Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28978

Date 25 July 2024
Number 28978
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 86
Count of ref solvers 69
Ref solvers excluded with errors 11
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28978

* 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 03:58 86 100
Nathan Panning 05:42 05:06 89 103
Diskus 05:47 04:35 79 91
Jason 06:15 04:30 72 83
lili 06:26 04:22 67 77
verlaine Verlaine 06:29 05:38 86 100
Magoo 06:31 05:48 89 103
hilarym 07:05 09:54 139 161
Paul Gilbert 07:06 07:42 108 125
aphis99 aphis99 07:20 07:06 96 111
cmjhutton 07:38 04:44 62 72
richard 08:42 05:30 63 73
asaldanha 08:59 09:07 101 117
boulemiche 09:02 10:08 112 130
Contrarian3 09:06 07:38 83 96
glheard glh 09:26 11:09 118 137
markdobell 09:36 09:15 96 111
chindit 09:48 08:44 89 103
Umpire 09:56 06:48 68 79
Kinghedger 10:07 12:56 127 147
Dr Dolittle 10:20 30:24 294 341
Deane Short Deane Short 10:30 10:07 96 111
lickert 10:32 08:35 81 94
Topical Tim Topical Tim 10:40 11:03 103 119
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:58 10:40 97 112
HoneyBadger 10:58 08:11 74 86
miked1961 11:01 10:35 96 111
keriothe_ keriothe 11:05 07:03 63 73
AlanS 11:14 08:01 71 82
Sheapey Sheapey 11:27 11:13 97 112
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:28 08:17 72 83
Morphosis 11:28 09:11 80 93
SimonAnthony 11:31 11:20 98 113
neilr neilr 11:37 09:44 83 96
fshephe 11:37 11:02 94 109
scrabbler 11:48 09:47 82 95
andy 11:50 11:42 98 113
chriswords 11:53 11:21 95 110
Golvellius 12:14 09:04 74 86
aphasic 12:28 12:11 97 112
ChuckB 12:38 12:19 97 112
March (JeffCollins) mch1 12:42 12:43 100 116
JimboFS 12:48 13:12 103 119
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 12:50 13:10 102 118
tilbee 12:51 08:03 62 72
edwards.robert1 12:52 10:49 84 97
Silva 12:58 11:01 84 97
BinLinerBob 13:02 07:25 56 65
Paul Bacon 13:10 14:53 113 131
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:16 16:50 126 146
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:19 11:23 85 98
Groucho 13:35 13:35 100 116
robertL 13:37 11:27 84 97
LouWeed LouWeed 13:40 08:44 63 73
Ben Staveley 13:42 15:11 110 127
njnclarke 13:54 10:13 73 84
Semillon 14:02 13:15 94 109
howardwilde1 14:06 12:19 87 101
Tibthorpe 14:08 14:57 105 122
alexh 14:13 15:58 112 130
Pootle Pootle 14:18 19:37 137 159
franceslc11 14:29 11:39 80 93
Freemers 14:32 11:29 79 91
cdb_100 14:38 09:59 68 79
Finzi 14:39 15:18 104 120
Peponi13 14:44 15:26 104 120
BlackburnRover 14:47 16:55 114 132
john.brassey 15:07 20:19 134 155
grape 15:07 20:15 133 154
tapbarker 15:27 15:56 103 119
Looch 15:33 11:24 73 84
zinzan 15:37 10:40 68 79
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 15:37 18:20 117 136
LJCN 15:40 13:41 87 101
robinh 15:43 18:41 118 137
daulbs 15:51 17:08 108 125
Achernar 15:56 16:36 104 120
Amoeba 16:13 15:09 93 108
ilan 16:32 11:56 72 83
TB22 16:57 19:57 117 136
Encota 17:00 18:45 110 127
Stavros Stavrolex 17:16 09:00 52 60
cmcnsmith 17:21 18:01 103 119
Colin2355 17:22 16:18 93 108
Craven 17:23 17:58 103 119
PGooden 17:29 16:05 91 105
GMcD 17:35 14:39 83 96
pterodactyl 18:00 14:26 80 93
hopkinb hopkinb 18:13 17:47 97 112
DanSolo 18:15 17:10 94 109
Mike C 18:38 13:18 71 82
Riche Riche 18:40 17:47 95 110
pc8 18:47 19:19 102 118
martinede 18:48 23:42 126 146
Solver52 18:52 18:12 96 111
SeamusX 19:08 15:54 83 96
Zander 19:09 12:54 67 77
McBeakLives 19:12 16:44 87 101
Zabadak3 Zabadak 19:23 17:42 91 105
Jeremy Kenyon 19:47 17:48 89 103
Curarist Curarist 19:49 16:07 81 94
Hamish.S 19:50 18:53 95 110
gsriordan52 19:57 21:43 108 125
daniel.faith 20:00 22:07 110 127
endafk 20:02 15:14 76 88
John Arnold 20:09 15:26 76 88
valerian1967 20:19 17:36 86 100
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:29 20:27 99 115
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 20:32 21:35 105 122
The Caffeine Kid 20:57 31:22 149 173
DamienKnapma 21:30 23:33 109 126
george.garlick 21:44 19:28 89 103
Rod B 21:44 15:17 70 81
Leegoods 21:44 17:12 79 91
richardCV22 22:30 12:53 57 66
Tudds 22:39 19:04 84 97
Brenk Brenk1 22:48 21:51 95 110
goblin 22:51 23:06 101 117
1234 23:01 31:28 136 158
medodd 23:10 25:40 110 127
Crippens1 23:23 19:21 82 95
rjcassidy rjcassidy 23:39 20:05 84 97
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 24:06 21:00 87 101
monkfish 24:30 16:01 65 75
chris661554 24:33 18:26 75 87
klamery4 24:44 20:01 80 93
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:02 21:08 84 97
JE59 25:14 28:41 113 131
6098mr 25:35 24:31 95 110
Yatton50 25:47 31:28 122 141
crucihacker 25:55 16:22 63 73
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 25:59 24:20 93 108
nekabue 27:01 25:49 95 110
Deezzaa Deezzaa 27:03 25:12 93 108
ulaca ulaca 27:36 15:34 56 65
pvoller 28:02 27:56 99 115
Mike Harper Mike Harper 28:21 24:26 86 100
JayEm 28:38 21:08 73 84
Winchelt 29:01 40:59 141 163
symbenall2 29:09 28:51 98 113
hipponym 29:44 25:59 87 101
Manveru 30:39 22:31 73 84
vinyl12345 vinyl1 31:20 25:00 79 91
dosbarth 32:28 43:45 134 155
koro kororareka 32:40 25:43 78 90
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 33:10 33:14 100 116
alistair.boere 33:30 30:59 92 106
simjt simjt 33:52 40:03 118 137
Lloyd 34:27 29:45 86 100
starstruck starstruck_au 34:52 21:05 60 69
boltonwanderer 35:26 28:00 79 91
Cryptique 36:02 14:45 40 46
kapietro kapietro 36:12 34:12 94 109
rv_1 38:05 52:13 137 159
maryht 38:36 43:48 113 131
jackk.larg 40:10 28:32 71 82
empty 45:05 47:49 106 123
Steve Wood 48:23 42:54 88 102
MartinP MartinP1 49:30 37:01 74 86
kjbr 51:40 47:27 91 105
The Real Steve Snackman 52:01 41:38 80 93
profsjpayne 52:41 51:22 97 112
intentional rounding 52:53 39:01 73 84
The Mighty Salmon 56:29 31:26 55 63

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.

Loading...
Loading...
Back