Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28955

Date 28 June 2024
Number 28955
Day of week Friday
NITCH 146
Count of ref solvers 65
Ref solvers excluded with errors 14
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28955

* 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
hazeltearne 03:41 18:43 508 347
mohn mohn2 04:34 08:20 182 124
Diskus 05:58 09:10 153 104
Jason 06:00 07:02 117 80
lili 06:25 11:06 172 117
mistigris 06:36 08:48 133 91
verlaine Verlaine 06:45 11:22 168 115
Paul Gilbert 07:18 08:37 118 80
cmjhutton 07:45 10:21 133 91
Dr Dolittle 08:13 47:56 583 399
asaldanha 09:17 18:48 202 138
markdobell 10:08 24:29 241 165
chindit 10:09 17:12 169 115
lickert 10:28 17:16 164 112
Umpire 10:45 11:16 104 71
tiggis 10:51 19:28 179 122
scrabbler 10:57 25:56 236 161
miked1961 10:58 20:43 188 128
AlanS 11:20 16:32 145 99
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:24 19:28 170 116
Sheapey Sheapey 11:33 19:58 172 117
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:48 19:25 164 112
SimonAnthony 11:55 14:38 122 83
HoneyBadger 11:58 17:15 144 98
fuzz 11:59 14:13 118 80
fshephe 12:04 12:11 100 68
Stavros Stavrolex 12:21 22:12 179 122
JimboFS 12:41 20:17 159 108
edwards.robert1 12:50 13:28 104 71
Silva 12:56 26:13 202 138
tilbee 13:04 18:02 138 94
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:12 19:37 148 101
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:25 18:09 135 92
Groucho 13:40 16:07 117 80
Penfold_61 Penfold 13:44 21:23 155 106
Tibthorpe 14:04 19:13 136 93
franceslc11 14:05 20:44 147 100
LouWeed LouWeed 14:17 24:11 169 115
CentralLine CentralLine 14:30 41:24 285 195
Eddddddd 14:37 24:46 169 115
Semillon 14:41 16:19 111 76
Finzi 14:48 18:41 126 86
Crucifer Crucifer 14:57 26:16 175 119
phthisis 15:22 22:53 148 101
LJCN 15:42 22:38 144 98
robinh 15:46 19:17 122 83
JezWoolfrey 15:53 24:17 152 104
tapbarker 15:56 22:37 141 96
Amoeba 16:13 30:00 184 126
andrewlake 16:37 23:39 142 97
Freemers 16:47 13:46 82 56
ilan 17:01 22:28 132 90
Crossiant 17:02 31:53 187 128
Craven 17:33 23:24 133 91
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:34 32:16 183 125
Encota 17:47 32:27 182 124
GMcD 18:23 20:05 109 74
DanSolo 18:40 49:20 264 180
pc8 19:21 21:11 109 74
Zander 19:29 24:30 125 85
LuckOfLucien 19:30 26:10 134 91
gsriordan52 19:51 21:21 107 73
uvofiz 20:15 32:11 158 108
David Bourne 20:25 53:52 263 180
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:35 29:58 145 99
Mike C 20:40 29:02 140 95
valerian1967 21:09 33:38 159 108
dec 21:23 28:18 132 90
daniel.faith 21:24 45:49 214 146
luxtonj61 21:30 39:25 183 125
Corymbia Corymbia 21:35 43:39 202 138
george.garlick 21:58 26:22 120 82
goblin 22:33 32:42 145 99
david_ch 22:48 42:20 185 126
Tudds 23:03 37:56 164 112
klamery4 23:43 24:33 103 70
Terrier 23:56 38:04 159 108
chris661554 24:21 47:04 193 132
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:24 39:17 160 109
medodd 24:32 42:01 171 117
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 25:01 44:41 178 121
Edprof 25:21 33:13 131 89
crucihacker 25:28 53:30 210 143
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:29 24:36 96 65
barracuda barracuda 25:52 39:32 152 104
Gussie 25:59 58:48 226 154
Fidelio 26:15 36:51 140 95
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 26:16 57:47 219 150
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:30 39:12 147 100
Yatton50 27:01 37:41 139 95
infinitejest 27:01 49:31 183 125
nekabue 27:19 53:33 196 134
Dr_Bob 27:21 38:17 139 95
Mike Harper Mike Harper 27:40 43:22 156 106
RogerC 28:42 48:53 170 116
Rowlie26 28:50 35:32 123 84
Winchelt 28:54 32:29 112 76
Speedcop2 30:52 27:47 90 61
Jeeves 31:30 38:21 121 82
gothick gothick 31:30 54:15 172 117
FelicityTT 32:05 39:52 124 84
gbestanley 32:15 41:38 129 88
koro kororareka 32:22 63:52 197 134
Grumpole Grumpole 32:30 55:15 170 116
BertieVII 33:35 51:27 153 104
bruce.johnston22 33:38 37:34 111 76
Birdingbob 34:44 58:44 169 115
starstruck starstruck_au 36:22 79:22 218 149
boltonwanderer 36:40 30:00 81 55
HanS 37:12 59:31 159 108
Shushannah 37:56 62:36 165 113
Cryptique 39:29 16:45 42 28
baronrob 42:50 63:19 147 100
empty 45:47 60:41 132 90
Steve Wood 49:17 65:06 132 90
MartinP MartinP1 51:45 83:05 160 109
The Real Steve Snackman 52:44 84:10 159 108
The Mighty Salmon 55:32 75:37 136 93
Masha 57:09 85:36 149 102
intentional rounding 57:51 77:36 134 91

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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