Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28979

Date 26 July 2024
Number 28979
Day of week Friday
NITCH 107
Count of ref solvers 62
Ref solvers excluded with errors 7
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28979

* 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 05:48 132 123
mohn mohn2 04:34 06:00 131 122
Nathan Panning 05:42 07:37 133 124
Diskus 05:47 05:31 95 88
Jason 06:15 08:49 141 131
lili 06:26 05:45 89 83
verlaine Verlaine 06:29 06:23 98 91
aphis99 aphis99 07:20 06:16 85 79
cmjhutton 07:38 10:00 131 122
richard 08:42 10:30 120 112
Contrarian3 09:06 10:05 110 102
markdobell 09:36 09:12 95 88
Umpire 09:56 12:59 130 121
Kinghedger 10:07 13:37 134 125
Deane Short Deane Short 10:30 14:23 136 127
Topical Tim Topical Tim 10:40 17:40 165 154
HoneyBadger 10:58 12:18 112 104
miked1961 11:01 10:42 97 90
keriothe_ keriothe 11:05 10:07 91 85
KenD51 11:11 09:06 81 75
AlanS 11:14 10:24 92 85
Sheapey Sheapey 11:27 14:26 126 117
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:28 11:59 104 97
neilr neilr 11:37 10:55 93 86
fshephe 11:37 14:38 125 116
scrabbler 11:48 14:41 124 115
andy 11:50 17:58 151 141
chriswords 11:53 12:01 101 94
David Crooks dcrooks 11:54 11:05 93 86
fuzz 12:03 12:16 101 94
Golvellius 12:14 12:32 102 95
d.middleton 12:25 16:01 128 119
aphasic 12:28 14:10 113 105
March (JeffCollins) mch1 12:42 09:49 77 71
JimboFS 12:48 15:45 123 114
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 12:50 13:47 107 100
tilbee 12:51 12:27 96 89
edwards.robert1 12:52 10:18 80 74
Silva 12:58 12:51 99 92
Paul Bacon 13:10 17:18 131 122
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:16 18:46 141 131
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:19 16:37 124 115
michaelbell53 13:20 14:24 108 100
Groucho 13:35 17:22 127 118
LouWeed LouWeed 13:40 15:43 115 107
Semillon 14:02 13:44 97 90
Tibthorpe 14:08 15:00 106 99
Secondbass 14:10 14:56 105 98
alexh 14:13 13:33 95 88
Pootle Pootle 14:18 14:00 97 90
franceslc11 14:29 16:42 115 107
Freemers 14:32 13:27 92 85
cdb_100 14:38 18:13 124 115
Finzi 14:39 18:37 127 118
Peponi13 14:44 13:46 93 86
CentralLine CentralLine 14:46 14:48 100 93
johninterred Johninterred 15:05 16:17 107 100
grape 15:07 16:17 107 100
john.brassey 15:07 15:39 103 96
JezWoolfrey 15:12 23:54 157 146
AndyR 15:17 19:52 129 120
tapbarker 15:27 19:53 128 119
andrewlake 15:27 17:08 110 102
Looch 15:33 17:46 114 106
GeorgeTz 15:34 16:34 106 99
RobR RobR 15:35 18:26 118 110
LJCN 15:40 18:30 118 110
robinh 15:43 18:13 115 107
daulbs 15:51 17:29 110 102
Achernar 15:56 14:16 89 83
Squallaby 15:58 23:44 148 138
Amoeba 16:13 14:41 90 84
ajcauk1 16:48 20:50 124 115
TB22 16:57 14:51 87 81
Encota 17:00 14:11 83 77
Crossiant 17:01 18:49 110 102
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:14 15:38 90 84
Stavros Stavrolex 17:16 09:49 56 52
Jeremy S 17:20 17:07 98 91
cmcnsmith 17:21 21:01 121 113
Colin2355 17:22 14:30 83 77
GMcD 17:35 16:05 91 85
Obrador 17:49 21:39 121 113
pterodactyl 18:00 18:56 105 98
Mike C 18:38 17:44 95 88
Riche Riche 18:40 21:51 117 109
pc8 18:47 15:04 80 74
martinede 18:48 20:04 106 99
Solver52 18:52 20:21 107 100
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:58 21:54 115 107
SeamusX 19:08 20:17 106 99
McBeakLives 19:12 16:32 86 80
Zabadak3 Zabadak 19:23 26:21 135 126
James P Special_bitter 19:30 22:23 114 106
Curarist Curarist 19:49 18:42 94 87
Grestyman Grestyman 19:58 09:21 46 42
daniel.faith 20:00 17:47 88 82
endafk 20:02 20:45 103 96
John Arnold 20:09 21:50 108 100
valerian1967 20:19 14:11 69 64
DianeRS 20:28 22:55 111 103
The Caffeine Kid 20:57 45:26 216 201
Nangle 21:11 21:11 100 93
Jagsfan1971 21:15 24:23 114 106
crosswordian 21:58 18:56 86 80
david_ch 22:11 23:40 106 99
richardCV22 22:30 32:56 146 136
Tudds 22:39 20:16 89 83
Brenk Brenk1 22:48 26:34 116 108
goblin 22:51 24:29 107 100
1234 23:01 23:03 100 93
Crippens1 23:23 26:42 114 106
rjcassidy rjcassidy 23:39 28:45 121 113
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 24:06 27:11 112 104
janesa 24:32 25:36 104 97
klamery4 24:44 23:56 96 89
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:02 24:26 97 90
Fidelio 25:12 27:57 110 102
Yatton50 25:47 32:05 124 115
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 25:59 24:16 93 86
SlumdogEngineer 26:18 29:10 110 102
nekabue 27:01 35:50 132 123
Rowlie26 27:08 35:24 130 121
barracuda barracuda 27:11 24:45 91 85
ulaca ulaca 27:36 22:56 83 77
Mike Harper Mike Harper 28:21 27:38 97 90
Winchelt 29:01 68:49 237 221
RogerC 30:10 22:50 75 70
rosselliot 30:18 29:05 95 88
gbestanley 30:58 30:37 98 91
BertieVII 31:12 39:54 127 118
bruce.johnston22 32:38 34:45 106 99
koro kororareka 32:40 33:15 101 94
Rookie 32:42 31:45 97 90
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 33:10 24:12 72 67
alistair.boere 33:30 40:14 120 112
Maggot 33:42 34:09 101 94
Birdingbob 34:32 41:40 120 112
j.stanton734 34:52 22:07 63 58
starstruck starstruck_au 34:52 32:42 93 86
boltonwanderer 35:26 46:00 129 120
Cryptique 36:02 56:18 156 145
kapietro kapietro 36:12 31:22 86 80
Shushannah 36:41 35:37 97 90
HanS 37:58 44:46 117 109
rv_1 38:05 54:17 142 132
maryht 38:36 51:33 133 124
Steve Wood 48:23 45:57 94 87
kjbr 51:40 42:41 82 76
The Real Steve Snackman 52:01 49:43 95 88

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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