Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29027

Date 20 September 2024
Number 29027
Day of week Friday
NITCH 96
Count of ref solvers 71
Ref solvers excluded with errors 16
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29027

* 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 09:40 170 177
Diskus 05:43 04:32 79 82
Magoo 06:11 06:24 103 107
lili 06:24 06:10 96 100
verlaine Verlaine 06:30 05:25 83 86
mistigris 06:59 06:45 96 100
Paul Gilbert 07:02 09:11 130 135
cmjhutton 07:16 05:52 80 83
aphis99 aphis99 07:29 08:00 106 110
samgdavies 08:57 07:28 83 86
asaldanha 09:03 10:24 114 118
Umpire 09:55 13:33 136 141
Kinghedger 10:12 11:10 109 113
chindit 10:14 11:04 108 112
AlanS 10:41 10:16 96 100
Topical Tim Topical Tim 10:42 09:05 84 87
lickert 10:44 10:53 101 105
HoneyBadger 10:49 11:18 104 108
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 11:09 12:55 115 119
keriothe_ keriothe 11:22 10:11 89 92
miked1961 11:29 08:42 75 78
fshephe 11:34 11:59 103 107
neilr neilr 11:38 13:08 112 116
Morphosis 11:47 12:03 102 106
scrabbler 11:50 10:00 84 87
Sheapey Sheapey 12:00 11:23 94 97
chriswords 12:04 12:28 103 107
andy 12:05 09:31 78 81
edwards.robert1 12:08 10:03 82 85
canismiser 12:15 12:05 98 102
tilbee 12:20 11:42 94 97
aphasic 12:46 13:38 106 110
Golvellius 12:47 11:06 86 89
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 12:57 16:57 130 135
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:00 09:42 74 77
Silva 13:08 13:16 101 105
michaelbell53 13:16 12:49 96 100
LouWeed LouWeed 13:38 11:24 83 86
Eddddddd 13:40 14:02 102 106
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:48 16:01 116 120
Groucho 13:59 13:41 97 101
Pootle Pootle 14:05 22:02 156 162
Crucifer Crucifer 14:17 17:04 119 123
Semillon 14:17 11:03 77 80
Tibthorpe 14:20 13:48 96 100
Ben Staveley 14:21 15:22 107 111
Secondbass 14:24 13:51 96 100
cdb_100 14:38 15:40 107 111
GeorgeTz 14:45 13:06 88 91
JezWoolfrey 15:04 12:50 85 88
phthisis 15:09 10:44 70 72
Finzi 15:10 16:18 107 111
johninterred Johninterred 15:11 17:07 112 116
BlackburnRover 15:19 14:40 95 98
andrewlake 15:35 11:56 76 79
Looch 15:38 14:01 89 92
daulbs 15:41 13:42 87 90
tapbarker 15:48 18:04 114 118
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 15:56 15:26 96 100
LJCN 15:56 21:59 137 142
Achernar 16:02 20:21 126 131
Squallaby 16:14 17:25 107 111
robinh 16:23 15:59 97 101
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 16:41 14:44 88 91
DunPangolin 16:48 18:08 107 111
ilan 16:53 16:37 98 102
Encota 16:57 13:31 79 82
jimwetzler 16:58 18:44 110 114
ajcauk1 16:59 19:09 112 116
Stavros Stavrolex 17:16 08:45 50 52
GMcD 17:17 18:06 104 108
Crossiant 17:20 18:44 108 112
Craven 17:34 17:00 96 100
Riche Riche 17:35 21:37 122 127
Dr Dolittle 17:47 04:54 27 28
LuckOfLucien 18:08 19:58 110 114
DanSolo 18:10 19:31 107 111
rrricharrrd 18:19 15:46 86 89
Dvynys dvynys 18:33 23:04 124 129
tds 18:41 18:12 97 101
hopkinb hopkinb 18:43 22:17 119 123
Jeremy Kenyon 18:51 23:49 126 131
julian_w 18:53 15:44 83 86
martinede 18:54 21:30 113 117
Curarist Curarist 18:54 14:59 79 82
Gallion Fish 18:56 19:11 101 105
Zabadak3 Zabadak 18:58 26:39 140 145
endafk 19:00 16:32 87 90
pc8 19:24 19:13 99 103
James P Special_bitter 19:37 19:05 97 101
Zander 19:40 19:56 101 105
uvofiz 19:54 20:30 103 107
daniel.faith 20:03 16:44 83 86
UisceTe 20:30 18:57 92 95
Pxspxs 20:42 15:54 76 79
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:43 24:56 120 125
drginacoco 20:47 21:52 105 109
DianeRS 20:49 40:06 192 200
david_ch 21:10 28:20 133 138
george.garlick 21:36 21:40 100 104
Corymbia Corymbia 21:37 23:58 110 114
Leegoods 22:05 25:19 114 118
The Caffeine Kid 22:46 21:01 92 95
richardCV22 22:46 15:34 68 70
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 22:51 28:15 123 128
goblin 23:08 22:29 97 101
gsriordan52 23:13 27:20 117 121
janesa 23:27 26:14 111 115
6098mr 23:30 19:15 81 84
1234 23:59 34:36 144 150
klamery4 24:21 25:30 104 108
Crippens1 24:24 27:41 113 117
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:41 22:21 90 93
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 24:42 28:46 116 120
Fidelio 24:58 24:29 98 102
Rowlie26 25:30 20:08 78 81
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:34 23:56 93 96
Brenk Brenk1 25:49 27:43 107 111
infinitejest 26:45 24:54 93 96
Deezzaa Deezzaa 27:05 30:27 112 116
ulaca ulaca 27:14 28:54 106 110
barracuda barracuda 27:22 32:27 118 122
Bert Dove 27:37 32:39 118 122
Mike Harper Mike Harper 29:15 31:56 109 113
nekabue 29:18 31:54 108 112
Winchelt 29:24 37:13 126 131
BertieVII 30:16 50:19 166 172
Cryptique 30:40 37:30 122 127
Manveru 30:56 31:51 102 106
rosselliot 31:22 36:27 116 120
koro kororareka 34:04 28:35 83 86
bruce.johnston22 34:09 41:14 120 125
Birdingbob 34:33 40:45 117 121
dosbarth 35:02 39:56 113 117
boltonwanderer 35:21 24:00 67 69
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 35:29 40:33 114 118
j.stanton734 35:54 45:22 126 131
E Bradford 37:56 56:35 149 155
hydrochoos hydrochoos 39:15 39:00 99 103
jackk.larg 39:56 36:12 90 93
maryht 40:50 41:49 102 106
MartinP MartinP1 47:55 38:40 80 83
Steve Wood 48:12 58:52 122 127
intentional rounding 48:21 33:40 69 71
The Real Steve Snackman 49:33 41:04 82 85
kjbr 50:21 62:31 124 129
profsjpayne 54:56 78:02 142 147
Masha 57:35 98:38 171 178
paulmcl paulmcl 57:47 65:52 113 117

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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