Crossword SNITCH

A quantitative guide to the degree of difficulty of the Times Cryptic Crossword
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Times Cryptic Crossword 27949

Date 12 April 2021
Number 27949
Day of week Monday
NITCH 55
Count of ref solvers 58
Ref solvers excluded with errors 14
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 27949

* 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
mohn mohn2 05:03 02:50 56 101
Jason 06:31 03:28 53 96
Nathan Panning 06:33 04:21 66 120
verlaine Verlaine 07:01 03:42 52 94
edwards.robert1 07:39 07:58 104 189
hilarym 07:49 04:56 63 114
Diskus 08:04 04:54 60 109
Paul Gilbert 08:40 04:21 50 90
Midas 08:59 06:56 77 140
richard 09:00 06:54 76 138
asaldanha 09:07 04:17 46 83
boulemiche 09:42 07:53 81 147
chindit 09:48 05:53 60 109
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 09:56 06:50 68 123
scrabbler 10:07 08:04 79 143
chriswords 10:17 06:52 66 120
lili 10:22 05:13 50 90
AlanS 10:31 05:57 56 101
Kinghedger 10:57 05:52 53 96
Topical Tim Topical Tim 11:20 07:46 68 123
tiggis 11:29 07:12 62 112
jimpen 11:35 07:55 68 123
ChuckB 11:39 08:00 68 123
jim42078 11:58 10:16 85 154
SimonAnthony 12:25 07:29 60 109
Sheapey Sheapey 12:38 07:25 58 105
aphasic 12:42 10:19 81 147
HenryBW 12:45 05:32 43 78
Pavel Tudor 12:50 09:13 71 129
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:55 08:01 62 112
p.wild 12:58 09:22 72 130
Stavros Stavrolex 13:13 07:29 56 101
fshephe 13:15 09:57 75 136
Spur58 13:21 08:05 60 109
xyster 13:21 09:14 69 125
Silva 13:22 09:11 68 123
Ben Staveley 13:23 06:57 51 92
keriothe_ keriothe 13:23 05:56 44 80
jamesah 13:29 09:00 66 120
John Walsh 13:36 08:32 62 112
Secondbass 13:40 06:54 50 90
Malcj malcj 13:47 07:43 55 100
tilbee 13:50 07:50 56 101
MikeOsborne mikeosborne 13:51 09:30 68 123
canismiser 14:16 07:16 50 90
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:17 08:44 61 110
Groucho 14:22 08:18 57 103
Tibthorpe 14:30 06:28 44 80
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 14:36 07:38 52 94
qieduan 14:46 09:09 61 110
David Crooks dcrooks 15:02 09:21 62 112
gabrojak 15:22 08:21 54 98
tunflog 15:26 12:07 78 141
cyrillic 15:40 15:45 100 181
njnclarke 15:47 05:41 36 65
johninterred Johninterred 15:55 08:51 55 100
Golvellius 16:20 11:47 72 130
Squallaby 16:21 09:51 60 109
d.middleton 16:29 10:31 63 114
phthisis 16:33 06:10 37 67
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 16:33 07:42 46 83
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 16:54 09:30 56 101
tapbarker 16:58 08:27 49 89
jimwetzler 17:25 10:50 62 112
george.plumbly 17:34 06:36 37 67
GMcD 17:42 07:47 43 78
annelambirth 18:01 13:19 73 132
RobR RobR 18:06 09:37 53 96
OliviaRhineb oliviarhinebeck 18:12 09:55 54 98
Pootle Pootle 18:13 09:16 50 90
Craven 18:15 09:04 49 89
Achernar 18:20 09:45 53 96
LouWeed LouWeed 18:24 13:57 75 136
peterh 18:27 08:36 46 83
CentralLine CentralLine 18:39 07:32 40 72
gsriordan52 18:51 11:57 63 114
benedick 18:54 09:17 49 89
alexh 19:00 09:23 49 89
pterodactyl 19:17 11:43 60 109
jaraab 19:17 08:50 45 81
Zabadak (zabadak2) 19:23 13:28 69 125
Swanny 19:28 09:38 49 89
colin2355 19:28 09:37 49 89
LuckOfLucien 19:34 11:19 57 103
GeorgeTz 19:37 14:59 76 138
Semillon 19:43 08:53 45 81
ajcauk1 19:54 09:22 47 85
wyn.dil 19:57 14:28 72 130
barracuda barracuda 20:03 12:01 59 107
Zander 20:52 11:33 55 100
Solver52 20:59 17:51 85 154
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 21:40 08:54 41 74
uvofiz 22:00 10:51 49 89
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 22:19 12:23 55 100
Richard Bull 22:51 14:47 64 116
pc8 23:14 10:16 44 80
goblin 23:18 15:45 67 121
alwsn8 23:36 18:24 77 140
annbrew 23:52 11:26 47 85
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:07 09:52 40 72
endafk 24:24 11:07 45 81
zythum 24:25 17:54 73 132
gbestanley 25:56 13:34 52 94
Mkgnao Mkgnao 26:11 16:49 64 116
UisceTe 26:19 11:00 41 74
joekobi 27:42 19:51 71 129
nekabue 27:52 10:36 38 69
Tudds 28:36 15:55 55 100
eniamretrauq eniamretrauq 28:41 14:11 49 89
joss henry 29:02 14:21 49 89
ulaca ulaca 29:53 21:16 71 129
Menelaus 30:45 10:30 34 61
boltonwanderer 30:50 09:00 29 52
koro kororareka 31:23 16:22 52 94
JohnDun (johndun) john_dun 32:26 12:39 39 70
klamery4 32:26 21:18 65 118
medodd 32:42 21:26 65 118
Mike Harper Mike Harper 32:48 19:38 59 107
HanS 33:07 23:14 70 127
Cookincats 34:23 15:46 45 81
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 34:25 18:39 54 98
Crippens1 34:34 17:39 51 92
maryht 36:51 36:43 99 180
Curarist Curarist 37:14 13:25 36 65
Pendrov 38:24 14:07 36 65
Ronnie 40:20 25:27 63 114
starstruck starstruck_au 40:23 20:32 50 90
NAPASAI napasai 41:53 13:55 33 60
tyrotim tyrotim 45:28 29:10 64 116
andrewmr 46:03 18:58 41 74
marp 47:00 28:13 60 109
paulmcl paulmcl 49:38 13:05 26 47
jackk.larg 51:46 16:33 31 56
kjbr 51:51 19:47 38 69
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 52:00 18:19 35 63
hilarymatthews58 53:33 32:34 60 109
Bertiethethird 56:12 16:03 28 50

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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