Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28977

Date 24 July 2024
Number 28977
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 109
Count of ref solvers 68
Ref solvers excluded with errors 7
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28977

* 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 04:22 04:14 96 88
Nathan Panning 05:42 06:20 111 101
Diskus 05:47 06:01 104 95
Jason 06:15 08:20 133 122
lili 06:26 06:05 94 86
verlaine Verlaine 06:29 06:41 103 94
Magoo 06:31 07:39 117 107
aphis99 aphis99 07:20 07:58 108 99
cmjhutton 07:38 11:54 155 142
asaldanha 08:59 07:58 88 80
samgdavies 09:14 07:31 81 74
chindit 09:48 14:21 146 133
Umpire 09:56 11:00 110 100
Kinghedger 10:07 07:31 74 67
lickert 10:32 11:01 104 95
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:58 09:58 90 82
HoneyBadger 10:58 17:56 163 149
keriothe_ keriothe 11:05 14:47 133 122
AlanS 11:14 13:59 124 113
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:28 09:03 78 71
Morphosis 11:28 11:08 97 88
SimonAnthony 11:31 12:59 112 102
fshephe 11:37 14:02 120 110
neilr neilr 11:37 10:36 91 83
andy 11:50 16:40 140 128
chriswords 11:53 13:49 116 106
Golvellius 12:14 18:45 153 140
canismiser 12:39 19:43 155 142
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 12:50 14:41 114 104
tilbee 12:51 15:26 120 110
edwards.robert1 12:52 11:04 86 78
Silva 12:58 14:57 115 105
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:19 16:14 121 111
Penfold_61 Penfold 13:29 17:15 127 116
LouWeed LouWeed 13:40 16:50 123 112
Ben Staveley 13:42 11:23 83 76
Semillon 14:02 23:05 164 150
howardwilde1 14:06 13:58 99 90
fishernick79 14:08 16:46 118 108
Tibthorpe 14:08 15:06 106 97
Secondbass 14:10 30:39 216 198
alexh 14:13 14:40 103 94
Pootle Pootle 14:18 18:42 130 119
Crucifer Crucifer 14:27 14:06 97 88
myles 14:31 19:22 133 122
Freemers 14:32 11:31 79 72
cdb_100 14:38 15:59 109 100
Finzi 14:39 16:11 110 100
CentralLine CentralLine 14:46 16:20 110 100
BlackburnRover 14:47 19:31 132 121
johninterred Johninterred 15:05 18:00 119 109
grape 15:07 16:44 110 100
john.brassey 15:07 11:40 77 70
JezWoolfrey 15:12 16:18 107 98
andrewlake 15:27 15:34 100 91
Looch 15:33 19:53 127 116
RobR RobR 15:35 18:25 118 108
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 15:37 18:05 115 105
LJCN 15:40 14:33 92 84
robinh 15:43 19:14 122 111
Achernar 15:56 18:12 114 104
Squallaby 15:58 17:21 108 99
ilan 16:32 22:55 138 126
TB22 16:57 38:39 228 209
Encota 17:00 17:37 103 94
Crossiant 17:01 14:41 86 78
Stavros Stavrolex 17:16 08:36 49 44
Jeremy S 17:20 18:07 104 95
Craven 17:23 19:01 109 100
GMcD 17:35 16:20 92 84
Obrador 17:49 30:48 172 157
DanSolo 18:15 28:52 158 144
tds 18:19 19:57 108 99
Mike C 18:38 22:53 122 111
pc8 18:47 25:19 134 122
Solver52 18:52 27:00 143 131
julian_w 19:01 23:35 124 113
SeamusX 19:08 15:14 79 72
Zander 19:09 17:10 89 81
McBeakLives 19:12 23:03 120 110
Zabadak3 Zabadak 19:23 19:33 100 91
James P Special_bitter 19:30 28:21 145 133
UisceTe 19:43 23:06 117 107
Hamish.S 19:50 19:50 100 91
gsriordan52 19:57 28:40 143 131
endafk 20:02 28:17 141 129
doublecross anguswalker 20:23 21:55 107 98
Waterloo 20:38 28:50 139 127
george.garlick 21:44 21:26 98 89
Rod B 21:44 21:46 100 91
crosswordian 21:58 29:06 132 121
david_ch 22:11 21:30 96 88
stainl665 22:13 28:03 126 115
richardCV22 22:30 26:40 118 108
Tudds 22:39 23:55 105 96
Brenk Brenk1 22:48 37:00 162 148
goblin 22:51 24:46 108 99
1234 23:01 42:52 186 170
Crippens1 23:23 30:42 131 120
rjcassidy rjcassidy 23:39 34:04 144 132
Edprof 24:04 23:28 97 88
janesa 24:32 35:45 145 133
chris661554 24:33 40:42 165 151
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:02 25:17 100 91
joe.mcgrane 25:13 34:31 136 124
infinitejest 25:22 35:15 138 126
tony the butcher montana 25:32 26:10 102 93
6098mr 25:35 21:17 83 76
crucihacker 25:55 19:30 75 68
Gussie 25:58 23:19 89 81
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 25:59 33:14 127 116
nekabue 27:01 26:43 98 89
Rowlie26 27:08 25:38 94 86
barracuda barracuda 27:11 29:28 108 99
ulaca ulaca 27:36 24:01 87 79
pvoller 28:02 37:50 134 122
NAPASAI napasai 28:03 30:44 109 100
Mike Harper Mike Harper 28:21 42:28 149 136
Winchelt 29:01 34:08 117 107
annikins 29:23 34:57 118 108
hipponym 29:44 44:19 149 136
SK42 30:05 39:06 129 118
rosselliot 30:18 40:09 132 121
Manveru 30:39 34:27 112 102
gbestanley 30:58 25:09 81 74
BertieVII 31:12 49:29 158 144
koro kororareka 32:40 40:15 123 112
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 33:10 66:21 200 183
simjt simjt 33:52 50:14 148 135
Lloyd 34:27 48:26 140 128
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 34:29 43:25 125 114
Birdingbob 34:32 30:18 87 79
j.stanton734 34:52 53:07 152 139
boltonwanderer 35:26 52:00 146 133
Cryptique 36:02 25:55 71 65
HanS 37:58 48:03 126 115
rv_1 38:05 33:07 86 78
baronrob 43:16 57:24 132 121
empty 45:05 46:01 102 93
Steve Wood 48:23 49:14 101 92
MartinP MartinP1 49:30 45:19 91 83
The Real Steve Snackman 52:01 51:22 98 89
profsjpayne 52:41 119:45 227 208
intentional rounding 52:53 45:15 85 77

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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