Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28963

Date 08 July 2024
Number 28963
Day of week Monday
NITCH 66
Count of ref solvers 64
Ref solvers excluded with errors 9
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28963

* 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 03:52 84 127
Nathan Panning 05:42 06:58 122 184
Diskus 05:47 04:26 76 115
Jason 06:15 03:42 59 89
verlaine Verlaine 06:29 03:52 59 89
Magoo 06:31 03:46 57 86
mistigris 06:36 04:33 68 103
hilarym 07:05 05:36 79 119
Paul Gilbert 07:06 03:41 51 77
aphis99 aphis99 07:20 04:47 65 98
cmjhutton 07:38 05:05 66 100
richard 08:42 07:16 83 125
asaldanha 08:59 04:29 49 74
markdobell 09:36 08:01 83 125
Umpire 09:56 06:36 66 100
patrickcates 10:02 08:48 87 131
Kinghedger 10:07 07:43 76 115
tiggis 10:25 06:24 61 92
Deane Short Deane Short 10:30 06:09 58 87
lickert 10:32 06:17 59 89
Topical Tim Topical Tim 10:40 06:24 60 90
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:58 09:09 83 125
HoneyBadger 10:58 08:15 75 113
miked1961 11:01 06:06 55 83
keriothe_ keriothe 11:05 06:52 61 92
Sheapey Sheapey 11:27 08:51 77 116
Morphosis 11:28 09:37 83 125
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:28 07:32 65 98
SimonAnthony 11:31 09:31 82 124
neilr neilr 11:37 06:45 58 87
fshephe 11:37 12:42 109 165
scrabbler 11:48 10:08 85 128
andy 11:50 08:05 68 103
chriswords 11:53 07:41 64 96
David Crooks dcrooks 11:54 09:12 77 116
chriss 11:57 06:18 52 78
Golvellius 12:14 09:41 79 119
Jim Willis 12:22 10:12 82 124
aphasic 12:28 10:15 82 124
ChuckB 12:38 09:57 78 118
canismiser 12:39 08:46 69 104
March (JeffCollins) mch1 12:42 08:58 70 106
John Walsh 12:44 13:56 109 165
JimboFS 12:48 09:44 76 115
tilbee 12:51 08:23 65 98
edwards.robert1 12:52 11:15 87 131
Paul Bacon 13:10 10:26 79 119
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:16 10:08 76 115
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:19 07:27 55 83
michaelbell53 13:20 12:56 97 146
Penfold_61 Penfold 13:29 13:03 96 145
Groucho 13:35 09:13 67 101
LouWeed LouWeed 13:40 10:09 74 112
Ben Staveley 13:42 11:19 82 124
njnclarke 13:54 10:05 72 109
Semillon 14:02 09:39 68 103
Tibthorpe 14:08 09:31 67 101
alexh 14:13 10:15 72 109
Pootle Pootle 14:18 14:03 98 148
Crucifer Crucifer 14:27 14:30 100 151
myles 14:31 15:30 106 160
Freemers 14:32 09:54 68 103
cdb_100 14:38 12:40 86 130
Finzi 14:39 12:51 87 131
Peponi13 14:44 10:08 68 103
CentralLine CentralLine 14:46 11:58 81 122
BlackburnRover 14:47 11:35 78 118
johninterred Johninterred 15:05 11:46 78 118
john.brassey 15:07 10:43 70 106
JezWoolfrey 15:12 09:50 64 96
AndyR 15:17 09:53 64 96
tapbarker 15:27 15:30 100 151
Looch 15:33 11:56 76 115
RobR RobR 15:35 08:59 57 86
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 15:37 10:45 68 103
robinh 15:43 14:15 90 136
daulbs 15:51 15:50 99 150
Achernar 15:56 11:50 74 112
Squallaby 15:58 11:05 69 104
Amoeba 16:13 14:02 86 130
MK76 16:19 19:15 117 177
ilan 16:32 15:45 95 143
DunPangolin 16:51 16:54 100 151
Encota 17:00 13:27 79 119
Crossiant 17:01 08:29 49 74
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:14 11:40 67 101
Stavros Stavrolex 17:16 05:32 32 48
Jeremy S 17:20 18:38 107 162
cmcnsmith 17:21 12:30 72 109
Colin2355 17:22 13:54 80 121
Craven 17:23 14:37 84 127
PGooden 17:29 10:48 61 92
GMcD 17:35 08:22 47 71
hopkinb hopkinb 18:13 10:17 56 84
DanSolo 18:15 16:51 92 139
KET 18:21 14:32 79 119
chriswestontour 18:31 17:02 91 137
Mike C 18:38 10:16 55 83
pc8 18:47 14:19 76 115
Solver52 18:52 18:35 98 148
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:58 19:38 103 156
julian_w 19:01 14:35 76 115
SeamusX 19:08 12:23 64 96
Zander 19:09 16:39 86 130
McBeakLives 19:12 18:15 95 143
rrricharrrd 19:14 14:00 72 109
James P Special_bitter 19:30 10:31 53 80
Jeremy Kenyon 19:47 12:20 62 93
Curarist Curarist 19:49 11:38 58 87
Hamish.S 19:50 11:51 59 89
gsriordan52 19:57 10:39 53 80
daniel.faith 20:00 17:51 89 134
John Arnold 20:09 15:05 74 112
valerian1967 20:19 12:03 59 89
kath 20:27 22:35 110 166
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 20:32 15:41 76 115
Waterloo 20:38 13:48 66 100
Corymbia Corymbia 20:41 25:09 121 183
The Caffeine Kid 20:57 21:35 103 156
Nangle 21:11 13:32 63 95
george.garlick 21:44 23:00 105 159
Rod B 21:44 12:06 55 83
crosswordian 21:58 16:35 75 113
david_ch 22:11 14:27 65 98
richardCV22 22:30 17:46 78 118
Tudds 22:39 17:49 78 118
Brenk Brenk1 22:48 17:50 78 118
goblin 22:51 16:24 71 107
1234 23:01 15:07 65 98
rt51 23:02 04:57 21 31
medodd 23:10 28:18 122 184
Crippens1 23:23 18:39 79 119
rjcassidy rjcassidy 23:39 19:32 82 124
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 23:52 28:37 119 180
Edprof 24:04 13:47 57 86
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 24:06 14:40 60 90
monkfish 24:30 11:51 48 72
chris661554 24:33 14:47 60 90
TonyN6 24:38 13:20 54 81
tony the butcher montana 25:32 18:57 74 112
Yatton50 25:47 35:46 138 209
Dr_Bob 25:54 26:35 102 154
crucihacker 25:55 17:38 68 103
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 25:59 18:37 71 107
Deezzaa Deezzaa 27:03 16:30 60 90
Rowlie26 27:08 25:29 93 140
pvoller 28:02 36:33 130 196
NAPASAI napasai 28:03 22:09 78 118
hugapug 28:17 14:11 50 75
Mike Harper Mike Harper 28:21 20:39 72 109
Winchelt 29:01 28:22 97 146
symbenall2 29:09 34:46 119 180
Grumpole Grumpole 29:18 13:49 47 71
annikins 29:23 16:50 57 86
SK42 30:05 19:56 66 100
rosselliot 30:18 22:10 73 110
Manveru 30:39 21:13 69 104
gbestanley 30:58 20:34 66 100
BertieVII 31:12 30:50 98 148
bruce.johnston22 32:38 23:01 70 106
koro kororareka 32:40 33:28 102 154
Rookie 32:42 39:14 119 180
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 33:10 35:14 106 160
alistair.boere 33:30 27:18 81 122
simjt simjt 33:52 23:19 68 103
Lloyd 34:27 31:17 90 136
j.stanton734 34:52 21:35 61 92
starstruck starstruck_au 34:52 28:39 82 124
boltonwanderer 35:26 42:00 118 178
kapietro kapietro 36:12 30:04 83 125
tyrotim tyrotim 36:14 32:02 88 133
joss henry 36:28 27:28 75 113
Shushannah 36:41 38:56 106 160
CoxBurglar coxburglar 37:48 32:56 87 131
HanS 37:58 41:13 108 163
rv_1 38:05 41:56 110 166
maryht 38:36 49:28 128 193
empty 45:05 38:02 84 127
Steve Wood 48:23 47:27 98 148
MartinP MartinP1 49:30 45:04 91 137
kjbr 51:40 33:34 64 96
The Real Steve Snackman 52:01 41:49 80 121
intentional rounding 52:53 36:22 68 103

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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