Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28951

Date 24 June 2024
Number 28951
Day of week Monday
NITCH 60
Count of ref solvers 64
Ref solvers excluded with errors 17
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28951

* 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 02:48 61 101
Diskus 05:58 04:53 81 135
Jason 06:00 03:27 57 95
lili 06:25 04:07 64 106
mistigris 06:36 03:54 59 98
verlaine Verlaine 06:45 04:19 63 105
Paul Gilbert 07:18 05:54 80 133
aphis99 aphis99 07:25 04:25 59 98
cmjhutton 07:45 03:37 46 76
richard 08:35 06:02 70 116
boulemiche 09:10 07:46 84 140
glheard glh 09:24 05:08 54 90
markdobell 10:08 06:26 63 105
chindit 10:09 06:39 65 108
Kinghedger 10:17 05:50 56 93
lickert 10:28 14:10 135 225
samgdavies 10:29 07:12 68 113
Deane Short Deane Short 10:40 05:55 55 91
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:41 08:09 76 126
KenD51 10:41 05:35 52 86
Umpire 10:45 06:12 57 95
keriothe_ keriothe 10:50 05:38 52 86
scrabbler 10:57 09:46 89 148
miked1961 10:58 07:55 72 120
AlanS 11:20 07:06 62 103
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:24 05:57 52 86
Sheapey Sheapey 11:33 06:12 53 88
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:48 07:20 62 103
chriswords 11:49 10:06 85 141
SimonAnthony 11:55 05:13 43 71
HoneyBadger 11:58 08:35 71 118
fshephe 12:04 12:12 101 168
Stavros Stavrolex 12:21 06:42 54 90
ChuckB 12:40 09:53 78 130
JimboFS 12:41 07:39 60 100
d.middleton 12:42 10:04 79 131
Silva 12:56 07:58 61 101
John Walsh 12:56 10:46 83 138
tilbee 13:04 06:01 46 76
aphasic 13:15 09:23 70 116
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:16 08:06 61 101
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:25 07:10 53 88
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:33 11:20 83 138
Groucho 13:40 10:43 78 130
Penfold_61 Penfold 13:44 07:45 56 93
Secondbass 13:48 10:52 78 130
Ben Staveley 13:54 08:10 58 96
Tibthorpe 14:04 08:12 58 96
franceslc11 14:05 07:49 55 91
chriss 14:16 09:41 67 111
LouWeed LouWeed 14:17 11:29 80 133
Peponi13 14:19 11:36 81 135
alexh 14:22 08:37 59 98
CentralLine CentralLine 14:30 10:56 75 125
johninterred Johninterred 14:40 08:03 54 90
Semillon 14:41 07:32 51 85
Finzi 14:48 09:57 67 111
myles 14:49 11:37 78 130
BlackburnRover 14:49 13:10 88 146
njnclarke 14:56 08:40 58 96
Crucifer Crucifer 14:57 10:13 68 113
john.brassey 15:08 12:58 85 141
phthisis 15:22 08:02 52 86
Pootle Pootle 15:24 07:42 50 83
gabrojak 15:36 09:01 57 95
robinh 15:46 15:29 98 163
Squallaby 15:51 10:49 68 113
JezWoolfrey 15:53 08:26 53 88
grape 15:53 11:33 72 120
Achernar 15:55 09:46 61 101
tapbarker 15:56 08:41 54 90
zinzan 16:02 10:40 66 110
Looch 16:05 09:15 57 95
Amoeba 16:13 07:25 45 75
MK76 16:17 08:48 54 90
andrewlake 16:37 09:07 54 90
daulbs 16:39 09:36 57 95
Freemers 16:47 07:56 47 78
ajcauk1 16:57 10:00 58 96
jimwetzler 17:04 11:01 64 106
Craven 17:33 14:05 80 133
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:34 09:44 55 91
Encota 17:47 10:48 60 100
DunPangolin 17:55 09:21 52 86
cmcnsmith 18:10 16:22 90 150
Jeremy S 18:15 13:06 71 118
GMcD 18:23 15:37 84 140
Gallion Fish 18:24 11:58 65 108
KET 18:37 03:56 21 35
martinede 18:43 14:23 76 126
pterodactyl 19:00 11:21 59 98
squark 19:19 09:28 49 81
pc8 19:21 11:35 59 98
kath 19:23 21:16 109 181
Zander 19:29 12:25 63 105
LuckOfLucien 19:30 13:36 69 115
npweston 19:30 12:29 64 106
Solver52 19:32 14:48 75 125
Cookincats 19:32 11:59 61 101
kate.daly305 20:01 12:38 63 105
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:10 12:13 60 100
Pxspxs 20:13 12:12 60 100
chriswestontour 20:21 10:24 51 85
Curarist Curarist 20:34 11:51 57 95
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:35 09:13 44 73
valerian1967 21:09 12:11 57 95
Nangle 21:09 13:56 65 108
endafk 21:20 14:59 70 116
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 21:21 13:58 65 108
daniel.faith 21:24 13:52 64 106
frost 21:32 12:01 55 91
Onelug 21:33 10:06 46 76
Corymbia Corymbia 21:35 15:58 73 121
John Arnold 21:41 12:17 56 93
george.garlick 21:58 12:33 57 95
goblin 22:33 13:23 59 98
david_ch 22:48 10:40 46 76
Tudds 23:03 09:48 42 70
richardCV22 23:06 11:21 49 81
klamery4 23:43 15:37 65 108
1234 23:44 14:46 62 103
chris661554 24:21 14:50 60 100
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:24 14:52 60 100
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 25:00 19:18 77 128
hugapug 25:40 15:49 61 101
barracuda barracuda 25:52 22:56 88 146
Fidelio 26:15 14:46 56 93
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 26:16 15:42 59 98
JoeyC 26:19 16:48 63 105
ulaca ulaca 26:58 17:43 65 108
pvoller 26:59 26:02 96 160
Yatton50 27:01 18:28 68 113
infinitejest 27:01 18:02 66 110
nekabue 27:19 15:24 56 93
Dr_Bob 27:21 21:27 78 130
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:40 16:08 58 96
symbenall2 28:42 21:42 75 125
6098mr 29:06 21:54 75 125
phcbarnes 29:39 29:13 98 163
Manveru 30:46 09:49 31 51
dosbarth 31:22 22:30 71 118
gothick gothick 31:30 22:00 69 115
Jeeves 31:30 13:54 44 73
koro kororareka 32:22 23:15 71 118
Rookie 34:08 19:27 56 93
simjt simjt 34:41 31:34 91 151
Birdingbob 34:44 14:31 41 68
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 34:46 16:54 48 80
Lloyd 35:55 22:30 62 103
starstruck starstruck_au 36:22 29:26 80 133
boltonwanderer 36:40 12:00 32 53
Shushannah 37:56 20:20 53 88
kapietro kapietro 38:20 18:25 48 80
rv_1 39:09 20:13 51 85
hydrochoos hydrochoos 40:15 38:00 94 156
ofarrell 41:39 22:24 53 88
empty 45:47 31:50 69 115
MartinP MartinP1 51:45 21:10 40 66
The Real Steve Snackman 52:44 33:00 62 103
intentional rounding 57:51 25:05 43 71

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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