Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28804

Date 04 January 2024
Number 28804
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 76
Count of ref solvers 63
Ref solvers excluded with errors 14
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28804

* 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
Mikemon 05:28 05:57 108 142
Nathan Panning 06:05 07:03 115 151
Diskus 06:29 04:56 76 100
verlaine Verlaine 06:58 03:50 55 72
hilarym 07:06 05:57 83 109
aphis99 aphis99 07:31 03:44 49 64
Paul Gilbert 07:39 06:18 82 107
cmjhutton 08:24 06:07 72 94
richard 08:50 06:41 75 98
asaldanha 09:07 08:00 87 114
boulemiche 09:19 08:21 89 117
chindit 09:44 06:45 69 90
glheard glh 09:59 13:23 134 176
Kinghedger 10:38 07:39 71 93
lickert 10:43 07:35 70 92
patrickcates 10:49 09:33 88 115
keriothe_ keriothe 11:09 11:08 99 130
Deane Short Deane Short 11:10 11:59 107 140
Heyesey 11:10 07:36 68 89
miked1961 11:31 09:59 86 113
andy 11:33 10:56 94 123
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:57 05:49 48 63
ChuckB 12:07 10:20 85 111
Sheapey Sheapey 12:11 08:12 67 88
chriswords 12:13 09:19 76 100
David Crooks dcrooks 12:15 09:43 79 103
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:29 07:44 61 80
canismiser 12:44 10:27 82 107
JimboFS 12:48 14:27 112 147
neilr neilr 12:52 09:38 74 97
John Walsh 13:00 12:19 94 123
Golvellius 13:02 13:35 104 136
Stavros Stavrolex 13:02 07:29 57 75
KenD51 13:07 14:52 113 148
Paul Bacon 13:19 15:11 114 150
HoneyBadger 13:23 09:22 69 90
Ben Staveley 13:25 11:25 85 111
Silva 13:27 14:20 106 139
edwards.robert1 13:40 14:34 106 139
aphasic 13:44 10:14 74 97
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:55 15:36 112 147
Henry White 13:58 10:26 74 97
Groucho 14:08 11:11 79 103
alexh 14:09 12:32 88 115
CentralLine CentralLine 14:15 10:59 77 101
Tibthorpe 14:16 14:37 102 134
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 14:40 07:27 50 65
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 14:41 12:04 82 107
franceslc11 14:47 10:12 68 89
chriss 14:57 14:36 97 127
john.brassey 15:03 14:01 93 122
Semillon 15:04 08:44 57 75
JezWoolfrey 15:07 13:29 89 117
Finzi 15:10 14:33 95 125
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 15:21 10:34 68 89
john.marshall 15:27 11:47 76 100
MK76 15:27 11:21 73 96
myles 15:31 14:36 94 123
grape 15:31 14:22 92 121
johninterred Johninterred 15:33 11:40 75 98
phthisis 15:34 14:26 92 121
Eddddddd 15:41 12:36 80 105
Achernar 15:48 13:32 85 111
robinh 16:04 14:13 88 115
gabrojak 16:09 13:59 86 113
howardwilde1 16:11 10:32 65 85
jimwetzler 16:22 19:40 120 157
BlackburnRover 16:27 14:39 89 117
Dr Dolittle 16:33 05:06 30 39
LJCN 16:34 11:46 71 93
tapbarker 16:36 14:00 84 110
Looch 16:50 12:30 74 97
Squallaby 16:51 16:31 98 128
PGooden 16:58 14:12 83 109
ajcauk1 17:07 17:28 102 134
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:19 12:32 72 94
andrewlake 17:24 15:26 88 115
Craven 17:28 17:15 98 128
ilan 17:32 15:10 86 113
Crossiant 18:01 14:13 78 102
DunPangolin 18:23 16:24 89 117
cmcnsmith 18:27 15:33 84 110
Foozler 18:32 17:15 93 122
MossDef 18:51 15:47 83 109
pterodactyl 18:57 13:02 68 89
Encota 19:00 11:21 59 77
Zander 19:23 25:16 130 171
Dzhigit dzhigit71 19:25 13:14 68 89
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 19:33 17:12 87 114
David Bourne 19:53 21:22 107 140
Andrew Whiffin 19:59 12:53 64 84
Colin2355 20:19 11:31 56 73
Solver52 20:41 15:39 75 98
Hamish.S 20:45 14:33 70 92
Zabadak3 Zabadak 21:07 15:05 71 93
julian_w 21:16 15:13 71 93
endafk 21:18 16:22 76 100
hopkinb hopkinb 21:24 11:34 54 71
LuckOfLucien 21:28 15:12 70 92
Curarist Curarist 21:40 18:16 84 110
DanSolo 21:46 17:09 78 102
Nangle 21:57 20:55 95 125
Riche Riche 22:05 15:17 69 90
John Arnold 22:12 11:39 52 68
1234 22:16 16:51 75 98
Rod B 22:32 18:12 80 105
daniel.faith 22:57 22:04 96 126
Tudds 23:06 25:26 110 144
goblin 23:13 18:51 81 106
Waterloo 23:24 19:29 83 109
DianeRS 23:35 13:18 56 73
The Caffeine Kid 23:40 24:14 102 134
Brenk Brenk1 23:43 21:55 92 121
McBeak McBeak 23:55 18:42 78 102
david_ch 24:13 15:35 64 84
Corymbia Corymbia 24:28 11:56 48 63
richardCV22 24:43 20:45 83 109
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:06 19:55 79 103
jeremy.kenyon 25:24 08:05 31 40
chris661554 25:25 15:18 60 78
stainl665 25:28 24:31 96 126
tony the butcher montana 25:38 21:20 83 109
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:45 18:42 72 94
medodd 25:59 15:26 59 77
DamienKnapma 26:20 23:00 87 114
brian.mcnamara 26:39 25:48 96 126
Crippens1 26:49 13:40 50 65
Deezzaa Deezzaa 27:01 25:13 93 122
ulaca ulaca 27:22 27:07 99 130
chriswestontour 27:49 15:04 54 71
Mike Harper Mike Harper 28:39 17:59 62 81
phcbarnes 29:17 24:31 83 109
nekabue 29:24 31:48 108 142
JoeyC 29:28 19:41 66 86
Dr_Bob 29:41 30:31 102 134
symbenall2 32:20 26:48 82 107
koro kororareka 33:08 25:37 77 101
Grumpole Grumpole 33:26 22:13 66 86
SlumdogEngineer 33:43 18:29 54 71
BertieVII 34:11 58:24 170 223
Maggot 34:20 30:49 89 117
starstruck starstruck_au 35:37 29:29 82 107
bruce.johnston22 35:57 25:35 71 93
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 36:03 24:51 68 89
tyrotim tyrotim 36:09 35:17 97 127
boltonwanderer 37:04 28:00 75 98
Birdingbob 37:10 23:06 62 81
HanS 37:36 30:45 81 106
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 38:12 22:38 59 77
Cryptique 38:16 32:08 83 109
kapietro kapietro 39:11 26:49 68 89
maryht 40:04 25:27 63 82
rv_1 41:04 27:52 67 88
empty 43:52 67:56 154 202
MartinP MartinP1 48:24 39:00 80 105
Steve Wood 49:57 36:36 73 96
profsjpayne 52:19 117:53 225 296
The Real Steve Snackman 59:30 41:39 70 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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