Crossword SNITCH

A quantitative guide to the degree of difficulty of the Times Cryptic Crossword
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Times Cryptic Crossword 27881

Date 22 January 2021
Number 27881
Day of week Friday
NITCH 128
Count of ref solvers 51
Ref solvers excluded with errors 8
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 27881

* 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 03:43 03:31 94 73
mohn mohn2 05:18 07:54 149 116
Magoo 05:29 05:42 103 80
Diskus 06:53 07:58 115 89
verlaine Verlaine 07:02 09:14 131 102
Nathan Panning 07:04 10:25 147 114
mistigris 07:21 09:36 130 101
edwards.robert1 07:39 12:48 167 130
aphis99 aphis99 07:57 10:39 133 103
Midas 08:56 11:30 128 100
richard 09:26 09:04 96 75
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 09:54 14:51 150 117
scrabbler 09:57 11:22 114 89
AlanS 10:11 14:22 141 110
chriswords 10:13 10:53 106 82
lickert 11:15 17:59 159 124
glheard glh 11:20 17:21 153 119
robertL 11:32 19:38 170 132
Kinghedger 11:34 15:39 135 105
jimpen 11:35 13:26 115 89
andy 11:44 20:15 172 134
miked1961 12:14 13:24 109 85
trux trux20 12:20 17:10 139 108
SimonAnthony 12:44 21:30 168 131
p.wild 12:53 20:13 156 121
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:57 19:52 153 119
Sheapey Sheapey 13:00 15:04 115 89
keriothe_ keriothe 13:06 22:02 168 131
Mekon 13:24 25:07 187 146
fshephe 13:33 14:34 107 83
aphasic 13:43 18:08 132 103
Stavros Stavrolex 13:52 27:07 195 152
Groucho 14:12 17:22 122 95
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 14:13 16:16 114 89
qieduan 14:19 18:31 129 100
taberdar 14:26 17:23 120 93
Sue Sweeper 14:44 19:47 134 104
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:47 18:13 123 96
tilbee 14:49 20:40 139 108
cyrillic 14:53 18:34 124 96
March (JeffCollins) mch1 15:12 22:33 148 115
george.plumbly 15:51 30:11 190 148
johninterred Johninterred 15:55 16:34 104 81
David Crooks dcrooks 15:57 16:21 102 79
oshinmark 16:03 18:53 117 91
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 16:05 23:15 144 112
phthisis 16:23 18:21 112 87
Squallaby 16:26 29:10 177 138
Golvellius 16:46 25:09 150 117
rupe 17:00 18:39 109 85
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 17:13 22:05 128 100
tapbarker 17:27 17:59 103 80
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 17:32 24:29 139 108
fuzz 17:39 20:09 114 89
GMcD 17:45 31:41 178 139
LJCN 17:46 30:43 172 134
Ease This Jam 17:47 29:56 168 131
peterh 17:49 28:48 161 125
OliviaRhineb oliviarhinebeck 18:09 28:57 159 124
robinh 18:11 24:40 135 105
JezWoolfrey 18:13 22:38 124 96
Pootle Pootle 18:13 17:08 94 73
RobR RobR 18:36 21:38 116 90
Looch 18:40 25:49 138 107
Edprof 18:41 43:30 232 181
LouWeed LouWeed 18:46 28:29 151 117
Craven 18:54 23:26 123 96
Achernar 19:05 22:22 117 91
jaraab 19:08 34:05 178 139
Hamish.S 19:14 29:28 153 119
LuckOfLucien 19:16 25:42 133 103
gsriordan52 19:30 36:50 188 146
Philip_ 19:39 21:48 110 85
Zabadak (zabadak2) 19:58 25:16 126 98
barracuda barracuda 20:25 25:41 125 97
NigeA 20:34 23:02 111 86
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 20:47 38:21 184 143
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 20:48 30:36 147 114
Solver52 20:59 21:13 101 78
colin2355 21:37 29:05 134 104
Zander 21:42 29:44 137 107
uvofiz 21:54 29:18 133 103
cath23 22:50 32:08 140 109
sampson 22:57 33:29 145 113
goblin 23:06 31:11 134 104
klamery4 23:11 36:35 157 122
zythum 23:42 28:41 121 94
pc8 24:07 26:32 110 85
crosswordian 24:42 36:05 146 114
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:49 30:07 121 94
Waterloo 24:54 34:15 137 107
alwsn8 25:11 33:02 131 102
john.brassey 25:22 19:16 75 58
pph22 25:27 28:07 110 85
Mkgnao Mkgnao 26:23 37:39 142 110
SwissWavey 26:28 19:14 72 56
stainl665 26:34 33:41 126 98
UisceTe 27:08 39:09 144 112
MartianAlien 27:42 24:46 89 69
Corymbia Corymbia 27:47 48:53 175 136
andrewlake 27:48 21:59 79 61
Lloyd 28:13 64:39 229 178
Tudds 28:58 32:30 112 87
FelicityTT 29:11 29:06 99 77
nekabue 29:27 32:25 110 85
ulaca ulaca 30:44 41:44 135 105
boltonwanderer 30:50 38:00 123 96
koro kororareka 31:13 42:24 135 105
medodd 32:24 41:40 128 100
HanS 33:07 38:50 117 91
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 35:48 57:10 159 124
Cookincats 36:00 35:46 99 77
maryht 36:59 41:58 113 88
FrameShift 38:31 39:49 103 80
empty 38:43 44:36 115 89
MartinP MartinP1 43:32 52:15 120 93
tyrotim tyrotim 45:28 58:48 129 100

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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