Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28823

Date 26 January 2024
Number 28823
Day of week Friday
NITCH 94
Count of ref solvers 62
Ref solvers excluded with errors 12
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28823

* 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 04:44 04:25 93 98
Mikemon 05:28 06:23 116 123
Diskus 06:29 05:58 92 97
mistigris 06:44 05:41 84 89
verlaine Verlaine 06:58 11:53 170 180
hilarym 07:06 07:57 111 118
aphis99 aphis99 07:31 09:56 132 140
Paul Gilbert 07:39 10:18 134 142
Magoo 07:48 07:45 99 105
richard 08:50 07:09 80 85
asaldanha 09:07 11:55 130 138
chindit 09:44 08:01 82 87
glheard glh 09:59 09:21 93 98
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:17 09:46 94 100
Kinghedger 10:38 10:48 101 107
lickert 10:43 09:20 87 92
markdobell 10:47 11:11 103 109
patrickcates 10:49 15:50 146 155
AlanS 10:49 13:51 128 136
keriothe_ keriothe 11:09 10:00 89 94
Deane Short Deane Short 11:10 09:36 85 90
miked1961 11:31 08:46 76 80
xyster 11:49 12:41 107 113
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:57 10:26 87 92
Sheapey Sheapey 12:11 11:29 94 100
David Crooks dcrooks 12:15 13:35 110 117
fuzz 12:16 11:49 96 102
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:29 15:10 121 128
fshephe 12:32 14:58 119 126
d.middleton 12:35 14:23 114 121
canismiser 12:44 12:00 94 100
tilbee 12:48 13:38 106 112
JimboFS 12:48 09:25 73 77
Stavros Stavrolex 13:02 08:36 65 69
HoneyBadger 13:23 12:50 95 101
Ben Staveley 13:25 15:10 113 120
Silva 13:27 16:49 125 132
edwards.robert1 13:40 11:42 85 90
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:55 14:45 105 111
Henry White 13:58 12:50 91 96
Groucho 14:08 12:37 89 94
alexh 14:09 10:42 75 79
Derek Harrison 14:13 16:12 113 120
CentralLine CentralLine 14:15 15:27 108 114
Umpire 14:19 08:03 56 59
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:26 10:06 69 73
LouWeed LouWeed 14:44 08:01 54 57
franceslc11 14:47 14:27 97 103
john.brassey 15:03 12:51 85 90
Semillon 15:04 10:17 68 72
JezWoolfrey 15:07 15:43 103 109
Finzi 15:10 17:54 118 125
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 15:21 19:16 125 132
MK76 15:27 21:17 137 145
myles 15:31 11:50 76 80
grape 15:31 24:56 160 170
Secondbass 15:32 17:25 112 119
johninterred Johninterred 15:33 18:54 121 128
phthisis 15:34 19:17 123 130
Eddddddd 15:41 11:40 74 78
Pootle Pootle 15:58 19:48 124 131
robinh 16:04 20:12 125 132
gabrojak 16:09 13:42 84 89
howardwilde1 16:11 12:53 79 84
Dr Dolittle 16:33 07:58 48 51
LJCN 16:34 16:20 98 104
tapbarker 16:36 14:50 89 94
Looch 16:50 17:10 101 107
Squallaby 16:51 13:30 80 85
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:19 15:11 87 92
Craven 17:28 21:46 124 131
daulbs 17:48 22:10 124 131
Crossiant 18:01 17:26 96 102
GMcD 18:47 20:09 107 113
MossDef 18:51 12:29 66 70
Jeremy S 18:53 14:57 79 84
pterodactyl 18:57 21:34 113 120
Dzhigit dzhigit71 19:25 33:02 170 180
martinede 19:45 23:42 120 127
gsriordan52 19:55 18:04 90 95
Andrew Whiffin 19:59 15:31 77 81
pc8 20:16 16:19 80 85
Colin2355 20:19 18:30 91 96
Solver52 20:41 21:03 101 107
Hamish.S 20:45 27:17 131 139
rrricharrrd 20:54 20:37 98 104
Zabadak3 Zabadak 21:07 25:57 122 129
cyrillic 21:17 17:52 83 88
James P Special_bitter 21:20 22:45 106 112
hopkinb hopkinb 21:24 24:01 112 119
LuckOfLucien 21:28 19:22 90 95
Curarist Curarist 21:40 15:18 70 74
george.garlick 21:55 27:54 127 135
crosswordian 22:03 24:33 111 118
Riche Riche 22:05 18:59 85 90
1234 22:16 27:10 122 129
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 23:06 21:14 91 96
Tudds 23:06 23:34 102 108
suethepotterer 23:06 25:38 110 117
goblin 23:13 23:34 101 107
DianeRS 23:35 22:18 94 100
The Caffeine Kid 23:40 28:04 118 125
Brenk Brenk1 23:43 30:14 127 135
hugh schofield Leskoffer 23:47 22:38 95 101
McBeak McBeak 23:55 23:03 96 102
david_ch 24:13 21:58 90 95
klamery4 24:17 29:05 119 126
Corymbia Corymbia 24:28 18:42 76 80
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:06 29:00 115 122
chris661554 25:25 37:34 147 156
stainl665 25:28 17:22 68 72
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:45 18:27 71 75
medodd 25:59 23:40 91 96
barracuda barracuda 26:08 29:41 113 120
Fidelio 26:22 32:16 122 129
brian.mcnamara 26:39 20:19 76 80
Crippens1 26:49 28:56 107 113
Deezzaa Deezzaa 27:01 25:36 94 100
Yatton50 27:40 25:04 90 95
Mike Harper Mike Harper 28:39 26:51 93 98
nekabue 29:24 25:56 88 93
JoeyC 29:28 26:47 90 95
Dr_Bob 29:41 34:24 115 122
rosselliot 32:25 50:03 154 163
dosbarth 33:01 37:36 113 120
koro kororareka 33:08 24:49 74 78
Grumpole Grumpole 33:26 37:45 112 119
BertieVII 34:11 35:12 102 108
joss henry 35:43 49:00 137 145
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 36:03 32:22 89 94
tyrotim tyrotim 36:09 43:17 119 126
boltonwanderer 37:04 38:00 102 108
HanS 37:36 46:26 123 130
kapietro kapietro 39:11 41:23 105 111
Shushannah 39:53 28:01 70 74
maryht 40:04 38:06 95 101
Mudge Mudge 40:41 40:15 98 104
rv_1 41:04 24:33 59 62
empty 43:52 33:42 76 80
baronrob 44:07 52:02 117 124
CoxBurglar coxburglar 46:54 40:35 86 91
MartinP MartinP1 48:24 48:27 100 106
Steve Wood 49:57 35:37 71 75
profsjpayne 52:19 55:56 106 112
The Real Steve Snackman 59:30 53:52 90 95

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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