Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28877

Date 29 March 2024
Number 28877
Day of week Friday
NITCH 79
Count of ref solvers 67
Ref solvers excluded with errors 13
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28877

* 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 04:26 02:58 66 83
Jason 05:55 05:41 96 121
lili 06:31 05:18 81 102
aphis99 aphis99 07:19 06:16 85 107
Contrarian3 07:47 07:09 91 115
cmjhutton 08:08 03:37 44 55
richard 08:54 08:10 91 115
boulemiche 09:12 10:58 119 150
Dr Dolittle 09:48 05:11 52 65
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:15 10:26 101 127
Kinghedger 10:21 06:25 61 77
Deane Short Deane Short 10:53 07:01 64 81
AlanS 11:00 06:24 58 73
miked1961 11:07 08:03 72 91
samgdavies 11:07 06:06 54 68
andy 11:25 10:11 89 112
KenD51 11:31 15:39 135 170
chriswords 11:51 08:04 68 86
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:58 09:46 81 102
David Crooks dcrooks 12:06 12:56 106 134
neilr neilr 12:23 08:45 70 88
Stavros Stavrolex 12:33 08:30 67 84
aphasic 12:58 12:28 96 121
Henry White 13:05 11:30 87 110
robertL 13:12 11:34 87 110
tilbee 13:17 09:42 73 92
alexh 13:49 12:09 87 110
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:01 12:47 91 115
LouWeed LouWeed 14:14 13:03 91 115
Peponi13 14:42 10:34 71 89
johninterred Johninterred 14:52 11:21 76 96
Finzi 14:59 10:28 69 87
RobR RobR 15:06 12:50 84 106
AndyR 15:17 13:59 91 115
phthisis 15:32 12:28 80 101
JezWoolfrey 15:35 14:52 95 120
robinh 15:40 13:15 84 106
Achernar 15:52 14:17 90 113
MK76 15:58 11:16 70 88
Looch 16:02 13:55 86 108
tapbarker 16:14 12:35 77 97
ajcauk1 16:58 13:33 79 100
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:26 09:45 55 69
Craven 17:32 18:05 103 130
Foozler 17:58 19:56 110 139
Gallion Fish 18:02 24:07 133 168
Freemers 18:18 10:23 56 70
GMcD 18:30 09:29 51 64
squark 19:19 14:48 76 96
David Bourne 19:31 18:49 96 121
gsriordan52 19:55 13:06 65 82
uvofiz 19:56 18:51 94 118
Colin2355 20:06 16:21 81 102
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 20:07 22:03 109 137
Solver52 20:10 17:54 88 111
DanSolo 20:12 12:34 62 78
rrricharrrd 20:19 10:17 50 63
Riche Riche 21:10 13:30 63 79
Zabadak3 Zabadak 21:21 09:58 46 58
daniel.faith 22:04 15:48 71 89
goblin 22:15 19:02 85 107
Corymbia Corymbia 22:37 12:24 54 68
Tudds 22:37 21:05 93 117
1234 22:55 20:48 90 113
klamery4 23:46 20:47 87 110
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:00 25:35 106 134
timbo 24:19 19:58 82 103
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 24:44 24:03 97 122
chris661554 24:46 15:22 62 78
DamienKnapma 24:50 15:02 60 75
hugapug 25:15 22:42 89 112
crucihacker 25:37 17:44 69 87
Crippens1 25:40 22:33 87 110
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:21 25:44 97 122
ulaca ulaca 26:59 25:41 95 120
Yatton50 27:32 24:32 89 112
JoeyC 27:50 17:59 64 81
nekabue 28:12 18:21 65 82
phcbarnes 29:46 42:21 142 179
6098mr 30:38 24:53 81 102
Lloyd 31:19 24:07 77 97
Maggot 31:37 28:26 89 112
koro kororareka 31:49 36:48 115 145
Manveru 31:51 27:35 86 108
gbestanley 32:15 26:28 82 103
rosselliot 32:27 26:35 81 102
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 34:33 29:45 86 108
starstruck starstruck_au 34:36 23:57 69 87
joss henry 35:01 34:24 98 124
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 36:19 29:46 81 102
HanS 38:10 43:48 114 144
Shushannah 38:26 31:12 81 102
rv_1 38:33 36:15 94 118
kapietro kapietro 38:44 43:02 111 140
Cryptique 42:08 39:31 93 117
empty 43:16 32:03 74 93
Steve Wood 48:51 29:33 60 75
MartinP MartinP1 49:53 36:11 72 91
The Real Steve Snackman 52:46 44:03 83 105
KathH 56:43 59:13 104 131

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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