Crossword SNITCH

A quantitative guide to the degree of difficulty of the Times Cryptic Crossword
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Times Cryptic Crossword 27607

Date 09 March 2020
Number 27607
Day of week Monday
NITCH 69
Count of ref solvers 63
Ref solvers excluded with errors 3
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 27607

* 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 03:41 103 149
edwards.robert1 04:25 04:06 92 133
Eamon Ryan 06:21 05:17 83 120
Jason 06:56 04:23 63 91
tiljo 07:07 06:25 90 130
verlaine Verlaine 07:36 05:40 74 107
mistigris 07:55 05:26 68 98
Contrarian2 contrarian2 08:37 06:12 71 102
aphis99 aphis99 08:42 06:26 73 105
Midas 09:34 06:43 70 101
asaldanha 09:49 07:46 79 114
chindit 10:40 09:15 86 124
Derek Harrison 11:07 10:36 95 137
jimpen 11:15 09:21 83 120
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 11:20 10:52 95 137
AlanS 11:21 06:46 59 85
lickert 11:27 09:14 80 115
chriswords 11:32 11:14 97 140
scrabbler 11:47 09:28 80 115
ChuckB 12:02 07:42 63 91
glheard glh 12:10 08:05 66 95
robertL 12:26 10:23 83 120
keriothe_ keriothe 12:37 05:51 46 66
SimonAnthony 12:46 07:25 58 84
Kinghedger 12:52 07:21 57 82
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:58 07:52 60 86
andy 13:01 10:46 82 118
p.wild 13:08 10:07 77 111
neilr neilr 13:13 08:08 61 88
noidea 13:28 09:44 72 104
Topical Tim Topical Tim 13:30 06:43 49 71
Sheapey Sheapey 13:51 07:46 56 81
fshephe 13:53 10:18 74 107
John Walsh 13:57 12:01 86 124
Silva 14:03 09:06 64 92
Stavros Stavrolex 14:04 11:25 81 117
Groucho 14:11 13:16 93 134
aphasic 14:27 11:34 80 115
Big Mick 14:52 14:41 98 142
Tibthorpe 15:10 10:15 67 97
Malcj malcj 15:17 13:21 87 126
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 15:20 07:35 49 71
Sue Sweeper 15:22 14:47 96 139
KenG 15:42 07:49 49 71
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 15:42 07:49 49 71
njnclarke 15:45 20:32 130 188
HenryBW 16:04 11:44 73 105
mikegrocott 16:11 15:06 93 134
Eddddddd 16:12 18:45 115 166
cyrillic 16:24 11:29 70 101
David Crooks dcrooks 16:49 13:21 79 114
OliviaRhineb oliviarhinebeck 18:00 15:03 83 120
LJCN 18:09 17:47 97 140
LouWeed LouWeed 18:10 12:11 67 97
grape 18:14 11:01 60 86
oshinmark 18:39 14:06 75 108
Squallaby 18:48 18:01 95 137
fuzz 18:52 14:54 78 113
Craven 18:53 15:44 83 120
tapbarker 19:01 15:41 82 118
Golvellius 19:10 13:34 70 101
rupe 19:14 13:00 67 97
RobR RobR 19:17 12:46 66 95
GMcD 19:20 12:31 64 92
flounderbout 19:40 16:26 83 120
annelambirth 19:41 14:45 74 107
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 19:56 14:25 72 104
johninterred Johninterred 20:00 12:57 64 92
jimwetzler 20:02 14:48 73 105
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 20:02 14:53 74 107
Looch 20:11 18:00 89 128
LuckOfLucien 20:22 11:27 56 81
pterodactyl 20:30 19:59 97 140
Dzhigit dzhigit71 21:37 24:01 111 160
gbestanley 21:40 30:52 142 205
mcjwright 21:47 13:40 62 89
Pootle Pootle 21:49 16:04 73 105
benedick 21:51 20:51 95 137
barracuda barracuda 22:11 18:13 82 118
Solver52 22:41 21:29 94 136
george.garlick 23:00 13:46 59 85
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 23:06 14:23 62 89
THE Engineer 23:11 10:16 44 63
Zabadak (zabadak2) 23:22 16:23 70 101
brian.mcnamara 23:28 21:41 92 133
dec 25:01 25:31 101 146
goblin 25:10 17:08 68 98
timbo 25:31 16:18 63 91
Bert Dove 25:34 21:44 85 123
endafk 26:07 27:40 105 152
crosswordian 27:01 19:39 72 104
zythum 27:05 27:43 102 147
fudgiebates 27:05 16:34 61 88
William M 27:50 16:27 59 85
Manveru 28:15 25:41 90 130
Peter Sykes 28:35 17:13 60 86
James P Special_bitter 28:55 16:24 56 81
phmfantom phmfantom 29:15 19:49 67 97
Mkgnao Mkgnao 29:58 16:49 56 81
Yatton50 30:07 25:53 85 123
nekabue 30:09 22:35 74 107
rosselliot 30:28 38:52 127 184
HanS 31:35 29:30 93 134
boltonwanderer 31:50 23:00 72 104
koro kororareka 32:13 22:45 70 101
ulaca ulaca 32:19 26:15 81 117
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 32:37 22:34 69 100
JE59 33:16 26:59 81 117
SwissWavey 34:14 16:08 47 68
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 34:26 26:33 77 111
Tudds 34:29 18:36 53 76
maryht 34:41 39:20 113 163
1234 34:52 21:47 62 89
SlumdogEngineer 36:03 24:33 68 98
Archie 36:15 28:00 77 111
empty 39:20 48:17 122 176
Paulypops 39:37 37:02 93 134
Waterloo 40:33 14:29 35 50
Nangle 41:32 14:53 35 50
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 41:37 34:02 81 117
Dandy 43:05 35:59 83 120
Ronnie 43:22 40:01 92 133
symbenall2 44:52 26:20 58 84
MartinP MartinP1 45:25 23:51 52 75
andrewmr 48:05 28:39 59 85
Shushannah 48:44 29:53 61 88
paulmcl paulmcl 48:53 97:43 199 288
FrameShift 49:49 47:57 96 139
kjbr 54:27 27:47 51 73
marp 56:39 30:26 53 76
jackk.larg 58:27 47:59 82 118

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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