Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28713

Date 20 September 2023
Number 28713
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 70
Count of ref solvers 60
Ref solvers excluded with errors 9
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28713

* 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 03:17 71 101
Nathan Panning 05:39 04:59 88 125
Jason 06:12 05:03 81 115
verlaine Verlaine 06:32 05:15 80 114
Diskus 06:35 04:51 73 104
hilarym 06:45 04:59 73 104
mistigris 07:04 04:54 69 98
cmjhutton 07:23 05:01 67 95
aphis99 aphis99 07:24 05:26 73 104
Paul Gilbert 07:24 06:08 82 117
lili 07:40 05:58 77 110
Magoo 07:51 03:28 44 62
boulemiche 08:53 07:46 87 124
asaldanha 08:53 04:15 47 67
richard 09:07 06:15 68 97
chindit 09:30 06:30 68 97
lickert 10:19 08:15 79 112
Kinghedger 10:23 07:56 76 108
glheard glh 10:26 09:15 88 125
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:30 08:16 78 111
AlanS 10:37 07:33 71 101
Heyesey 11:04 08:56 80 114
miked1961 11:04 08:09 73 104
markdobell 11:04 08:12 74 105
Deane Short Deane Short 11:13 08:06 72 102
keriothe_ keriothe 11:16 10:35 93 132
chriswords 11:20 08:30 75 107
andy 11:23 09:41 85 121
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:35 07:57 68 97
ChuckB 11:42 08:50 75 107
Sheapey Sheapey 11:47 07:06 60 85
fshephe 11:58 09:53 82 117
anonymous 11:59 26:06 217 310
David Crooks dcrooks 11:59 11:16 94 134
neilr neilr 12:15 09:43 79 112
tilbee 12:30 08:27 67 95
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:31 07:45 61 87
patrickcates 12:31 09:21 74 105
aphasic 12:36 12:42 100 142
JimboFS 12:50 10:09 79 112
d.middleton 12:53 09:32 73 104
March (JeffCollins) mch1 12:54 10:00 77 110
edwards.robert1 13:16 13:06 98 140
Paul Bacon 13:20 10:57 82 117
michaelbell53 13:26 12:20 91 130
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:32 12:05 89 127
Stavros Stavrolex 13:33 10:19 76 108
Silva 13:37 09:50 72 102
LouWeed LouWeed 13:41 08:54 65 92
HoneyBadger 13:52 11:34 83 118
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 14:01 14:16 101 144
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 14:02 12:56 92 131
Mike Mansbridge 14:10 04:52 34 48
jimwetzler 14:12 13:09 92 131
CentralLine CentralLine 14:15 09:33 67 95
Finzi 14:19 10:36 74 105
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:29 10:25 71 101
AndyR 14:32 11:44 80 114
JezWoolfrey 14:34 11:32 79 112
Groucho 14:37 11:20 77 110
alexh 14:39 11:46 80 114
Tibthorpe 14:49 11:24 76 108
phthisis 14:53 12:53 86 122
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 14:56 10:16 68 97
Semillon 14:58 08:59 60 85
Carol 14:59 09:32 63 90
Achernar 15:00 09:58 66 94
Eddddddd 15:23 17:03 110 157
gabrojak 15:24 09:28 61 87
Peponi13 15:26 11:41 75 107
Squallaby 15:33 13:05 84 120
johninterred Johninterred 15:54 11:15 70 100
robinh 16:02 11:46 73 104
tapbarker 16:07 12:09 75 107
samgdavies 16:14 14:43 90 128
Pootle Pootle 16:18 11:41 71 101
andrewlake 16:31 14:45 89 127
BlackburnRover 16:35 15:22 92 131
Crucifer Crucifer 16:53 11:12 66 94
ilan 16:57 13:33 79 112
Craven 17:06 12:43 74 105
LJCN 17:14 09:22 54 77
Colin2355 17:52 19:26 108 154
Zander 18:02 14:05 78 111
pterodactyl 18:12 13:30 74 105
kath 18:13 17:28 95 135
GMcD 18:13 11:26 62 88
PGooden 18:20 11:19 61 87
cmcnsmith 18:29 14:49 80 114
John Arnold 18:42 14:41 78 111
cognominative 18:43 16:10 86 122
Andrew Whiffin 18:49 11:01 58 82
martinede 18:54 13:41 72 102
uvofiz 18:55 11:58 63 90
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 19:28 16:12 83 118
Jeremy S 19:49 17:21 87 124
Hamish.S 20:12 15:41 77 110
Umpire 20:27 10:49 52 74
endafk 20:32 10:50 52 74
pc8 20:57 10:46 51 72
george.garlick 20:57 17:11 82 117
James P Special_bitter 21:02 15:23 73 104
npweston 21:02 11:46 55 78
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 21:12 13:20 62 88
dec 21:21 16:29 77 110
Curarist Curarist 21:24 09:12 42 60
hopkinb hopkinb 22:11 17:35 79 112
gsriordan52 22:31 20:34 91 130
Onelug 22:35 15:34 68 97
Waterloo 23:10 17:42 76 108
Jagsfan1971 23:18 13:48 59 84
barracuda barracuda 23:38 17:55 75 107
tony the butcher montana 23:52 17:31 73 104
Tudds 23:53 16:37 69 98
goblin 23:54 20:08 84 120
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 24:48 16:46 67 95
daniel.faith 24:51 17:02 68 97
Corymbia Corymbia 25:04 16:52 67 95
brian.mcnamara 25:06 13:50 55 78
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:21 13:05 51 72
DianeRS 25:22 09:47 38 54
Riche Riche 25:31 18:10 71 101
ulaca ulaca 25:40 24:56 97 138
Bert Dove 26:22 18:18 69 98
Crippens1 26:24 15:59 60 85
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 26:58 13:47 51 72
chris661554 27:03 18:53 69 98
SlumdogEngineer 27:11 23:26 86 122
timbo 27:45 21:17 76 108
Dr_Bob 27:48 20:19 73 104
rosselliot 28:10 13:56 49 70
Yatton50 28:13 19:26 68 97
McBeak McBeak 28:23 19:00 66 94
JoeyC 28:39 25:39 89 127
Lloyd 28:44 18:36 64 91
nekabue 28:47 15:51 55 78
Mike Harper Mike Harper 29:15 15:03 51 72
gbestanley 29:41 24:31 82 117
Grumpole Grumpole 29:53 26:01 87 124
bruce.johnston22 30:11 25:11 83 118
BertieVII 31:19 20:18 64 91
koro kororareka 32:15 29:51 92 131
cheryllayne cheryllayne 32:45 18:51 57 81
symbenall2 33:59 35:15 103 147
Maggot 34:10 31:14 91 130
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 34:30 18:31 53 75
boltonwanderer 35:28 28:00 78 111
Cryptique 36:27 25:02 68 97
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 36:37 22:52 62 88
SK42 36:47 12:39 34 48
HanS 37:10 26:19 70 100
Rookie 38:01 22:15 58 82
maryht 38:27 31:31 81 115
tyrotim tyrotim 38:36 36:20 94 134
Shushannah 39:08 39:26 100 142
Rozz 39:46 17:50 44 62
alistair.boere 42:23 29:50 70 100
MartinP MartinP1 42:49 27:10 63 90
baronrob 43:46 19:20 44 62
empty 43:50 29:24 67 95
Winchelt618 44:00 37:41 85 121
wolfcloud 53:10 34:09 64 91
profsjpayne 55:09 11:36 21 30

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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