Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2500

Date 09 October 2023
Number 2500
Setter Orpheus
Day of week Monday
NITCH 80
Count of ref solvers 66
Ref solvers excluded with errors 13
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2500

* 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 01:35 73 91
Jason 02:28 02:14 90 112
Paul Gilbert 02:28 01:48 72 90
verlaine 02:35 02:07 81 101
mistigris 02:38 02:29 94 117
hilarym 02:41 02:31 93 116
cmjhutton 02:44 02:20 85 106
aphis99 aphis99 02:48 01:35 56 70
Flimmy flammy 03:05 02:28 80 100
richard 03:36 03:27 95 118
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:38 02:48 77 96
markdobell 03:46 03:36 95 118
Heyesey 03:48 03:08 82 102
glheard 03:57 03:14 81 101
chriss 03:59 03:44 93 116
lickert 04:11 02:28 58 72
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:14 03:05 72 90
AlanS 04:20 03:42 85 106
tilbee 04:21 03:40 84 105
MikeOsborne 04:22 03:04 70 87
nina s 04:26 03:28 78 97
patrickcates 04:26 03:10 71 88
Roscoe 04:26 03:34 80 100
lucyg43484 04:27 03:37 81 101
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:30 03:33 78 97
John Walsh 04:34 04:54 107 133
canismiser 04:40 03:35 76 95
d.middleton 04:42 05:03 107 133
Umpire 04:43 03:13 68 85
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 04:46 02:52 60 75
denislaw 04:47 04:11 87 108
andrewlake 04:47 05:53 122 152
LouWeed LouWeed 04:48 04:41 97 121
March 04:48 04:00 83 103
Ease This Jam 04:49 03:38 75 93
andy 04:50 03:37 74 92
Honggui 04:50 03:58 82 102
Liari 04:54 03:27 70 87
Johninterred 04:54 03:19 67 83
Zander 05:01 04:24 87 108
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:04 05:00 98 122
Tibthorpe 05:15 05:20 101 126
Penfold_61 05:17 04:23 82 102
daulbs 05:19 03:54 73 91
esmeralda 05:23 03:51 71 88
george.plumbly 05:29 04:11 76 95
Dekkers 05:30 04:08 75 93
Rabbitoh 05:31 04:18 77 96
KET 05:31 04:10 75 93
Finzi 05:41 05:35 98 122
Looch 05:47 04:09 71 88
McBeak McBeak 05:51 05:24 92 115
Shabbo 05:52 05:05 86 107
Carol 05:54 05:47 98 122
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 05:57 05:13 87 108
MrChumley MrChumley 06:00 05:33 92 115
GMcD 06:02 04:39 77 96
Tudds 06:05 04:48 78 97
DunPangolin 06:06 05:06 83 103
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 06:08 07:43 125 156
Curarist 06:15 04:44 75 93
earlylight 06:17 03:08 49 61
jimwetzler 06:20 03:55 61 76
robinh 06:21 04:42 74 92
paul.whitehouse69 06:25 07:09 111 138
Gussie 06:27 06:33 101 126
James P 06:27 07:22 114 142
julian_w 06:30 06:00 92 115
Mike Harper Mike Harper 06:33 06:00 91 113
nigel 06:38 06:34 98 122
Michael Dove 06:38 05:40 85 106
jon 06:42 05:37 83 103
1234 06:45 05:56 87 108
Kalakuta72 06:48 04:36 67 83
Puzzleplease 06:50 05:13 76 95
Viscomte 06:59 05:19 76 95
John Arnold 06:59 05:27 78 97
Riche Riche 07:00 05:08 73 91
Corymbia Corymbia 07:03 06:09 87 108
ChrisBrea 07:04 06:18 89 111
Yatton50 07:08 05:22 75 93
m5harp 07:15 06:22 87 108
johndun John Dunleavy 07:18 05:37 76 95
barracuda barracuda 07:21 05:24 73 91
plett11 Plett11 07:22 04:41 63 78
gsriordan52 07:38 05:23 70 87
Sheen 07:39 06:33 85 106
frost 07:39 06:44 88 110
Deezzaa Deezzaa 07:44 05:54 76 95
jaraab 07:50 05:31 70 87
crosswordian 07:53 06:57 88 110
mattindoha 07:55 07:40 96 120
kath 07:56 06:49 85 106
Templar Redux Templar 07:58 09:05 114 142
TomHerbert 08:00 07:44 96 120
vefatica vefatica 08:26 08:20 98 122
goblin 08:29 06:53 81 101
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:39 07:29 86 107
Mkgnao Mkgnao 08:53 08:08 91 113
flashman flashman 11:48 11:47 99 123
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 16:37 14:55 89 111

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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