Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29017

Date 09 September 2024
Number 29017
Day of week Monday
NITCH 89
Count of ref solvers 69
Ref solvers excluded with errors 7
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29017

* 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 04:46 03:36 75 84
Nathan Panning 05:40 05:41 100 112
Diskus 05:43 05:35 97 108
Jason 06:23 06:39 104 116
lili 06:24 05:14 81 91
verlaine Verlaine 06:30 06:44 103 115
mistigris 06:59 05:51 83 93
Paul Gilbert 07:02 05:39 80 89
cmjhutton 07:16 05:02 69 77
hilarym 07:24 07:55 106 119
aphis99 aphis99 07:29 04:31 60 67
asaldanha 09:03 07:42 85 95
markdobell 09:34 09:12 96 107
Umpire 09:55 09:37 96 107
glheard glh 10:00 06:13 62 69
Kinghedger 10:12 10:22 101 113
chindit 10:14 10:45 105 117
KenD51 10:42 11:46 109 122
Topical Tim Topical Tim 10:42 13:21 124 139
lickert 10:44 09:48 91 102
HoneyBadger 10:49 12:05 111 124
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 11:09 09:28 84 94
keriothe_ keriothe 11:22 10:38 93 104
miked1961 11:29 17:04 148 166
fshephe 11:34 10:51 93 104
SimonAnthony 11:35 09:00 77 86
neilr neilr 11:38 09:27 81 91
Heyesey 11:39 10:33 90 101
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:40 12:33 107 120
David Crooks dcrooks 11:41 11:50 101 113
Sheapey Sheapey 12:00 11:05 92 103
andy 12:05 10:53 90 101
edwards.robert1 12:08 10:27 86 96
tilbee 12:20 12:04 97 108
John Walsh 12:39 14:04 111 124
aphasic 12:46 10:41 83 93
Golvellius 12:47 09:22 73 82
ChuckB 12:52 11:31 89 100
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 12:58 09:48 75 84
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:00 11:14 86 96
Silva 13:08 12:01 91 102
LouWeed LouWeed 13:38 14:11 104 116
Penfold_61 Penfold 13:39 12:44 93 104
Eddddddd 13:40 17:18 126 141
njnclarke 13:42 17:42 129 144
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:48 11:08 80 89
Freemers 13:59 11:32 82 92
Groucho 13:59 12:39 90 101
fishernick79 14:13 10:53 76 85
Peponi13 14:17 11:19 79 88
Crucifer Crucifer 14:17 18:11 127 142
Semillon 14:17 18:32 129 144
Tibthorpe 14:20 12:14 85 95
franceslc11 14:20 15:37 108 121
Ben Staveley 14:21 12:54 89 100
cdb_100 14:38 11:46 80 89
JezWoolfrey 15:04 15:12 100 112
phthisis 15:09 14:05 92 103
Finzi 15:10 14:57 98 110
johninterred Johninterred 15:11 15:11 100 112
andrewlake 15:35 13:03 83 93
Looch 15:38 11:51 75 84
RobR RobR 15:42 13:13 84 94
MK76 15:46 16:52 106 119
tapbarker 15:48 12:36 79 88
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 15:56 19:34 122 137
LJCN 15:56 15:53 99 111
Achernar 16:02 16:37 103 115
AndyR 16:08 17:49 110 123
Squallaby 16:14 15:44 96 107
robinh 16:23 16:30 100 112
Jeremy S 16:33 17:29 105 117
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 16:41 14:44 88 98
DunPangolin 16:48 18:41 111 124
Encota 16:57 15:01 88 98
Stavros Stavrolex 17:16 14:35 84 94
GMcD 17:17 17:21 100 112
Crossiant 17:20 13:49 79 88
PGooden 17:25 15:42 90 101
Colin2355 17:31 16:04 91 102
Craven 17:34 18:09 103 115
pterodactyl 17:59 22:06 122 137
LuckOfLucien 18:08 17:35 96 107
DanSolo 18:10 14:00 77 86
rrricharrrd 18:19 15:40 85 95
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:39 22:12 119 133
McBeakLives 18:44 30:36 163 183
julian_w 18:53 20:28 108 121
martinede 18:54 18:02 95 106
Zabadak3 Zabadak 18:58 17:10 90 101
endafk 19:00 09:39 50 56
John Arnold 19:03 21:05 110 123
Mike C 19:12 17:55 93 104
pc8 19:24 13:38 70 78
Solver52 19:25 19:21 99 111
James P Special_bitter 19:37 20:22 103 115
Zander 19:40 20:11 102 114
daniel.faith 20:03 25:18 126 141
Hamish.S 20:07 24:10 120 134
dec 20:09 19:10 95 106
UisceTe 20:30 28:30 139 156
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:43 22:47 109 122
DianeRS 20:49 19:58 95 106
Upfisher 20:50 24:02 115 129
Waterloo 21:13 18:39 87 97
george.garlick 21:36 20:34 95 106
Corymbia Corymbia 21:37 23:59 110 123
Rod B 21:52 15:59 73 82
Leegoods 22:05 20:29 92 103
Tudds 22:23 28:05 125 140
The Caffeine Kid 22:46 25:27 111 124
richardCV22 22:46 25:37 112 125
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 22:51 20:55 91 102
Jagsfan1971 23:05 40:20 174 195
goblin 23:08 29:29 127 142
gsriordan52 23:13 16:10 69 77
janesa 23:27 18:52 80 89
6098mr 23:30 19:59 85 95
medodd 23:35 23:51 101 113
1234 23:59 24:18 101 113
Crippens1 24:24 21:20 87 97
JE59 24:36 28:48 117 131
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:41 22:44 92 103
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 24:42 19:35 79 88
chris661554 25:31 26:52 105 117
uffindellbirtjn 25:45 21:39 84 94
NAPASAI napasai 25:57 36:11 139 156
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 26:20 20:01 76 85
infinitejest 26:45 26:17 98 110
Deezzaa Deezzaa 27:05 26:51 99 111
ulaca ulaca 27:14 31:07 114 128
barracuda barracuda 27:22 25:58 94 105
Bert Dove 27:37 23:27 84 94
symbenall2 29:07 25:43 88 98
nekabue 29:18 28:58 98 110
Winchelt 29:24 33:59 115 129
gbestanley 30:07 37:52 125 140
Cryptique 30:40 40:38 132 148
hipponym 30:50 34:55 113 126
rosselliot 31:22 32:11 102 114
RogerC 31:32 29:39 94 105
Lloyd 33:33 48:56 145 162
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 33:41 50:07 148 166
koro kororareka 34:04 35:41 104 116
bruce.johnston22 34:09 26:36 77 86
Birdingbob 34:33 27:18 79 88
starstruck starstruck_au 34:42 35:01 100 112
boltonwanderer 35:21 21:00 59 66
Rookie 35:31 56:37 159 178
Shushannah 36:31 37:42 103 115
E Bradford 37:56 36:06 95 106
rv_1 38:45 47:16 121 135
HanS 38:54 51:06 131 147
empty 45:32 41:16 90 101
MartinP MartinP1 47:55 39:29 82 92
Steve Wood 48:12 53:12 110 123
The Real Steve Snackman 49:33 56:27 113 126
kjbr 50:21 44:06 87 97
profsjpayne 54:56 38:06 69 77
Masha 57:35 60:48 105 117
paulmcl paulmcl 57:47 67:31 116 130

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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