Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2497

Date 04 October 2023
Number 2497
Setter Joker
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 100
Count of ref solvers 74
Ref solvers excluded with errors 1
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2497

* 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 02:09 02:17 106 106
Jason 02:28 02:42 109 109
Paul Gilbert 02:28 02:42 109 109
mistigris 02:38 02:58 112 112
hilarym 02:41 02:47 103 103
cmjhutton 02:44 02:52 104 104
aphis99 aphis99 02:48 02:34 91 91
Flimmy flammy 03:05 03:04 99 99
richard 03:36 03:26 95 95
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:38 05:36 154 154
markdobell 03:46 03:21 88 88
Heyesey 03:48 04:08 108 108
glheard 03:57 03:37 91 91
chriss 03:59 02:58 74 74
lickert 04:11 03:12 76 76
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:14 04:19 101 101
chindit 04:15 06:24 150 150
AlanS 04:20 03:59 91 91
tilbee 04:21 05:29 126 126
MikeOsborne 04:22 04:40 106 106
nina s 04:26 05:55 133 133
patrickcates 04:26 03:40 82 82
Roscoe 04:26 03:39 82 82
lucyg43484 04:27 04:08 92 92
trux 04:28 04:37 103 103
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:30 04:24 97 97
canismiser 04:40 03:10 67 67
Jim Willis 04:42 05:49 123 123
Umpire 04:43 04:56 104 104
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 04:46 05:31 115 115
Ed freshpot 04:47 04:03 84 84
denislaw 04:47 04:43 98 98
LouWeed LouWeed 04:48 03:57 82 82
March 04:48 03:56 81 81
Honggui 04:50 05:28 113 113
andy 04:50 04:42 97 97
Liari 04:54 04:43 96 96
Johninterred 04:54 04:52 99 99
Zander 05:01 05:51 116 116
Squallaby 05:08 04:49 93 93
neilr neilr 05:09 04:29 87 87
Tibthorpe 05:15 04:58 94 94
Penfold_61 05:17 06:02 114 114
daulbs 05:19 03:41 69 69
esmeralda 05:23 06:33 121 121
fshephe 05:25 05:31 101 101
george.plumbly 05:29 04:59 90 90
Dekkers 05:30 06:37 120 120
Rabbitoh 05:31 04:38 83 83
KET 05:31 04:04 73 73
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:40 04:20 76 76
Finzi 05:41 05:16 92 92
Looch 05:47 04:51 83 83
McBeak McBeak 05:51 08:09 139 139
Shabbo 05:52 06:39 113 113
cmcnsmith 05:56 06:55 116 116
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 05:57 07:27 125 125
Rosron 06:00 06:13 103 103
Crossiant 06:01 05:40 94 94
GMcD 06:02 06:17 104 104
hopkinb hopkinb 06:03 06:08 101 101
Tudds 06:05 05:28 89 89
DunPangolin 06:06 06:22 104 104
Dofray 06:07 09:43 158 158
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 06:08 06:19 102 102
ilan 06:11 06:06 98 98
Curarist 06:15 08:06 129 129
earlylight 06:17 05:54 93 93
jimwetzler 06:20 05:52 92 92
robinh 06:21 08:00 125 125
paul.whitehouse69 06:25 06:36 102 102
James P 06:27 11:31 178 178
Gussie 06:27 11:15 174 174
julian_w 06:30 07:39 117 117
uvofiz 06:32 07:04 108 108
Nangle 06:36 10:27 158 158
nigel 06:38 30:26 458 458
jon 06:42 08:10 121 121
1234 06:45 11:04 163 163
Kalakuta72 06:48 05:39 83 83
Puzzleplease 06:50 08:21 122 122
Edprof 06:51 06:34 95 95
DianeRS 06:53 06:59 101 101
maisiemae 06:57 06:25 92 92
endafk 06:57 09:29 136 136
Viscomte 06:59 07:41 110 110
John Arnold 06:59 05:17 75 75
cheryllayne cheryllayne 07:03 10:05 143 143
Corymbia Corymbia 07:03 06:16 88 88
ChrisBrea 07:04 07:49 110 110
benedick 07:11 08:07 112 112
m5harp 07:15 08:03 111 111
ulaca ulaca 07:18 10:40 146 146
johndun John Dunleavy 07:18 10:15 140 140
barracuda barracuda 07:21 07:53 107 107
plett11 Plett11 07:22 10:15 139 139
Deezzaa Deezzaa 07:44 07:57 102 102
luxtonj61 07:51 07:42 98 98
crosswordian 07:53 09:03 114 114
mattindoha 07:55 09:40 122 122
TomHerbert 08:00 09:00 112 112
goblin 08:29 11:51 139 139
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:39 09:58 115 115
Mkgnao Mkgnao 08:53 11:20 127 127
nigelmzzz 09:12 12:21 134 134
flashman flashman 11:48 08:50 74 74
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:45 20:22 138 138
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 16:37 12:24 74 74

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.

Stored SNITCH Values

Here are the SNITCH values (stored on the day) from the crossword.

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