Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29051

Date 18 October 2024
Number 29051
Day of week Friday
NITCH 104
Count of ref solvers 65
Ref solvers excluded with errors 10
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29051

* 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 04:41 03:47 80 76
Diskus 05:47 06:06 105 100
lili 06:12 07:00 112 107
verlaine Verlaine 06:28 05:57 92 88
Jason 06:37 05:46 87 83
Paul Gilbert 06:53 05:50 84 80
mistigris 06:56 09:02 130 125
cmjhutton 07:10 05:36 78 75
aphis99 aphis99 07:24 09:03 122 117
Contrarian3 08:49 09:59 113 108
asaldanha 09:07 09:06 99 95
markdobell 09:39 09:37 99 95
tiggis 10:15 13:39 133 127
chindit 10:20 10:33 102 98
AlanS 10:21 10:43 103 99
glheard glh 10:23 10:51 104 100
Kinghedger 10:26 12:16 117 112
Deane Short Deane Short 10:29 10:46 102 98
HoneyBadger HoneyBadger 10:38 11:06 104 100
Topical Tim Topical Tim 10:40 12:40 118 113
KenD51 10:42 08:27 78 75
lickert 10:47 14:25 133 127
keriothe_ keriothe 11:15 09:07 81 77
miked1961 11:27 14:58 130 125
neilr neilr 11:27 15:10 132 126
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 11:32 15:45 136 130
SimonAnthony 11:33 11:21 98 94
fshephe 11:35 16:59 146 140
David Crooks dcrooks 11:39 11:33 99 95
Morphosis 11:45 14:21 122 117
scrabbler 11:52 12:19 103 99
edwards.robert1 11:53 09:33 80 76
chriswords 12:02 11:37 96 92
andy 12:04 14:16 118 113
Sheapey Sheapey 12:09 07:42 63 60
aphasic 12:21 16:38 134 128
Golvellius 12:46 18:13 142 136
John Walsh 12:48 14:45 115 110
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 12:58 12:29 96 92
Silva 13:02 15:59 122 117
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:04 16:02 122 117
March (JeffCollins) mch1 13:07 11:16 85 81
michaelbell53 13:09 12:40 96 92
JimboFS 13:15 15:33 117 112
LouWeed LouWeed 13:27 11:40 86 82
Derek Harrison 13:34 11:24 84 80
Penfold_61 Penfold 13:42 13:16 96 92
Pootle Pootle 13:45 15:45 114 109
Freemers 13:50 14:49 107 102
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:50 17:53 129 124
Ben Staveley 13:52 18:19 132 126
howardwilde1 13:53 23:53 172 165
Semillon 13:59 15:02 107 102
Peponi13 14:04 14:06 100 96
Groucho 14:05 15:42 111 106
franceslc11 14:23 12:50 89 85
alexh 14:24 13:10 91 87
myles 14:36 15:40 107 102
Secondbass 14:42 18:05 123 118
grape 15:00 22:00 146 140
CentralLine CentralLine 15:01 15:06 100 96
BlackburnRover 15:12 19:06 125 120
Finzi 15:16 17:16 113 108
Looch 15:19 14:32 94 90
phthisis 15:31 16:10 104 100
tapbarker 15:48 16:00 101 97
RobR RobR 15:57 14:00 87 83
MK76 15:58 14:46 92 88
LJCN 15:59 19:59 125 120
Amoeba89 Amoeba 16:13 19:54 122 117
robinh 16:18 20:07 123 118
DunPangolin 16:21 20:07 123 118
Jeremy S 16:27 19:28 118 113
Squallaby 16:27 21:52 132 126
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 16:41 16:54 101 97
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 16:45 19:08 114 109
ilan 16:51 16:04 95 91
Encota 16:58 19:51 116 111
PGooden 17:06 20:14 118 113
Riche Riche 17:08 16:41 97 93
jimwetzler 17:15 22:40 131 125
GMcD 17:19 18:58 109 104
Colin2355 17:35 18:58 107 102
Craven 17:42 21:40 122 117
pterodactyl 17:56 25:50 144 138
DanSolo 18:05 20:30 113 108
LuckOfLucien 18:11 14:46 81 77
McBeakLives 18:22 26:51 146 140
SeamusX 18:25 10:18 55 52
doublecross anguswalker 18:35 15:33 83 79
tds 18:39 18:54 101 97
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:43 21:39 115 110
Mike C 18:44 18:05 96 92
hopkinb hopkinb 18:51 23:24 124 119
Cookincats 18:58 19:25 102 98
endafk 19:00 24:14 127 122
Dvynys dvynys 19:04 20:05 105 100
Zabadak3 Zabadak 19:05 24:33 128 123
Jeremy Kenyon 19:10 18:45 97 93
rrricharrrd 19:12 22:24 116 111
Zander 19:22 19:01 98 94
daniel.faith 19:31 16:45 85 81
James P Special_bitter 19:35 18:14 93 89
uvofiz 19:47 20:41 104 100
dec 19:57 19:42 98 94
Hamish.S 20:08 19:52 98 94
squark 20:10 17:37 87 83
Astonvilla1 20:29 23:58 117 112
Rod B 20:51 22:43 108 103
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 20:53 28:16 135 129
Waterloo 21:04 22:28 106 101
andrewfeist96 21:13 21:21 100 96
george.garlick 21:23 16:37 77 74
david_ch 21:30 16:30 76 73
Tudds 22:29 28:35 127 122
Corymbia Corymbia 22:31 19:30 86 82
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 22:52 23:01 100 96
goblin 22:59 21:24 93 89
stainl665 23:04 22:11 96 92
gsriordan52 23:16 23:33 101 97
medodd 23:39 21:35 91 87
The Caffeine Kid 23:40 33:23 141 135
janesa 23:46 29:17 123 118
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:15 21:43 89 85
Crippens1 24:29 25:08 102 98
1234 24:32 25:42 104 100
Dr_Bob 24:51 32:26 130 125
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:07 29:50 118 113
jimancliffe 25:07 31:09 124 119
chris661554 25:34 28:46 112 107
En Cee 25:48 27:47 107 102
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 26:00 39:00 150 144
Deezzaa Deezzaa 26:34 27:26 103 99
Brenk Brenk1 26:35 23:17 87 83
Bert Dove 27:19 27:19 100 96
ulaca ulaca 27:19 24:34 89 85
Mudge Mudge 27:25 21:28 78 75
symbenall2 29:08 44:44 153 147
Mike Harper Mike Harper 29:10 40:46 139 133
NAPASAI napasai 29:22 28:13 96 92
Winchelt 29:29 54:55 186 178
gbestanley 29:39 35:34 119 114
rosselliot 30:12 42:57 142 136
Manveru 31:05 28:51 92 88
RogerC 31:37 23:15 73 70
alistair.boere 31:50 36:31 114 109
simjt simjt 32:22 39:42 122 117
Rookie 32:41 43:25 132 126
TonyN6 32:47 34:57 106 101
vinyl12345 vinyl1 33:05 36:37 110 105
starstruck starstruck_au 33:59 30:34 89 85
Birdingbob 34:19 32:16 94 90
dosbarth 34:42 40:02 115 110
koro kororareka 35:07 36:59 105 100
bruce.johnston22 35:09 41:24 117 112
kapietro kapietro 35:40 34:07 95 91
Shushannah 36:45 40:55 111 106
Word Psmith wordpsmith 37:53 46:44 123 118
rv_1 38:20 64:27 168 161
hydrochoos hydrochoos 39:14 50:00 127 122
HanS 39:30 38:09 96 92
baronrob 42:53 55:27 129 124
CoxBurglar coxburglar 43:47 31:24 71 68
MartinP MartinP1 47:56 53:35 111 106
The Real Steve Snackman 48:29 32:51 67 64
paulmcl paulmcl 58:28 47:55 81 77

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.

Loading...
Loading...
Back