Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2501

Date 10 October 2023
Number 2501
Setter Jalna
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 106
Count of ref solvers 67
Ref solvers excluded with errors 4
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2501

* 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 02:13 103 97
Jason 02:28 02:48 113 106
Paul Gilbert 02:28 03:38 147 138
verlaine 02:35 02:50 109 102
mistigris 02:38 03:21 127 119
hilarym 02:41 03:48 141 133
cmjhutton 02:44 02:17 83 78
aphis99 aphis99 02:48 03:36 128 120
Flimmy flammy 03:05 03:21 108 101
richard 03:36 03:31 97 91
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:38 03:44 102 96
markdobell 03:46 04:16 113 106
Heyesey 03:48 03:50 100 94
glheard 03:57 03:49 96 90
chriss 03:59 03:29 87 82
Strober 04:10 03:58 95 89
lickert 04:11 03:53 92 86
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:14 04:44 111 104
AlanS 04:20 04:58 114 107
MikeOsborne 04:22 03:38 83 78
patrickcates 04:26 03:59 89 83
nina s 04:26 05:47 130 122
Roscoe 04:26 04:49 108 101
lucyg43484 04:27 06:29 145 136
jfisher60 04:30 07:25 164 154
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:30 05:54 131 123
John Walsh 04:34 05:09 112 105
canismiser 04:40 03:57 84 79
alexh 04:41 05:27 116 109
Jim Willis 04:42 04:23 93 87
Umpire 04:43 03:20 70 66
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 04:46 04:58 104 98
andrewlake 04:47 05:01 104 98
LouWeed LouWeed 04:48 05:17 110 103
March 04:48 05:37 117 110
Honggui 04:50 05:22 111 104
Liari 04:54 03:56 80 75
Johninterred 04:54 05:00 102 96
MK76 04:57 05:04 102 96
Zander 05:01 05:28 108 101
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:04 05:33 109 102
Squallaby 05:08 07:06 138 130
annbrew 05:08 05:58 116 109
neilr neilr 05:09 07:24 143 134
Tibthorpe 05:15 05:52 111 104
daulbs 05:19 04:11 78 73
esmeralda 05:23 05:11 96 90
fshephe 05:25 05:56 109 102
george.plumbly 05:29 07:47 141 133
Rabbitoh 05:31 06:08 111 104
KET 05:31 05:35 101 95
Finzi 05:41 06:16 110 103
Looch 05:47 06:45 116 109
Dzhigit 05:51 06:42 114 107
squark 05:51 04:27 76 71
McBeak McBeak 05:51 03:11 54 50
Shabbo 05:52 05:10 88 83
Carol 05:54 06:09 104 98
GeorgeTz 05:59 06:20 105 99
Crossiant 06:01 05:48 96 90
GMcD 06:02 07:24 122 115
hopkinb hopkinb 06:03 04:49 79 74
Tudds 06:05 05:51 96 90
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 06:08 06:31 106 100
martinphillips 06:10 08:51 143 134
Curarist 06:15 07:37 121 114
earlylight 06:17 07:12 114 107
jimwetzler 06:20 08:09 128 120
robinh 06:21 07:53 124 116
paul.whitehouse69 06:25 07:21 114 107
James P 06:27 06:09 95 89
julian_w 06:30 07:30 115 108
Aloysius 06:32 06:39 101 95
uvofiz 06:32 09:10 140 132
Mike Harper Mike Harper 06:33 06:50 104 98
Nangle 06:36 07:41 116 109
nigel 06:38 09:05 136 128
Michael Dove 06:38 07:23 111 104
jon 06:42 08:11 122 115
1234 06:45 07:15 107 100
Kalakuta72 06:48 06:56 101 95
Puzzleplease 06:50 07:20 107 100
alastair52 06:50 07:50 114 107
raincloud 06:53 09:38 139 131
DianeRS 06:53 08:22 121 114
Dvynys Dvynys 06:56 07:36 109 102
endafk 06:57 06:36 94 88
maisiemae 06:57 10:08 145 136
Viscomte 06:59 09:01 129 121
John Arnold 06:59 12:47 183 172
cheryllayne cheryllayne 07:03 28:35 405 382
Corymbia Corymbia 07:03 08:47 124 116
benedick 07:11 08:57 124 116
ulaca ulaca 07:18 10:36 145 136
barracuda barracuda 07:21 08:50 120 113
plett11 Plett11 07:22 10:28 142 133
gsriordan52 07:38 09:41 126 118
jaraab 07:50 09:43 124 116
luxtonj61 07:51 09:57 126 118
crosswordian 07:53 09:37 121 114
mattindoha 07:55 08:39 109 102
Templar Redux Templar 07:58 09:52 123 116
TomHerbert 08:00 06:07 76 71
john.brassey 08:23 09:30 113 106
vefatica vefatica 08:26 11:08 132 124
goblin 08:29 08:21 98 92
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:39 10:56 126 118
Mkgnao Mkgnao 08:53 07:57 89 83
nigelmzzz 09:12 11:26 124 116
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 16:37 24:50 149 140

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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