Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28775

Date 01 December 2023
Number 28775
Day of week Friday
NITCH 104
Count of ref solvers 63
Ref solvers excluded with errors 18
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28775

* 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 04:30 05:47 128 123
Nathan Panning 05:51 09:15 158 151
verlaine Verlaine 06:49 06:47 99 95
hilarym 07:04 07:18 103 99
mauefw Mauefw 07:27 10:11 136 130
cmjhutton 07:54 07:22 93 89
richard 08:58 08:14 91 87
asaldanha 09:07 08:42 95 91
chindit 09:14 09:19 100 96
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:18 12:14 118 113
glheard glh 10:20 12:20 119 114
lickert 10:25 13:45 132 126
Kinghedger 10:28 11:10 106 101
markdobell 10:36 13:02 122 117
AlanS 10:39 10:38 99 95
keriothe_ keriothe 11:04 14:15 128 123
andy 11:11 11:42 104 100
Heyesey 11:25 09:36 84 80
chriswords 11:43 15:08 129 124
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:50 08:32 72 69
fuzz 11:52 14:31 122 117
Sheapey Sheapey 12:02 14:28 120 115
fshephe 12:14 15:06 123 118
tilbee 12:23 16:25 132 126
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:26 13:57 112 107
JimboFS 12:37 12:32 99 95
neilr neilr 12:46 15:39 122 117
Ben Staveley 12:55 13:17 102 98
HoneyBadger 13:15 09:35 72 69
edwards.robert1 13:45 14:34 105 100
Silva 13:46 10:53 79 75
Henry White 13:49 11:58 86 82
john.brassey 13:50 19:06 138 132
Groucho 14:08 21:28 151 145
Tibthorpe 14:12 18:01 126 121
JezWoolfrey 14:13 16:31 116 111
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 14:14 16:17 114 109
fishernick79 14:21 14:41 102 98
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 14:28 16:51 116 111
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 14:47 22:54 154 148
Semillon 14:58 25:16 168 161
AndyR 15:03 20:23 135 129
Aloysius 15:04 14:18 94 90
Finzi 15:06 16:35 109 104
johninterred Johninterred 15:08 13:25 88 84
phthisis 15:10 18:16 120 115
Umpire 15:19 09:56 64 61
myles 15:28 16:51 108 103
MK76 15:45 12:50 81 77
Pootle Pootle 15:53 31:50 200 192
njnclarke 16:22 25:46 157 150
Squallaby 16:33 15:31 93 89
BlackburnRover 16:46 18:19 109 104
andrewlake 16:46 14:35 86 82
ilan 17:03 21:16 124 119
ajcauk1 17:04 16:40 97 93
Craven 17:19 17:48 102 98
DunPangolin 17:56 15:30 86 82
Crossiant 18:00 17:01 94 90
Freemers 18:07 20:00 110 105
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 18:07 15:16 84 80
pterodactyl 18:31 12:33 67 64
GMcD 18:42 16:38 88 84
uvofiz 18:55 22:01 116 111
tds 19:18 16:31 85 81
cath23 19:44 24:38 124 119
crosswordian 20:09 21:32 106 101
gsriordan52 20:21 20:58 103 99
pc8 20:26 20:19 99 95
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:42 21:39 104 100
endafk 20:45 22:05 106 101
LuckOfLucien 20:46 23:14 111 106
James P Special_bitter 21:11 19:07 90 86
dec 21:21 22:53 107 102
Dvynys dvynys 21:22 22:52 107 102
Curarist Curarist 21:30 25:15 117 112
george.garlick 21:33 20:18 94 90
cyrillic 21:34 21:14 98 94
hopkinb hopkinb 21:42 24:04 110 105
valerian1967 22:22 24:43 110 105
daniel.faith 22:38 20:47 91 87
Riche Riche 22:57 18:39 81 77
goblin 23:31 23:40 100 96
david_ch 23:44 23:44 100 96
hugh schofield Leskoffer 23:50 23:09 97 93
Tudds 23:52 23:01 96 92
stainl665 24:10 36:13 149 143
klamery4 24:11 23:13 96 92
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 24:23 40:23 165 158
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:30 28:46 117 112
Corymbia Corymbia 24:31 27:00 110 105
chris661554 25:48 22:56 88 84
Fidelio 25:49 25:34 99 95
Crippens1 26:15 32:31 123 118
ulaca ulaca 26:21 33:25 126 121
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 26:56 34:46 129 124
Mike Harper Mike Harper 29:13 29:21 100 96
JoeyC 29:30 37:09 125 120
rosselliot 30:49 45:21 147 141
Gussie 31:04 29:50 96 92
gbestanley 31:08 31:53 102 98
Manveru 31:23 29:30 93 89
BertieVII 32:51 29:28 89 85
bruce.johnston22 34:41 38:11 110 105
alistair.boere 34:53 24:31 70 67
Jeeves 34:56 34:46 99 95
starstruck starstruck_au 34:57 54:09 154 148
Birdingbob 35:12 22:59 65 62
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 35:24 40:30 114 109
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 37:04 36:07 97 93
Rozz 37:11 45:21 121 116
boltonwanderer 37:13 31:00 83 79
Winchelt618 37:21 34:48 93 89
HanS 37:52 41:19 109 104
Rookie 38:03 39:48 104 100
Shushannah 39:19 45:06 114 109
maryht 39:57 41:21 103 99
empty 43:00 46:05 107 102
Steve Wood 49:18 45:52 93 89
CoxBurglar coxburglar 51:10 46:54 91 87
paulmcl paulmcl 51:55 34:33 66 63

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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