Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28922

Date 21 May 2024
Number 28922
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 80
Count of ref solvers 61
Ref solvers excluded with errors 10
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28922

* 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 04:03 109 136
mohn mohn2 04:34 02:30 54 67
Diskus 05:58 05:12 87 108
Nathan Panning 06:00 04:30 75 93
lili 06:25 05:57 92 115
mistigris 06:36 04:52 73 91
Magoo 06:39 04:21 65 81
mauefw Mauefw 07:09 03:53 54 67
Dr Dolittle 08:13 22:16 270 337
richard 08:35 08:26 98 122
asaldanha 09:17 10:29 112 140
glheard glh 09:24 07:44 82 102
markdobell 10:08 08:06 79 98
chindit 10:09 09:21 92 115
lickert 10:28 14:00 133 166
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:41 11:25 106 132
Umpire 10:45 07:57 73 91
keriothe_ keriothe 10:50 10:34 97 121
Heyesey 10:55 10:18 94 117
scrabbler 10:57 08:12 74 92
AlanS 11:20 10:13 90 112
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:24 10:04 88 110
Sheapey Sheapey 11:33 12:37 109 136
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:48 14:12 120 150
chriswords 11:49 10:42 90 112
Golvellius 11:53 09:37 80 100
SimonAnthony 11:55 11:14 94 117
HoneyBadger 11:58 07:58 66 82
fuzz 11:59 10:14 85 106
fshephe 12:04 05:53 48 60
neilr neilr 12:05 11:45 97 121
Stavros Stavrolex 12:21 12:18 99 123
canismiser 12:36 12:17 97 121
JimboFS 12:41 10:24 81 101
d.middleton 12:42 12:38 99 123
edwards.robert1 12:50 11:50 92 115
Silva 12:56 09:56 76 95
John Walsh 12:56 14:18 110 137
tilbee 13:04 13:44 105 131
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:12 17:16 130 162
aphasic 13:15 10:17 77 96
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:16 11:45 88 110
BinLinerBob 13:21 15:57 119 148
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:25 12:35 93 116
Groucho 13:40 17:55 131 163
Penfold_61 Penfold 13:44 11:27 83 103
Secondbass 13:48 16:47 121 151
christopherclark4945 14:03 13:57 99 123
Tibthorpe 14:04 12:11 86 107
chriss 14:16 11:04 77 96
Peponi13 14:19 16:28 115 143
alexh 14:22 15:09 105 131
CentralLine CentralLine 14:30 11:27 78 97
Eddddddd 14:37 08:50 60 75
johninterred Johninterred 14:40 18:37 126 157
Semillon 14:41 14:04 95 118
Finzi 14:48 15:27 104 130
myles 14:49 17:49 120 150
BlackburnRover 14:49 17:36 118 147
njnclarke 14:56 17:41 118 147
Crucifer Crucifer 14:57 12:07 81 101
john.brassey 15:08 13:55 91 113
phthisis 15:22 18:30 120 150
Pootle Pootle 15:24 09:51 63 78
LJCN 15:42 15:18 97 121
Squallaby 15:51 20:18 128 160
JezWoolfrey 15:53 16:31 103 128
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 15:55 17:45 111 138
john.marshall 15:59 14:57 93 116
Looch 16:05 14:27 89 111
MK76 16:17 14:32 89 111
andrewlake 16:37 15:24 92 115
daulbs 16:39 16:01 96 120
ilan 17:01 18:49 110 137
TB22 17:30 09:36 54 67
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:34 11:50 67 83
Encota 17:47 11:43 65 81
DunPangolin 17:55 13:56 77 96
GMcD 18:23 12:55 70 87
tds 18:31 16:32 89 111
Foozler 18:37 16:36 89 111
martinede 18:43 24:48 132 165
julian_w 18:44 14:37 78 97
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:48 17:15 91 113
pterodactyl 19:00 14:31 76 95
Upfisher 19:06 14:11 74 92
pc8 19:21 16:08 83 103
Zander 19:29 22:06 113 141
Solver52 19:32 18:42 95 118
gsriordan52 19:51 16:03 80 100
Dvynys dvynys 20:00 17:47 88 110
Riche Riche 20:08 09:54 49 61
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:10 14:23 71 88
Pxspxs 20:13 14:55 73 91
uvofiz 20:15 18:10 89 111
chriswestontour 20:21 17:23 85 106
David Bourne 20:25 15:23 75 93
Jagsfan1971 20:27 13:56 68 85
UisceTe 20:28 19:55 97 121
James P Special_bitter 20:29 14:40 71 88
Hamish.S 20:32 15:21 74 92
Curarist Curarist 20:34 11:39 56 70
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:35 19:06 92 115
DianeRS 20:40 22:33 109 136
Mike C 20:40 14:28 70 87
endafk 21:20 26:09 122 152
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 21:21 30:07 141 176
daniel.faith 21:24 13:00 60 75
Waterloo 21:26 28:23 132 165
Rod B 21:38 23:25 108 135
John Arnold 21:41 19:06 88 110
The Caffeine Kid 22:07 23:10 104 130
goblin 22:33 24:26 108 135
david_ch 22:48 14:40 64 80
Brenk Brenk1 22:54 29:46 129 161
Tudds 23:03 15:23 66 82
richardCV22 23:06 16:38 72 90
stainl665 23:22 16:43 71 88
joe.mcgrane 23:29 25:06 106 132
klamery4 23:43 27:01 113 141
1234 23:44 15:05 63 78
DamienKnapma 23:51 22:33 94 117
chris661554 24:21 17:58 73 91
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:24 24:31 100 125
Crippens1 24:40 27:52 112 140
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:29 16:41 65 81
barracuda barracuda 25:52 30:46 118 147
Fidelio 26:15 30:57 117 146
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 26:16 06:36 25 31
JoeyC 26:19 18:30 70 87
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:30 30:21 114 142
brian.mcnamara 26:30 15:03 56 70
ulaca ulaca 26:58 24:11 89 111
infinitejest 27:01 24:10 89 111
Yatton50 27:01 29:50 110 137
nekabue 27:19 28:29 104 130
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:40 30:30 110 137
SlumdogEngineer 27:50 25:42 92 115
RogerC 28:42 20:51 72 90
Rowlie26 28:50 26:11 90 112
NAPASAI napasai 28:53 21:07 73 91
Winchelt 28:54 41:42 144 180
Mudge Mudge 29:57 17:02 56 70
Manveru 30:46 40:41 132 165
vinyl12345 vinyl1 31:47 28:00 88 110
hipponym 31:50 22:50 71 88
gbestanley 32:15 28:26 88 110
koro kororareka 32:22 27:37 85 106
rosselliot 33:07 27:57 84 105
Birdingbob 34:44 35:33 102 127
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 34:46 30:45 88 110
Lloyd 35:55 50:25 140 175
tyrotim tyrotim 36:21 31:24 86 107
starstruck starstruck_au 36:22 24:48 68 85
boltonwanderer 36:40 36:00 98 122
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 37:04 22:44 61 76
CoxBurglar coxburglar 37:08 31:39 85 106
Shushannah 37:56 27:34 72 90
kapietro kapietro 38:20 41:51 109 136
rv_1 39:09 34:53 89 111
Dalai Farmer 39:32 35:21 89 111
empty 45:47 33:44 73 91
Steve Wood 49:17 39:45 80 100
MartinP MartinP1 51:45 36:48 71 88
kjbr 52:05 30:28 58 72
The Real Steve Snackman 52:44 51:36 97 121
The Mighty Salmon 55:32 27:20 49 61

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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