Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28905

Date 01 May 2024
Number 28905
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 86
Count of ref solvers 67
Ref solvers excluded with errors 10
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28905

* 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
hazeltearne 03:41 05:39 153 177
mohn mohn2 04:34 04:26 97 112
Diskus 05:58 06:23 106 123
lili 06:25 06:16 97 112
mistigris 06:36 06:09 93 108
Magoo 06:39 04:08 62 72
aphis99 aphis99 07:25 06:26 86 100
cmjhutton 07:45 07:34 97 112
Dr Dolittle 08:13 06:19 76 88
asaldanha 09:17 08:44 94 109
glheard glh 09:24 07:14 76 88
markdobell 10:08 07:21 72 83
chindit 10:09 07:37 75 87
Kinghedger 10:17 08:54 86 100
lickert 10:28 12:01 114 132
Deane Short Deane Short 10:40 11:13 105 122
KenD51 10:41 04:04 38 44
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:41 10:42 100 116
Umpire 10:45 06:55 64 74
Heyesey 10:55 08:37 78 90
scrabbler 10:57 14:39 133 154
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:24 09:12 80 93
Sheapey Sheapey 11:33 05:46 49 56
David Crooks dcrooks 11:46 14:14 120 139
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:48 09:33 80 93
chriswords 11:49 09:45 82 95
Golvellius 11:53 13:00 109 126
SimonAnthony 11:55 12:46 107 124
HoneyBadger 11:58 07:25 61 70
fshephe 12:04 12:14 101 117
neilr neilr 12:05 13:27 111 129
Stavros Stavrolex 12:21 12:54 104 120
Henry White 12:27 09:55 79 91
ChuckB 12:40 13:57 110 127
JimboFS 12:41 12:47 100 116
Silva 12:56 11:38 89 103
tilbee 13:04 13:49 105 122
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:12 09:35 72 83
aphasic 13:15 12:29 94 109
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:16 13:01 98 113
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:33 09:31 70 81
Penfold_61 Penfold 13:44 17:49 129 150
Secondbass 13:48 09:54 71 82
Ben Staveley 13:54 11:01 79 91
Tibthorpe 14:04 16:14 115 133
LouWeed LouWeed 14:17 15:09 106 123
Peponi13 14:19 16:20 114 132
alexh 14:22 15:19 106 123
johninterred Johninterred 14:40 19:35 133 154
Semillon 14:41 10:59 74 86
Finzi 14:48 14:37 98 113
myles 14:49 21:22 144 167
BlackburnRover 14:49 15:12 102 118
Aloysius 15:04 14:20 95 110
john.brassey 15:08 15:10 100 116
Pootle Pootle 15:24 09:22 60 69
gabrojak 15:36 10:58 70 81
LJCN 15:42 18:54 120 139
robinh 15:46 14:16 90 104
Squallaby 15:51 15:45 99 115
RobR RobR 15:52 17:01 107 124
JezWoolfrey 15:53 11:54 74 86
grape 15:53 15:46 99 115
Achernar 15:55 15:15 95 110
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 15:55 17:06 107 124
tapbarker 15:56 10:20 64 74
zinzan 16:02 14:22 89 103
Looch 16:05 14:37 90 104
MK76 16:17 23:32 144 167
andrewlake 16:37 19:27 117 136
Freemers 16:47 13:31 80 93
ilan 17:01 14:51 87 101
Crossiant 17:02 17:02 100 116
TB22 17:30 10:29 59 68
Craven 17:33 16:37 94 109
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:34 12:22 70 81
DunPangolin 17:55 20:42 115 133
PGooden 17:56 16:53 94 109
GMcD 18:23 11:56 64 74
tds 18:31 19:02 102 118
KET 18:37 15:01 80 93
Foozler 18:37 17:47 95 110
pterodactyl 19:00 15:15 80 93
hopkinb hopkinb 19:00 14:14 74 86
Colin2355 19:01 13:37 71 82
pc8 19:21 18:21 94 109
Zander 19:29 13:27 69 80
LuckOfLucien 19:30 22:41 116 134
Solver52 19:32 18:54 96 111
Dvynys dvynys 20:00 14:46 73 84
Riche Riche 20:08 21:56 108 125
uvofiz 20:15 18:44 92 106
David Bourne 20:25 17:25 85 98
James P Special_bitter 20:29 21:43 106 123
Hamish.S 20:32 13:31 65 75
Curarist Curarist 20:34 22:26 109 126
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:35 14:42 71 82
monkfish 20:46 18:48 90 104
Nangle 21:09 16:45 79 91
endafk 21:20 16:50 78 90
daniel.faith 21:24 14:22 67 77
Waterloo 21:26 15:04 70 81
Leegoods 21:28 23:59 111 129
luxtonj61 21:30 18:04 84 97
Corymbia Corymbia 21:35 24:40 114 132
goblin 22:33 23:07 102 118
cognominative 22:37 22:36 99 115
david_ch 22:48 14:32 63 73
crosswordian 22:50 16:57 74 86
Tudds 23:03 16:40 72 83
richardCV22 23:06 21:50 94 109
cyrillic 23:24 18:00 76 88
klamery4 23:43 22:57 96 111
1234 23:44 21:14 89 103
DamienKnapma 23:51 24:53 104 120
chris661554 24:21 21:51 89 103
medodd 24:32 21:03 85 98
Crippens1 24:40 23:53 96 111
Edprof 25:21 41:24 163 189
crucihacker 25:28 34:20 134 155
timbo 25:28 26:56 105 122
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:29 29:01 113 131
barracuda barracuda 25:52 21:46 84 97
Fidelio 26:15 19:34 74 86
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 26:16 23:39 90 104
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:30 17:45 66 76
ulaca ulaca 26:58 21:59 81 94
Yatton50 27:01 22:29 83 96
nekabue 27:19 26:12 95 110
Dr_Bob 27:21 28:16 103 119
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:40 27:42 100 116
SlumdogEngineer 27:50 24:41 88 102
RogerC 28:42 39:04 136 158
Winchelt 28:54 27:56 96 111
6098mr 29:06 21:57 75 87
phcbarnes 29:39 35:42 120 139
Mudge Mudge 29:57 30:02 100 116
dosbarth 31:22 21:43 69 80
gbestanley 32:15 38:59 120 139
koro kororareka 32:22 36:14 111 129
Maggot 32:32 32:13 99 115
rosselliot 33:07 20:18 61 70
alistair.boere 33:08 81:40 246 286
BertieVII 33:35 28:38 85 98
bruce.johnston22 33:38 29:23 87 101
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 34:46 18:31 53 61
Michael S 35:05 24:53 70 81
Lloyd 35:55 30:17 84 97
tyrotim tyrotim 36:21 35:48 98 113
boltonwanderer 36:40 34:00 92 106
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 37:04 40:19 108 125
HanS 37:12 45:29 122 141
Shushannah 37:56 26:30 69 80
kapietro kapietro 38:20 35:58 93 108
rv_1 39:09 33:14 84 97
Cryptique 39:29 28:37 72 83
empty 45:47 34:48 76 88
Steve Wood 49:17 43:56 89 103
MartinP MartinP1 51:45 22:57 44 51
kjbr 52:05 58:43 112 130
intentional rounding 57:51 50:36 87 101

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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