Crossword SNITCH

A quantitative guide to the degree of difficulty of the Times Cryptic Crossword
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Times Cryptic Crossword 27603

Date 04 March 2020
Number 27603
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 131
Count of ref solvers 63
Ref solvers excluded with errors 5
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 27603

* 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 03:34 03:50 107 81
Jason 06:56 06:23 92 70
verlaine Verlaine 07:36 05:55 77 58
aphis99 aphis99 08:42 12:16 140 106
Midas 09:34 14:53 155 118
jimpen 11:15 10:38 94 71
AlanS 11:21 21:28 189 144
lickert 11:27 12:29 109 83
chriswords 11:32 14:11 122 93
scrabbler 11:47 17:50 151 115
robertL 12:26 23:20 187 142
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:58 23:11 178 135
andy 13:01 12:40 97 74
trux trux20 13:02 21:51 167 127
p.wild 13:08 12:30 95 72
neilr neilr 13:13 14:03 106 80
Spur58 13:35 16:30 121 92
Sheapey Sheapey 13:51 12:29 90 68
fshephe 13:53 18:33 133 101
Stavros Stavrolex 14:04 15:17 108 82
Ben Staveley 14:22 34:50 242 184
Malcj malcj 15:17 22:16 145 110
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 15:20 21:58 143 109
Sue Sweeper 15:22 15:38 101 77
KenG 15:42 18:35 118 90
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 15:42 18:35 118 90
njnclarke 15:45 10:58 69 52
Crucifer Crucifer 16:12 15:48 97 74
cyrillic 16:24 28:18 172 131
margaretl 17:46 32:46 184 140
OliviaRhineb oliviarhinebeck 18:00 24:57 138 105
LJCN 18:09 23:20 128 97
LouWeed LouWeed 18:10 31:38 174 132
robinh 18:23 23:44 129 98
Squallaby 18:48 33:33 178 135
Craven 18:53 26:31 140 106
tapbarker 19:01 19:34 102 77
Golvellius 19:10 26:41 139 106
rupe 19:14 26:12 136 103
flounderbout 19:40 35:40 181 138
jlancs228 19:43 24:23 123 93
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 19:56 19:56 100 76
johninterred Johninterred 20:00 30:01 150 114
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 20:02 34:38 172 131
Looch 20:11 26:14 129 98
Hamish.S 20:25 57:19 280 213
Zander 21:31 12:45 59 45
andrewlake 21:39 36:49 170 129
mcjwright 21:47 29:12 134 102
Pootle Pootle 21:49 52:16 239 182
benedick 21:51 25:32 116 88
barracuda barracuda 22:11 40:18 181 138
Solver52 22:41 26:33 117 89
Achernar 23:01 45:25 197 150
sampson 23:06 29:30 127 96
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 23:06 37:52 163 124
peterh 23:12 31:02 133 101
colin2355 23:21 38:43 165 125
goblin 25:10 31:22 124 94
MartianAlien 26:04 27:09 104 79
KET 26:34 28:22 106 80
crosswordian 27:01 29:06 107 81
zythum 27:05 35:25 130 99
William M 27:50 46:00 165 125
pc8 27:50 43:10 155 118
Agsurfer 28:02 24:10 86 65
Peter Sykes 28:35 47:09 164 125
James P Special_bitter 28:55 32:18 111 84
Edprof 29:53 55:27 185 141
Mkgnao Mkgnao 29:58 30:16 101 77
nekabue 30:09 63:27 210 160
alwsn8 30:47 31:45 103 78
HanS 31:35 36:35 115 87
boltonwanderer 31:50 70:00 219 167
koro kororareka 32:13 42:51 133 101
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 32:37 35:27 108 82
bobbb 32:59 31:34 95 72
Jeeves 33:44 53:35 158 120
SwissWavey 34:14 33:32 97 74
FelicityTT 34:23 44:35 129 98
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 34:26 38:14 111 84
Tudds 34:29 54:38 158 120
maryht 34:41 54:51 158 120
stainl665 34:41 44:13 127 96
MrGrumpy 35:46 38:47 108 82
Curarist Curarist 38:29 37:43 98 74
Gussie 38:32 51:52 134 102
empty 39:20 54:36 138 105
Nangle 41:32 44:12 106 80
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 41:37 42:07 101 77
MartinP MartinP1 45:25 75:35 166 126
vissa 46:48 58:04 124 94
rick&max 48:13 53:03 110 83
FrameShift 49:49 59:21 119 90
kjbr 54:27 104:09 191 145
kennethk 57:26 73:53 128 97

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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