Quick SNITCH

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

ScoreGrade
Less than 64Very easy
64-93Easier
94-108Moderate
109-138Harder
More than 138Very hard

The SNITCH (Same-day Numeric Index of Times Cryptic Hardness) is a score of the difficulty for each Times Quick Cryptic Crossword as shown in the table.

It is based on the time taken by reference solvers to complete the crossword with no errors. On this page the movement of the SNITCH (as reference solvers complete the puzzle) is shown for recent days. Scroll down to see the final NITCH value and a link to the underlying details for many past crosswords.

How hard is each Times Quick Cryptic Crossword? A good way to judge this is to work out how long it takes a group of experienced solvers to complete the solution without errors. This site uses a group of over 100 solvers who regularly complete the crossword on the Club site. Each solver's time to complete the puzzle is compared to their average over the last six months. This is averaged again across all the solvers to provide an overall rating, the Numeric Index of Times Cryptic Hardness (NITCH). See the actual results for each six-month period at the Trends page.

A NITCH value of 100 means that the crossword is solved in the average time. A value of 150 means that the crossword takes (on average) one and a half times the normal time; a figure of 67 means that it is solved in two thirds of the normal time.

That's fine for a historical view (after everyone's completed the crossword), but it would be nice to see how today's crossword is going. So this site also calculates the SNITCH, Same-day NITCH, by updating the NITCH value regularly. Early results may be a bit misleading, so the movement of the SNITCH and the number of reference users who've completed the puzzle is graphed to give you some idea of how the value has varied during the day.

A sanity check of the NITCH code against the senitments in the Times for the Times blog has been done. Crosswords that have a high NITCH tend to be regarded as difficult in the blog, and those with a low NITCH are generally seen as easy. No measuring system will be perfect, but the NITCH seems to be a reasonable way to score the difficulty.

Did you know?

From the main SNITCH page you can get a detailed breakdown of the results for each crossword. For the last three crosswords, select the "Detail and results" link. For past crosswords, click on the crossword number in the table.

If you would like to help cover the costs of running the SNITCH site, please "buy me a coffee".

Recent crosswords

Day:Tuesday
Date:2024-12-10
Number:2855
PDF link:PDF 2855
SNITCH:70
Blog Link: Times for the Times 2855
More details:Detail and results
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Day:Monday
Date:2024-12-09
Number:2854
PDF link:PDF 2854
SNITCH:80
Blog Link: Times for the Times 2854
More details:Detail and results
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Day:Saturday
Date:2024-12-07
Number:2853
PDF link:PDF 2853
SNITCH:102
Blog Link: Times for the Times 2853
More details:Detail and results
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Why does the number of Reference solvers often decrease during the day?

For the SNITCH calculation, only the Reference solvers in the top 100 of the leader board are used. The main reason for this is to make the SNITCH/NITCH calculation repeatable. Only the data for the top 100 solvers is available to all users. Members can see their own results (and the few surrounding) outside the top 100, but these are not available to everyone. So, if Reference solver results get pushed outside of the top 100, I remove them from the SNITCH calculation and show this reduction in the Reference solver count.

Past crosswords

This table contains NITCH scores and links for the last year of crosswords.

Please see the full archive link for the complete set.

Week beginning Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
75 2024-12-09 2854 80 2855 70
99 2024-12-02 2848 133 2849 106 2850 109 2851 81 2852 68 2853 102
94 2024-11-25 2842 79 2843 105 2844 110 2845 85 2846 88 2847 100
94 2024-11-18 2836 91 2837 100 2838 80 2839 81 2840 104 2841 110
104 2024-11-11 2830 77 2831 115 2832 91 2833 133 2834 93 2835 117
94 2024-11-04 2824 94 2825 110 2826 74 2827 104 2828 84 2829 102
116 2024-10-28 2818 108 2819 138 2820 83 2821 122 2822 138 2823 111
97 2024-10-21 2812 108 2813 91 2814 114 2815 73 2816 94 2817 103
96 2024-10-14 2806 95 2807 105 2808 79 2809 91 2810 79 2811 130
86 2024-10-07 2800 65 2801 100 2802 82 2803 77 2804 108 2805 89
104 2024-09-30 2794 102 2795 128 2796 86 2797 123 2798 89 2799 97
95 2024-09-23 2788 89 2789 125 2790 96 2791 76 2792 94 2793 90
98 2024-09-16 2782 110 2783 121 2784 77 2785 99 2786 96 2787 85
95 2024-09-09 2776 87 2777 108 2778 99 2779 85 2780 94 2781 97
97 2024-09-02 2770 73 2771 78 2772 95 2773 125 2774 119 2775 92
95 2024-08-26 2764 87 2765 80 2766 72 2767 101 2768 125 2769 105
92 2024-08-19 2758 105 2759 88 2760 79 2761 101 2762 86 2763 93
104 2024-08-12 2752 83 2753 128 2754 122 2755 80 2756 107 2757 104
102 2024-08-05 2746 84 2747 127 2748 75 2749 116 2750 118 2751 97
105 2024-07-29 2740 112 2741 87 2742 84 2743 100 2744 159 2745 88
90 2024-07-22 2734 84 2735 95 2736 99 2737 115 2738 70 2739 82
97 2024-07-15 2728 115 2729 82 2730 98 2731 94 2732 94 2733 101
105 2024-07-08 2722 84 2723 82 2724 103 2725 94 2726 150 2727 120
104 2024-07-01 2716 134 2717 115 2718 93 2719 99 2720 95 2721 89
88 2024-06-24 2710 71 2711 111 2712 92 2713 91 2714 79
87 2024-06-17 2704 107 2705 80 2706 83 2707 83 2708 83
86 2024-06-10 2698 97 2699 75 2700 93 2701 89 2702 78
93 2024-06-03 2692 102 2693 91 2694 90 2695 92 2696 92
89 2024-05-27 2686 103 2687 89 2688 75 2689 82 2690 97
93 2024-05-20 2680 94 2681 90 2682 106 2683 88 2684 89
94 2024-05-13 2674 85 2675 78 2676 97 2677 95 2678 116
87 2024-05-06 2668 68 2669 86 2670 105 2671 88 2672 89
96 2024-04-29 2662 83 2663 96 2664 101 2665 104 2666 97
83 2024-04-22 2656 74 2657 88 2658 89 2659 79 2660 88
87 2024-04-15 2650 86 2651 90 2652 94 2653 76 2654 92
97 2024-04-08 2644 80 2645 84 2646 108 2647 110 2648 104
92 2024-04-01 2638 84 2639 101 2640 90 2641 93 2642 93
97 2024-03-25 2632 102 2633 92 2634 94 2635 108 2636 90
86 2024-03-18 2626 94 2627 82 2628 74 2629 85 2630 96
86 2024-03-11 2620 78 2621 91 2622 99 2623 79 2624 86
99 2024-03-04 2614 86 2615 79 2616 88 2617 117 2618 128
107 2024-02-26 2608 85 2609 86 2610 119 2611 107 2612 140
92 2024-02-19 2602 93 2603 107 2604 81 2605 87 2606 95
96 2024-02-12 2596 98 2597 105 2598 85 2599 110 2600 86
85 2024-02-05 2590 78 2591 85 2592 78 2593 96 2594 92
88 2024-01-29 2584 83 2585 96 2586 82 2587 99 2588 81
93 2024-01-22 2578 80 2579 78 2580 95 2581 90 2582 123
99 2024-01-15 2572 98 2573 94 2574 100 2575 108 2576 95
94 2024-01-08 2566 80 2567 92 2568 92 2569 102 2570 108
94 2024-01-01 2560 103 2561 96 2562 94 2563 70 2564 109
99 2023-12-25 2555 88 2556 99 2557 113 2558 100 2559 97
97 2023-12-18 2550 108 2551 86 2552 94 2553 106 2554 91
107 2023-12-11 2545 120 2546 123 2547 86 2548 82 2549 125