMcD 18:13 22:31 123 139
PGooden 18:20 18:49 102 115
John Arnold 18:42 19:19 103 117
cognominative 18:43 21:33 115 130
uvofiz 18:55 17:37 93 105
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 19:28 17:44 91 103
doublecross anguswalker 19:46 14:31 73 82
daulbs 20:07 18:30 91 103
Hamish.S 20:12 14:38 72 81
Umpire 20:27 09:54 48 54
endafk 20:32 16:35 80 90
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:47 18:30 89 101
pc8 20:57 19:23 92 104
James P Special_bitter 21:02 21:23 101 114
crosswordian 21:21 19:50 92 104
Curarist Curarist 21:24 20:16 94 106
gsriordan52 22:31 19:18 85 96
Onelug 22:35 23:50 105 119
Waterloo 23:10 23:59 103 117
stainl665 23:12 22:31 97 110
Jagsfan1971 23:18 20:52 89 101
barracuda barracuda 23:38 20:55 88 100
1234 23:42 22:10 93 105
Tudds 23:53 33:10 138 156
goblin 23:54 24:25 102 115
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 24:27 12:09 49 55
Brenk Brenk1 24:33 21:52 89 101
valerian1967 24:34 24:46 100 113
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 24:48 25:43 103 117
daniel.faith 24:51 18:19 73 82
suethepotterer 25:05 22:23 89 101
Fidelio 25:08 18:07 72 81
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:21 24:40 97 110
DianeRS 25:22 19:06 75 85
Riche Riche 25:31 23:45 93 105
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:32 17:23 68 77
medodd 25:37 26:02 101 114
Crippens1 26:24 29:22 111 126
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 26:58 26:00 96 109
chris661554 27:03 25:57 95 107
Deezzaa Deezzaa 27:24 30:08 109 123
Dr_Bob 27:48 28:58 104 118
rosselliot 28:10 22:47 80 90
infinitejest 28:13 29:06 103 117
nekabue 28:47 36:22 126 143
gbestanley 29:41 29:35 99 112
Grumpole Grumpole 29:53 28:43 96 109
BertieVII 31:19 28:56 92 104
koro kororareka 32:15 28:40 88 100
dosbarth 32:42 20:35 62 70
cheryllayne cheryllayne 32:45 38:17 116 131
symbenall2 33:59 29:51 87 98
Maggot 34:10 35:29 103 117
6098mr 34:25 34:38 100 113
boltonwanderer 35:28 39:00 109 123
starstruck starstruck_au 35:43 44:11 123 139
jackk.larg 36:03 39:37 109 123
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 36:37 29:58 81 92
HanS 37:10 26:14 70 79
maryht 38:27 29:06 75 85
tyrotim tyrotim 38:36 46:19 119 135
Rozz 39:46 40:49 102 115
MartinP MartinP1 42:49 38:28 89 101
baronrob 43:46 29:35 67 76
empty 43:50 55:54 127 144
Winchelt618 44:00 40:31 92 104
Steve Wood 48:00 53:27 111 126

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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