Crossword SNITCH

A quantitative guide to the degree of difficulty of the Times Cryptic Crossword
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Times Cryptic Crossword 27541

Date 23 December 2019
Number 27541
Day of week Monday
NITCH 82
Count of ref solvers 63
Ref solvers excluded with errors 12
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 27541

* 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 04:29 131 159
edwards.robert1 04:20 04:51 111 135
Eamon Ryan 06:52 06:35 95 115
Jason 07:19 06:53 94 114
mistigris 08:16 04:44 57 69
aphis99 aphis99 08:43 08:10 93 113
Midas 09:33 08:29 88 107
richard 09:35 06:53 71 86
boulemiche 09:43 10:59 113 137
robertL 09:47 11:44 119 145
AlanS 09:58 10:18 103 125
asaldanha 10:10 07:53 77 93
chindit 10:29 11:23 108 131
glheard glh 11:49 07:35 64 78
lickert 12:17 08:05 65 79
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:27 15:43 126 153
lili 13:02 07:16 55 67
jimpen 13:06 09:54 75 91
keriothe_ keriothe 13:35 08:23 61 74
p.wild 13:43 12:09 88 107
noidea 13:43 08:20 60 73
fshephe 13:53 13:25 96 117
Topical Tim Topical Tim 14:05 11:16 80 97
neilr neilr 14:06 11:39 82 100
Silva 14:09 10:50 76 92
Sheapey Sheapey 14:20 12:22 86 104
andy 14:24 08:17 57 69
aphasic 14:32 14:23 98 119
mikegrocott 14:40 13:03 88 107
Big Mick 15:18 15:28 101 123
margaretl 15:29 15:32 100 121
Malcj malcj 15:39 14:55 95 115
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 15:44 13:15 84 102
cyrillic 15:53 15:26 97 118
Sue Sweeper 16:15 13:11 81 98
phthisis 16:41 14:51 89 108
KenG 16:43 12:46 76 92
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 16:43 12:46 76 92
oshinmark 17:23 14:38 84 102
sotira (Sarah17) sotira 17:54 11:45 65 79
OliviaRhineb oliviarhinebeck 18:18 15:06 82 100
fuzz 18:39 28:37 153 186
GMcD 18:53 19:22 102 124
LouWeed LouWeed 18:54 15:23 81 98
Craven 19:19 16:47 86 104
tapbarker 19:24 12:43 65 79
KET 20:00 33:14 166 202
annelambirth 20:15 17:00 83 101
kath 20:34 25:54 125 152
Looch 20:39 15:26 74 90
barracuda barracuda 21:16 27:35 129 157
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 21:20 15:59 74 90
andrewlake 21:28 20:31 95 115
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 21:35 13:48 63 76
gbestanley 22:14 15:14 68 82
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 22:17 20:56 93 113
benedick 22:18 19:02 85 103
Pootle Pootle 23:20 30:24 130 158
jaraab 23:24 31:38 135 164
colin2355 23:32 16:35 70 85
flounderbout 23:47 27:10 114 139
frost 25:19 22:52 90 109
zythum 26:05 34:29 132 160
rjcassidy rjcassidy 26:14 24:21 92 112
goblin 26:27 22:55 86 104
Mike Harper Mike Harper 26:33 29:59 112 136
dec 26:43 13:48 51 62
GeorgeTz 27:06 29:03 107 130
fudgiebates 27:10 20:11 74 90
William M 28:27 24:18 85 103
NAPASAI napasai 29:03 22:21 76 92
alwsn8 29:29 36:47 124 151
Clovis 29:38 24:11 81 98
James P Special_bitter 30:33 19:55 65 79
nekabue 31:31 34:09 108 131
ulaca ulaca 32:40 14:06 43 52
Semillon 32:42 28:08 86 104
Mkgnao Mkgnao 33:33 32:11 95 115
FelicityTT 33:47 36:02 106 129
koro kororareka 33:55 31:50 93 113
joss henry 33:57 24:08 71 86
SwissWavey 34:17 34:28 100 121
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 35:27 31:41 89 108
maryht 36:34 25:02 68 82
1234 36:37 25:07 68 82
Tudds 37:21 37:46 101 123
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 38:03 29:17 76 92
SlumdogEngineer 39:40 61:17 154 187
Curarist Curarist 40:43 45:25 111 135
Nangle 40:46 30:14 74 90
Paulypops 40:53 32:15 78 95
oetjes 42:17 42:20 100 121
Dandy 43:31 35:48 82 100
Ronnie 44:20 43:15 97 118
SK42 44:33 28:22 63 76
MartinP MartinP1 45:24 39:38 87 106
FrameShift 47:42 53:15 111 135
symbenall2 48:46 56:05 115 140
Masha 49:35 45:49 92 112
kjbr 51:15 98:29 192 234

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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