Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 28981

Date 29 July 2024
Number 28981
Day of week Monday
NITCH 55
Count of ref solvers 67
Ref solvers excluded with errors 3
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28981

* 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
Nathan Panning 05:36 03:08 55 100
Diskus 05:42 04:35 80 145
Jason 06:24 04:51 75 136
hilarym 07:02 05:01 71 129
Paul Gilbert 07:07 02:53 40 72
aphis99 aphis99 07:24 04:14 57 103
Contrarian3 08:50 04:28 50 90
asaldanha 09:00 04:34 50 90
boulemiche 09:03 05:48 64 116
samgdavies 09:09 07:15 79 143
glheard glh 09:42 06:06 62 112
markdobell 09:45 06:00 61 110
chindit 10:01 06:08 61 110
Kinghedger 10:13 05:49 56 101
lickert 10:30 07:41 73 132
Deane Short Deane Short 10:34 05:59 56 101
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:57 05:59 54 98
AlanS 11:00 06:37 60 109
keriothe_ keriothe 11:06 06:52 61 110
KenD51 11:08 07:23 66 120
HoneyBadger 11:09 07:44 69 125
miked1961 11:13 05:57 53 96
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:26 06:20 55 100
neilr neilr 11:28 06:57 60 109
SimonAnthony 11:33 05:00 43 78
fshephe 11:34 09:13 79 143
Heyesey 11:41 05:18 45 81
Morphosis 11:45 05:11 44 80
scrabbler 11:45 09:09 77 140
chriswords 11:54 06:35 55 100
David Crooks dcrooks 11:54 06:52 57 103
Sheapey Sheapey 12:00 06:28 53 96
toots 12:01 06:36 54 98
andy 12:05 06:50 56 101
tilbee 12:17 07:03 57 103
Golvellius 12:24 05:38 45 81
d.middleton 12:34 07:25 59 107
John Walsh 12:36 09:15 73 132
aphasic 12:42 06:18 49 89
edwards.robert1 12:46 10:32 82 149
March (JeffCollins) mch1 12:46 07:34 59 107
canismiser 12:50 09:41 75 136
ChuckB 13:00 08:45 67 121
JimboFS 13:08 06:15 47 85
Silva 13:11 07:25 56 101
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:12 07:53 59 107
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:15 05:10 38 69
Eddddddd 13:21 08:39 64 116
Paul Bacon 13:25 08:58 66 120
Penfold_61 Penfold 13:35 07:06 52 94
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:38 10:03 73 132
Groucho 13:40 08:45 64 116
LouWeed LouWeed 13:50 06:55 50 90
Crucifer Crucifer 14:06 06:36 46 83
njnclarke 14:11 10:35 74 134
Tibthorpe 14:13 08:04 56 101
Semillon 14:15 07:03 49 89
Pootle Pootle 14:18 07:44 54 98
Freemers 14:25 12:06 83 150
alexh 14:27 07:24 51 92
Peponi13 14:31 09:36 66 120
Secondbass 14:32 07:32 51 92
myles 14:36 10:05 69 125
johninterred Johninterred 14:42 08:06 55 100
franceslc11 14:47 07:37 51 92
Finzi 14:49 07:38 51 92
AndyR 14:53 10:34 70 127
cdb_100 14:56 07:54 52 94
zinzan 15:01 09:56 66 120
grape 15:04 08:09 54 98
CentralLine CentralLine 15:04 06:41 44 80
BlackburnRover 15:06 13:04 86 156
RobR RobR 15:16 07:21 48 87
GeorgeTz 15:30 09:36 61 110
Looch 15:31 09:36 61 110
andrewlake 15:35 09:05 58 105
JezWoolfrey 15:43 11:28 72 130
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 15:45 08:05 51 92
Achernar 15:51 13:07 82 149
LJCN 15:51 09:10 57 103
chriswestontour 15:55 10:42 67 121
robinh 15:56 12:06 75 136
MK76 16:04 09:47 60 109
Jeremy S 16:12 09:40 59 107
jimwetzler 16:32 10:55 66 120
ilan 16:36 10:22 62 112
DunPangolin 16:54 09:16 54 98
ajcauk1 17:05 14:34 85 154
cmcnsmith 17:07 10:30 61 110
Colin2355 17:07 08:31 49 89
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:17 08:21 48 87
Encota 17:21 10:23 59 107
Craven 17:32 11:16 64 116
Crossiant 17:34 09:05 51 92
GMcD 17:36 10:29 59 107
SeamusX 17:41 10:29 59 107
npweston 17:44 11:26 64 116
Obrador 17:47 10:19 58 105
Riche Riche 18:11 07:10 39 70
Philip_ 18:14 14:24 78 141
DanSolo 18:20 10:29 57 103
hopkinb hopkinb 18:24 09:50 53 96
TB22 18:37 08:23 45 81
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:44 10:07 54 98
pc8 18:44 08:20 44 80
SBQuick 18:46 10:15 54 98
martinede 18:53 11:50 62 112
Solver52 19:05 14:23 75 136
Curarist Curarist 19:06 09:47 51 92
rrricharrrd 19:10 08:37 44 80
Gallion Fish 19:20 11:39 60 109
James P Special_bitter 19:20 09:32 49 89
Jeremy Kenyon 19:31 08:52 45 81
daniel.faith 19:35 12:16 62 112
endafk 19:41 11:07 56 101
McBeakLives 19:44 11:29 58 105
doublecross anguswalker 19:46 08:47 44 80
dec 19:55 09:12 46 83
DianeRS 20:02 12:46 63 114
gsriordan52 20:10 12:41 62 112
DamienKnapma 20:36 13:21 64 116
uvofiz 20:41 10:24 50 90
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 20:56 09:42 46 83
Nangle 21:01 15:47 75 136
Corymbia Corymbia 21:08 10:13 48 87
george.garlick 21:20 10:54 51 92
David Bourne 21:30 09:49 45 81
Rod B 22:12 13:03 58 105
Tudds 22:30 09:20 41 74
richardCV22 22:31 13:14 58 105
Jagsfan1971 23:05 12:51 55 100
goblin 23:10 14:13 61 110
medodd 23:35 15:55 67 121
1234 23:38 15:03 63 114
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:21 12:09 49 89
Brenk Brenk1 24:23 10:50 44 80
klamery4 24:38 13:29 54 98
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 24:48 11:55 48 87
Dr_Bob 25:09 10:34 42 76
Fidelio 25:18 16:16 64 116
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:23 16:09 63 114
Dr. Memory 25:54 23:06 89 161
crucihacker 26:05 10:04 38 69
Rowlie26 26:22 11:29 43 78
joe.mcgrane 26:42 22:31 84 152
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 26:52 11:28 42 76
Deezzaa Deezzaa 27:14 11:21 41 74
barracuda barracuda 27:14 15:26 56 101
SlumdogEngineer 27:17 11:31 42 76
ulaca ulaca 28:16 10:49 38 69
Mike Harper Mike Harper 28:50 10:21 35 63
symbenall2 28:53 11:44 40 72
Winchelt 29:13 27:10 92 167
pvoller 29:20 17:01 58 105
Cryptique 30:12 15:57 52 94
BertieVII 30:17 14:49 48 87
Grumpole Grumpole 30:30 19:22 63 114
gbestanley 30:35 16:23 53 96
Manveru 30:39 17:00 55 100
rosselliot 31:25 15:53 50 90
vinyl12345 vinyl1 32:08 15:00 46 83
simjt simjt 33:12 22:19 67 121
dosbarth 33:30 25:23 75 136
koro kororareka 33:40 21:43 64 116
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 33:44 22:10 65 118
Lloyd 34:09 22:58 67 121
alistair.boere 34:19 19:53 57 103
Rookie 34:20 14:59 43 78
boltonwanderer 34:58 13:00 37 67
starstruck starstruck_au 35:09 13:47 39 70
gothick gothick 35:31 15:00 42 76
kapietro kapietro 35:55 25:49 71 129
Shushannah 36:17 20:40 56 101
Dalai Farmer 38:08 15:40 41 74
E Bradford 38:20 23:54 62 112
HanS 38:46 20:37 53 96
maryht 39:05 30:10 77 140
rv_1 39:14 22:06 56 101
CoxBurglar coxburglar 39:41 16:33 41 74
piltdown man 40:07 15:17 38 69
empty 44:26 18:48 42 76
Steve Wood 47:51 19:22 40 72
kjbr 48:27 25:29 52 94
MartinP MartinP1 48:37 20:06 41 74
The Real Steve Snackman 49:39 25:37 51 92
intentional rounding 49:57 26:13 52 94
paulmcl paulmcl 59:25 43:13 72 130

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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