Crossword SNITCH

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

Times Cryptic Crossword 29066

Date 05 November 2024
Number 29066
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 105
Count of ref solvers 65
Ref solvers excluded with errors 13
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 29066

* 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
Diskus 05:47 05:47 100 95
Nathan Panning 05:51 07:24 126 120
lili 06:10 06:21 102 97
verlaine Verlaine 06:28 05:58 92 87
Jason 06:30 05:29 84 80
Magoo 06:38 05:23 81 77
Paul Gilbert 06:42 06:54 102 97
mistigris 06:56 07:43 111 105
cmjhutton 07:14 05:13 72 68
aphis99 aphis99 07:19 08:32 116 110
boulemiche 08:52 09:23 105 100
richard 08:52 07:34 85 80
asaldanha 09:03 16:10 178 169
Contrarian3 09:03 07:38 84 80
fshephe 09:23 12:56 137 130
Umpire 09:30 13:00 136 129
markdobell 09:36 12:39 131 124
chindit 10:19 09:43 94 89
KenD51 10:24 02:59 28 26
HoneyBadger 10:31 08:49 83 79
Topical Tim Topical Tim 10:41 10:21 96 91
lickert 10:54 11:24 104 99
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 10:58 15:13 138 131
keriothe_ keriothe 11:07 09:31 85 80
fuzz 11:29 10:22 90 85
miked1961 11:29 19:16 167 159
David Crooks dcrooks 11:36 12:43 109 103
scrabbler 11:42 11:18 96 91
edwards.robert1 11:47 11:50 100 95
toots 11:47 13:37 115 109
Sue Sweeper 11:55 15:13 127 120
andy 11:55 17:15 144 137
Sheapey Sheapey 12:08 11:51 97 92
tilbee 12:09 12:29 102 97
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 12:48 09:49 76 72
robertL 12:52 16:08 125 119
Golvellius 12:59 12:40 97 92
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 13:16 17:43 133 126
Freemers 13:21 12:40 94 89
Silva 13:25 11:48 87 82
LouWeed LouWeed 13:27 08:51 65 61
Valance 13:44 12:31 91 86
Eddddddd 13:45 24:19 176 167
Penfold_61 Penfold 13:45 17:09 124 118
Tibthorpe 13:57 13:41 98 93
Semillon 14:06 13:36 96 91
franceslc11 14:13 17:28 122 116
Groucho 14:13 13:32 95 90
cdb_100 14:18 23:17 162 154
gabrojak 14:20 19:25 135 128
Secondbass 14:22 19:07 133 126
Ben Staveley 14:26 22:06 153 145
Amoeba 14:47 12:27 84 80
johninterred Johninterred 15:04 17:02 113 107
CentralLine CentralLine 15:05 22:59 152 144
Looch 15:09 18:11 120 114
andrewlake 15:26 15:43 101 96
phthisis 15:29 14:33 93 88
Finzi 15:31 15:12 97 92
RobR RobR 15:52 29:54 188 179
LJCN 16:09 21:59 136 129
Riche Riche 16:17 23:00 141 134
Jeremy S 16:19 16:47 102 97
robinh 16:25 17:51 108 102
Squallaby 16:35 20:23 122 116
ajcauk1 16:45 23:12 138 131
Encota 17:02 24:04 141 134
ilan 17:05 19:56 116 110
PGooden 17:14 23:57 138 131
Stavros Stavrolex 17:39 22:28 127 120
doublecross anguswalker 17:43 20:01 112 106
Craven 17:53 22:40 126 120
DanSolo 18:04 18:18 101 96
KET 18:04 21:34 119 113
LuckOfLucien 18:19 15:26 84 80
pterodactyl 18:20 22:57 125 119
Mike C 18:25 17:30 95 90
Curarist Curarist 18:27 24:03 130 123
valerian1967 18:29 23:01 124 118
McBeakLives 18:35 19:14 103 98
julian_w 18:51 20:08 106 100
hopkinb hopkinb 19:01 20:14 106 100
rrricharrrd 19:03 16:45 87 82
Zabadak3 Zabadak 19:07 18:28 96 91
pc8 19:08 25:52 135 128
James P Special_bitter 19:18 24:00 124 118
daniel.faith 19:21 25:00 129 122
uvofiz 19:41 20:30 104 99
TB22 19:50 19:37 98 93
mjsaunders9 19:56 20:56 105 100
Hamish.S 20:05 18:58 94 89
squark 20:16 22:37 111 105
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:45 40:50 196 186
george.garlick 20:47 24:00 115 109
Upfisher 21:01 17:37 83 79
steve.laverock 22:16 29:56 134 127
Terrier 22:33 21:53 97 92
luxtonj61 22:50 19:02 83 79
goblin 23:04 21:21 92 87
richardCV22 23:18 28:57 124 118
gsriordan52 23:53 22:26 93 88
medodd 23:55 25:52 108 102
The Caffeine Kid 24:14 21:09 87 82
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:30 28:02 114 108
Crippens1 24:36 31:30 128 121
chris661554 25:13 28:33 113 107
Dr_Bob 25:14 26:54 106 100
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 25:18 23:38 93 88
Deezzaa Deezzaa 25:52 42:27 164 156
hugapug 26:03 26:12 100 95
SlumdogEngineer 26:12 30:42 117 111
En Cee 26:14 28:26 108 102
bobbb 26:46 24:56 93 88
Yatton50 26:54 25:39 95 90
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 27:00 27:29 101 96
Dixiegrand 27:18 13:53 50 47
barracuda barracuda 27:23 24:15 88 83
Bert Dove 27:37 19:55 72 68
David Luke 28:23 29:08 102 97
NAPASAI napasai 29:55 18:01 60 57
nekabue 30:05 27:52 92 87
Dr Dolittle 30:51 35:43 115 109
Cryptique 31:24 35:13 112 106
Lloyd 32:26 62:40 193 183
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 33:45 40:39 120 114
ofarrell 34:36 29:51 86 81
koro kororareka 35:01 49:59 142 135
joss henry 36:04 37:05 102 97
Shushannah 36:35 39:04 106 100
rv_1 37:50 35:52 94 89
gothick gothick 38:50 38:00 97 92
HanS 39:57 37:54 94 89
baronrob 42:17 43:02 101 96
empty 45:22 41:26 91 86
CoxBurglar coxburglar 45:26 38:19 84 80
intentional rounding 46:24 45:39 98 93
MartinP MartinP1 49:38 51:05 102 97
kjbr 50:27 62:42 124 118
datahaven 59:35 55:22 92 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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