Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2439

Date 14 July 2023
Number 2439
Setter Felix
Day of week Friday
NITCH 92
Count of ref solvers 69
Ref solvers excluded with errors 0
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2439

* 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 01:54 87 94
Paul Gilbert 02:28 02:16 91 98
Jason 02:32 02:41 105 114
mauefw 02:34 02:12 85 92
verlaine 02:36 02:35 99 107
mistigris 02:40 02:22 88 95
hilarym 02:43 02:34 94 102
cmjhutton 02:44 02:22 86 93
aphis99 aphis99 02:49 02:27 86 93
Flimmy flammy 03:04 02:31 82 89
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:38 02:58 81 88
richard 03:39 04:16 116 126
markdobell 03:50 03:19 86 93
Heyesey 03:52 04:23 113 122
Kinghedger 03:52 03:10 81 88
glheard 04:02 04:25 109 118
lickert 04:11 03:36 86 93
chindit 04:13 04:26 105 114
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:14 03:26 81 88
nina s 04:19 02:31 58 63
AlanS 04:19 04:16 98 106
MikeOsborne 04:21 03:40 84 91
tilbee 04:21 03:12 73 79
Roscoe 04:26 05:09 116 126
tiggis 04:29 03:55 87 94
trux 04:29 03:57 88 95
lucyg43484 04:30 04:32 100 108
patrickcates 04:33 04:32 99 107
jfisher60 04:33 02:53 63 68
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:36 04:21 94 102
John Walsh 04:37 04:13 91 98
Jim Willis 04:38 04:46 102 110
andrewlake 04:44 03:52 81 88
canismiser 04:45 03:35 75 81
andy 04:46 04:03 84 91
March 04:46 05:26 113 122
LouWeed LouWeed 04:46 03:49 80 86
denislaw 04:47 04:01 83 90
alexh 04:47 04:25 92 100
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 04:48 04:21 90 97
Ed freshpot 04:50 04:21 90 97
Ease This Jam 04:50 04:26 91 98
MK76 04:53 05:30 112 121
Umpire 04:54 04:31 92 100
Honggui 04:54 05:14 106 115
Zander 05:02 04:44 94 102
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:05 04:59 98 106
Squallaby 05:09 04:39 90 97
Liari 05:09 04:58 96 104
Paul Bacon 05:09 05:15 101 109
neilr neilr 05:10 05:01 97 105
annbrew 05:11 05:44 110 119
Tibthorpe 05:12 04:53 93 101
footballblue 05:17 05:39 106 115
fshephe 05:25 05:00 92 100
ChuckB 05:26 05:11 95 103
jimpen 05:26 06:10 113 122
george.plumbly 05:28 05:13 95 103
jdrubin 05:29 04:58 90 97
KET 05:29 03:23 61 66
AndyR 05:36 05:08 91 98
Shabbo 05:46 04:34 79 85
Looch 05:48 05:24 93 101
cheryllayne cheryllayne 05:50 04:36 78 84
MrChumley MrChumley 05:52 05:33 94 102
SimonB 05:56 02:20 39 42
Carol 05:56 04:39 78 84
cmcnsmith 05:56 05:56 100 108
PGooden 06:03 05:23 88 95
Tudds 06:05 04:56 81 88
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 06:05 04:39 76 82
GMcD 06:08 05:29 89 96
earlylight 06:09 06:07 99 107
rhi.andrew 06:10 05:35 90 97
Curarist 06:12 05:49 93 101
ilan 06:17 06:09 97 105
James P 06:18 05:19 84 91
JMbrow29 06:19 05:54 93 101
Mike Mansbridge 06:24 05:05 79 85
julian_w 06:34 06:08 93 101
valerian1967 06:35 05:49 88 95
KenD51 06:42 05:35 83 90
jon 06:42 06:07 91 98
DrBill 06:42 06:18 94 102
Kalakuta72 06:45 04:50 71 77
maisiemae 06:45 06:12 91 98
Puzzleplease 06:46 06:15 92 100
DianeRS 06:46 05:52 86 93
Hodge21 06:49 05:52 86 93

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.