Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28969

Date 15 July 2024
Number 28969
Day of week Monday
NITCH 67
Count of ref solvers 68
Ref solvers excluded with errors 13
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28969

* 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 03:26 75 111
Nathan Panning 05:42 04:27 78 116
Diskus 05:47 05:25 93 138
Jason 06:15 06:38 106 158
lili 06:26 04:10 64 95
verlaine Verlaine 06:29 05:31 85 126
hilarym 07:05 04:23 61 91
aphis99 aphis99 07:20 05:16 71 105
cmjhutton 07:38 09:37 125 186
richard 08:42 07:43 88 131
asaldanha 08:59 04:47 53 79
boulemiche 09:02 08:08 90 134
glheard glh 09:26 08:24 89 132
markdobell 09:36 06:48 70 104
chindit 09:48 05:48 59 88
Umpire 09:56 08:31 85 126
Kinghedger 10:07 07:14 71 105
Dr Dolittle 10:20 14:39 141 210
tiggis 10:25 08:10 78 116
Deane Short Deane Short 10:30 07:16 69 102
lickert 10:32 06:58 66 98
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:58 06:42 61 91
HoneyBadger 10:58 07:24 67 100
miked1961 11:01 06:16 56 83
keriothe_ keriothe 11:05 07:45 69 102
AlanS 11:14 05:42 50 74
Sheapey Sheapey 11:27 07:01 61 91
Morphosis 11:28 06:59 60 89
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:28 07:15 63 94
SimonAnthony 11:31 08:04 70 104
fshephe 11:37 10:09 87 129
neilr neilr 11:37 08:28 72 107
scrabbler 11:48 07:59 67 100
andy 11:50 07:08 60 89
chriswords 11:53 07:40 64 95
Golvellius 12:14 07:10 58 86
d.middleton 12:25 13:15 106 158
aphasic 12:28 08:43 69 102
canismiser 12:39 11:20 89 132
John Walsh 12:44 14:45 115 171
JimboFS 12:48 08:48 68 101
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 12:50 13:13 102 152
tilbee 12:51 09:31 74 110
edwards.robert1 12:52 11:39 90 134
Silva 12:58 11:11 86 128
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:16 10:54 82 122
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:19 06:51 51 76
michaelbell53 13:20 11:39 87 129
Groucho 13:35 09:01 66 98
robertL 13:37 08:26 61 91
LouWeed LouWeed 13:40 11:23 83 123
Ben Staveley 13:42 08:06 59 88
njnclarke 13:54 10:14 73 108
Semillon 14:02 09:38 68 101
howardwilde1 14:06 07:43 54 80
Tibthorpe 14:08 09:21 66 98
alexh 14:13 13:19 93 138
Crucifer Crucifer 14:27 08:56 61 91
franceslc11 14:29 09:01 62 92
myles 14:31 10:59 75 111
Freemers 14:32 12:42 87 129
cdb_100 14:38 13:39 93 138
Finzi 14:39 12:18 83 123
Peponi13 14:44 10:07 68 101
CentralLine CentralLine 14:46 09:01 61 91
BlackburnRover 14:47 14:36 98 146
phthisis 14:56 09:29 63 94
johninterred Johninterred 15:05 06:12 41 61
JezWoolfrey 15:12 13:49 90 134
AndyR 15:17 13:34 88 131
andrewlake 15:27 10:19 66 98
tapbarker 15:27 08:39 55 82
Looch 15:33 11:01 70 104
RobR RobR 15:35 14:27 92 137
zinzan 15:37 12:20 78 116
LJCN 15:40 12:26 79 117
robinh 15:43 12:18 78 116
Achernar 15:56 12:43 79 117
Squallaby 15:58 09:50 61 91
MK76 16:19 11:13 68 101
ajcauk1 16:48 12:46 75 111
DunPangolin 16:51 13:49 81 120
Encota 17:00 13:20 78 116
sas91 17:05 17:23 101 150
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:14 18:14 105 156
Stavros Stavrolex 17:16 09:13 53 79
Jeremy S 17:20 11:16 65 97
Craven 17:23 14:18 82 122
GMcD 17:35 10:29 59 88
npweston 17:44 11:26 64 95
Obrador 17:49 09:48 55 82
pterodactyl 18:00 12:27 69 102
hopkinb hopkinb 18:13 13:26 73 108
LuckOfLucien 18:17 13:42 74 110
chriswestontour 18:31 14:42 79 117
Mike C 18:38 11:56 64 95
Riche Riche 18:40 10:46 57 85
pc8 18:47 10:04 53 79
martinede 18:48 12:28 66 98
Solver52 18:52 18:32 98 146
Gallion Fish 18:55 14:25 76 113
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:58 11:09 58 86
SeamusX 19:08 14:59 78 116
Zander 19:09 16:11 84 125
Zabadak3 Zabadak 19:23 12:14 63 94
Upfisher 19:27 10:35 54 80
James P Special_bitter 19:30 15:42 80 119
Curarist Curarist 19:49 14:57 75 111
gsriordan52 19:57 15:03 75 111
daniel.faith 20:00 13:35 67 100
John Arnold 20:09 12:21 61 91
valerian1967 20:19 14:49 72 107
kath 20:27 20:58 102 152
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:29 14:49 72 107
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 20:32 09:59 48 71
uvofiz 20:37 19:03 92 137
Waterloo 20:38 16:02 77 114
Corymbia Corymbia 20:41 10:58 53 79
dec 20:43 16:10 78 116
The Caffeine Kid 20:57 16:56 80 119
Nangle 21:11 16:01 75 111
george.garlick 21:44 15:50 72 107
david_ch 22:11 22:10 99 147
richardCV22 22:30 14:05 62 92
Tudds 22:39 15:00 66 98
Brenk Brenk1 22:48 23:00 100 149
goblin 22:51 15:28 67 100
1234 23:01 22:23 97 144
Crippens1 23:23 18:52 80 119
rjcassidy rjcassidy 23:39 12:37 53 79
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 23:52 19:59 83 123
Edprof 24:04 09:50 40 59
Fidelio 25:12 13:38 54 80
6098mr 25:35 19:37 76 113
Yatton50 25:47 13:55 53 79
Dr_Bob 25:54 17:05 65 97
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 25:59 21:53 84 125
JoeyC 26:09 11:56 45 67
nekabue 27:01 32:20 119 177
Rowlie26 27:08 18:03 66 98
barracuda barracuda 27:11 16:40 61 91
ulaca ulaca 27:36 15:08 54 80
pvoller 28:02 27:17 97 144
hugapug 28:17 15:48 55 82
Mike Harper Mike Harper 28:21 19:32 68 101
Grumpole Grumpole 29:18 20:53 71 105
RogerC 30:10 25:58 86 128
Manveru 30:39 19:51 64 95
gbestanley 30:58 19:01 61 91
vinyl12345 vinyl1 31:20 24:00 76 113
koro kororareka 32:40 21:21 65 97
Rookie 32:42 25:29 77 114
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 33:10 24:20 73 108
simjt simjt 33:52 23:53 70 104
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 34:29 18:22 53 79
Birdingbob 34:32 22:56 66 98
starstruck starstruck_au 34:52 45:53 131 195
boltonwanderer 35:26 16:00 45 67
gothick gothick 35:46 27:00 75 111
Shushannah 36:41 37:37 102 152
CoxBurglar coxburglar 37:48 21:11 56 83
HanS 37:58 32:22 85 126
rv_1 38:05 24:14 63 94
empty 45:05 25:26 56 83
kjbr 51:40 41:13 79 117
The Real Steve Snackman 52:01 38:12 73 108

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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