Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29061

Date 30 October 2024
Number 29061
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 80
Count of ref solvers 60
Ref solvers excluded with errors 9
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29061

* 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
Jason 06:30 03:11 48 60
mistigris 06:56 06:46 97 121
cmjhutton 07:14 02:37 36 45
Legbiter 09:01 03:47 41 51
fshephe 09:23 11:40 124 155
markdobell 09:36 07:52 81 101
AlanS 10:18 07:00 67 83
glheard glh 10:19 06:22 61 76
chindit 10:19 10:16 99 123
Deane Short Deane Short 10:47 08:06 75 93
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:58 12:43 115 143
Jim Willis 11:04 08:19 75 93
keriothe_ keriothe 11:07 10:00 89 111
Heyesey 11:27 13:56 121 151
miked1961 11:29 11:49 102 127
fuzz 11:29 10:46 93 116
neilr neilr 11:37 11:09 95 118
scrabbler 11:42 08:29 72 90
edwards.robert1 11:47 10:27 88 110
andy 11:55 05:49 48 60
Sue Sweeper 11:55 08:41 72 90
chriswords 11:58 08:52 74 92
Morphosis 11:58 13:14 110 137
tilbee 12:09 08:23 68 85
canismiser 12:10 14:34 119 148
Ciolf 12:24 08:19 67 83
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 12:48 10:32 82 102
John Walsh 12:52 13:15 102 127
JimboFS 13:19 08:26 63 78
john.brassey 13:20 15:38 117 146
njnclarke 13:22 12:21 92 115
LouWeed LouWeed 13:27 11:21 84 105
Penfold_61 Penfold 13:45 12:00 87 108
Tibthorpe 13:57 15:51 113 141
Groucho 14:13 12:26 87 108
alexh 14:15 15:06 105 131
cdb_100 14:18 10:51 75 93
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 14:22 14:12 98 122
Secondbass 14:22 14:46 102 127
GeorgeTz 14:49 16:51 113 141
BlackburnRover 15:05 14:05 93 116
Looch 15:09 13:33 89 111
JezWoolfrey 15:14 12:36 82 102
andrewlake 15:26 09:42 62 77
Finzi 15:31 13:23 86 107
MK76 15:45 18:47 119 148
tapbarker 15:50 19:34 123 153
RobR RobR 15:52 13:15 83 103
DunPangolin 16:09 17:47 110 137
LJCN 16:09 12:36 78 97
Jeremy S 16:19 21:36 132 165
jimwetzler 16:35 15:11 91 113
Achernar 16:51 22:35 134 167
Aloysius 16:52 18:45 111 138
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 16:55 09:20 55 68
Encota 17:02 10:50 63 78
Crossiant 17:14 16:37 96 120
Foozler 17:40 16:46 94 117
GMcD 17:43 16:14 91 113
doublecross anguswalker 17:43 09:49 55 68
Craven 17:53 13:35 75 93
DanSolo 18:04 19:07 105 131
Gallion Fish 18:17 16:28 90 112
LuckOfLucien 18:19 13:22 72 90
FraserH 18:19 15:12 82 102
Adelaider 18:24 10:18 55 68
tds 18:29 14:49 80 100
valerian1967 18:29 14:07 76 95
SeamusX 18:34 12:07 65 81
McBeakLives 18:35 12:54 69 86
Jeremy Kenyon 18:51 19:15 102 127
julian_w 18:51 15:47 83 103
Dzhigit dzhigit71 18:53 23:41 125 156
hopkinb hopkinb 19:01 15:09 79 98
rrricharrrd 19:03 17:35 92 115
endafk 19:05 17:01 89 111
Zabadak3 Zabadak 19:07 21:51 114 142
pc8 19:08 14:14 74 92
Zander 19:09 19:54 103 128
James P Special_bitter 19:18 12:50 66 82
daniel.faith 19:21 14:13 73 91
uvofiz 19:41 24:11 122 152
TB22 19:50 09:12 46 57
David Bourne 19:53 19:44 99 123
mjsaunders9 19:56 22:19 111 138
DamienKnapma 20:02 17:21 86 107
Hamish.S 20:05 15:52 79 98
squark 20:16 14:12 70 87
george.garlick 20:47 19:09 92 115
Onelug 20:58 17:29 83 103
Upfisher 21:01 19:58 95 118
Andrew Whiffin 21:03 20:55 99 123
Vannyx 21:17 13:51 65 81
Rod B 21:20 15:53 74 92
david_ch 21:24 17:30 81 101
drginacoco 21:37 32:06 148 185
Tudds 22:22 17:39 78 97
JoeyC 22:34 32:46 145 181
janesa 22:48 13:38 59 73
luxtonj61 22:50 19:24 84 105
Corymbia Corymbia 22:55 21:14 92 115
goblin 23:04 20:00 86 107
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 23:11 29:58 129 161
richardCV22 23:18 24:20 104 130
gsriordan52 23:53 22:12 92 115
medodd 23:55 22:38 94 117
The Caffeine Kid 24:14 22:57 94 117
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:30 23:01 93 116
Crippens1 24:36 33:12 134 167
Mkgnao Mkgnao 25:09 23:48 94 117
timbo 25:12 21:33 85 106
chris661554 25:13 21:55 86 107
Dr_Bob 25:14 24:02 95 118
JayEm 25:15 19:44 78 97
Jagsfan1971 25:45 16:09 62 77
Deezzaa Deezzaa 25:52 20:12 78 97
SlumdogEngineer 26:12 34:50 132 165
En Cee 26:14 34:37 131 163
Brenk Brenk1 26:15 25:35 97 121
Aldus 26:28 18:45 70 87
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 26:37 29:35 111 138
bobbb 26:46 17:44 66 82
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 27:00 17:17 64 80
Dixiegrand 27:18 16:11 59 73
barracuda barracuda 27:23 36:42 134 167
Grumpole Grumpole 27:44 18:10 65 81
David Luke 28:23 26:33 93 116
Mike Harper Mike Harper 29:18 19:41 67 83
gbestanley 29:49 34:04 114 142
NAPASAI napasai 29:55 26:02 87 108
nekabue 30:05 18:53 62 77
Dr Dolittle 30:51 24:35 79 98
SK42 31:06 28:22 91 113
Manveru 31:08 24:17 77 96
rosselliot 31:32 32:08 101 126
annikins 33:23 14:41 43 53
BertieVII 33:27 39:27 117 146
bruce.johnston22 34:02 31:44 93 116
vinyl12345 vinyl1 34:24 34:27 100 125
tyrotim tyrotim 34:38 33:01 95 118
koro kororareka 35:01 23:33 67 83
boltonwanderer 35:10 45:00 127 158
kapietro kapietro 35:29 28:01 78 97
j.stanton734 35:52 29:53 83 103
joss henry 36:04 46:54 130 162
Maggot 36:14 28:28 78 97
clivejharlow 36:30 27:45 76 95
rv_1 37:50 34:05 90 112
hydrochoos hydrochoos 41:30 30:00 72 90
E Bradford 43:32 33:08 76 95
Steve Wood 46:40 40:40 87 108
The Real Steve Snackman 46:42 40:30 86 107
Aidleys 48:07 42:35 88 110
MartinP MartinP1 49:38 45:21 91 113
paulmcl paulmcl 55:15 27:49 50 62

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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