Crossword SNITCH

A quantitative guide to the degree of difficulty of the Times Cryptic Crossword
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Times Cryptic Crossword 27503

Date 08 November 2019
Number 27503
Day of week Friday
NITCH 91
Count of ref solvers 64
Ref solvers excluded with errors 8
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 27503

* 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
Nigel1953 03:24 02:59 87 95
edwards.robert1 04:20 04:29 103 113
Magoo 06:08 06:22 103 113
tiljo 06:39 05:49 87 95
Eamon Ryan 06:52 07:42 112 123
Jason 07:19 08:42 118 129
verlaine Verlaine 07:39 07:40 100 109
mistigris 08:16 07:04 85 93
aphis99 aphis99 08:43 05:41 65 71
Midas 09:33 07:56 83 91
hilarym 09:40 19:17 199 218
boulemiche 09:43 11:28 118 129
robertL 09:47 10:27 106 116
AlanS 09:58 09:06 91 100
asaldanha 10:10 14:18 140 153
chindit 10:29 07:02 67 73
Derek Harrison 10:46 09:01 83 91
Paul Gilbert 10:52 12:07 111 121
chriswords 11:26 09:52 86 94
ChuckB 11:40 13:57 119 130
glheard glh 11:49 11:48 99 108
lickert 12:17 11:54 96 105
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:27 08:34 68 74
Kinghedger 12:47 10:33 82 90
jimpen 13:06 10:37 81 89
Spur58 13:16 12:58 97 106
p.wild 13:43 14:57 108 118
noidea 13:43 11:44 85 93
SimonAnthony 14:02 16:34 118 129
Topical Tim Topical Tim 14:05 08:01 56 61
neilr neilr 14:06 09:40 68 74
Silva 14:09 12:45 90 98
Sheapey Sheapey 14:20 10:26 72 79
andy 14:24 09:07 63 69
aphasic 14:32 17:38 121 132
Ben Staveley 14:45 12:37 85 93
Stavros Stavrolex 14:48 17:14 116 127
Tibthorpe 14:57 14:11 94 103
HenryBW 15:37 13:45 88 96
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 15:44 12:05 76 83
cyrillic 15:53 15:57 100 109
Sue Sweeper 16:15 11:33 71 78
David Crooks dcrooks 16:31 21:03 127 139
phthisis 16:41 15:19 91 100
KenG 16:43 11:29 68 74
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 16:43 11:29 68 74
sotira (Sarah17) sotira 17:54 20:11 112 123
OliviaRhineb oliviarhinebeck 18:18 14:17 78 85
robinh 18:19 18:19 100 109
fuzz 18:39 16:13 86 94
rupe 18:47 13:57 74 81
GMcD 18:53 16:02 84 92
LouWeed LouWeed 18:54 15:28 81 89
Craven 19:19 14:54 77 84
tapbarker 19:24 17:24 89 97
Squallaby 19:27 17:37 90 98
grape 20:04 22:33 112 123
annelambirth 20:15 13:19 65 71
Looch 20:39 14:21 69 75
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 21:20 21:41 101 110
andrewlake 21:28 23:12 108 118
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 21:35 13:50 64 70
Zabadak (zabadak2) 21:46 20:26 93 102
sampson 22:07 26:56 121 132
gbestanley 22:14 22:21 100 109
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 22:17 28:03 125 137
benedick 22:18 29:03 130 142
John Arnold 22:29 22:25 99 108
Zander 22:32 23:29 104 114
Solver52 22:53 24:17 106 116
brian.mcnamara 23:06 19:23 83 91
Pootle Pootle 23:20 20:10 86 94
zythum 26:05 31:24 120 131
rjcassidy rjcassidy 26:14 28:07 107 117
goblin 26:27 25:35 96 105
Mike Harper Mike Harper 26:33 47:46 179 196
dec 26:43 19:15 72 79
GeorgeTz 27:06 24:25 90 98
fudgiebates 27:10 16:43 61 67
diogenes 27:27 29:51 108 118
NAPASAI napasai 29:03 21:25 73 80
alwsn8 29:29 24:32 83 91
iagmathewson 29:37 38:56 131 143
Clovis 29:38 22:26 75 82
James P Special_bitter 30:33 28:01 91 100
nekabue 31:31 25:45 81 89
rosselliot 32:37 27:13 83 91
ulaca ulaca 32:40 36:10 110 120
Big Nug 33:27 38:44 115 126
koro kororareka 33:55 22:56 67 73
joss henry 33:57 40:48 120 131
Crippens1 34:54 25:43 73 80
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 35:27 32:40 92 101
1234 36:37 38:08 104 114
Tudds 37:21 30:57 82 90
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 38:03 39:48 104 114
SlumdogEngineer 39:40 33:59 85 93
Curarist Curarist 40:43 25:44 63 69
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 41:06 37:09 90 98
dannyduncs dannyduncs 43:54 13:45 31 34
Ronnie 44:20 42:19 95 104
MrChumley MrChumley 45:16 28:46 63 69
MartinP MartinP1 45:24 42:01 92 101
starstruck starstruck_au 47:42 27:29 57 62
Masha 49:35 46:37 94 103
kjbr 51:15 87:54 171 187
jackk.larg 55:46 76:27 137 150
peebee1945 56:52 55:52 98 107

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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