Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28965

Date 10 July 2024
Number 28965
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 97
Count of ref solvers 60
Ref solvers excluded with errors 14
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28965

* 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
Jason 06:15 05:54 94 96
Magoo 06:31 05:26 83 85
mistigris 06:36 08:34 129 132
aphis99 aphis99 07:20 10:09 138 142
cmjhutton 07:38 08:56 117 120
asaldanha 08:59 10:05 112 115
boulemiche 09:02 10:26 115 118
glheard glh 09:26 14:18 151 155
chindit 09:48 12:48 130 134
Umpire 09:56 09:49 98 101
Kinghedger 10:07 08:32 84 86
Dr Dolittle 10:20 26:34 257 264
lickert 10:32 07:46 73 75
HoneyBadger 10:58 10:34 96 98
miked1961 11:01 12:46 115 118
keriothe_ keriothe 11:05 09:16 83 85
KenD51 11:11 05:06 45 46
AlanS 11:14 09:50 87 89
Heyesey 11:27 10:14 89 91
Sheapey Sheapey 11:27 15:19 133 137
Morphosis 11:28 14:53 129 132
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:28 12:51 112 115
SimonAnthony 11:31 14:36 126 129
fshephe 11:37 10:42 92 94
scrabbler 11:48 10:34 89 91
chriswords 11:53 11:59 100 103
David Crooks dcrooks 11:54 13:51 116 119
aphasic 12:28 12:02 96 98
March (JeffCollins) mch1 12:42 11:33 90 92
JimboFS 12:48 12:50 100 103
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 12:50 11:55 92 94
tilbee 12:51 09:56 77 79
edwards.robert1 12:52 10:26 81 83
Silva 12:58 17:49 137 141
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:19 12:04 90 92
Eddddddd 13:29 09:25 69 71
Groucho 13:35 14:01 103 106
LouWeed LouWeed 13:40 16:56 123 126
njnclarke 13:54 11:58 86 88
Semillon 14:02 10:35 75 77
howardwilde1 14:06 14:23 102 105
fishernick79 14:08 12:30 88 90
Tibthorpe 14:08 12:47 90 92
Secondbass 14:10 15:44 111 114
Pootle Pootle 14:18 11:55 83 85
Crucifer Crucifer 14:27 14:56 103 106
Freemers 14:32 11:37 79 81
cdb_100 14:38 14:50 101 104
Finzi 14:39 15:04 102 105
CentralLine CentralLine 14:46 12:27 84 86
BlackburnRover 14:47 17:05 115 118
johninterred Johninterred 15:05 20:12 133 137
john.brassey 15:07 12:47 84 86
AndyR 15:17 18:35 121 124
andrewlake 15:27 17:20 112 115
tapbarker 15:27 21:01 136 140
Looch 15:33 20:20 130 134
GeorgeTz 15:34 16:45 107 110
RobR RobR 15:35 11:50 75 77
LJCN 15:40 15:36 99 102
robinh 15:43 17:32 111 114
Squallaby 15:58 14:19 89 91
Amoeba 16:13 12:33 77 79
ilan 16:32 16:26 99 102
jimwetzler 16:43 17:25 104 107
DunPangolin 16:51 20:30 121 124
TB22 16:57 99:21 586 604
Encota 17:00 17:46 104 107
Crossiant 17:01 15:56 93 95
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:14 12:49 74 76
Stavros Stavrolex 17:16 15:12 88 90
Jeremy S 17:20 21:10 122 125
Craven 17:23 19:23 111 114
PGooden 17:29 17:14 98 101
GMcD 17:35 14:36 83 85
MossDef 18:11 15:51 87 89
Mike C 18:38 52:48 283 291
Riche Riche 18:40 18:45 100 103
pc8 18:47 21:01 111 114
Solver52 18:52 20:37 109 112
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:58 24:29 129 132
SeamusX 19:08 20:14 105 108
Zander 19:09 24:12 126 129
McBeakLives 19:12 27:12 141 145
Zabadak3 Zabadak 19:23 25:22 130 134
James P Special_bitter 19:30 15:36 80 82
Jeremy Kenyon 19:47 16:12 81 83
Curarist Curarist 19:49 14:48 74 76
Grestyman Grestyman 19:58 11:45 58 59
John Arnold 20:09 15:16 75 77
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 20:32 54:20 264 272
Waterloo 20:38 25:30 123 126
Corymbia Corymbia 20:41 16:19 78 80
The Caffeine Kid 20:57 20:31 97 100
Nangle 21:11 23:13 109 112
Jagsfan1971 21:15 35:27 166 171
george.garlick 21:44 26:27 121 124
crosswordian 21:58 20:46 94 96
david_ch 22:11 18:30 83 85
stainl665 22:13 22:19 100 103
Tudds 22:39 25:01 110 113
Brenk Brenk1 22:48 36:43 161 165
rt51 23:02 05:07 22 22
medodd 23:10 25:26 109 112
rjcassidy rjcassidy 23:39 23:59 101 104
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 23:52 23:36 98 101
Edprof 24:04 22:44 94 96
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 24:06 21:32 89 91
chris661554 24:33 28:29 116 119
TonyN6 24:38 40:57 166 171
klamery4 24:44 28:59 117 120
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:02 23:47 95 97
Fidelio 25:12 24:25 96 98
tony the butcher montana 25:32 27:36 108 111
6098mr 25:35 18:47 73 75
Dr_Bob 25:54 25:46 99 102
crucihacker 25:55 23:34 90 92
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 25:59 28:39 110 113
nekabue 27:01 37:38 139 143
Deezzaa Deezzaa 27:03 23:04 85 87
barracuda barracuda 27:11 30:22 111 114
Mike Harper Mike Harper 28:21 32:48 115 118
Winchelt 29:01 33:57 117 120
Manveru 30:39 40:29 132 136
gbestanley 30:58 27:22 88 90
BertieVII 31:12 26:24 84 86
bruce.johnston22 32:38 41:45 127 130
koro kororareka 32:40 28:17 86 88
Rookie 32:42 28:38 87 89
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 33:10 29:03 87 89
alistair.boere 33:30 39:24 117 120
Maggot 33:42 32:29 96 98
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 34:29 35:03 101 104
Birdingbob 34:32 35:56 104 107
j.stanton734 34:52 41:54 120 123
starstruck starstruck_au 34:52 25:51 74 76
boltonwanderer 35:26 34:00 95 97
gothick gothick 35:46 27:00 75 77
tyrotim tyrotim 36:14 43:48 120 123
joss henry 36:28 28:26 77 79
HanS 37:58 34:29 90 92
piltdown man 39:36 39:35 99 102
Word Psmith wordpsmith 40:09 44:23 110 113
baronrob 43:16 30:25 70 72
empty 45:05 37:41 83 85
Steve Wood 48:23 55:15 114 117
intentional rounding 52:53 57:07 108 111

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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