Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28934

Date 04 June 2024
Number 28934
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 100
Count of ref solvers 77
Ref solvers excluded with errors 12
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28934

* 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 05:25 118 118
Diskus 05:58 05:46 96 96
Nathan Panning 06:00 06:39 110 110
lili 06:25 06:02 94 94
hilarym 07:10 08:46 122 122
Paul Gilbert 07:18 06:46 92 92
aphis99 aphis99 07:25 06:22 85 85
Dr Dolittle 08:13 53:41 653 653
richard 08:35 08:24 97 97
boulemiche 09:10 10:56 119 119
glheard glh 09:24 09:34 101 101
markdobell 10:08 11:11 110 110
chindit 10:09 09:16 91 91
Kinghedger 10:17 11:19 110 110
lickert 10:28 13:36 129 129
Deane Short Deane Short 10:40 10:51 101 101
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:41 10:30 98 98
KenD51 10:41 07:07 66 66
Umpire 10:45 09:59 92 92
keriothe_ keriothe 10:50 12:45 117 117
miked1961 10:58 13:43 125 125
AlanS 11:20 11:49 104 104
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:24 10:57 96 96
Sheapey Sheapey 11:33 12:20 106 106
andy 11:36 17:33 151 151
David Crooks dcrooks 11:46 15:06 128 128
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:48 15:23 130 130
chriswords 11:49 17:14 145 145
SimonAnthony 11:55 10:26 87 87
HoneyBadger 11:58 16:06 134 134
neilr neilr 12:05 17:04 141 141
Stavros Stavrolex 12:21 14:54 120 120
canismiser 12:36 12:58 102 102
JimboFS 12:41 11:23 89 89
edwards.robert1 12:50 12:50 100 100
Silva 12:56 15:01 116 116
tilbee 13:04 12:56 98 98
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:12 11:17 85 85
aphasic 13:15 13:39 103 103
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:16 12:06 91 91
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:25 15:00 111 111
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:33 10:46 79 79
Groucho 13:40 14:42 107 107
Penfold_61 Penfold 13:44 12:55 94 94
Secondbass 13:48 15:48 114 114
Ben Staveley 13:54 17:10 123 123
Tibthorpe 14:04 14:29 102 102
chriss 14:16 09:57 69 69
Peponi13 14:19 15:01 104 104
CentralLine CentralLine 14:30 14:49 102 102
Eddddddd 14:37 11:04 75 75
Semillon 14:41 11:37 79 79
BlackburnRover 14:49 15:29 104 104
njnclarke 14:56 11:04 74 74
Crucifer Crucifer 14:57 13:19 89 89
howardwilde1 15:02 15:43 104 104
phthisis 15:22 18:42 121 121
Pootle Pootle 15:24 14:35 94 94
AndyR 15:26 15:25 99 99
LJCN 15:42 14:48 94 94
robinh 15:46 18:20 116 116
Squallaby 15:51 14:09 89 89
JezWoolfrey 15:53 12:48 80 80
Achernar 15:55 12:33 78 78
tapbarker 15:56 13:44 86 86
zinzan 16:02 26:13 163 163
MK76 16:17 17:19 106 106
andrewlake 16:37 18:48 113 113
Crossiant 17:02 18:29 108 108
TB22 17:30 20:40 118 118
Craven 17:33 16:57 96 96
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:34 13:12 75 75
Encota 17:47 16:17 91 91
DunPangolin 17:55 17:09 95 95
PGooden 17:56 31:42 176 176
Jeremy S 18:15 21:43 118 118
GMcD 18:23 20:35 111 111
tds 18:31 25:48 139 139
KET 18:37 19:15 103 103
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:48 17:59 95 95
pterodactyl 19:00 23:00 121 121
hopkinb hopkinb 19:00 22:45 119 119
Colin2355 19:01 22:35 118 118
pc8 19:21 16:07 83 83
Zander 19:29 25:32 131 131
Solver52 19:32 20:37 105 105
gsriordan52 19:51 20:03 101 101
Riche Riche 20:08 18:19 90 90
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:10 22:02 109 109
uvofiz 20:15 25:05 123 123
David Bourne 20:25 20:46 101 101
UisceTe 20:28 19:00 92 92
James P Special_bitter 20:29 22:33 110 110
Hamish.S 20:32 21:47 106 106
Curarist Curarist 20:34 13:38 66 66
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:35 16:01 77 77
Mike C 20:40 16:56 81 81
DianeRS 20:40 27:03 130 130
Nangle 21:09 20:37 97 97
daniel.faith 21:24 34:27 160 160
Leegoods 21:28 19:59 93 93
Corymbia Corymbia 21:35 20:26 94 94
Rod B 21:38 30:40 141 141
george.garlick 21:58 29:16 133 133
The Caffeine Kid 22:07 26:53 121 121
goblin 22:33 21:30 95 95
cognominative 22:37 40:33 179 179
david_ch 22:48 22:30 98 98
crosswordian 22:50 23:58 104 104
Tudds 23:03 27:36 119 119
richardCV22 23:06 26:18 113 113
stainl665 23:22 23:05 98 98
joe.mcgrane 23:29 43:46 186 186
klamery4 23:43 35:53 151 151
1234 23:44 23:35 99 99
chris661554 24:21 24:08 99 99
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:24 26:45 109 109
medodd 24:32 17:00 69 69
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 25:00 26:54 107 107
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 25:01 18:33 74 74
crucihacker 25:28 19:12 75 75
timbo 25:28 33:15 130 130
Gussie 25:59 20:12 77 77
Fidelio 26:15 29:59 114 114
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 26:16 27:35 105 105
JoeyC 26:19 27:02 102 102
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:30 27:31 103 103
infinitejest 27:01 28:33 105 105
Yatton50 27:01 19:20 71 71
nekabue 27:19 22:37 82 82
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:40 25:43 92 92
RogerC 28:42 25:56 90 90
Rowlie26 28:50 28:17 98 98
NAPASAI napasai 28:53 23:33 81 81
Winchelt 28:54 37:55 131 131
Manveru 30:46 31:43 103 103
vinyl12345 vinyl1 31:47 43:00 135 135
hipponym 31:50 24:46 77 77
gbestanley 32:15 33:58 105 105
koro kororareka 32:22 30:09 93 93
alistair.boere 33:08 38:09 115 115
simjt simjt 34:41 39:40 114 114
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 34:46 32:25 93 93
j.stanton734 34:49 42:56 123 123
starstruck starstruck_au 36:22 37:11 102 102
boltonwanderer 36:40 61:00 166 166
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 37:04 21:27 57 57
HanS 37:12 52:52 142 142
Shushannah 37:56 34:30 90 90
kapietro kapietro 38:20 23:12 60 60
rv_1 39:09 33:53 86 86
MartinP MartinP1 51:45 49:42 96 96
kjbr 52:05 38:15 73 73
The Real Steve Snackman 52:44 69:59 132 132
intentional rounding 57:51 42:26 73 73
paulmcl paulmcl 59:51 101:43 169 169

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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