Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29019

Date 11 September 2024
Number 29019
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 78
Count of ref solvers 65
Ref solvers excluded with errors 7
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29019

* 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 03:59 83 106
Nathan Panning 05:40 04:34 80 102
Diskus 05:43 05:45 100 128
Jason 06:23 06:47 106 135
lili 06:24 05:14 81 103
verlaine Verlaine 06:30 07:19 112 143
mistigris 06:59 05:55 84 107
Paul Gilbert 07:02 07:26 105 134
cmjhutton 07:16 03:45 51 65
aphis99 aphis99 07:29 05:56 79 101
boulemiche 08:57 09:50 109 139
samgdavies 08:57 07:53 88 112
asaldanha 09:03 05:51 64 82
Umpire 09:55 07:39 77 98
Kinghedger 10:12 09:01 88 112
chindit 10:14 09:41 94 120
Deane Short Deane Short 10:37 08:30 80 102
Topical Tim Topical Tim 10:42 09:49 91 116
KenD51 10:42 06:36 61 78
lickert 10:44 08:53 82 105
HoneyBadger 10:49 11:01 101 129
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 11:09 09:42 86 110
keriothe_ keriothe 11:22 07:51 69 88
miked1961 11:29 08:16 71 91
SimonAnthony 11:35 08:30 73 93
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:40 08:07 69 88
David Crooks dcrooks 11:41 09:13 78 100
Morphosis 11:47 08:49 74 94
toots 11:50 13:22 112 143
scrabbler 11:50 09:42 81 103
Sheapey Sheapey 12:00 09:51 82 105
chriswords 12:04 10:25 86 110
andy 12:05 07:57 65 83
fuzz 12:08 14:05 116 148
canismiser 12:15 13:00 106 135
tilbee 12:20 09:34 77 98
d.middleton 12:35 12:59 103 132
John Walsh 12:39 12:58 102 130
robertL 12:46 08:54 69 88
aphasic 12:46 10:10 79 101
Golvellius 12:47 10:12 79 101
ChuckB 12:52 09:50 76 97
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 12:57 12:02 92 117
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 12:58 11:17 87 111
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:00 11:22 87 111
Silva 13:08 08:43 66 84
Paul Bacon 13:20 12:55 96 123
LouWeed LouWeed 13:38 15:35 114 146
Penfold_61 Penfold 13:39 11:34 84 107
Eddddddd 13:40 14:06 103 132
njnclarke 13:42 15:20 111 142
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:48 13:14 95 121
Groucho 13:59 15:15 109 139
Freemers 13:59 10:33 75 96
gabrojak 14:03 12:11 86 110
Pootle Pootle 14:05 11:21 80 102
john.brassey 14:15 14:14 99 126
Semillon 14:17 07:55 55 70
Crucifer Crucifer 14:17 11:23 79 101
Peponi13 14:17 12:50 89 114
Tibthorpe 14:20 08:51 61 78
Ben Staveley 14:21 09:50 68 87
Secondbass 14:24 13:51 96 123
cdb_100 14:38 10:23 70 89
myles 14:43 14:37 99 126
CentralLine CentralLine 14:53 19:37 131 167
JezWoolfrey 15:04 13:45 91 116
Finzi 15:10 12:30 82 105
johninterred Johninterred 15:11 11:13 73 93
BlackburnRover 15:19 15:07 98 125
andrewlake 15:35 16:35 106 135
Looch 15:38 12:50 82 105
daulbs 15:41 12:16 78 100
MK76 15:46 14:35 92 117
tapbarker 15:48 11:48 74 94
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 15:56 10:11 63 80
LJCN 15:56 14:24 90 115
chriswestontour 16:00 17:18 108 138
Achernar 16:02 14:08 88 112
Squallaby 16:14 19:27 119 152
Jeremy S 16:33 11:31 69 88
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 16:41 11:11 67 85
ilan 16:53 12:46 75 96
cmcnsmith 16:55 16:50 99 126
Encota 16:57 16:07 95 121
Stavros Stavrolex 17:16 12:08 70 89
GMcD 17:17 17:28 101 129
Crossiant 17:20 13:59 80 102
PGooden 17:25 13:03 74 94
Craven 17:34 16:18 92 117
Riche Riche 17:35 11:28 65 83
pterodactyl 17:59 18:45 104 133
rrricharrrd 18:19 14:57 81 103
Dvynys dvynys 18:33 15:59 86 110
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:39 18:07 97 124
hopkinb hopkinb 18:43 16:02 85 108
McBeakLives 18:44 13:59 74 94
Jeremy Kenyon 18:51 10:50 57 73
julian_w 18:53 11:36 61 78
Curarist Curarist 18:54 21:13 112 143
martinede 18:54 23:56 126 161
Zabadak3 Zabadak 18:58 14:54 78 100
KET 19:00 17:42 93 119
endafk 19:00 24:39 129 165
John Arnold 19:03 19:28 102 130
pc8 19:24 10:37 54 69
Solver52 19:25 17:24 89 114
James P Special_bitter 19:37 14:35 74 94
Zander 19:40 16:35 84 107
uvofiz 19:54 20:41 103 132
daniel.faith 20:03 10:01 49 62
Hamish.S 20:07 14:10 70 89
kath 20:09 22:27 111 142
dec 20:09 16:39 82 105
UisceTe 20:30 18:53 92 117
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:43 16:12 78 100
Nangle 20:51 18:50 90 115
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 20:59 14:42 70 89
david_ch 21:10 14:50 70 89
Waterloo 21:13 15:39 73 93
andrewfeist96 21:28 16:45 78 100
Corymbia Corymbia 21:37 12:50 59 75
Tudds 22:23 14:23 64 82
richardCV22 22:46 11:41 51 65
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 22:51 16:40 72 92
goblin 23:08 22:12 95 121
gsriordan52 23:13 15:38 67 85
medodd 23:35 23:13 98 125
Crippens1 24:24 17:25 71 91
Dr_Bob 24:57 19:56 79 101
Fidelio 24:58 16:38 66 84
Rowlie26 25:30 13:47 54 69
chris661554 25:31 16:13 63 80
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:34 22:46 89 114
Brenk Brenk1 25:49 15:35 60 76
SlumdogEngineer 25:57 19:34 75 96
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 26:20 23:00 87 111
crucihacker 26:27 14:11 53 67
JayEm 26:43 39:22 147 188
infinitejest 26:45 14:46 55 70
Deezzaa Deezzaa 27:05 28:35 105 134
ulaca ulaca 27:14 21:44 79 101
barracuda barracuda 27:22 21:53 79 101
Mudge Mudge 27:43 27:27 99 126
Mike Harper Mike Harper 29:15 26:54 91 116
nekabue 29:18 27:40 94 120
Grumpole Grumpole 29:57 17:09 57 73
BertieVII 30:16 23:47 78 100
Cryptique 30:40 23:49 77 98
Manveru 30:56 14:11 45 57
RogerC 31:32 22:17 70 89
Lloyd 33:33 20:51 62 79
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 33:41 28:26 84 107
koro kororareka 34:04 38:52 114 146
bruce.johnston22 34:09 22:46 66 84
starstruck starstruck_au 34:42 29:26 84 107
boltonwanderer 35:21 25:00 70 89
Rookie 35:31 34:30 97 124
tyrotim tyrotim 36:15 29:16 80 102
Shushannah 36:31 27:28 75 96
Word Psmith wordpsmith 38:09 33:08 86 110
Dalai Farmer 38:18 32:14 84 107
rv_1 38:45 32:20 83 106
joss henry 39:40 18:24 46 58
maryht 40:50 38:18 93 119
baronrob 44:36 28:13 63 80
empty 45:32 36:22 79 101
MartinP MartinP1 47:55 30:51 64 82
Steve Wood 48:12 27:42 57 73
intentional rounding 48:21 36:32 75 96
The Real Steve Snackman 49:33 33:00 66 84
kjbr 50:21 42:27 84 107
profsjpayne 54:56 26:09 47 60
Masha 57:35 39:34 68 87

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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