Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28821

Date 24 January 2024
Number 28821
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 108
Count of ref solvers 62
Ref solvers excluded with errors 11
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28821

* 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 10:25 190 175
Diskus 06:29 08:05 124 114
mistigris 06:44 05:50 86 79
lili 06:54 07:29 108 100
verlaine Verlaine 06:58 07:12 103 95
hilarym 07:06 09:05 127 117
aphis99 aphis99 07:31 08:10 108 100
Paul Gilbert 07:39 07:56 103 95
cmjhutton 08:24 09:22 111 102
richard 08:50 09:55 112 103
asaldanha 09:07 07:37 83 76
chindit 09:44 10:59 112 103
lickert 10:43 08:04 75 69
markdobell 10:47 11:45 108 100
AlanS 10:49 20:42 191 176
patrickcates 10:49 15:48 146 135
keriothe_ keriothe 11:09 12:46 114 105
miked1961 11:31 12:30 108 100
andy 11:33 18:36 161 149
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:57 09:30 79 73
Sheapey Sheapey 12:11 09:51 80 74
chriswords 12:13 15:01 122 112
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:29 11:01 88 81
fshephe 12:32 15:34 124 114
d.middleton 12:35 16:27 130 120
tilbee 12:48 20:20 158 146
March (JeffCollins) mch1 12:51 19:52 154 142
Golvellius 13:02 14:42 112 103
Stavros Stavrolex 13:02 15:36 119 110
HoneyBadger 13:23 13:29 100 92
Ben Staveley 13:25 18:46 139 128
edwards.robert1 13:40 11:43 85 78
Henry White 13:58 10:44 76 70
Groucho 14:08 15:11 107 99
alexh 14:09 18:12 128 118
CentralLine CentralLine 14:15 16:32 116 107
Umpire 14:19 11:41 81 75
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:26 13:06 90 83
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 14:40 11:45 80 74
franceslc11 14:47 16:04 108 100
chriss 14:57 17:18 115 106
john.brassey 15:03 13:47 91 84
Semillon 15:04 19:15 127 117
JezWoolfrey 15:07 19:05 126 116
Finzi 15:10 15:36 102 94
GeorgeTz 15:19 18:57 123 113
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 15:21 22:29 146 135
MK76 15:27 25:06 162 150
john.marshall 15:27 18:12 117 108
Secondbass 15:32 17:36 113 104
johninterred Johninterred 15:33 17:22 111 102
phthisis 15:34 14:55 95 87
SimonAnthony 15:34 13:36 87 80
Carol 15:34 19:26 124 114
Peponi13 15:37 19:52 127 117
Eddddddd 15:41 19:20 123 113
Achernar 15:48 16:23 103 95
robinh 16:04 16:58 105 97
Crucifer Crucifer 16:09 21:49 135 125
gabrojak 16:09 23:18 144 133
howardwilde1 16:11 17:51 110 101
BlackburnRover 16:27 17:17 105 97
njnclarke 16:31 14:25 87 80
Dr Dolittle 16:33 04:56 29 26
LJCN 16:34 19:41 118 109
tapbarker 16:36 20:31 123 113
Looch 16:50 16:45 99 91
Squallaby 16:51 27:39 164 151
ajcauk1 17:07 21:32 125 115
Craven 17:28 19:06 109 100
ilan 17:32 17:13 98 90
Blackbeard 17:38 17:08 97 89
daulbs 17:48 17:38 99 91
rupes 17:50 28:05 157 145
Crossiant 18:01 15:28 85 78
DunPangolin 18:23 24:06 131 121
GMcD 18:47 22:00 117 108
MossDef 18:51 19:04 101 93
Jeremy S 18:53 23:51 126 116
earlylight 19:20 12:32 64 59
Zander 19:23 18:03 93 86
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 19:33 20:24 104 96
David Bourne 19:53 22:32 113 104
gsriordan52 19:55 15:39 78 72
Andrew Whiffin 19:59 26:30 132 122
Colin2355 20:19 29:12 143 132
Solver52 20:41 20:35 99 91
Hamish.S 20:45 21:47 104 96
Zabadak3 Zabadak 21:07 26:27 125 115
julian_w 21:16 23:20 109 100
cyrillic 21:17 34:12 160 148
James P Special_bitter 21:20 33:36 157 145
LuckOfLucien 21:28 28:24 132 122
george.garlick 21:55 28:32 130 120
crosswordian 22:03 27:58 126 116
Tudds 23:06 38:17 165 152
suethepotterer 23:06 28:12 122 112
goblin 23:13 30:21 130 120
The Caffeine Kid 23:40 22:31 95 87
Brenk Brenk1 23:43 28:10 118 109
hugh schofield Leskoffer 23:47 23:29 98 90
richardCV22 24:43 33:59 137 126
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:06 31:57 127 117
chris661554 25:25 27:19 107 99
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:45 23:56 92 85
hugapug 26:07 34:01 130 120
barracuda barracuda 26:08 21:45 83 76
DamienKnapma 26:20 27:08 103 95
Fidelio 26:22 23:21 88 81
brian.mcnamara 26:39 19:57 74 68
Mike Harper Mike Harper 28:39 34:51 121 112
Speedcop2 29:10 31:18 107 99
phcbarnes 29:17 29:49 101 93
Dr_Bob 29:41 36:05 121 112
Gussie 31:05 31:11 100 92
Lloyd 31:15 43:54 140 129
6098mr 31:24 27:36 87 80
gbestanley 31:52 36:12 113 104
koro kororareka 33:08 33:18 100 92
alistair.boere 33:15 21:27 64 59
Grumpole Grumpole 33:26 58:25 174 161
BertieVII 34:11 41:42 121 112
Jeeves 34:24 28:19 82 75
Rookie 35:04 40:14 114 105
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 36:03 44:02 122 112
boltonwanderer 37:04 53:00 142 131
Birdingbob 37:10 35:32 95 87
HanS 37:36 41:03 109 100
jackk.larg 37:59 53:04 139 128
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 38:12 45:02 117 108
Michael S 38:26 44:51 116 107
kapietro kapietro 39:11 34:17 87 80
Shushannah 39:53 35:07 88 81
maryht 40:04 41:05 102 94
Mudge Mudge 40:41 39:39 97 89
rv_1 41:04 31:39 77 71
NAPASAI napasai 42:47 29:45 69 63
empty 43:52 52:46 120 111
baronrob 44:07 62:40 142 131
CoxBurglar coxburglar 46:54 32:51 70 64
MartinP MartinP1 48:24 37:10 76 70
Steve Wood 49:57 41:01 82 75
phmfantom phmfantom 50:05 28:57 57 52
The Real Steve Snackman 59:30 65:34 110 101

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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