Crossword SNITCH

A quantitative guide to the degree of difficulty of the Times Cryptic Crossword
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Times Cryptic Crossword 27575

Date 31 January 2020
Number 27575
Day of week Friday
NITCH 103
Count of ref solvers 63
Ref solvers excluded with errors 8
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 27575

* 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 03:11 93 90
edwards.robert1 04:20 04:37 106 102
Magoo 06:05 06:30 106 102
Eamon Ryan 06:32 06:34 100 97
tiljo 06:39 07:30 112 108
Jason 07:07 07:09 100 97
verlaine Verlaine 07:35 09:03 119 115
mistigris 08:00 08:35 107 103
aphis99 aphis99 08:47 08:21 95 92
Midas 09:33 13:53 145 140
hilarym 09:36 13:31 140 135
asaldanha 09:53 07:40 77 74
chindit 10:35 09:58 94 91
robertL 10:35 08:51 83 80
AlanS 11:02 10:14 92 89
chriswords 11:37 13:15 114 110
glheard glh 12:01 11:30 95 92
lickert 12:14 14:09 115 111
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:45 11:05 86 83
Kinghedger 12:47 12:05 94 91
jimpen 13:06 12:51 98 95
andy 13:18 09:50 73 70
noidea 13:18 15:45 118 114
keriothe_ keriothe 13:19 18:07 136 132
SimonAnthony 13:20 09:53 74 71
p.wild 13:28 13:07 97 94
Topical Tim Topical Tim 13:42 17:19 126 122
Silva 13:44 15:16 111 107
fshephe 13:47 19:20 140 135
neilr neilr 13:57 16:04 115 111
Sheapey Sheapey 14:01 12:52 91 88
aphasic 14:13 15:12 106 102
jim42078 14:51 15:25 103 100
Stavros Stavrolex 14:55 12:01 80 77
Tibthorpe 15:17 18:29 120 116
tunflog 15:26 17:39 114 110
margaretl 15:29 15:35 100 97
Sue Sweeper 15:42 22:59 146 141
Malcj malcj 15:45 34:23 218 211
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 15:48 21:01 133 129
cyrillic 16:19 27:16 167 162
KenG 16:40 12:31 75 72
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 16:40 12:31 75 72
David Crooks dcrooks 17:11 16:38 96 93
Viscomte 18:02 22:00 121 117
OliviaRhineb oliviarhinebeck 18:07 21:56 121 117
Golvellius 18:24 15:04 81 78
LouWeed LouWeed 18:24 22:13 120 116
fuzz 18:39 19:05 102 99
RobR RobR 18:50 16:06 85 82
tapbarker 19:05 22:30 117 113
GMcD 19:27 17:19 89 86
annelambirth 19:58 27:34 138 133
Looch 20:07 35:46 177 171
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 20:23 23:26 114 110
gbestanley 21:08 28:06 132 128
jimwetzler 21:17 16:48 78 75
pterodactyl 21:24 34:19 160 155
Hamish.S 21:24 28:09 131 127
taberdar 21:32 11:23 52 50
andrewlake 21:39 20:02 92 89
barracuda barracuda 21:42 22:49 105 101
benedick 22:00 24:24 110 106
colin2355 22:27 28:00 124 120
mcjwright 22:43 17:00 74 71
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 22:46 35:44 156 151
KET 22:48 22:05 96 93
Solver52 22:53 23:25 102 99
Pootle Pootle 22:58 27:15 118 114
flounderbout 23:47 24:57 104 100
brian.mcnamara 24:04 38:53 161 156
hugh.schofield 25:27 24:05 94 91
goblin 25:35 27:38 108 104
rjcassidy rjcassidy 25:49 26:47 103 100
pc8 26:05 35:15 135 131
dec 26:06 26:15 100 97
Mike Harper Mike Harper 26:33 32:49 123 119
fudgiebates 26:41 29:05 108 104
NAPASAI napasai 28:05 35:29 126 122
William M 28:27 26:38 93 90
Manveru 28:38 27:20 95 92
phmfantom phmfantom 29:07 32:28 111 107
nekabue 30:47 33:29 108 104
alwsn8 30:48 32:20 104 100
stainl665 31:44 33:35 105 101
HanS 31:48 10:44 33 32
bobbb 31:55 29:59 93 90
ulaca ulaca 32:36 26:47 82 79
Semillon 32:57 22:01 66 64
koro kororareka 33:20 24:29 73 70
SwissWavey 34:17 39:43 115 111
FelicityTT 34:23 40:29 117 113
Tudds 35:36 32:09 90 87
1234 35:58 32:41 90 87
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 36:15 39:17 108 104
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 36:26 30:14 82 79
empty 40:40 52:31 129 125
Curarist Curarist 40:43 30:57 76 73
SK42 41:15 28:59 70 67
Gussie 41:19 42:53 103 100
Archie 42:28 31:29 74 71
MartinP MartinP1 45:24 45:25 100 97
starstruck starstruck_au 47:42 46:09 96 93
FrameShift 47:42 61:43 129 125
kjbr 51:15 50:45 99 96
jackk.larg 55:46 51:04 91 88
kennethk 57:35 56:05 97 94

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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