Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28826

Date 30 January 2024
Number 28826
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 78
Count of ref solvers 60
Ref solvers excluded with errors 10
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28826

* 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 04:37 03:14 70 89
Mikemon 05:34 06:53 123 157
Diskus 06:30 04:59 76 97
mistigris 06:49 04:43 69 88
verlaine Verlaine 06:56 04:55 70 89
hilarym 07:04 08:14 116 148
aphis99 aphis99 07:21 06:28 87 111
Magoo 07:40 05:52 76 97
Paul Gilbert 07:41 08:01 104 133
cmjhutton 08:23 05:11 61 78
richard 08:51 09:45 110 141
asaldanha 09:08 11:41 127 162
boulemiche 09:15 08:10 88 112
glheard glh 09:54 05:48 58 74
markdobell 10:24 07:35 72 92
Kinghedger 10:26 08:43 83 106
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:29 07:51 74 94
patrickcates 10:35 11:41 110 141
lickert 10:39 09:13 86 110
AlanS 10:50 11:08 102 130
miked1961 11:23 08:24 73 93
tiggis 11:25 07:15 63 80
andy 11:43 10:45 91 116
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:54 08:14 69 88
ChuckB 11:54 11:47 99 126
Sheapey Sheapey 11:59 10:47 89 114
chriswords 12:10 08:15 67 85
Golvellius 12:12 08:50 72 92
d.middleton 12:12 13:52 113 144
David Crooks dcrooks 12:14 14:57 122 156
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:24 09:11 74 94
fshephe 12:32 10:56 87 111
neilr neilr 12:43 10:48 84 107
Stavros Stavrolex 12:55 11:11 86 110
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:00 12:46 98 125
HoneyBadger 13:02 08:45 67 85
KenD51 13:04 13:08 100 128
Umpire 13:11 08:20 63 80
Silva 13:12 09:33 72 92
tilbee 13:19 12:20 92 117
Paul Bacon 13:35 14:54 109 139
Ben Staveley 13:40 14:24 105 134
edwards.robert1 13:40 12:35 92 117
alexh 13:44 14:21 104 133
Mike Mansbridge 13:44 06:19 45 57
Henry White 13:58 08:27 60 76
Tibthorpe 14:06 09:19 66 84
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 14:07 11:25 80 102
CentralLine CentralLine 14:19 12:23 86 110
SimonAnthony 14:44 10:38 72 92
JezWoolfrey 14:50 17:42 119 152
Semillon 14:53 13:10 88 112
Finzi 15:10 13:20 87 111
Peponi13 15:11 15:50 104 133
Eddddddd 15:19 08:53 57 73
howardwilde1 15:26 17:38 114 146
myles 15:27 15:32 100 128
BlackburnRover 15:33 14:12 91 116
grape 15:38 13:57 89 114
phthisis 15:39 11:42 74 94
Crucifer Crucifer 15:42 16:42 106 135
Achernar 15:56 12:53 80 102
gabrojak 15:59 14:04 88 112
robinh 16:07 13:52 86 110
john.marshall 16:11 13:57 86 110
LJCN 16:24 11:13 68 87
jimwetzler 16:28 12:53 78 100
Looch 16:33 13:08 79 101
PGooden 16:39 14:07 84 107
tapbarker 16:42 09:36 57 73
daulbs 17:10 11:36 67 85
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:27 24:07 138 176
ilan 17:34 14:21 81 103
Craven 17:43 18:25 103 132
Crossiant 17:44 13:09 74 94
DunPangolin 18:08 17:26 96 123
MossDef 18:19 09:30 51 65
Encota 18:22 18:16 99 126
GMcD 18:42 12:39 67 85
Jeremy S 18:54 14:24 76 97
Cookincats 19:27 14:57 76 97
squark 19:30 24:40 126 161
julian_w 19:43 15:29 78 100
Zander 19:57 09:55 49 62
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 19:58 16:39 83 106
pc8 20:02 11:25 56 71
gsriordan52 20:04 19:06 95 121
jimancliffe 20:09 22:39 112 143
Colin2355 20:34 13:29 65 83
Solver52 20:37 19:07 92 117
LuckOfLucien 20:41 18:09 87 111
cognominative 20:42 18:20 88 112
James P Special_bitter 20:52 12:00 57 73
rrricharrrd 20:53 17:23 83 106
Zabadak3 Zabadak 21:20 17:19 81 103
DanSolo 21:23 13:29 63 80
Nangle 21:24 16:17 76 97
dec 21:31 20:56 97 124
John Arnold 21:32 26:58 125 160
Curarist Curarist 21:46 15:14 69 88
Mike C 21:46 15:04 69 88
daniel.faith 22:34 14:20 63 80
suethepotterer 22:34 17:45 78 100
george.garlick 22:35 21:09 93 119
crosswordian 22:38 16:33 73 93
Jagsfan1971 22:42 17:07 75 96
goblin 22:47 26:50 117 150
The Caffeine Kid 22:48 21:10 92 117
sue.cresswell 22:56 11:19 49 62
Tudds 23:09 28:20 122 156
david_ch 23:44 21:03 88 112
McBeak McBeak 23:45 14:53 62 79
klamery4 24:07 21:13 87 111
Brenk Brenk1 24:12 22:48 94 120
stainl665 24:44 20:53 84 107
richardCV22 24:47 20:47 83 106
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:51 20:15 81 103
medodd 25:09 20:38 82 105
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 25:15 17:47 70 89
DamienKnapma 25:40 14:56 58 74
tony the butcher montana 25:42 19:12 74 94
Beagler 25:57 22:43 87 111
crucihacker 26:03 20:15 77 98
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:51 30:32 113 144
timbo 26:57 23:33 87 111
ulaca ulaca 26:59 40:16 149 191
BoredAccountant 27:16 18:42 68 87
Yatton50 27:28 23:33 85 108
hipponym 27:49 23:22 84 107
Mike Harper Mike Harper 28:39 20:26 71 91
JoeyC 29:05 22:12 76 97
phcbarnes 29:37 29:14 98 125
Dr_Bob 29:43 22:25 75 96
JMbrow29 29:51 18:01 60 76
Rowlie26 29:54 19:18 64 82
RogerC 30:19 19:18 63 80
infinitejest 30:56 25:08 81 103
6098mr 31:14 26:32 84 107
Lloyd 31:29 35:00 111 142
gbestanley 31:44 30:18 95 121
Nigel1953 32:47 17:07 52 66
koro kororareka 32:54 31:04 94 120
Winchelt 32:56 33:37 102 130
Manveru 33:06 20:41 62 79
Maggot 34:13 30:53 90 115
starstruck starstruck_au 35:06 39:22 112 143
bruce.johnston22 35:16 26:41 75 96
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 35:17 31:43 89 114
BertieVII 35:28 28:43 80 102
vinyl12345 vinyl1 35:48 26:00 72 92
Birdingbob 36:35 21:57 60 76
boltonwanderer 36:47 29:00 78 100
joss henry 36:58 45:37 123 157
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 37:18 21:57 58 74
HanS 38:06 27:48 72 92
kapietro kapietro 38:52 34:58 89 114
rv_1 39:06 22:17 56 71
Shushannah 39:18 25:29 64 82
hydrochoos hydrochoos 40:03 48:00 119 152
NAPASAI napasai 42:51 32:02 74 94
Cryptique 43:04 37:22 86 110
MartinP MartinP1 48:51 57:42 118 151
Steve Wood 49:30 37:33 75 96
The Real Steve Snackman 54:47 43:29 79 101

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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