Crossword SNITCH

A quantitative guide to the degree of difficulty of the Times Cryptic Crossword
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Times Cryptic Crossword 27535

Date 16 December 2019
Number 27535
Day of week Monday
NITCH 90
Count of ref solvers 66
Ref solvers excluded with errors 5
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 27535

* 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 03:47 111 123
edwards.robert1 04:20 04:43 108 120
Magoo 06:08 05:08 83 92
tiljo 06:39 08:41 130 144
Jason 07:19 07:29 102 113
verlaine Verlaine 07:39 06:37 86 95
mistigris 08:16 07:07 86 95
aphis99 aphis99 08:43 07:47 89 98
Midas 09:33 07:50 82 91
richard 09:35 12:26 129 143
hilarym 09:40 11:18 116 128
boulemiche 09:43 13:11 135 150
robertL 09:47 11:46 120 133
AlanS 09:58 09:28 94 104
chindit 10:29 13:40 130 144
chriswords 11:26 08:29 74 82
ChuckB 11:40 15:32 133 147
glheard glh 11:49 12:38 106 117
tiggis 12:03 12:09 100 111
lickert 12:17 14:01 114 126
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:27 11:16 90 100
lili 13:02 07:43 59 65
jimpen 13:06 12:12 93 103
keriothe_ keriothe 13:35 12:13 89 98
p.wild 13:43 12:21 90 100
fshephe 13:53 19:36 141 156
SimonAnthony 14:02 09:13 65 72
Topical Tim Topical Tim 14:05 10:13 72 80
John Walsh 14:05 14:25 102 113
neilr neilr 14:06 14:18 101 112
Silva 14:09 14:09 100 111
Sheapey Sheapey 14:20 15:14 106 117
Groucho 14:35 18:36 127 141
mikegrocott 14:40 12:43 86 95
Ben Staveley 14:45 12:52 87 96
Stavros Stavrolex 14:48 10:44 72 80
jim42078 14:51 11:37 78 86
Tibthorpe 14:57 19:23 129 143
margaretl 15:29 22:39 146 162
HenryBW 15:37 21:02 134 148
Malcj malcj 15:39 12:45 81 90
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 15:44 10:48 68 75
cyrillic 15:53 18:33 116 128
David Crooks dcrooks 16:31 16:35 100 111
phthisis 16:41 14:20 85 94
KenG 16:43 11:13 67 74
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 16:43 11:13 67 74
rrricharrrd 17:15 16:47 97 107
Golvellius 17:52 13:20 74 82
sotira (Sarah17) sotira 17:54 15:15 85 94
EdP 18:06 31:15 172 191
OliviaRhineb oliviarhinebeck 18:18 15:04 82 91
robinh 18:19 17:55 97 107
rupe 18:47 20:33 109 121
GMcD 18:53 12:45 67 74
LouWeed LouWeed 18:54 18:21 97 107
LuckOfLucien 19:11 18:36 96 106
Craven 19:19 18:47 97 107
tapbarker 19:24 20:01 103 114
Squallaby 19:27 20:41 106 117
grape 20:04 18:13 90 100
annelambirth 20:15 20:37 101 112
Looch 20:39 14:59 72 80
barracuda barracuda 21:16 20:53 98 108
jimwetzler 21:17 17:22 81 90
Hamish.S 21:24 23:09 108 120
andrewlake 21:28 21:57 102 113
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 21:35 14:42 68 75
Zabadak (zabadak2) 21:46 18:38 85 94
sampson 22:07 26:45 120 133
gbestanley 22:14 28:48 129 143
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 22:17 16:49 75 83
benedick 22:18 18:58 85 94
John Arnold 22:29 18:27 82 91
Solver52 22:53 23:36 103 114
Pootle Pootle 23:20 13:53 59 65
jaraab 23:24 18:49 80 88
colin2355 23:32 17:01 72 80
george.garlick 24:04 14:46 61 67
Speedcop2 24:22 20:23 83 92
zythum 26:05 24:20 93 103
rjcassidy rjcassidy 26:14 28:25 108 120
goblin 26:27 21:38 81 90
dec 26:43 25:10 94 104
timbo 26:48 24:25 91 101
GeorgeTz 27:06 30:11 111 123
diogenes 27:27 18:26 67 74
Manveru 28:11 23:20 82 91
William M 28:27 23:33 82 91
Peter Sykes 28:40 29:31 102 113
jdavidliddell 29:03 20:02 68 75
alwsn8 29:29 32:34 110 122
James P Special_bitter 30:33 22:39 74 82
Paul H. Dear 30:55 27:07 87 96
nekabue 31:31 18:05 57 63
HanS 31:48 29:20 92 102
ulaca ulaca 32:40 29:07 89 98
Semillon 32:42 21:55 67 74
JE59 33:26 29:50 89 98
Big Nug 33:27 26:43 79 87
FelicityTT 33:47 22:52 67 74
koro kororareka 33:55 31:56 94 104
joss henry 33:57 23:23 68 75
SwissWavey 34:17 20:29 59 65
Crippens1 34:54 30:40 87 96
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 35:27 32:00 90 100
maryht 36:34 35:28 96 106
Tudds 37:21 34:25 92 102
SlumdogEngineer 39:40 37:37 94 104
empty 40:40 37:00 90 100
Curarist Curarist 40:43 25:40 63 70
Nangle 40:46 33:34 82 91
Paulypops 40:53 26:23 64 71
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 41:06 42:33 103 114
dannyduncs dannyduncs 43:54 47:33 108 120
Ronnie 44:20 61:20 138 153
oldblueeyes 44:56 40:12 89 98
MartinP MartinP1 45:24 31:04 68 75
starstruck starstruck_au 47:42 45:48 96 106
FrameShift 47:42 44:23 93 103
symbenall2 48:46 31:47 65 72
Masha 49:35 43:45 88 97
andrewmr 50:55 45:58 90 100
jackk.larg 55:46 92:54 166 184

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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