Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28939

Date 10 June 2024
Number 28939
Day of week Monday
NITCH 73
Count of ref solvers 64
Ref solvers excluded with errors 7
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28939

* 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 03:09 68 93
Diskus 05:58 04:38 77 105
Jason 06:00 03:49 63 86
lili 06:25 05:20 83 113
mistigris 06:36 04:00 60 82
Magoo 06:39 03:52 58 79
hilarym 07:10 07:14 100 136
aphis99 aphis99 07:25 05:31 74 101
cmjhutton 07:45 07:07 91 124
richard 08:35 05:53 68 93
asaldanha 09:17 06:03 65 89
glheard glh 09:24 12:30 132 180
markdobell 10:08 06:33 64 87
chindit 10:09 07:41 75 102
Kinghedger 10:17 06:58 67 91
lickert 10:28 06:48 64 87
Deane Short Deane Short 10:40 08:32 80 109
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:41 09:58 93 127
Umpire 10:45 08:48 81 110
keriothe_ keriothe 10:50 08:07 74 101
tiggis 10:51 08:35 79 108
Heyesey 10:55 07:26 68 93
scrabbler 10:57 08:15 75 102
miked1961 10:58 07:16 66 90
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:24 07:17 63 86
Sheapey Sheapey 11:33 08:23 72 98
andy 11:36 08:40 74 101
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:48 08:52 75 102
chriswords 11:49 08:50 74 101
Golvellius 11:53 15:26 129 176
SimonAnthony 11:55 07:15 60 82
HoneyBadger 11:58 10:17 85 116
fshephe 12:04 10:43 88 120
neilr neilr 12:05 09:11 76 104
Stavros Stavrolex 12:21 09:50 79 108
canismiser 12:36 10:34 83 113
ChuckB 12:40 12:33 99 135
JimboFS 12:41 09:25 74 101
edwards.robert1 12:50 18:03 140 191
Silva 12:56 11:14 86 117
tilbee 13:04 07:57 60 82
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:12 11:29 86 117
Paul Bacon 13:13 11:52 89 121
aphasic 13:15 08:43 65 89
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:16 09:42 73 100
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:25 13:06 97 132
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:33 11:13 82 112
Groucho 13:40 10:25 76 104
Penfold_61 Penfold 13:44 12:56 94 128
christopherclark4945 14:03 11:56 84 115
Tibthorpe 14:04 08:16 58 79
chriss 14:16 07:43 54 73
Peponi13 14:19 13:28 94 128
alexh 14:22 15:28 107 146
CentralLine CentralLine 14:30 12:21 85 116
johninterred Johninterred 14:40 10:35 72 98
Semillon 14:41 13:44 93 127
Finzi 14:48 10:28 70 95
njnclarke 14:56 08:40 58 79
Crucifer Crucifer 14:57 12:50 85 116
howardwilde1 15:02 11:34 76 104
phthisis 15:22 11:08 72 98
Pootle Pootle 15:24 10:41 69 94
gabrojak 15:36 09:34 61 83
LJCN 15:42 11:10 71 97
robinh 15:46 10:20 65 89
RobR RobR 15:52 09:11 57 78
Achernar 15:55 20:45 130 178
tapbarker 15:56 13:54 87 119
zinzan 16:02 11:28 71 97
Looch 16:05 16:35 103 141
Viscomte 16:12 12:40 78 106
Amoeba 16:13 12:09 74 101
MK76 16:17 16:56 103 141
andrewlake 16:37 12:23 74 101
Freemers 16:47 12:46 76 104
TB22 17:30 07:18 41 56
Craven 17:33 16:04 91 124
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:34 19:42 112 153
Encota 17:47 15:45 88 120
DunPangolin 17:55 19:18 107 146
earlylight 18:02 18:22 101 138
cmcnsmith 18:10 19:23 106 145
Jeremy S 18:15 14:40 80 109
GMcD 18:23 13:18 72 98
KET 18:37 15:38 83 113
martinede 18:43 14:01 74 101
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:48 18:54 100 136
rrricharrrd 18:51 19:17 102 139
pterodactyl 19:00 18:04 95 130
hopkinb hopkinb 19:00 10:31 55 75
Colin2355 19:01 15:04 79 108
squark 19:19 13:31 69 94
pc8 19:21 19:32 100 136
Zander 19:29 13:16 68 93
npweston 19:30 13:56 71 97
gsriordan52 19:51 11:40 58 79
Riche Riche 20:08 14:58 74 101
Pxspxs 20:13 15:58 78 106
uvofiz 20:15 13:55 68 93
chriswestontour 20:21 16:12 79 108
David Bourne 20:25 15:12 74 101
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 20:27 22:32 110 150
James P Special_bitter 20:29 11:37 56 76
Hamish.S 20:32 13:29 65 89
Curarist Curarist 20:34 20:56 101 138
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:35 14:00 68 93
Mike C 20:40 16:19 78 106
DianeRS 20:40 10:19 49 67
Nangle 21:09 30:34 144 197
endafk 21:20 09:53 46 63
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 21:21 11:51 55 75
dec 21:23 17:01 79 108
daniel.faith 21:24 21:21 99 135
Leegoods 21:28 13:12 61 83
Onelug 21:33 14:44 68 93
Corymbia Corymbia 21:35 16:15 75 102
Rod B 21:38 15:04 69 94
John Arnold 21:41 14:02 64 87
george.garlick 21:58 11:14 51 69
goblin 22:33 18:22 81 110
david_ch 22:48 32:18 141 193
Brenk Brenk1 22:54 16:28 71 97
Tudds 23:03 13:31 58 79
richardCV22 23:06 19:14 83 113
DamienKnapma 23:51 19:25 81 110
chris661554 24:21 13:44 56 76
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:24 14:33 59 80
medodd 24:32 21:54 89 121
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 25:00 20:59 83 113
timbo 25:28 19:33 76 104
crucihacker 25:28 21:10 83 113
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:29 23:10 90 123
Fidelio 26:15 23:53 90 123
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 26:16 20:00 76 104
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:30 36:13 136 186
ulaca ulaca 26:58 19:22 71 97
Yatton50 27:01 24:02 88 120
nekabue 27:19 21:42 79 108
Dr_Bob 27:21 21:58 80 109
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:40 15:44 56 76
SlumdogEngineer 27:50 14:58 53 72
Rowlie26 28:50 20:40 71 97
Winchelt 28:54 21:41 75 102
Manveru 30:46 32:47 106 145
dosbarth 31:22 24:59 79 108
vinyl12345 vinyl1 31:47 30:00 94 128
hipponym 31:50 18:36 58 79
gbestanley 32:15 19:12 59 80
koro kororareka 32:22 24:12 74 101
Grumpole Grumpole 32:30 26:53 82 112
rosselliot 33:07 32:06 96 131
alistair.boere 33:08 35:22 106 145
BertieVII 33:35 17:34 52 71
Rookie 34:08 27:49 81 110
simjt simjt 34:41 33:03 95 130
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 34:46 26:08 75 102
j.stanton734 34:49 19:27 55 75
starstruck starstruck_au 36:22 29:45 81 110
boltonwanderer 36:40 27:00 73 100
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 37:04 22:01 59 80
CoxBurglar coxburglar 37:08 41:26 111 152
HanS 37:12 37:37 101 138
Shushannah 37:56 35:45 94 128
kapietro kapietro 38:20 19:54 51 69
rv_1 39:09 30:04 76 104
Dalai Farmer 39:32 34:27 87 119
hydrochoos hydrochoos 40:15 30:00 74 101
ofarrell 41:39 28:03 67 91
empty 45:47 34:59 76 104
Steve Wood 49:17 43:44 88 120
MartinP MartinP1 51:45 33:12 64 87
kjbr 52:05 33:41 64 87
The Real Steve Snackman 52:44 49:41 94 128
paulmcl paulmcl 59:51 30:24 50 68

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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