Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28714

Date 21 September 2023
Number 28714
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 132
Count of ref solvers 67
Ref solvers excluded with errors 11
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28714

* 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
Nathan Panning 05:39 05:33 98 74
Jason 06:12 08:20 134 101
verlaine Verlaine 06:32 09:59 152 115
Diskus 06:35 09:22 142 107
mistigris 07:04 08:05 114 86
cmjhutton 07:23 05:52 79 59
aphis99 aphis99 07:24 11:11 151 114
lili 07:40 09:11 119 90
asaldanha 08:53 14:18 160 121
chindit 09:30 12:15 128 96
lickert 10:19 12:44 123 93
Heyesey 11:04 16:10 146 110
miked1961 11:04 18:25 166 125
markdobell 11:04 20:40 186 140
xyster 11:07 14:03 126 95
keriothe_ keriothe 11:16 24:47 219 165
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:35 23:08 199 150
Sheapey Sheapey 11:47 17:16 146 110
fshephe 11:58 16:30 137 103
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:31 19:18 154 116
Ben Staveley 13:09 26:06 198 150
edwards.robert1 13:16 11:28 86 65
Stavros Stavrolex 13:33 20:23 150 113
Derek Harrison 13:34 17:07 126 95
Silva 13:37 19:23 142 107
LouWeed LouWeed 13:41 16:45 122 92
HoneyBadger 13:52 14:40 105 79
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 14:01 16:09 115 87
CentralLine CentralLine 14:15 24:37 172 130
Finzi 14:19 17:21 121 91
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:29 14:08 97 73
AndyR 14:32 18:48 129 97
phthisis 14:53 20:55 140 106
Semillon 14:58 19:54 132 100
gabrojak 15:24 17:46 115 87
Squallaby 15:33 26:16 168 127
SimonAnthony 15:52 22:31 141 106
johninterred Johninterred 15:54 21:43 136 103
robinh 16:02 23:12 144 109
tapbarker 16:07 29:53 185 140
Pootle Pootle 16:18 25:07 154 116
andrewlake 16:31 25:12 152 115
Looch 16:33 21:32 130 98
Crucifer Crucifer 16:53 14:09 83 62
Craven 17:06 24:53 145 109
LJCN 17:14 06:33 38 28
DunPangolin 17:49 22:15 124 93
Colin2355 17:52 20:20 113 85
Zander 18:02 25:28 141 106
uvofiz 18:55 25:10 133 100
cath23 19:04 28:58 151 114
Crossiant 19:07 21:22 111 84
daulbs 20:07 28:44 142 107
Hamish.S 20:12 40:52 202 153
Umpire 20:27 11:42 57 43
endafk 20:32 26:50 130 98
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:47 32:29 156 118
cyrillic 20:50 26:43 128 96
pc8 20:57 26:32 126 95
npweston 21:02 34:12 162 122
James P Special_bitter 21:02 26:54 127 96
dec 21:21 24:42 115 87
Curarist Curarist 21:24 35:44 166 125
David Bourne 21:29 31:15 145 109
squark 21:30 19:03 88 66
hugh schofield Leskoffer 21:36 41:36 192 145
gsriordan52 22:31 29:55 132 100
barracuda barracuda 23:38 33:49 143 108
david_ch 23:48 38:15 160 121
Tudds 23:53 34:58 146 110
goblin 23:54 25:11 105 79
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 24:27 19:56 81 61
Brenk Brenk1 24:33 07:16 29 21
valerian1967 24:34 22:27 91 68
daniel.faith 24:51 25:23 102 77
Corymbia Corymbia 25:04 28:37 114 86
suethepotterer 25:05 28:42 114 86
klamery4 25:09 25:20 100 75
medodd 25:37 35:08 137 103
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 26:58 37:51 140 106
chris661554 27:03 42:44 157 118
bobbb 28:08 34:12 121 91
rosselliot 28:10 32:40 115 87
infinitejest 28:13 41:49 148 112
McBeak McBeak 28:23 33:14 117 88
Speedcop2 28:28 34:38 121 91
nekabue 28:47 46:52 162 122
Mike Harper Mike Harper 29:15 38:11 130 98
NAPASAI napasai 29:36 63:57 216 163
gbestanley 29:41 31:25 105 79
Gussie 29:42 50:39 170 128
Grumpole Grumpole 29:53 56:37 189 143
bruce.johnston22 30:11 36:22 120 90
BertieVII 31:19 42:43 136 103
koro kororareka 32:15 61:15 189 143
Vagans 32:25 46:15 142 107
cheryllayne cheryllayne 32:45 56:10 171 129
Jeeves 33:18 43:02 129 97
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 34:30 41:29 120 90
starstruck starstruck_au 35:43 45:29 127 96
Cryptique 36:27 45:14 124 93
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 36:37 51:39 141 106
alexngbr 36:38 39:07 106 80
HanS 37:10 45:03 121 91
kapietro kapietro 38:16 55:48 145 109
maryht 38:27 41:07 106 80
Shushannah 39:08 58:04 148 112
alistair.boere 42:23 41:01 96 72
MartinP MartinP1 42:49 59:55 139 105
baronrob 43:46 59:23 135 102
Winchelt618 44:00 21:13 48 36
Steve Wood 48:00 58:38 122 92

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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