Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28931

Date 31 May 2024
Number 28931
Day of week Friday
NITCH 113
Count of ref solvers 64
Ref solvers excluded with errors 12
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28931

* 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 04:34 04:58 108 95
Diskus 05:58 07:12 120 106
Magoo 06:39 06:31 97 85
Paul Gilbert 07:18 06:00 82 72
aphis99 aphis99 07:25 10:46 145 128
Dr Dolittle 08:13 29:51 363 321
richard 08:35 10:18 120 106
boulemiche 09:10 11:57 130 115
glheard glh 09:24 13:28 143 126
chindit 10:09 11:15 110 97
lickert 10:28 15:20 146 129
samgdavies 10:29 08:40 82 72
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:41 09:32 89 78
keriothe_ keriothe 10:50 15:56 147 130
miked1961 10:58 13:19 121 107
AlanS 11:20 11:58 105 92
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:24 13:30 118 104
andy 11:36 13:22 115 101
David Crooks dcrooks 11:46 14:02 119 105
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:48 13:05 110 97
HoneyBadger 11:58 14:16 119 105
fuzz 11:59 12:27 103 91
fshephe 12:04 16:15 134 118
Stavros Stavrolex 12:21 12:47 103 91
canismiser 12:36 11:52 94 83
JimboFS 12:41 16:27 129 114
tilbee 13:04 14:11 108 95
aphasic 13:15 18:10 137 121
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:16 17:58 135 119
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:25 17:35 131 115
Groucho 13:40 15:14 111 98
Penfold_61 Penfold 13:44 17:55 130 115
Ben Staveley 13:54 13:24 96 84
Derek Harrison 14:00 13:17 94 83
Tibthorpe 14:04 14:03 99 87
LouWeed LouWeed 14:17 12:21 86 76
johninterred Johninterred 14:40 24:00 163 144
Semillon 14:41 21:23 145 128
Finzi 14:48 17:20 117 103
njnclarke 14:56 18:45 125 110
john.brassey 15:08 18:48 124 109
phthisis 15:22 19:08 124 109
Pootle Pootle 15:24 24:29 158 139
robinh 15:46 20:03 127 112
Squallaby 15:51 29:46 187 165
RobR RobR 15:52 21:40 136 120
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 15:55 23:06 145 128
tapbarker 15:56 19:42 123 108
Looch 16:05 20:44 128 113
Viscomte 16:12 12:25 76 67
Amoeba 16:13 16:59 104 92
MK76 16:17 18:41 114 100
andrewlake 16:37 17:43 106 93
daulbs 16:39 20:46 124 109
ilan 17:01 17:04 100 88
Crossiant 17:02 22:08 129 114
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:34 20:25 116 102
Encota 17:47 19:58 112 99
DunPangolin 17:55 21:07 117 103
GMcD 18:23 20:22 110 97
Gallion Fish 18:24 20:29 111 98
KET 18:37 18:16 98 86
DanSolo 18:40 22:36 121 107
julian_w 18:44 19:32 104 92
Upfisher 19:06 25:58 135 119
pc8 19:21 31:04 160 141
LuckOfLucien 19:30 27:33 141 124
doublecross anguswalker 20:11 18:29 91 80
David Bourne 20:25 28:06 137 121
James P Special_bitter 20:29 11:44 57 50
Curarist Curarist 20:34 26:57 131 115
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:35 21:28 104 92
Mike C 20:40 27:24 132 116
Nangle 21:09 25:59 122 107
endafk 21:20 25:34 119 105
daniel.faith 21:24 32:10 150 132
Waterloo 21:26 27:02 126 111
Corymbia Corymbia 21:35 20:46 96 84
Rod B 21:38 19:42 91 80
The Caffeine Kid 22:07 24:29 110 97
goblin 22:33 24:06 106 93
david_ch 22:48 22:28 98 86
Tudds 23:03 21:45 94 83
richardCV22 23:06 25:48 111 98
stainl665 23:22 29:32 126 111
cyrillic 23:24 67:34 288 254
1234 23:44 31:45 133 117
docg 23:50 23:39 99 87
chris661554 24:21 48:14 198 175
Crippens1 24:40 23:27 95 84
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 25:01 29:36 118 104
tony the butcher montana 25:20 38:48 153 135
Sheen 25:25 29:47 117 103
barracuda barracuda 25:52 25:41 99 87
Fidelio 26:15 37:14 141 124
brian.mcnamara 26:30 30:12 113 100
Yatton50 27:01 30:07 111 98
infinitejest 27:01 24:42 91 80
nekabue 27:19 30:03 110 97
Dr_Bob 27:21 28:56 105 92
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:40 41:44 150 132
RogerC 28:42 28:09 98 86
Rowlie26 28:50 31:30 109 96
Winchelt 28:54 34:44 120 106
Manveru 30:46 45:02 146 129
gothick gothick 31:30 53:00 168 148
gbestanley 32:15 39:01 120 106
koro kororareka 32:22 37:07 114 100
alistair.boere 33:08 38:21 115 101
bruce.johnston22 33:38 29:53 88 77
Rookie 34:08 33:07 97 85
Birdingbob 34:44 35:56 103 91
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 34:46 41:12 118 104
j.stanton734 34:49 32:39 93 82
Lloyd 35:55 46:54 130 115
boltonwanderer 36:40 38:00 103 91
CoxBurglar coxburglar 37:08 62:12 167 147
HanS 37:12 50:00 134 118
Shushannah 37:56 40:51 107 94
rv_1 39:09 50:28 128 113
baronrob 42:50 43:45 102 90
empty 45:47 47:58 104 92
MartinP MartinP1 51:45 74:51 144 127
The Real Steve Snackman 52:44 62:19 118 104
paulmcl paulmcl 59:51 65:54 110 97

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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