Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28921

Date 20 May 2024
Number 28921
Day of week Monday
NITCH 76
Count of ref solvers 60
Ref solvers excluded with errors 21
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28921

* 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 03:55 106 139
mohn mohn2 04:34 04:28 97 127
Diskus 05:58 06:20 106 139
Nathan Panning 06:00 05:56 98 128
lili 06:25 04:28 69 90
mistigris 06:36 05:23 81 106
Magoo 06:39 04:03 60 78
hilarym 07:10 09:21 130 171
Paul Gilbert 07:18 04:47 65 85
aphis99 aphis99 07:25 08:02 108 142
asaldanha 09:17 04:47 51 67
glheard glh 09:24 08:42 92 121
markdobell 10:08 08:02 79 103
Kinghedger 10:17 07:27 72 94
lickert 10:28 09:38 92 121
Deane Short Deane Short 10:40 10:30 98 128
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:41 09:08 85 111
Umpire 10:45 05:55 55 72
keriothe_ keriothe 10:50 08:51 81 106
Heyesey 10:55 09:05 83 109
AlanS 11:20 08:19 73 96
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:24 07:52 69 90
Sheapey Sheapey 11:33 12:21 106 139
andy 11:36 10:22 89 117
chriswords 11:49 12:11 103 135
Golvellius 11:53 09:46 82 107
SimonAnthony 11:55 20:23 171 225
HoneyBadger 11:58 05:43 47 61
fshephe 12:04 04:01 33 43
Stavros Stavrolex 12:21 08:59 72 94
canismiser 12:36 14:43 116 152
ChuckB 12:40 13:15 104 136
d.middleton 12:42 14:25 113 148
edwards.robert1 12:50 11:29 89 117
John Walsh 12:56 13:30 104 136
Silva 12:56 10:25 80 105
tilbee 13:04 11:16 86 113
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:16 08:55 67 88
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:25 12:44 94 123
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:33 11:34 85 111
Groucho 13:40 13:26 98 128
Penfold_61 Penfold 13:44 11:09 81 106
christopherclark4945 14:03 09:43 69 90
fishernick79 14:13 09:31 66 86
chriss 14:16 10:45 75 98
LouWeed LouWeed 14:17 14:00 98 128
Peponi13 14:19 14:42 102 134
alexh 14:22 12:29 86 113
CentralLine CentralLine 14:30 17:04 117 153
johninterred Johninterred 14:40 12:05 82 107
Semillon 14:41 11:21 77 101
Finzi 14:48 14:54 100 131
myles 14:49 17:07 115 151
BlackburnRover 14:49 15:01 101 132
john.brassey 15:08 13:11 87 114
phthisis 15:22 14:00 91 119
Pootle Pootle 15:24 09:18 60 78
AndyR 15:26 16:30 106 139
gabrojak 15:36 15:34 99 130
Squallaby 15:51 12:37 79 103
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 15:55 12:08 76 100
Achernar 15:55 18:07 113 148
tapbarker 15:56 12:16 76 100
zinzan 16:02 11:35 72 94
MK76 16:17 11:26 70 92
andrewlake 16:37 14:44 88 115
daulbs 16:39 09:54 59 77
ajcauk1 16:57 14:39 86 113
ilan 17:01 15:15 89 117
Crossiant 17:02 12:34 73 96
MrChumley MrChumley 17:11 17:47 103 135
TB22 17:30 11:44 67 88
Craven 17:33 18:31 105 138
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:34 25:18 144 189
Encota 17:47 20:33 115 151
DunPangolin 17:55 11:39 65 85
cmcnsmith 18:10 14:53 81 106
Jeremy S 18:15 15:11 83 109
GMcD 18:23 15:18 83 109
Foozler 18:37 17:33 94 123
KET 18:37 30:29 163 214
martinede 18:43 19:23 103 135
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:48 15:59 85 111
hopkinb hopkinb 19:00 11:38 61 80
Swanny 19:01 15:04 79 103
Colin2355 19:01 20:21 107 140
Grestyman Grestyman 19:08 08:06 42 55
pc8 19:21 14:37 75 98
Zander 19:29 16:13 83 109
gsriordan52 19:51 16:26 82 107
Dvynys dvynys 20:00 13:53 69 90
kate.daly305 20:01 24:24 121 159
Riche Riche 20:08 11:38 57 75
Pxspxs 20:13 15:13 75 98
uvofiz 20:15 12:47 63 82
David Bourne 20:25 15:01 73 96
James P Special_bitter 20:29 15:11 74 97
Hamish.S 20:32 11:55 58 76
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:35 17:36 85 111
Mike C 20:40 12:53 62 81
endafk 21:20 17:49 83 109
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 21:21 24:09 113 148
daniel.faith 21:24 13:50 64 84
Waterloo 21:26 16:30 76 100
Rod B 21:38 20:54 96 126
goblin 22:33 26:16 116 152
cognominative 22:37 08:55 39 51
jimancliffe 22:44 25:34 112 147
david_ch 22:48 18:56 83 109
Brenk Brenk1 22:54 21:05 92 121
richardCV22 23:06 25:27 110 144
stainl665 23:22 11:43 50 65
1234 23:44 22:21 94 123
Crippens1 24:40 12:58 52 68
tony the butcher montana 25:20 22:30 88 115
crucihacker 25:28 16:29 64 84
hugapug 25:40 26:37 103 135
barracuda barracuda 25:52 20:36 79 103
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 26:16 11:40 44 57
JoeyC 26:19 11:26 43 56
ulaca ulaca 26:58 20:02 74 97
infinitejest 27:01 16:02 59 77
Yatton50 27:01 20:46 76 100
Dr_Bob 27:21 18:09 66 86
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:40 15:49 57 75
Pendrov 27:42 35:41 128 168
SlumdogEngineer 27:50 17:07 61 80
NAPASAI napasai 28:53 12:46 44 57
Mudge Mudge 29:57 22:27 74 97
vinyl12345 vinyl1 31:47 25:00 78 102
hipponym 31:50 15:55 50 65
gbestanley 32:15 28:28 88 115
koro kororareka 32:22 25:56 80 105
alistair.boere 33:08 17:09 51 67
Rookie 34:08 28:27 83 109
Birdingbob 34:44 22:06 63 82
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 34:46 18:56 54 71
Lloyd 35:55 38:33 107 140
starstruck starstruck_au 36:22 29:57 82 107
boltonwanderer 36:40 12:00 32 42
CoxBurglar coxburglar 37:08 27:40 74 97
HanS 37:12 28:10 75 98
Shushannah 37:56 26:08 68 89
kapietro kapietro 38:20 21:49 56 73
rv_1 39:09 25:11 64 84
hydrochoos hydrochoos 40:15 10:00 24 31
Steve Wood 49:17 31:26 63 82
MartinP MartinP1 51:45 34:18 66 86
kjbr 52:05 29:07 55 72
profsjpayne 52:15 103:56 198 260
The Real Steve Snackman 52:44 50:00 94 123

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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