Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28708

Date 14 September 2023
Number 28708
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 97
Count of ref solvers 66
Ref solvers excluded with errors 10
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28708

* 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 04:26 96 98
Nathan Panning 05:39 06:16 110 113
Jason 06:12 04:50 77 79
Diskus 06:35 06:21 96 98
hilarym 06:45 09:50 145 149
mistigris 07:04 06:36 93 95
cmjhutton 07:23 36:34 495 510
aphis99 aphis99 07:24 07:34 102 105
Paul Gilbert 07:24 04:29 60 61
asaldanha 08:53 07:51 88 90
richard 09:07 09:04 99 102
chindit 09:30 07:40 80 82
lickert 10:19 11:35 112 115
tiggis 10:20 14:26 139 143
AlanS 10:37 10:06 95 97
miked1961 11:04 11:23 102 105
markdobell 11:04 11:52 107 110
Deane Short Deane Short 11:13 09:40 86 88
andy 11:23 11:08 97 100
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:35 11:53 102 105
ChuckB 11:42 11:49 100 103
Sheapey Sheapey 11:47 17:25 147 151
fuzz 11:47 11:44 99 102
David Crooks dcrooks 11:59 12:50 107 110
tilbee 12:30 13:31 108 111
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:31 15:49 126 129
March (JeffCollins) mch1 12:54 10:53 84 86
Ben Staveley 13:09 10:31 79 81
edwards.robert1 13:16 15:58 120 123
jonathan.leather 13:22 16:27 123 126
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:32 15:55 117 120
Derek Harrison 13:34 21:42 159 163
Silva 13:37 11:27 84 86
Henry White 13:40 10:49 79 81
LouWeed LouWeed 13:41 13:28 98 101
HoneyBadger 13:52 12:41 91 93
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 14:01 12:39 90 92
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 14:02 18:10 129 132
jimwetzler 14:12 24:43 174 179
Secondbass 14:15 23:17 163 168
Finzi 14:19 18:44 130 134
Jim Willis 14:26 13:26 93 95
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:29 13:22 92 94
JezWoolfrey 14:34 23:14 159 163
Groucho 14:37 14:50 101 104
alexh 14:39 14:04 96 98
Tibthorpe 14:49 11:45 79 81
phthisis 14:53 15:17 102 105
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 14:56 24:10 161 165
Semillon 14:58 16:26 109 112
franceslc11 15:06 11:11 74 76
Eddddddd 15:23 21:41 140 144
gabrojak 15:24 15:23 99 102
Peponi13 15:26 26:11 169 174
Squallaby 15:33 24:19 156 160
MK76 15:43 19:30 124 127
johninterred Johninterred 15:54 13:53 87 89
robinh 16:02 14:46 92 94
tapbarker 16:07 16:53 104 107
Pootle Pootle 16:18 16:49 103 106
andrewlake 16:31 22:46 137 141
Looch 16:33 21:07 127 130
BlackburnRover 16:35 14:47 89 91
ajcauk1 16:51 19:38 116 119
ilan 16:57 20:53 123 126
Craven 17:06 20:29 119 122
LJCN 17:14 18:09 105 108
Colin2355 17:52 18:19 102 105
Zander 18:02 15:28 85 87
Foozler 18:08 21:33 118 121
GMcD 18:13 18:08 99 102
PGooden 18:20 17:43 96 98
John Arnold 18:42 25:07 134 138
cognominative 18:43 18:06 96 98
Andrew Whiffin 18:49 21:29 114 117
Crossiant 19:07 19:59 104 107
Jeremy S 19:49 17:52 90 92
Hamish.S 20:12 22:14 110 113
DanSolo 20:18 17:21 85 87
Umpire 20:27 11:39 56 57
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:47 14:46 71 73
pc8 20:57 18:37 88 90
george.garlick 20:57 31:32 150 154
julian_w 21:11 19:52 93 95
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 21:12 15:14 71 73
dec 21:21 25:31 119 122
Curarist Curarist 21:24 23:11 108 111
UisceTe 21:31 26:50 124 127
hugh schofield Leskoffer 21:36 14:34 67 69
Nangle 22:19 28:00 125 128
Waterloo 23:10 19:00 82 84
stainl665 23:12 23:39 101 104
Jagsfan1971 23:18 21:09 90 92
1234 23:42 31:05 131 135
david_ch 23:48 17:43 74 76
Tudds 23:53 19:57 83 85
goblin 23:54 23:30 98 101
Brenk Brenk1 24:33 21:29 87 89
valerian1967 24:34 20:23 82 84
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 24:48 24:10 97 100
daniel.faith 24:51 29:13 117 120
Corymbia Corymbia 25:04 33:06 132 136
brian.mcnamara 25:06 31:03 123 126
Fidelio 25:08 39:48 158 162
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:32 27:12 106 109
ulaca ulaca 25:40 23:54 93 95
Bert Dove 26:22 30:47 116 119
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 26:58 25:33 94 96
chris661554 27:03 30:04 111 114
Deezzaa Deezzaa 27:24 49:54 182 187
bobbb 28:08 21:46 77 79
infinitejest 28:13 40:15 142 146
McBeak McBeak 28:23 19:09 67 69
Lloyd 28:44 23:58 83 85
nekabue 28:47 34:48 120 123
Mike Harper Mike Harper 29:15 23:06 78 80
NAPASAI napasai 29:36 24:49 83 85
gbestanley 29:41 38:52 130 134
Gussie 29:42 38:55 131 135
Grumpole Grumpole 29:53 36:53 123 126
bruce.johnston22 30:11 29:31 97 100
BertieVII 31:19 25:44 82 84
koro kororareka 32:15 26:38 82 84
Vagans 32:25 41:44 128 131
dosbarth 32:42 38:24 117 120
cheryllayne cheryllayne 32:45 36:29 111 114
FelicityTT 33:45 34:27 102 105
symbenall2 33:59 37:08 109 112
6098mr 34:25 27:15 79 81
jeremy.kenyon 35:05 34:57 99 102
boltonwanderer 35:28 38:00 107 110
marp 35:33 23:41 66 68
starstruck starstruck_au 35:43 35:29 99 102
Cryptique 36:27 51:50 142 146
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 36:37 43:06 117 120
SK42 36:47 30:34 83 85
HanS 37:10 46:23 124 127
Rookie 38:01 90:30 238 245
kapietro kapietro 38:16 39:19 102 105
maryht 38:27 52:15 135 139
tyrotim tyrotim 38:36 42:43 110 113
Shushannah 39:08 42:10 107 110
Rozz 39:46 41:51 105 108
alistair.boere 42:23 23:13 54 55
MartinP MartinP1 42:49 56:06 131 135
empty 43:50 47:04 107 110
Winchelt618 44:00 26:16 59 60
paulmcl paulmcl 47:08 26:10 55 56
Steve Wood 48:00 47:06 98 101
CoxBurglar coxburglar 52:48 30:20 57 58
kjbr 53:56 68:36 127 130

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