Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29023

Date 16 September 2024
Number 29023
Day of week Monday
NITCH 71
Count of ref solvers 63
Ref solvers excluded with errors 12
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29023

* 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 05:40 04:58 87 122
Diskus 05:43 04:13 73 102
Jason 06:23 04:46 74 104
lili 06:24 04:57 77 108
verlaine Verlaine 06:30 05:54 90 126
mistigris 06:59 04:40 66 92
Paul Gilbert 07:02 06:16 89 125
cmjhutton 07:16 05:00 68 95
aphis99 aphis99 07:29 06:15 83 116
samgdavies 08:57 08:17 92 129
markdobell 09:34 06:39 69 97
Umpire 09:55 07:50 78 109
glheard glh 10:00 05:35 55 77
Kinghedger 10:12 08:17 81 114
chindit 10:14 08:14 80 112
Deane Short Deane Short 10:37 10:00 94 132
lickert 10:44 11:22 105 147
HoneyBadger 10:49 08:31 78 109
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 11:09 06:29 58 81
keriothe_ keriothe 11:22 08:39 76 107
miked1961 11:29 07:56 69 97
fshephe 11:34 10:59 94 132
SimonAnthony 11:35 08:43 75 105
neilr neilr 11:38 09:18 79 111
Heyesey 11:39 06:40 57 80
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:40 07:15 62 87
David Crooks dcrooks 11:41 09:02 77 108
scrabbler 11:50 10:13 86 121
toots 11:50 08:25 71 100
Sheapey Sheapey 12:00 09:33 79 111
chriswords 12:04 06:36 54 76
andy 12:05 08:17 68 95
edwards.robert1 12:08 12:44 104 146
canismiser 12:15 07:05 57 80
John Walsh 12:39 13:42 108 152
robertL 12:46 09:15 72 101
aphasic 12:46 09:25 73 102
Golvellius 12:47 10:13 79 111
ChuckB 12:52 11:09 86 121
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 12:58 10:01 77 108
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:00 10:21 79 111
Silva 13:08 09:06 69 97
michaelbell53 13:16 12:25 93 130
JimboFS 13:18 11:11 84 118
Paul Bacon 13:20 11:54 89 125
njnclarke 13:42 07:28 54 76
Pootle Pootle 14:05 10:20 73 102
Peponi13 14:17 08:42 60 84
Crucifer Crucifer 14:17 11:44 82 115
Semillon 14:17 10:10 71 100
franceslc11 14:20 09:41 67 94
Ben Staveley 14:21 11:20 78 109
Secondbass 14:24 10:47 74 104
alexh 14:31 12:15 84 118
cdb_100 14:38 09:36 65 91
myles 14:43 12:37 85 119
zinzan 14:52 16:14 109 153
JezWoolfrey 15:04 12:00 79 111
Finzi 15:10 15:06 99 139
johninterred Johninterred 15:11 06:55 45 63
BlackburnRover 15:19 10:37 69 97
andrewlake 15:35 11:46 75 105
Looch 15:38 13:42 87 122
daulbs 15:41 13:35 86 121
MK76 15:46 15:00 95 133
tapbarker 15:48 12:12 77 108
LJCN 15:56 08:02 50 70
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 15:56 13:01 81 114
chriswestontour 16:00 19:51 124 174
Achernar 16:02 14:05 87 122
Squallaby 16:14 10:38 65 91
robinh 16:23 12:46 77 108
Jeremy S 16:33 09:41 58 81
DunPangolin 16:48 13:55 82 115
ilan 16:53 13:29 79 111
cmcnsmith 16:55 18:58 112 157
ajcauk1 16:59 11:42 68 95
Stavros Stavrolex 17:16 06:53 39 54
GMcD 17:17 16:19 94 132
Crossiant 17:20 12:05 69 97
Riche Riche 17:35 13:47 78 109
Grestyman Grestyman 17:44 16:35 93 130
LuckOfLucien 18:08 18:59 104 146
rrricharrrd 18:19 20:11 110 154
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:39 11:27 61 85
hopkinb hopkinb 18:43 09:56 53 74
McBeakLives 18:44 09:55 52 73
Jeremy Kenyon 18:51 11:31 61 85
martinede 18:54 14:45 78 109
Curarist Curarist 18:54 13:32 71 100
Gallion Fish 18:56 18:39 98 138
Zabadak3 Zabadak 18:58 12:40 66 92
KET 19:00 19:52 104 146
valerian1967 19:07 12:47 66 92
TB22 19:13 13:31 70 98
pc8 19:24 14:19 73 102
Solver52 19:25 17:33 90 126
James P Special_bitter 19:37 14:14 72 101
Zander 19:40 10:31 53 74
Hamish.S 20:07 17:38 87 122
DamienKnapma 20:22 18:18 89 125
UisceTe 20:30 16:56 82 115
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:43 09:16 44 61
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 20:59 13:01 62 87
david_ch 21:10 12:00 56 78
Waterloo 21:13 18:32 87 122
george.garlick 21:36 14:14 65 91
Corymbia Corymbia 21:37 17:36 81 114
Rod B 21:52 15:14 69 97
Tudds 22:23 24:10 107 150
richardCV22 22:46 13:52 60 84
The Caffeine Kid 22:46 22:19 98 138
Jagsfan1971 23:05 28:16 122 171
goblin 23:08 19:05 82 115
gsriordan52 23:13 16:56 72 101
medodd 23:35 16:22 69 97
Crippens1 24:24 20:50 85 119
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:41 16:46 67 94
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 24:42 19:22 78 109
chris661554 25:31 14:39 57 80
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:34 17:50 69 97
uffindellbirtjn 25:45 15:10 58 81
Brenk Brenk1 25:49 22:01 85 119
NAPASAI napasai 25:57 25:20 97 136
SlumdogEngineer 25:57 15:33 59 83
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 26:20 16:12 61 85
hugapug 26:26 25:36 96 135
JayEm 26:43 18:17 68 95
ulaca ulaca 27:14 18:16 67 94
barracuda barracuda 27:22 29:53 109 153
SK42 28:53 15:23 53 74
symbenall2 29:07 20:53 71 100
Mike Harper Mike Harper 29:15 23:30 80 112
nekabue 29:18 19:24 66 92
Winchelt 29:24 26:27 89 125
BertieVII 30:16 20:18 67 94
Cryptique 30:40 21:52 71 100
hipponym 30:50 22:57 74 104
rosselliot 31:22 26:10 83 116
simjt simjt 33:08 23:45 71 100
Lloyd 33:33 16:33 49 69
koro kororareka 34:04 23:31 69 97
Birdingbob 34:33 17:18 50 70
starstruck starstruck_au 34:42 33:32 96 135
boltonwanderer 35:21 24:00 67 94
tyrotim tyrotim 36:15 35:20 97 136
Shushannah 36:31 24:00 65 91
E Bradford 37:56 47:43 125 176
rv_1 38:45 34:14 88 123
HanS 38:54 32:42 84 118
maryht 40:50 25:20 62 87
baronrob 44:36 33:06 74 104
empty 45:32 23:55 52 73
Steve Wood 48:12 31:36 65 91
The Real Steve Snackman 49:33 34:32 69 97
kjbr 50:21 37:57 75 105

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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