Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28711

Date 18 September 2023
Number 28711
Day of week Monday
NITCH 85
Count of ref solvers 63
Ref solvers excluded with errors 8
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28711

* 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 05:24 117 137
Jason 06:12 06:09 99 116
Diskus 06:35 04:21 66 77
hilarym 06:45 07:19 108 127
mistigris 07:04 06:32 92 108
cmjhutton 07:23 12:07 164 192
aphis99 aphis99 07:24 07:00 94 110
Paul Gilbert 07:24 09:38 130 152
lili 07:40 04:17 55 64
boulemiche 08:53 09:56 111 130
asaldanha 08:53 06:06 68 80
richard 09:07 09:56 108 127
chindit 09:30 07:32 79 92
lickert 10:19 09:25 91 107
tiggis 10:20 10:29 101 118
Kinghedger 10:23 09:36 92 108
glheard glh 10:26 07:04 67 78
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:30 10:33 100 117
AlanS 10:37 10:08 95 111
miked1961 11:04 09:10 82 96
markdobell 11:04 09:45 88 103
keriothe_ keriothe 11:16 08:50 78 91
andy 11:23 09:24 82 96
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:35 12:15 105 123
ChuckB 11:42 12:47 109 128
fuzz 11:47 10:26 88 103
Sheapey Sheapey 11:47 12:17 104 122
fshephe 11:58 12:50 107 125
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:31 10:33 84 98
patrickcates 12:31 10:11 81 95
canismiser 12:40 09:25 74 87
JimboFS 12:50 10:13 79 92
March (JeffCollins) mch1 12:54 12:35 97 114
jonathan.leather 13:22 13:07 98 115
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:32 14:19 105 123
Stavros Stavrolex 13:33 09:04 66 77
Silva 13:37 09:51 72 84
LouWeed LouWeed 13:41 14:14 104 122
HoneyBadger 13:52 10:04 72 84
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 14:01 12:44 90 105
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 14:02 11:12 79 92
jimwetzler 14:12 11:39 82 96
CentralLine CentralLine 14:15 12:33 88 103
Finzi 14:19 14:30 101 118
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:29 12:14 84 98
AndyR 14:32 14:46 101 118
JezWoolfrey 14:34 10:36 72 84
Groucho 14:37 15:42 107 125
alexh 14:39 14:38 99 116
Tibthorpe 14:49 12:07 81 95
phthisis 14:53 11:18 75 88
Semillon 14:58 13:38 91 107
Achernar 15:00 14:23 95 111
franceslc11 15:06 10:32 69 81
Eddddddd 15:23 10:24 67 78
Peponi13 15:26 14:50 96 112
Squallaby 15:33 10:55 70 82
SimonAnthony 15:52 11:41 73 85
johninterred Johninterred 15:54 15:13 95 111
robinh 16:02 13:11 82 96
tapbarker 16:07 10:32 65 76
samgdavies 16:14 08:29 52 61
Pootle Pootle 16:18 14:15 87 102
Valance 16:24 14:52 90 105
andrewlake 16:31 15:17 92 108
Looch 16:33 10:04 60 70
BlackburnRover 16:35 14:28 87 102
ilan 16:57 14:14 83 97
DunPangolin 17:49 17:16 96 112
Colin2355 17:52 14:34 81 95
Foozler 18:08 17:35 96 112
PGooden 18:20 14:50 80 94
John Arnold 18:42 23:02 123 144
cognominative 18:43 18:42 99 116
uvofiz 18:55 15:58 84 98
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 19:28 15:51 81 95
Jeremy S 19:49 22:03 111 130
daulbs 20:07 14:16 70 82
Hamish.S 20:12 18:16 90 105
Umpire 20:27 10:53 53 62
endafk 20:32 15:59 77 90
pc8 20:57 24:34 117 137
dec 21:21 19:22 90 105
Curarist Curarist 21:24 18:08 84 98
UisceTe 21:31 21:53 101 118
hopkinb hopkinb 22:11 17:32 79 92
Nangle 22:19 14:26 64 75
gsriordan52 22:31 16:08 71 83
Waterloo 23:10 19:15 83 97
stainl665 23:12 44:20 191 224
Jagsfan1971 23:18 16:00 68 80
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 23:27 17:48 75 88
barracuda barracuda 23:38 25:43 108 127
Tudds 23:53 16:07 67 78
goblin 23:54 18:58 79 92
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 24:15 15:27 63 74
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 24:27 09:12 37 43
Brenk Brenk1 24:33 19:40 80 94
valerian1967 24:34 11:54 48 56
daniel.faith 24:51 12:52 51 60
Corymbia Corymbia 25:04 16:29 65 76
suethepotterer 25:05 15:49 63 74
klamery4 25:09 20:51 82 96
Riche Riche 25:31 22:30 88 103
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:32 19:41 77 90
Bert Dove 26:22 21:08 80 94
Crippens1 26:24 25:33 96 112
chris661554 27:03 20:03 74 87
Deezzaa Deezzaa 27:24 21:08 77 90
Dr_Bob 27:48 24:52 89 104
rosselliot 28:10 23:01 81 95
infinitejest 28:13 21:44 77 90
McBeak McBeak 28:23 23:10 81 95
JoeyC 28:39 26:49 93 109
nekabue 28:47 27:43 96 112
gbestanley 29:41 26:22 88 103
Grumpole Grumpole 29:53 65:38 219 257
BertieVII 31:19 22:07 70 82
koro kororareka 32:15 26:35 82 96
cheryllayne cheryllayne 32:45 24:56 76 89
symbenall2 33:59 36:00 105 123
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 34:30 38:31 111 130
jeremy.kenyon 35:05 28:38 81 95
boltonwanderer 35:28 26:00 73 85
starstruck starstruck_au 35:43 32:57 92 108
Cryptique 36:27 58:14 159 187
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 36:37 26:09 71 83
HanS 37:10 38:40 104 122
Rookie 38:01 27:48 73 85
kapietro kapietro 38:16 31:20 81 95
maryht 38:27 32:50 85 100
tyrotim tyrotim 38:36 38:03 98 115
Rozz 39:46 27:06 68 80
alistair.boere 42:23 24:39 58 68
MartinP MartinP1 42:49 43:18 101 118
empty 43:50 32:21 73 85
Steve Wood 48:00 37:09 77 90
kjbr 53:56 43:14 80 94
profsjpayne 55:09 77:31 140 164
Masha 55:57 35:45 63 74

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