Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28935

Date 05 June 2024
Number 28935
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 73
Count of ref solvers 67
Ref solvers excluded with errors 18
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28935

* 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 02:53 63 86
Diskus 05:58 05:57 99 135
Nathan Panning 06:00 03:43 61 83
Jason 06:00 03:35 59 80
lili 06:25 03:16 50 68
mistigris 06:36 04:29 67 91
Magoo 06:39 04:01 60 82
hilarym 07:10 05:18 73 100
Paul Gilbert 07:18 05:11 71 97
aphis99 aphis99 07:25 04:48 64 87
Dr Dolittle 08:13 26:48 326 446
boulemiche 09:10 08:10 89 121
asaldanha 09:17 05:24 58 79
glheard glh 09:24 05:59 63 86
Kinghedger 10:17 07:43 75 102
lickert 10:28 09:05 86 117
KenD51 10:41 12:48 119 163
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:41 06:43 62 84
Umpire 10:45 10:00 93 127
keriothe_ keriothe 10:50 08:29 78 106
AlanS 11:20 06:50 60 82
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:24 07:08 62 84
Sheapey Sheapey 11:33 08:20 72 98
andy 11:36 08:39 74 101
David Crooks dcrooks 11:46 08:42 73 100
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:48 08:16 70 95
chriswords 11:49 10:57 92 126
SimonAnthony 11:55 07:34 63 86
HoneyBadger 11:58 14:28 120 164
neilr neilr 12:05 08:58 74 101
ChuckB 12:40 11:12 88 120
edwards.robert1 12:50 12:52 100 136
Silva 12:56 12:34 97 132
John Walsh 12:56 14:49 114 156
aphasic 13:15 08:29 64 87
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:16 16:57 127 173
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:25 10:31 78 106
Groucho 13:40 09:38 70 95
Penfold_61 Penfold 13:44 08:23 61 83
Secondbass 13:48 08:37 62 84
Tibthorpe 14:04 11:26 81 110
LouWeed LouWeed 14:17 07:47 54 73
Peponi13 14:19 13:34 94 128
Semillon 14:41 08:43 59 80
Finzi 14:48 12:20 83 113
BlackburnRover 14:49 13:47 93 127
Crucifer Crucifer 14:57 11:41 78 106
howardwilde1 15:02 10:54 72 98
phthisis 15:22 08:26 54 73
Pootle Pootle 15:24 12:02 78 106
gabrojak 15:36 11:27 73 100
LJCN 15:42 11:00 70 95
robinh 15:46 11:17 71 97
Squallaby 15:51 16:10 101 138
RobR RobR 15:52 14:43 92 126
grape 15:53 13:34 85 116
Achernar 15:55 09:19 58 79
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 15:55 10:08 63 86
zinzan 16:02 13:20 83 113
Looch 16:05 10:01 62 84
MK76 16:17 17:21 106 145
andrewlake 16:37 14:33 87 119
ilan 17:01 16:11 95 130
Craven 17:33 16:08 91 124
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:34 10:24 59 80
Encota 17:47 14:02 78 106
PGooden 17:56 08:18 46 63
Jeremy S 18:15 19:37 107 146
GMcD 18:23 16:11 88 120
KET 18:37 12:03 64 87
Foozler 18:37 17:22 93 127
DanSolo 18:40 12:45 68 93
Colin2355 19:01 17:16 90 123
LuckOfLucien 19:30 15:45 80 109
Solver52 19:32 17:00 87 119
gsriordan52 19:51 19:41 99 135
Dvynys dvynys 20:00 16:23 81 110
Riche Riche 20:08 16:58 84 115
doublecross anguswalker 20:11 15:21 76 104
Pxspxs 20:13 13:54 68 93
uvofiz 20:15 16:50 83 113
David Bourne 20:25 13:44 67 91
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 20:27 13:42 66 90
Hamish.S 20:32 13:15 64 87
Curarist Curarist 20:34 17:25 84 115
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:35 16:39 80 109
DianeRS 20:40 16:24 79 108
Mike C 20:40 20:56 101 138
endafk 21:20 12:32 58 79
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 21:21 14:31 67 91
daniel.faith 21:24 13:52 64 87
frost 21:32 19:20 89 121
Corymbia Corymbia 21:35 13:41 63 86
george.garlick 21:58 25:35 116 158
goblin 22:33 16:26 72 98
david_ch 22:48 14:37 64 87
Tudds 23:03 16:58 73 100
richardCV22 23:06 18:58 82 112
chris661554 24:21 20:20 83 113
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:24 14:11 58 79
medodd 24:32 18:31 75 102
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 25:00 17:26 69 94
Sheen 25:25 17:40 69 94
barracuda barracuda 25:52 25:34 98 134
Fidelio 26:15 17:33 66 90
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 26:16 26:00 98 134
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:30 24:26 92 126
nekabue 27:19 26:12 95 130
Dr_Bob 27:21 24:17 88 120
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:40 27:30 99 135
RogerC 28:42 19:48 68 93
Rowlie26 28:50 24:45 85 116
hipponym 31:50 21:13 66 90
FelicityTT 32:05 20:42 64 87
gbestanley 32:15 36:47 114 156
koro kororareka 32:22 20:01 61 83
Grumpole Grumpole 32:30 20:42 63 86
BertieVII 33:35 19:29 58 79
bruce.johnston22 33:38 17:38 52 71
Rookie 34:08 31:40 92 126
Nigel1953 34:21 20:47 60 82
simjt simjt 34:41 21:39 62 84
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 34:46 22:05 63 86
j.stanton734 34:49 24:48 71 97
Lloyd 35:55 32:44 91 124
starstruck starstruck_au 36:22 25:24 69 94
boltonwanderer 36:40 19:00 51 69
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 37:04 26:05 70 95
HanS 37:12 27:45 74 101
Shushannah 37:56 34:11 90 123
joss henry 38:15 16:06 42 57
jackk.larg 39:25 38:21 97 132
Cryptique 39:29 24:24 61 83
ofarrell 41:39 21:06 50 68
empty 45:47 36:31 79 108
Steve Wood 49:17 34:08 69 94
MartinP MartinP1 51:45 41:43 80 109
intentional rounding 57:51 32:52 56 76

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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