Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2426

Date 27 June 2023
Number 2426
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 124
Count of ref solvers 69
Ref solvers excluded with errors 0
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2426

* 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 02:11 02:56 134 108
Paul Gilbert 02:28 03:09 127 102
Jason 02:32 02:08 84 67
verlaine 02:36 03:06 119 95
mistigris 02:40 03:03 114 91
cmjhutton 02:44 05:03 184 148
aphis99 aphis99 02:49 02:11 77 62
Flimmy flammy 03:04 03:51 125 100
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:38 03:28 95 76
richard 03:39 03:58 108 87
markdobell 03:50 03:33 92 74
glheard 04:02 04:51 120 96
Strober 04:04 03:38 89 71
lickert 04:11 04:18 102 82
chindit 04:13 07:32 178 143
nina s 04:19 03:59 92 74
AlanS 04:19 03:50 88 70
MikeOsborne 04:21 05:10 118 95
tilbee 04:21 05:29 126 101
Roscoe 04:26 04:01 90 72
lucyg43484 04:30 05:19 118 95
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:36 05:31 119 95
Jim Willis 04:38 06:42 144 116
canismiser 04:45 07:47 163 131
wwalker50 04:45 04:33 95 76
March 04:46 06:06 127 102
LouWeed LouWeed 04:46 07:48 163 131
alexh 04:47 05:28 114 91
denislaw 04:47 07:43 161 129
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 04:48 06:21 132 106
Ed freshpot 04:50 05:44 118 95
Ease This Jam 04:50 04:42 97 78
Umpire 04:54 05:05 103 83
Honggui 04:54 04:44 96 77
Zander 05:02 06:19 125 100
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:05 04:13 82 66
Squallaby 05:09 09:27 183 147
neilr neilr 05:10 05:12 100 80
annbrew 05:11 05:00 96 77
Tibthorpe 05:12 06:15 120 96
Aly Duncan 05:21 08:37 161 129
esmeralda 05:23 06:37 122 98
daulbs 05:26 06:47 124 100
ChuckB 05:26 05:50 107 86
george.plumbly 05:28 08:21 152 122
Dekkers 05:31 05:04 91 73
Rabbitoh 05:32 08:36 155 125
AndyR 05:36 05:52 104 83
Finzi 05:39 06:40 117 94
Julian Forbes 05:45 10:00 173 139
cheryllayne cheryllayne 05:50 07:06 121 97
Dzhigit 05:54 09:32 161 129
SimonB 05:56 07:31 126 101
McBeak McBeak 06:00 04:46 79 63
Crossiant 06:01 06:07 101 81
PGooden 06:03 07:38 126 101
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 06:05 07:02 115 92
GMcD 06:08 10:32 171 137
Curarist 06:12 08:12 132 106
ilan 06:17 07:20 116 93
James P 06:18 07:20 116 93
robinh 06:19 09:38 152 122
Aloysius 06:28 08:11 126 101
uvofiz 06:30 08:32 131 105
julian_w 06:34 09:30 144 116
Nangle 06:41 08:44 130 104
KenD51 06:42 09:09 136 109
John Arnold 06:44 08:38 128 103
Puzzleplease 06:46 09:53 146 117
DianeRS 06:46 07:33 111 89
endafk 06:48 09:23 137 110
Edprof 06:49 06:53 100 80
Hodge21 06:49 10:55 160 129
jjspomeroy 06:54 08:52 128 103
FraserH 06:56 07:40 110 88
Corymbia Corymbia 06:57 09:10 131 105
ChrisBrea 06:57 10:40 153 123
Bobby D 06:58 10:21 148 119
ratterz 07:00 09:11 131 105
JE59 07:06 09:50 138 111
kath 07:10 09:25 131 105
m5harp 07:15 08:25 116 93
gsriordan52 07:20 07:51 107 86
Sheen 07:21 08:59 122 98
Templar Redux Templar 07:37 10:17 135 108
crosswordian 07:46 09:12 118 95
vefatica vefatica 07:46 09:17 119 95
TomHerbert 07:52 09:46 124 100
jaraab 07:54 07:49 98 79
TonyN6 07:59 07:19 91 73
goblin 08:21 09:36 114 91
Mkgnao Mkgnao 08:53 09:21 105 84
edwards.robert1 09:41 10:03 103 83

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.