Crossword SNITCH

A quantitative guide to the degree of difficulty of the Times Cryptic Crossword
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Times Cryptic Crossword 28090

Date 23 September 2021
Number 28090
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 127
Count of ref solvers 63
Ref solvers excluded with errors 8
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28090

* 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
Jason 06:35 07:55 120 94
edwards.robert1 06:55 07:08 103 81
aphis99 aphis99 07:48 15:51 203 159
Diskus 07:49 09:58 127 100
lili 08:20 12:03 144 113
Paul Gilbert 08:47 10:47 122 96
Midas 08:54 11:55 133 104
richard 09:31 12:33 131 103
chindit 09:41 10:11 105 82
scrabbler 10:19 14:21 139 109
AlanS 10:39 15:06 141 111
lickert 10:49 13:35 125 98
Kinghedger 10:50 17:32 161 126
jimpen 10:52 12:07 111 87
trux trux20 11:49 13:23 113 88
robertL 12:01 11:52 98 77
Topical Tim Topical Tim 12:04 22:50 189 148
neilr neilr 12:16 16:55 137 107
keriothe_ keriothe 12:30 16:15 130 102
fshephe 12:43 21:30 169 133
aphasic 12:46 19:47 154 121
p.wild 12:49 17:22 135 106
HenryBW 12:55 37:39 291 229
Stavros Stavrolex 13:07 16:56 129 101
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 13:12 15:09 114 89
Sheapey Sheapey 13:17 32:13 242 190
TB22 13:31 38:18 283 222
Silva 13:42 22:04 161 126
tilbee 13:49 14:35 105 82
Ben Staveley 14:08 19:29 137 107
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:23 23:51 165 129
qieduan 14:28 27:34 190 149
March (JeffCollins) mch1 14:35 19:37 134 105
Tibthorpe 14:43 19:36 133 104
gabrojak 15:16 19:53 130 102
phthisis 15:52 19:48 124 97
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 16:02 22:04 137 107
johninterred Johninterred 16:03 22:46 141 111
Golvellius 16:06 18:15 113 88
franceslc11 16:55 18:47 111 87
mikegrocott 16:58 20:35 121 95
Pootle Pootle 17:09 19:05 111 87
tapbarker 17:18 27:12 157 123
mrsbateman 17:27 24:08 138 108
LJCN 17:36 20:41 117 92
fuzz 17:38 18:18 103 81
LouWeed LouWeed 17:41 22:20 126 99
RobR RobR 17:52 24:44 138 108
GMcD 17:54 32:31 181 142
gsriordan52 17:55 24:06 134 105
CentralLine CentralLine 18:17 18:37 101 79
OliviaRhineb oliviarhinebeck 18:18 27:53 152 119
wyn.dil 18:24 19:07 103 81
robinh 18:36 25:45 138 108
Semillon 18:45 31:43 169 133
Achernar 18:55 27:31 145 114
andrewlake 19:19 30:56 160 125
Ease This Jam 19:46 23:31 118 92
maisiemae 19:56 40:16 202 159
hugh schofield Leskoffer 20:14 26:03 128 100
Zander 20:20 24:32 120 94
Crossiant 20:22 23:48 116 91
barracuda barracuda 20:45 34:22 165 129
george.garlick 21:49 27:22 125 98
James P Special_bitter 21:59 41:19 187 147
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 22:11 25:24 114 89
brian.mcnamara 22:33 21:51 96 75
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 23:06 28:04 121 95
crosswordian 23:15 24:38 105 82
Galspray (Rabbitoh) galspray 23:29 19:19 82 64
goblin 23:47 26:08 109 85
Jeeves 24:19 31:07 127 100
zythum 24:28 47:56 195 153
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:46 34:49 140 110
MartianAlien 24:54 25:30 102 80
Nangle 25:09 37:17 148 116
timbo 25:30 25:45 100 78
FrameShift 25:35 23:18 91 71
Corymbia Corymbia 25:36 27:41 108 85
UisceTe 26:16 31:37 120 94
Waterloo 26:37 29:44 111 87
1234 26:45 35:22 132 103
Tudds 27:53 52:46 189 148
pph22 28:17 34:39 122 96
Crippens1 28:46 46:43 162 127
jimancliffe 29:07 42:47 146 114
nekabue 29:08 27:34 94 74
chris661554 29:13 27:42 94 74
Pauline Minter 29:15 35:56 122 96
gbestanley 30:02 43:33 145 114
SlumdogEngineer 30:09 23:21 77 60
rosselliot 30:15 43:38 144 113
suethepotterer 30:55 29:38 95 74
koro kororareka 31:33 31:00 98 77
boltonwanderer 31:39 29:00 91 71
Curarist Curarist 31:42 29:37 93 73
NAPASAI napasai 31:53 56:07 176 138
klamery4 32:13 44:31 138 108
Cookincats 32:47 42:53 130 102
wimpoldo 32:49 42:55 130 102
Vagans 33:18 49:04 147 115
Mike Harper Mike Harper 33:32 42:04 125 98
Jcal 33:32 48:27 144 113
FelicityTT 34:12 38:51 113 88
symbenall2 34:24 47:49 139 109
HanS 35:26 43:23 122 96
Pleasuredome Pleasuredome8 36:50 41:57 113 88
starstruck starstruck_au 37:48 36:21 96 75
andrewmr 42:07 40:59 97 76
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 42:35 103:34 243 191
empty 42:43 50:52 119 93
marp 44:07 53:01 120 94
Shushannah 44:31 47:07 105 82
MartinP MartinP1 45:23 63:19 139 109
infinitejest 45:42 38:49 84 66
Bertiethethird 50:40 66:38 131 103
Ron's mum 54:51 80:59 147 115

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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