Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28768

Date 23 November 2023
Number 28768
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 89
Count of ref solvers 64
Ref solvers excluded with errors 11
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28768

* 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 04:31 04:38 102 114
Mikemon 05:35 05:16 94 105
verlaine Verlaine 06:39 07:27 112 125
mistigris 06:44 05:34 82 92
mauefw Mauefw 07:13 09:14 127 142
aphis99 aphis99 07:23 07:00 94 105
Paul Gilbert 07:37 08:57 117 131
Contrarian3 07:44 07:31 97 108
cmjhutton 07:51 08:50 112 125
asaldanha 08:55 06:49 76 85
richard 08:58 08:24 93 104
boulemiche 09:05 09:34 105 117
lickert 10:29 08:57 85 95
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:32 09:50 93 104
AlanS 10:34 07:27 70 78
glheard glh 10:39 08:47 82 92
markdobell 10:39 08:42 81 91
miked1961 11:21 09:39 85 95
Deane Short Deane Short 11:23 12:42 111 124
chriswords 11:35 13:23 115 129
trux trux20 11:36 16:22 141 158
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:40 12:47 109 122
ChuckB 11:54 12:13 102 114
Sheapey Sheapey 12:05 12:39 104 116
fshephe 12:07 11:38 96 107
David Crooks dcrooks 12:16 12:54 105 117
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:27 08:26 67 75
neilr neilr 12:29 09:31 76 85
JimboFS 12:33 10:00 79 88
tilbee 12:52 10:05 78 87
Ben Staveley 12:59 11:31 88 98
aphasic 13:05 12:30 95 106
HoneyBadger 13:16 12:08 91 102
chriss 13:26 09:41 72 80
Stavros Stavrolex 13:30 08:51 65 73
Silva 13:43 13:39 99 111
Henry White 13:49 10:14 74 83
LouWeed LouWeed 13:54 12:30 89 100
edwards.robert1 13:54 12:11 87 97
CentralLine CentralLine 14:00 13:57 99 111
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 14:03 13:15 94 105
Groucho 14:13 16:08 113 126
alexh 14:23 17:29 121 135
Tibthorpe 14:23 15:36 108 121
Derek Harrison 14:27 13:02 90 101
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 14:32 15:58 109 122
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 14:32 13:08 90 101
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:41 13:57 95 106
Finzi 14:42 15:00 102 114
franceslc11 14:44 13:41 92 103
AndyR 14:45 17:05 115 129
phthisis 14:58 16:30 110 123
Semillon 15:03 16:20 108 121
Eddddddd 15:06 13:07 86 96
KenD51 15:18 04:09 27 30
Achernar 15:22 14:14 92 103
johninterred Johninterred 15:33 16:07 103 115
gabrojak 15:38 19:38 125 140
robinh 15:58 17:31 109 122
Pootle Pootle 15:59 13:31 84 94
Peponi13 16:04 18:24 114 128
SimonAnthony 16:25 07:39 46 51
tapbarker 16:27 14:57 90 101
Looch 16:53 30:25 180 202
andrewlake 16:55 16:51 99 111
BlackburnRover 16:56 17:19 102 114
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 16:56 14:10 83 93
ilan 17:09 19:02 110 123
ajcauk1 17:10 24:56 145 162
Craven 17:19 19:50 114 128
DunPangolin 18:06 16:07 89 100
Foozler 18:18 21:34 117 131
GMcD 18:31 20:36 111 124
Crossiant 18:32 15:57 86 96
earlylight 18:40 18:58 101 113
John Arnold 19:01 23:46 124 139
Freemers 19:03 15:25 80 89
uvofiz 19:05 17:45 93 104
Colin2355 19:10 20:24 106 119
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 19:12 15:57 83 93
Grestyman Grestyman 19:16 05:22 27 30
Andrew Whiffin 19:20 15:25 79 88
Dzhigit dzhigit71 19:35 22:27 114 128
cath23 20:00 15:06 75 84
Hamish.S 20:39 23:23 113 126
squark 20:39 19:29 94 105
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:49 17:52 85 95
cyrillic 20:58 19:11 91 102
pc8 21:00 21:58 104 116
Curarist Curarist 21:28 18:23 85 95
george.garlick 21:32 16:24 76 85
UisceTe 21:36 18:51 87 97
hopkinb hopkinb 21:37 18:44 86 96
Nangle 21:44 25:33 117 131
sue.cresswell 21:54 16:41 76 85
valerian1967 22:07 27:15 123 138
gsriordan52 22:32 20:06 89 100
1234 22:44 24:04 105 117
Waterloo 23:21 18:29 79 88
DianeRS 23:21 15:45 67 75
hugh schofield Leskoffer 23:26 17:11 73 82
goblin 23:42 27:22 115 129
Tudds 23:55 19:21 80 89
Corymbia Corymbia 24:31 19:04 77 86
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 24:35 20:05 81 91
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:54 22:31 90 101
barracuda barracuda 25:11 24:12 96 107
Fidelio 25:17 26:14 103 115
McBeak McBeak 25:33 20:14 79 88
chris661554 26:22 16:33 62 69
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 27:18 23:47 87 97
Deezzaa Deezzaa 27:38 27:00 97 108
Yatton50 27:42 24:31 88 98
rosselliot 28:20 23:30 82 92
JMbrow29 29:13 41:51 143 160
infinitejest 29:21 31:23 106 119
jeremy.kenyon 30:09 14:42 48 53
gbestanley 30:43 34:50 113 126
Manveru 31:40 26:06 82 92
Grumpole Grumpole 32:20 23:15 71 79
koro kororareka 32:38 45:04 138 155
Vagans 32:40 39:36 121 135
symbenall2 33:01 26:39 80 89
FelicityTT 33:25 26:23 78 87
Birdingbob 33:57 37:27 110 123
marp 34:44 42:36 122 137
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 34:48 42:49 123 138
starstruck starstruck_au 35:03 39:54 113 126
alistair.boere 35:09 34:07 97 108
boltonwanderer 36:41 34:00 92 103
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 36:47 35:24 96 107
HanS 37:06 31:44 85 95
Cryptique 38:12 30:41 80 89
Rozz 38:13 49:30 129 144
SK42 38:20 28:07 73 82
Shushannah 39:47 34:23 86 96
maryht 40:30 35:08 86 96
empty 43:19 56:59 131 147
MartinP MartinP1 45:10 51:12 113 126
Steve Wood 48:08 43:37 90 101
kjbr 53:32 63:27 118 132

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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