Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28834

Date 08 February 2024
Number 28834
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 72
Count of ref solvers 58
Ref solvers excluded with errors 17
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28834

* 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 02:54 62 86
Mikemon 05:34 05:49 104 144
Jason 06:00 04:01 66 91
Nathan Panning 06:02 04:58 82 113
Diskus 06:30 04:30 69 95
lili 06:39 05:23 80 111
mistigris 06:49 04:44 69 95
verlaine Verlaine 06:56 05:30 79 109
hilarym 07:04 05:21 75 104
Magoo 07:40 04:59 65 90
cmjhutton 08:23 05:24 64 88
richard 08:51 07:14 81 112
asaldanha 09:08 06:28 70 97
boulemiche 09:15 07:51 84 116
chindit 09:57 06:20 63 87
markdobell 10:24 08:05 77 106
Kinghedger 10:26 07:21 70 97
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:29 06:14 59 81
patrickcates 10:35 10:40 100 138
lickert 10:39 07:31 70 97
AlanS 10:50 08:00 73 101
keriothe_ keriothe 10:56 08:46 80 111
Deane Short Deane Short 11:02 06:10 55 76
tiggis 11:25 09:05 79 109
Dr Dolittle 11:33 05:04 43 59
samgdavies 11:37 08:24 72 100
andy 11:43 07:46 66 91
xyster 11:47 11:15 95 131
ChuckB 11:54 10:30 88 122
Sheapey Sheapey 11:59 07:33 63 87
fuzz 12:08 10:21 85 118
chriswords 12:10 12:19 101 140
Golvellius 12:12 08:34 70 97
David Crooks dcrooks 12:14 07:45 63 87
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:24 08:26 68 94
fshephe 12:32 10:06 80 111
canismiser 12:38 09:44 77 106
JimboFS 12:43 08:12 64 88
Legbiter 12:55 09:30 73 101
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:00 11:21 87 120
HoneyBadger 13:02 07:43 59 81
KenD51 13:04 09:38 73 101
Umpire 13:11 10:06 76 105
Silva 13:12 08:36 65 90
aphasic 13:18 12:08 91 126
tilbee 13:19 13:10 98 136
Paul Bacon 13:35 16:08 118 163
edwards.robert1 13:40 12:42 92 127
Ben Staveley 13:40 10:28 76 105
Mike Mansbridge 13:44 02:30 18 25
Henry White 13:58 08:29 60 83
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:58 10:12 73 101
Groucho 14:04 10:48 76 105
CentralLine CentralLine 14:19 07:26 51 70
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:22 11:23 79 109
LouWeed LouWeed 14:33 09:16 63 87
Jim Willis 14:40 09:08 62 86
JezWoolfrey 14:50 10:28 70 97
Semillon 14:53 14:12 95 131
Peponi13 15:11 13:38 89 123
Eddddddd 15:19 14:32 94 130
howardwilde1 15:26 12:26 80 111
AndyR 15:26 14:07 91 126
myles 15:27 10:06 65 90
BlackburnRover 15:33 13:07 84 116
grape 15:38 10:26 66 91
phthisis 15:39 09:54 63 87
Pootle Pootle 15:47 11:04 70 97
gabrojak 15:59 13:02 81 112
robinh 16:07 12:08 75 104
LJCN 16:24 11:59 73 101
tapbarker 16:42 14:07 84 116
Grestyman Grestyman 16:43 10:21 61 84
ajcauk1 16:54 16:51 99 137
andrewlake 17:06 11:55 69 95
daulbs 17:10 17:21 101 140
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:27 16:41 95 131
ilan 17:34 13:45 78 108
Craven 17:43 16:34 93 129
Viscomte 18:32 15:35 84 116
pterodactyl 18:51 16:25 87 120
Jeremy S 18:54 17:43 93 129
tds 19:04 14:41 77 106
doublecross anguswalker 19:07 11:11 58 80
Dzhigit dzhigit71 19:13 17:12 89 123
kath 19:20 24:59 129 179
Andrew Whiffin 19:22 15:17 78 108
julian_w 19:43 14:02 71 98
David Bourne 19:57 16:14 81 112
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 19:58 18:01 90 125
pc8 20:02 13:10 65 90
UisceTe 20:37 20:17 98 136
Hamish.S 20:47 11:57 57 79
James P Special_bitter 20:52 16:18 78 108
rrricharrrd 20:53 18:20 87 120
Riche Riche 21:31 17:00 79 109
John Arnold 21:32 12:49 59 81
jeremy.kenyon 21:35 12:37 58 80
Leegoods 22:06 16:27 74 102
valerian1967 22:11 13:56 62 86
1234 22:29 19:20 85 118
daniel.faith 22:34 15:54 70 97
george.garlick 22:35 14:50 65 90
crosswordian 22:38 21:22 94 130
Jagsfan1971 22:42 19:59 88 122
goblin 22:47 16:41 73 101
hugh schofield Leskoffer 23:27 12:30 53 73
david_ch 23:44 16:35 69 95
McBeak McBeak 23:45 20:56 88 122
chriswestontour 23:47 16:08 67 93
Corymbia Corymbia 24:03 15:15 63 87
klamery4 24:07 26:57 111 154
stainl665 24:44 16:11 65 90
richardCV22 24:47 13:07 52 72
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:51 20:55 84 116
chris661554 24:58 16:57 67 93
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:28 18:41 73 101
hugapug 25:44 18:44 72 100
Beagler 25:57 26:35 102 141
Fidelio 26:05 25:19 97 134
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 26:25 24:41 93 129
Crippens1 26:28 21:08 79 109
barracuda barracuda 26:29 18:59 71 98
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:51 23:16 86 119
timbo 26:57 17:31 64 88
brian.mcnamara 27:05 17:28 64 88
hipponym 27:49 31:48 114 158
Mike Harper Mike Harper 28:39 24:13 84 116
nekabue 29:00 18:24 63 87
JoeyC 29:05 23:03 79 109
phcbarnes 29:37 16:15 54 75
Dr_Bob 29:43 20:25 68 94
JMbrow29 29:51 42:42 143 198
RogerC 30:19 18:34 61 84
6098mr 31:14 27:52 89 123
SlumdogEngineer 31:42 22:19 70 97
rosselliot 32:05 23:59 74 102
Jeeves 32:36 15:53 48 66
dosbarth 32:38 17:58 55 76
Nigel1953 32:47 18:26 56 77
koro kororareka 32:54 17:38 53 73
Winchelt 32:56 26:24 80 111
Manveru 33:06 18:52 56 77
Maggot 34:13 47:36 139 193
tyrotim tyrotim 35:10 35:21 100 138
bruce.johnston22 35:16 29:36 83 115
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 35:17 19:42 55 76
BertieVII 35:28 28:08 79 109
Birdingbob 36:35 22:18 60 83
boltonwanderer 36:47 27:00 73 101
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 37:18 22:37 60 83
Mudge Mudge 37:39 27:41 73 101
HanS 38:06 34:21 90 125
rv_1 39:06 22:38 57 79
Cryptique 43:04 41:39 96 133
baronrob 44:16 29:50 67 93
MartinP MartinP1 48:51 39:31 80 111
Steve Wood 49:30 45:34 92 127
profsjpayne 49:55 13:21 26 36
The Real Steve Snackman 54:47 58:50 107 148

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.

Loading...
Loading...
Back