Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28729

Date 09 October 2023
Number 28729
Day of week Monday
NITCH 71
Count of ref solvers 60
Ref solvers excluded with errors 9
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28729

* 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 04:39 02:52 61 85
Nathan Panning 05:40 04:52 85 119
Jason 05:48 07:12 124 174
Diskus 06:31 04:47 73 102
verlaine Verlaine 06:40 04:36 69 97
hilarym 06:44 09:11 136 191
mistigris 06:46 06:36 97 136
lili 07:17 05:12 71 100
aphis99 aphis99 07:20 05:50 79 111
cmjhutton 07:47 03:35 46 64
asaldanha 08:56 06:16 70 98
chindit 09:14 10:46 116 163
joelhames 09:14 07:58 86 121
richard 09:15 09:26 101 142
Kinghedger 10:15 06:22 62 87
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:22 08:49 85 119
AlanS 10:25 09:34 91 128
lickert 10:30 10:51 103 145
glheard glh 10:32 08:18 78 109
miked1961 11:10 09:13 82 115
keriothe_ keriothe 11:19 07:20 64 90
chriswords 11:20 09:43 85 119
xyster 11:27 08:52 77 108
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:40 10:07 86 121
patrickcates 11:46 09:36 81 114
ChuckB 11:47 11:05 94 132
fuzz 11:52 10:34 89 125
fshephe 12:02 10:02 83 116
David Crooks dcrooks 12:08 08:35 70 98
canismiser 12:10 09:21 76 107
neilr neilr 12:20 10:51 87 122
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:23 11:26 92 129
March (JeffCollins) mch1 12:43 08:00 62 87
JimboFS 12:48 08:31 66 92
John Walsh 13:05 13:35 103 145
HoneyBadger 13:15 09:14 69 97
Ben Staveley 13:16 10:10 76 107
Paul Bacon 13:20 11:15 84 118
Henry White 13:40 11:13 82 115
Stavros Stavrolex 13:43 11:16 82 115
Silva 13:43 11:07 81 114
CentralLine CentralLine 13:46 12:02 87 122
jonathan.leather 13:48 14:32 105 147
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:58 10:55 78 109
edwards.robert1 14:00 12:04 86 121
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 14:16 11:00 77 108
Groucho 14:21 12:47 89 125
Finzi 14:27 17:28 120 169
Tibthorpe 14:35 11:12 76 107
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:38 08:17 56 78
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 14:39 12:21 84 118
alexh 14:41 10:04 68 95
JezWoolfrey 14:49 10:32 71 100
Semillon 14:55 07:23 49 69
samgdavies 14:58 08:36 57 80
Achernar 15:06 16:09 106 149
Eddddddd 15:21 07:14 47 66
jimwetzler 15:25 13:20 86 121
gabrojak 15:28 13:51 89 125
MK76 15:29 09:43 62 87
johninterred Johninterred 15:41 12:04 76 107
Squallaby 15:48 11:29 72 101
robinh 16:03 10:58 68 95
Pootle Pootle 16:08 07:17 45 63
tapbarker 16:15 07:34 46 64
SimonAnthony 16:15 09:10 56 78
BlackburnRover 16:43 12:09 72 101
Looch 16:47 12:57 77 108
PGooden 16:48 05:23 32 45
andrewlake 16:51 13:13 78 109
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 16:59 15:19 90 126
ajcauk1 17:05 14:50 86 121
ilan 17:06 14:42 85 119
Crucifer Crucifer 17:10 08:35 50 70
LJCN 17:17 11:20 65 91
zinzan 17:20 13:03 75 105
Craven 17:22 10:12 58 81
Umpire 17:44 06:54 38 53
cmcnsmith 17:59 15:24 85 119
DunPangolin 18:04 13:31 74 104
KET 18:09 09:32 52 73
pterodactyl 18:09 13:53 76 107
GMcD 18:22 13:59 76 107
Zander 18:40 12:20 66 92
John Arnold 18:57 20:40 109 153
Jeremy S 19:04 17:05 89 125
Cookincats 19:17 14:28 75 105
daulbs 19:54 10:16 51 71
Hamish.S 20:21 10:32 51 71
crosswordian 20:31 14:06 68 95
endafk 20:40 17:55 86 121
squark 20:48 13:33 65 91
Zabadak3 Zabadak 21:01 13:55 66 92
pc8 21:08 13:55 65 91
dec 21:22 14:51 69 97
hopkinb hopkinb 21:24 17:09 80 112
David Bourne 21:27 13:57 65 91
george.garlick 21:38 18:12 84 118
UisceTe 22:13 16:34 74 104
Nangle 22:21 11:35 51 71
1234 22:48 17:04 74 104
gsriordan52 22:59 13:47 59 83
Jagsfan1971 23:06 10:58 47 66
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 23:22 13:56 59 83
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 23:22 18:29 79 111
goblin 23:25 16:10 69 97
Tudds 23:58 16:43 69 97
Corymbia Corymbia 24:12 15:20 63 88
Riche Riche 24:25 14:04 57 80
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 24:56 17:24 69 97
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:00 23:43 94 132
Bert Dove 25:17 19:22 76 107
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:51 17:18 66 92
medodd 26:05 14:29 55 77
Crippens1 26:36 17:50 67 94
McBeak McBeak 26:44 12:22 46 64
chris661554 26:53 14:56 55 77
Yatton50 27:38 21:19 77 108
Lloyd 28:33 18:33 64 90
nekabue 29:38 15:54 53 74
infinitejest 30:07 16:16 54 76
gbestanley 30:26 19:07 62 87
bruce.johnston22 30:52 99:31 322 453
BertieVII 31:31 51:24 163 229
Manveru 32:00 19:57 62 87
6098mr 32:43 23:11 70 98
koro kororareka 32:45 18:49 57 80
marp 34:27 29:34 85 119
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 35:12 20:58 59 83
jackk.larg 35:14 25:33 72 101
boltonwanderer 36:26 18:00 49 69
branch branch 36:30 18:11 49 69
Winchelt618 37:00 41:39 112 157
tyrotim tyrotim 37:06 27:57 75 105
Cryptique 37:23 32:04 85 119
HanS 37:43 23:59 63 88
Rozz 38:54 26:18 67 94
kapietro kapietro 39:10 31:15 79 111
alistair.boere 39:20 25:08 63 88
maryht 39:23 37:26 95 133
Rookie 40:08 18:07 45 63
MartinP MartinP1 43:25 40:39 93 130
empty 43:54 39:54 90 126
Steve Wood 48:19 26:08 54 76
profsjpayne 51:31 58:23 113 159
Dalai Farmer 53:41 14:36 27 38
kjbr 53:52 29:23 54 76
CoxBurglar coxburglar 55:00 18:50 34 47

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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