Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28964

Date 09 July 2024
Number 28964
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 83
Count of ref solvers 63
Ref solvers excluded with errors 4
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28964

* 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
Nathan Panning 05:42 04:56 86 103
Diskus 05:47 04:55 85 102
Jason 06:15 05:36 89 107
verlaine Verlaine 06:29 04:46 73 87
Magoo 06:31 06:08 94 113
mistigris 06:36 05:20 80 96
Paul Gilbert 07:06 04:27 62 74
aphis99 aphis99 07:20 06:02 82 98
cmjhutton 07:38 04:22 57 68
richard 08:42 09:08 104 125
asaldanha 08:59 10:51 120 144
boulemiche 09:02 10:44 118 142
glheard glh 09:26 09:34 101 121
chindit 09:48 10:16 104 125
Umpire 09:56 06:48 68 81
patrickcates 10:02 13:55 138 166
Kinghedger 10:07 09:54 97 116
Deane Short Deane Short 10:30 16:44 159 191
lickert 10:32 09:55 94 113
Topical Tim Topical Tim 10:40 17:18 162 195
HoneyBadger 10:58 08:44 79 95
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:58 13:18 121 145
miked1961 11:01 10:15 93 112
keriothe_ keriothe 11:05 11:50 106 127
AlanS 11:14 08:06 72 86
Sheapey Sheapey 11:27 13:21 116 139
Heyesey 11:27 06:39 58 69
Morphosis 11:28 09:32 83 100
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:28 09:09 79 95
SimonAnthony 11:31 10:03 87 104
fshephe 11:37 03:31 30 36
neilr neilr 11:37 11:54 102 122
scrabbler 11:48 09:51 83 100
andy 11:50 12:29 105 126
chriswords 11:53 14:03 118 142
David Crooks dcrooks 11:54 10:17 86 103
Golvellius 12:14 11:07 90 108
Jim Willis 12:22 11:39 94 113
aphasic 12:28 08:42 69 83
ChuckB 12:38 15:33 123 148
canismiser 12:39 22:03 174 209
March (JeffCollins) mch1 12:42 09:35 75 90
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 12:50 14:12 110 132
tilbee 12:51 13:28 104 125
edwards.robert1 12:52 11:06 86 103
Silva 12:58 10:52 83 100
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:16 09:52 74 89
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:19 08:42 65 78
Groucho 13:35 14:11 104 125
robertL 13:37 12:03 88 106
LouWeed LouWeed 13:40 09:11 67 80
njnclarke 13:54 13:17 95 114
Semillon 14:02 10:27 74 89
Tibthorpe 14:08 12:09 85 102
Secondbass 14:10 12:16 86 103
alexh 14:13 10:56 76 91
Pootle Pootle 14:18 10:51 75 90
Crucifer Crucifer 14:27 14:30 100 120
Freemers 14:32 10:06 69 83
cdb_100 14:38 14:51 101 121
Finzi 14:39 14:34 99 119
CentralLine CentralLine 14:46 16:58 114 137
johninterred Johninterred 15:05 13:23 88 106
john.brassey 15:07 16:04 106 127
JezWoolfrey 15:12 25:22 166 200
AndyR 15:17 17:51 116 139
andrewlake 15:27 14:57 96 115
tapbarker 15:27 09:07 59 71
Looch 15:33 13:34 87 104
GeorgeTz 15:34 13:32 86 103
RobR RobR 15:35 18:41 119 143
zinzan 15:37 13:44 87 104
LJCN 15:40 11:38 74 89
robinh 15:43 19:31 124 149
Achernar 15:56 18:47 117 140
Squallaby 15:58 15:02 94 113
Amoeba 16:13 08:00 49 59
MK76 16:19 12:55 79 95
ilan 16:32 14:57 90 108
jimwetzler 16:43 15:39 93 112
ajcauk1 16:48 13:21 79 95
DunPangolin 16:51 20:23 120 144
Encota 17:00 16:06 94 113
Crossiant 17:01 12:37 74 89
Blackbeard 17:13 11:50 68 81
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:14 11:09 64 77
Stavros Stavrolex 17:16 07:17 42 50
Jeremy S 17:20 17:45 102 122
Colin2355 17:22 15:57 91 109
Craven 17:23 16:27 94 113
GMcD 17:35 13:54 79 95
Obrador 17:49 12:58 72 86
pterodactyl 18:00 24:33 136 163
MossDef 18:11 11:29 63 75
DanSolo 18:15 13:07 71 85
LuckOfLucien 18:17 13:56 76 91
chriswestontour 18:31 19:48 106 127
Mike C 18:38 22:13 119 143
Riche Riche 18:40 15:15 81 97
pc8 18:47 14:39 77 92
martinede 18:48 18:18 97 116
Solver52 18:52 22:19 118 142
Gallion Fish 18:55 17:03 90 108
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:58 17:54 94 113
julian_w 19:01 12:21 64 77
SeamusX 19:08 16:51 88 106
Zander 19:09 15:50 82 98
McBeakLives 19:12 15:15 79 95
Zabadak3 Zabadak 19:23 22:47 117 140
James P Special_bitter 19:30 13:50 70 84
UisceTe 19:43 20:37 104 125
Curarist Curarist 19:49 11:53 59 71
Hamish.S 19:50 16:13 81 97
gsriordan52 19:57 18:12 91 109
daniel.faith 20:00 14:56 74 89
John Arnold 20:09 19:51 98 118
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 20:12 17:21 85 102
valerian1967 20:19 20:35 101 121
DianeRS 20:28 21:07 103 124
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:29 17:56 87 104
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 20:32 22:08 107 128
Waterloo 20:38 23:51 115 138
Corymbia Corymbia 20:41 16:52 81 97
Nangle 21:11 15:58 75 90
DamienKnapma 21:30 15:46 73 87
Rod B 21:44 32:27 149 179
crosswordian 21:58 17:22 79 95
david_ch 22:11 26:51 121 145
Tudds 22:39 14:09 62 74
Brenk Brenk1 22:48 45:08 197 237
goblin 22:51 32:37 142 171
rt51 23:02 05:06 22 26
medodd 23:10 14:53 64 77
rjcassidy rjcassidy 23:39 19:54 84 101
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 23:52 37:20 156 187
chris661554 24:33 27:08 110 132
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:02 27:05 108 130
Fidelio 25:12 18:15 72 86
6098mr 25:35 20:03 78 93
Yatton50 25:47 52:08 202 243
crucihacker 25:55 29:03 112 134
Gussie 25:58 18:24 70 84
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 25:59 24:00 92 110
Deezzaa Deezzaa 27:03 27:15 100 120
Rowlie26 27:08 21:25 78 93
barracuda barracuda 27:11 26:30 97 116
ulaca ulaca 27:36 20:27 74 89
Mike Harper Mike Harper 28:21 24:40 87 104
JayEm 28:38 11:47 41 49
symbenall2 29:09 22:12 76 91
Grumpole Grumpole 29:18 17:09 58 69
annikins 29:23 23:30 79 95
hipponym 29:44 21:52 73 87
Manveru 30:39 43:45 142 171
gbestanley 30:58 24:52 80 96
BertieVII 31:12 21:07 67 80
vinyl12345 vinyl1 31:20 36:00 114 137
dosbarth 32:28 50:23 155 186
bruce.johnston22 32:38 24:12 74 89
koro kororareka 32:40 26:47 81 97
Rookie 32:42 26:05 79 95
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 33:10 28:15 85 102
simjt simjt 33:52 27:02 79 95
Lloyd 34:27 43:37 126 151
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 34:29 32:48 95 114
Birdingbob 34:32 23:22 67 80
starstruck starstruck_au 34:52 34:22 98 118
boltonwanderer 35:26 38:00 107 128
Cryptique 36:02 27:57 77 92
Shushannah 36:41 24:51 67 80
HanS 37:58 43:43 115 138
rv_1 38:05 27:36 72 86
maryht 38:36 28:42 74 89
Word Psmith wordpsmith 40:09 34:27 85 102
baronrob 43:16 25:48 59 71
empty 45:05 44:05 97 116
Steve Wood 48:23 32:29 67 80
kjbr 51:40 39:49 77 92
The Real Steve Snackman 52:01 35:00 67 80
paulmcl paulmcl 59:15 66:03 111 133

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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