Crossword SNITCH

A quantitative guide to the degree of difficulty of the Times Cryptic Crossword
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Times Cryptic Crossword 28124

Date 02 November 2021
Number 28124
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 81
Count of ref solvers 58
Ref solvers excluded with errors 6
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 28124

* 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 04:15 64 79
Diskus 07:01 07:51 111 137
verlaine Verlaine 07:04 09:00 127 156
edwards.robert1 07:08 06:48 95 117
mistigris 07:40 06:04 79 97
aphis99 aphis99 07:53 06:51 86 106
hilarym 08:10 06:54 84 103
Paul Gilbert 08:43 04:16 48 59
Midas 08:52 06:46 76 93
asaldanha 09:19 05:26 58 71
richard 09:42 08:19 85 104
chindit 09:52 07:34 76 93
boulemiche 10:12 10:16 100 123
scrabbler 10:15 08:41 84 103
AlanS 10:35 08:24 79 97
chriswords 10:39 09:11 86 106
jimpen 10:47 10:18 95 117
Kinghedger 10:54 09:10 84 103
trux trux20 10:57 07:49 71 87
lickert 10:59 09:01 82 101
glheard glh 11:18 12:40 112 138
neilr neilr 11:52 09:22 78 96
keriothe_ keriothe 12:07 09:40 79 97
fshephe 12:20 08:41 70 86
ChuckB 12:23 13:38 110 135
Heyesey 12:25 07:20 59 72
aphasic 12:56 12:58 100 123
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 12:58 10:28 80 98
HenryBW 13:00 14:05 108 133
p.wild 13:02 11:37 89 109
Stavros Stavrolex 13:12 13:57 105 129
SimonAnthony 13:13 09:49 74 91
Sheapey Sheapey 13:18 11:49 88 108
xyster 13:30 12:58 96 118
John Walsh 13:39 14:30 106 130
Silva 13:47 09:53 71 87
7dPenguin (KenG) 7dPenguin 13:48 10:47 78 96
Crucifer Crucifer 13:50 09:36 69 85
March (JeffCollins) mch1 14:04 13:05 93 114
Groucho 14:08 15:13 107 132
Ben Staveley 14:12 09:41 68 83
Tibthorpe 14:18 12:42 88 108
David Crooks dcrooks 14:43 12:41 86 106
Penfold_61 Penfold 14:43 14:21 97 119
tunflog 14:54 17:21 116 143
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 15:07 12:44 84 103
JezWoolfrey 15:21 14:46 96 118
Looch 15:35 17:38 113 139
gabrojak 15:37 14:28 92 113
Paul Bacon 15:42 16:27 104 128
Ed freshpot Ed Freshpot 15:52 12:14 77 95
grape 16:00 09:59 62 76
Golvellius 16:07 12:49 79 97
Valance 16:11 12:37 77 95
Squallaby 16:19 14:15 87 107
johninterred Johninterred 16:21 13:04 79 97
cyrillic 16:33 24:44 149 183
njnclarke 16:39 14:54 89 109
Pootle Pootle 16:41 09:47 58 71
jimwetzler 17:05 11:15 65 80
mikegrocott 17:15 11:51 68 83
zinzan 17:24 14:04 80 98
tapbarker 17:43 14:53 84 103
Craven 17:45 19:15 108 133
GMcD 17:53 15:35 87 107
Pete_Hartley 18:03 17:57 99 122
LouWeed LouWeed 18:06 14:08 78 96
rupe 18:08 15:59 88 108
RobR RobR 18:12 14:07 77 95
OliviaRhineb oliviarhinebeck 18:21 12:52 70 86
gsriordan52 18:31 15:40 84 103
jonathan.leather 18:35 12:58 69 85
robinh 19:03 13:16 69 85
Semillon 19:09 22:19 116 143
Achernar 19:12 13:50 72 88
Colin2355 19:19 19:31 101 124
pterodactyl 19:24 18:19 94 116
Zander 19:28 13:13 67 82
benedick 19:36 18:22 93 114
uvofiz 19:44 17:02 86 106
Zabadak (zabadak2) 19:48 20:57 105 129
Foozler 19:49 25:04 126 155
Ease This Jam 19:51 13:25 67 82
Crossiant 20:13 19:45 97 119
John Arnold 20:44 13:45 66 81
Terrier 20:45 15:08 72 88
jaraab 20:45 16:01 77 95
barracuda barracuda 20:46 19:33 94 116
Solver52 20:49 19:22 93 114
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 21:42 16:00 73 90
george.garlick 22:12 16:31 74 91
pc8 22:31 16:49 74 91
endafk 22:38 20:21 89 109
brian.mcnamara 22:51 26:46 117 144
MichelinPoitiers MichelinPoitiers 23:09 18:09 78 96
crosswordian 23:11 21:00 90 111
alwsn8 23:21 15:29 66 81
goblin 23:55 18:27 77 95
rjcassidy rjcassidy 24:28 20:38 84 103
Nangle 24:30 20:41 84 103
zythum 24:53 23:31 94 116
Corymbia Corymbia 25:16 20:09 79 97
cmcnsmith 25:30 20:28 80 98
Waterloo 26:27 14:15 53 65
Manveru 26:32 40:59 154 190
1234 26:47 26:26 98 120
david_ch 27:03 24:24 90 111
UisceTe 27:11 23:41 87 107
Tudds 27:17 18:58 69 85
jimancliffe 27:22 20:41 75 92
Mkgnao Mkgnao 27:31 21:58 79 97
Pauline Minter 28:10 20:29 72 88
chris661554 28:24 24:35 86 106
Crippens1 28:31 19:23 67 82
Menelaus 28:36 39:37 138 170
nekabue 28:43 24:31 85 104
SlumdogEngineer 30:04 36:38 121 149
medodd 30:11 27:05 89 109
Curarist Curarist 31:03 13:44 44 54
rosselliot 31:46 25:01 78 96
NAPASAI napasai 31:50 21:29 67 82
gbestanley 31:53 30:04 94 116
koro kororareka 32:20 19:05 59 72
boltonwanderer 32:25 24:00 74 91
Lloyd 32:30 23:28 72 88
dosbarth 33:21 24:12 72 88
ulaca ulaca 33:34 20:21 60 74
Cookincats 33:51 21:13 62 76
wimpoldo 34:30 33:01 95 117
Vagans 34:55 24:58 71 87
HanS 34:56 27:51 79 97
Glyndwr 35:29 26:38 75 92
BertieVII 35:42 32:23 90 111
starstruck starstruck_au 37:07 20:37 55 67
kapietro kapietro 40:07 37:33 93 114
maryht 40:22 39:14 97 119
Maggot 41:13 42:56 104 128
tyrotim tyrotim 42:08 37:11 88 108
Rookie 42:33 41:02 96 118
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 44:04 29:07 66 81
MartinP MartinP1 45:07 38:31 85 104

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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