Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2441

Date 18 July 2023
Number 2441
Setter Joker
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 104
Count of ref solvers 66
Ref solvers excluded with errors 0
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2441

* 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 02:22 108 103
Paul Gilbert 02:28 02:03 83 79
Jason 02:32 02:10 85 81
verlaine 02:36 02:57 113 108
mistigris 02:40 02:57 110 105
hilarym 02:43 03:10 116 111
cmjhutton 02:44 02:42 98 94
aphis99 aphis99 02:49 02:21 83 79
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:38 04:19 118 113
richard 03:39 03:45 102 98
markdobell 03:50 03:55 102 98
Heyesey 03:52 03:13 83 79
Kinghedger 03:52 03:30 90 86
glheard 04:02 03:47 93 89
Strober 04:04 04:01 98 94
lickert 04:11 05:30 131 125
chindit 04:13 04:13 100 96
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:14 04:00 94 90
AlanS 04:19 04:25 102 98
MikeOsborne 04:21 04:49 110 105
tilbee 04:21 03:57 90 86
Roscoe 04:26 04:11 94 90
tiggis 04:29 03:10 70 67
trux 04:29 04:53 108 103
lucyg43484 04:30 04:54 108 103
patrickcates 04:33 05:49 127 122
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:36 04:12 91 87
Jim Willis 04:38 04:47 103 99
andrewlake 04:44 05:19 112 107
wwalker50 04:45 07:26 156 150
andy 04:46 05:10 108 103
March 04:46 05:42 119 114
LouWeed LouWeed 04:46 05:32 116 111
alexh 04:47 05:23 112 107
denislaw 04:47 05:39 118 113
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 04:48 04:10 86 82
Ed freshpot 04:50 05:05 105 100
MK76 04:53 04:17 87 83
Honggui 04:54 04:10 85 81
Zander 05:02 04:49 95 91
The Dabbler 05:05 05:13 102 98
Liari 05:09 05:36 108 103
Squallaby 05:09 05:22 104 100
neilr neilr 05:10 04:40 90 86
annbrew 05:11 05:29 105 100
andy_knott 05:13 05:55 113 108
esmeralda 05:23 05:37 104 100
fshephe 05:25 06:36 121 116
daulbs 05:26 05:36 103 99
ChuckB 05:26 05:48 106 101
george.plumbly 05:28 06:07 111 106
KET 05:29 05:56 108 103
mw7000 05:29 06:51 124 119
Dekkers 05:31 06:50 123 118
Rabbitoh 05:32 05:49 105 100
AndyR 05:36 06:49 121 116
Finzi 05:39 05:07 90 86
Looch 05:48 05:27 93 89
cheryllayne cheryllayne 05:50 03:43 63 60
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 05:51 06:50 116 111
Dzhigit 05:54 06:31 110 105
Carol 05:56 05:10 87 83
McBeak McBeak 06:00 05:26 90 86
nigel 06:00 04:50 80 76
PGooden 06:03 04:56 81 77
GMcD 06:08 06:24 104 100
hopkinb hopkinb 06:08 07:17 118 113
earlylight 06:09 06:59 113 108
rhi.andrew 06:10 05:46 93 89
Curarist 06:12 06:35 106 101
ilan 06:17 05:54 93 89
Mike Mansbridge 06:24 07:06 110 105
Wyn Lewis Wyn Lewis 06:28 04:29 69 66
Gussie 06:35 06:00 91 87
Nangle 06:41 05:58 89 85
Riche Riche 06:43 07:02 104 100
rburman 06:43 06:30 96 92
endafk 06:48 06:45 99 95
Viscomte 06:51 06:23 93 89
FraserH 06:56 07:10 103 99
ratterz 07:00 06:58 99 95
barracuda barracuda 07:08 06:50 95 91
Monkos 07:09 07:09 100 96
martinede 07:15 06:27 88 84
Templar Redux Templar 07:37 07:05 92 88
CoxBurglar 07:37 06:46 88 84
GMB 09:32 06:50 71 68

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.