Crossword SNITCH

A quantitative guide to the degree of difficulty of the Times Cryptic Crossword
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Times Cryptic Crossword 28791

Date 20 December 2023
Number 28791
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 116
Count of ref solvers 60
Ref solvers excluded with errors 20
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28791

* 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 04:30 06:51 152 131
mistigris 06:43 12:45 189 162
verlaine Verlaine 06:49 05:20 78 67
aphis99 aphis99 07:31 07:58 105 90
cmjhutton 07:54 08:42 110 94
richard 08:58 08:34 95 81
boulemiche 09:08 10:33 115 99
lickert 10:25 08:00 76 65
Kinghedger 10:28 09:35 91 78
markdobell 10:36 10:20 97 83
AlanS 10:39 12:02 112 96
Deane Short Deane Short 10:58 13:06 119 102
keriothe_ keriothe 11:04 06:14 56 48
andy 11:11 04:12 37 31
miked1961 11:26 16:49 147 126
chriswords 11:43 14:33 124 106
fshephe 12:14 15:38 127 109
March (JeffCollins) mch1 12:14 13:28 110 94
JimboFS 12:37 13:44 108 93
neilr neilr 12:46 14:18 112 96
Ben Staveley 12:55 18:46 145 125
HoneyBadger 13:15 09:57 75 64
edwards.robert1 13:45 11:36 84 72
john.brassey 13:50 14:00 101 87
alexh 14:07 14:16 101 87
Groucho 14:08 19:20 136 117
Tibthorpe 14:12 16:01 112 96
JezWoolfrey 14:13 29:46 209 180
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 14:14 09:45 68 58
KenD51 14:16 09:20 65 56
fishernick79 14:21 23:28 163 140
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 14:23 28:51 200 172
franceslc11 14:45 14:32 98 84
Semillon 14:58 14:14 95 81
AndyR 15:03 20:53 138 118
Finzi 15:06 14:19 94 81
phthisis 15:10 16:33 109 93
Mike Mansbridge 15:11 43:32 286 246
Achernar 15:12 22:19 146 125
gabrojak 15:49 21:02 132 113
Pootle Pootle 15:53 11:30 72 62
PGooden 16:03 29:41 184 158
njnclarke 16:22 16:53 103 88
Looch 16:35 19:39 118 101
LJCN 16:36 23:49 143 123
tapbarker 16:37 21:21 128 110
andrewlake 16:46 24:16 144 124
Grestyman Grestyman 16:53 32:24 191 164
zinzan 16:57 22:17 131 112
Ease This Jam 17:00 38:04 223 192
ajcauk1 17:04 12:48 75 64
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 17:10 31:12 181 156
DunPangolin 17:56 20:05 111 95
Crossiant 18:00 20:17 112 96
Freemers 18:07 22:19 123 106
earlylight 18:34 26:48 144 124
doublecross anguswalker 18:38 21:29 115 99
GMcD 18:42 25:43 137 118
uvofiz 18:55 29:29 155 133
Gallion Fish 19:08 23:54 124 106
Andrew Whiffin 19:27 26:37 136 117
David Bourne 19:45 29:52 151 130
Colin2355 19:46 29:07 147 126
crosswordian 20:09 24:06 119 102
gsriordan52 20:21 23:07 113 97
pc8 20:26 25:48 126 108
Zabadak3 Zabadak 20:42 24:58 120 103
Solver52 20:49 19:09 91 78
julian_w 21:18 23:50 111 95
sue.cresswell 21:30 41:42 193 166
Curarist Curarist 21:30 22:47 105 90
hopkinb hopkinb 21:42 29:35 136 117
daniel.faith 22:38 24:24 107 92
Riche Riche 22:57 25:24 110 94
goblin 23:31 20:37 87 75
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 23:35 75:01 318 274
david_ch 23:44 25:46 108 93
Tudds 23:52 36:33 153 131
suethepotterer 23:58 21:35 90 77
klamery4 24:11 20:47 85 73
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:30 22:46 92 79
Corymbia Corymbia 24:31 42:20 172 148
barracuda barracuda 25:21 45:19 178 153
chris661554 25:48 27:40 107 92
brian.mcnamara 25:54 31:15 120 103
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 26:56 29:38 110 94
Dr_Bob 28:39 27:16 95 81
Mike Harper Mike Harper 29:13 30:51 105 90
nekabue 29:39 26:03 87 75
rosselliot 30:49 35:34 115 99
gbestanley 31:08 33:06 106 91
koro kororareka 32:51 53:15 162 139
FelicityTT 33:06 40:59 123 106
SlumdogEngineer 33:39 30:24 90 77
bruce.johnston22 34:41 47:03 135 116
Jeeves 34:56 41:10 117 100
Birdingbob 35:12 49:59 141 121
marp 35:41 42:28 119 102
Cryptique 37:08 33:13 89 76
boltonwanderer 37:13 50:00 134 115
SK42 37:45 49:30 131 112
HanS 37:52 49:45 131 112
Rookie 38:03 55:21 145 125
Shushannah 39:19 38:59 99 85
maryht 39:57 40:29 101 87
empty 43:00 81:50 190 163
profsjpayne 50:04 44:47 89 76
kjbr 52:45 81:06 153 131

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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