Quick SNITCH

Score	Grade
Less than 64	Very easy
64-93	Easier
94-108	Moderate
109-138	Harder
More than 138	Very 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.

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Recent crosswords

Day:	Friday
Date:	2024-04-26
Number:	2660
PDF link:	PDF 2660
SNITCH:	88
Blog Link:	Times for the Times 2660
More details:	Detail and results

Day:	Thursday
Date:	2024-04-25
Number:	2659
PDF link:	PDF 2659
SNITCH:	79
Blog Link:	Times for the Times 2659
More details:	Detail and results

Day:	Wednesday
Date:	2024-04-24
Number:	2658
PDF link:	PDF 2658
SNITCH:	89
Blog Link:	Times for the Times 2658
More details:	Detail and results

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
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
91	2023-12-04	2540	75	2541	81	2542	84	2543	121	2544	95
97	2023-11-27	2535	96	2536	104	2537	85	2538	91	2539	113
106	2023-11-20	2530	103	2531	114	2532	103	2533	118	2534	95
92	2023-11-13	2525	83	2526	98	2527	82	2528	97	2529	103
97	2023-11-06	2520	66	2521	92	2522	91	2523	137	2524	101
100	2023-10-30	2515	69	2516	91	2517	95	2518	107	2519	141
110	2023-10-23	2510	106	2511	119	2512	124	2513	104	2514	99
88	2023-10-16	2505	77	2506	92	2507	86	2508	80	2509	108
97	2023-10-09	2500	80	2501	106	2502	82	2503	89	2504	132
109	2023-10-02	2495	103	2496	122	2497	100	2498	105	2499	119
104	2023-09-25	2490	86	2491	107	2492	89	2493	123	2494	117
97	2023-09-18	2485	84	2486	97	2487	99	2488	114	2489	92
98	2023-09-11	2480	89	2481	87	2482	116	2483	92	2484	108
111	2023-09-04	2475	94	2476	92	2477	143	2478	113	2479	117
113	2023-08-28	2470	102	2471	124	2472	117	2473	97	2474	126
91	2023-08-21	2465	83	2466	89	2467	83	2468	99	2469	102
106	2023-08-14	2460	79	2461	119	2462	106	2463	142	2464	84
92	2023-08-07	2455	108	2456	76	2457	96	2458	90	2459	92
105	2023-07-31	2450	93	2451	108	2452	99	2453	129	2454	98
90	2023-07-24	2445	86	2446	95	2447	94	2448	82	2449	95
94	2023-07-17	2440	80	2441	104	2442	102	2443	91	2444	94
92	2023-07-10	2435	87	2436	93	2437	77	2438	115	2439	92
93	2023-07-03	2430	105	2431	102	2432	89	2433	79	2434	91
109	2023-06-26	2425	113	2426	124	2427	81	2428	120	2429	109
97	2023-06-19	2420	96	2421	83	2422	86	2423	87	2424	133
100	2023-06-12	2415	113	2416	84	2417	105	2418	94	2419	106
99	2023-06-05	2410	77	2411	106	2412	115	2413	89	2414	108
103	2023-05-29	2405	99	2406	103	2407	100	2408	104	2409	110
94	2023-05-22	2400	95	2401	81	2402	91	2403	105	2404	100
94	2023-05-15	2395	111	2396	78	2397	93	2398	94	2399	94
105	2023-05-08	2390	113	2391	97	2392	86	2393	123	2394	108
100	2023-05-01	2385	88	2386	104	2387	105	2388	102	2389	103
99	2023-04-24	2380	107	2381	95	2382	99	2383	102	2384	93
98	2023-04-17	2375	69	2376	95	2377	104	2378	95	2379	130
126	2023-04-10	2370	126