Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28790

Date 19 December 2023
Number 28790
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 59
Count of ref solvers 54
Ref solvers excluded with errors 9
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28790

* 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 02:48 62 105
Diskus 06:25 04:29 69 116
mistigris 06:43 03:56 58 98
verlaine Verlaine 06:49 03:34 52 88
hilarym 07:04 06:26 91 154
aphis99 aphis99 07:31 03:19 44 74
Paul Gilbert 07:36 03:45 49 83
cmjhutton 07:54 03:46 47 79
richard 08:58 05:35 62 105
boulemiche 09:08 08:16 90 152
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:18 06:48 66 111
glheard glh 10:20 07:48 75 127
lickert 10:25 05:04 48 81
Kinghedger 10:28 04:49 46 77
AlanS 10:39 08:05 75 127
Deane Short Deane Short 10:58 05:37 51 86
tiggis 11:00 07:38 69 116
keriothe_ keriothe 11:04 07:01 63 106
andy 11:11 09:49 87 147
patrickcates 11:14 07:58 70 118
Heyesey 11:25 03:45 32 54
miked1961 11:26 05:40 49 83
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:50 05:58 50 84
xyster 11:50 10:09 85 144
March (JeffCollins) mch1 12:14 07:31 61 103
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:26 07:59 64 108
d.middleton 12:34 09:14 73 123
JimboFS 12:37 08:00 63 106
neilr neilr 12:46 10:46 84 142
Ben Staveley 12:55 09:31 73 123
John Walsh 13:04 10:39 81 137
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 13:15 07:42 58 98
chriss 13:34 06:26 47 79
Paul Bacon 13:35 08:57 65 110
edwards.robert1 13:45 11:54 86 145
Silva 13:46 09:42 70 118
Henry White 13:49 08:01 58 98
john.brassey 13:50 13:37 98 166
LouWeed LouWeed 14:03 09:30 67 113
alexh 14:07 10:13 72 122
Groucho 14:08 09:50 69 116
Tibthorpe 14:12 07:33 53 89
JezWoolfrey 14:13 10:33 74 125
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 14:14 10:13 71 120
fishernick79 14:21 07:51 54 91
CentralLine CentralLine 14:22 09:02 62 105
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 14:23 06:46 47 79
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 14:28 08:00 55 93
franceslc11 14:45 06:38 44 74
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 14:47 08:17 56 94
grape 14:56 16:06 107 181
Semillon 14:58 08:58 59 100
AndyR 15:03 09:53 65 110
Finzi 15:06 11:00 72 122
johninterred Johninterred 15:08 08:49 58 98
phthisis 15:10 10:50 71 120
Achernar 15:12 12:27 81 137
MK76 15:45 11:02 70 118
Pootle Pootle 15:53 07:21 46 77
Peponi13 15:56 09:12 57 96
Amoeba89 Amoeba 16:13 11:51 73 123
jimwetzler 16:21 15:01 91 154
Squallaby 16:33 08:25 50 84
Looch 16:35 09:43 58 98
LJCN 16:36 13:08 79 133
andrewlake 16:46 10:40 63 106
BlackburnRover 16:46 09:26 56 94
zinzan 16:57 12:44 75 127
Ease This Jam 17:00 08:47 51 86
ilan 17:03 10:48 63 106
ajcauk1 17:04 11:36 67 113
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:10 10:04 58 98
Craven 17:19 11:34 66 111
DunPangolin 17:56 15:36 86 145
Crossiant 18:00 11:25 63 106
Freemers 18:07 14:20 79 133
KET 18:23 15:49 86 145
Foozler 18:27 13:24 72 122
Jeremy S 18:28 19:58 108 183
cmcnsmith 18:28 15:41 84 142
earlylight 18:34 15:15 82 138
GMcD 18:42 07:53 42 71
daulbs 18:51 14:59 79 133
kath 19:07 11:57 62 105
tds 19:18 15:11 78 132
Cookincats 19:18 13:54 72 122
Dzhigit dzhigit71 19:30 09:34 49 83
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 19:38 13:36 69 116
David Bourne 19:45 12:00 60 101
Colin2355 19:46 14:09 71 120
crosswordian 20:09 12:06 60 101
John Arnold 20:14 11:47 58 98
gsriordan52 20:21 13:30 66 111
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:42 09:23 45 76
endafk 20:45 13:30 65 110
cognominative 20:50 13:57 66 111
Hamish.S 20:50 14:47 70 118
DanSolo 21:06 20:24 96 162
James P Special_bitter 21:11 14:29 68 115
Dvynys dvynys 21:22 13:40 63 106
Curarist Curarist 21:30 10:12 47 79
george.garlick 21:33 13:45 63 106
cyrillic 21:34 13:04 60 101
hopkinb hopkinb 21:42 07:56 36 61
UisceTe 22:04 10:41 48 81
valerian1967 22:22 15:52 70 118
Jagsfan1971 22:34 17:51 79 133
daniel.faith 22:38 20:28 90 152
1234 22:44 18:56 83 140
Riche Riche 22:57 18:50 82 138
Waterloo 23:19 16:18 69 116
goblin 23:31 14:34 61 103
david_ch 23:44 12:36 53 89
hugh schofield Leskoffer 23:50 14:04 59 100
Tudds 23:52 16:43 70 118
McBeak McBeak 23:55 19:01 79 133
suethepotterer 23:58 07:33 31 52
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:30 16:31 67 113
Corymbia Corymbia 24:31 15:49 64 108
barracuda barracuda 25:21 11:46 46 77
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:38 16:17 63 106
chris661554 25:48 10:54 42 71
Fidelio 25:49 15:48 61 103
Crippens1 26:15 19:51 75 127
ulaca ulaca 26:21 13:50 52 88
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 26:56 21:00 77 130
Deezzaa Deezzaa 27:32 13:31 49 83
timbo 28:00 18:05 64 108
Yatton50 28:07 15:44 55 93
Dr_Bob 28:39 14:41 51 86
Mike Harper Mike Harper 29:13 17:51 61 103
JoeyC 29:30 12:36 42 71
nekabue 29:39 15:41 52 88
pvoller 30:01 20:44 69 116
infinitejest 30:18 23:58 79 133
Lloyd 30:35 21:41 70 118
rosselliot 30:49 17:45 57 96
gbestanley 31:08 23:49 76 128
alexngbr 33:19 24:05 72 122
alistair.boere 34:53 30:47 88 149
starstruck starstruck_au 34:57 27:12 77 130
Birdingbob 35:12 19:50 56 94
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 35:24 25:29 71 120
marp 35:41 17:18 48 81
tyrotim tyrotim 36:08 26:50 74 125
jackk.larg 36:29 20:21 55 93
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 37:04 18:22 49 83
Cryptique 37:08 31:57 86 145
boltonwanderer 37:13 19:00 51 86
Winchelt618 37:21 31:04 83 140
HanS 37:52 26:46 70 118
maryht 39:57 21:50 54 91
kapietro kapietro 40:01 23:08 57 96
empty 43:00 29:04 67 113
MartinP MartinP1 46:19 37:24 80 135
Steve Wood 49:18 48:08 97 164
profsjpayne 50:04 11:17 22 37
CoxBurglar coxburglar 51:10 22:08 43 72
paulmcl paulmcl 51:55 44:23 85 144

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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