Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2523

Date 09 November 2023
Number 2523
Setter Izetti
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 137
Count of ref solvers 56
Ref solvers excluded with errors 12
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2523

* 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
mistigris 02:35 06:09 238 173
verlaine 02:38 04:01 152 110
cmjhutton 02:44 03:49 139 101
aphis99 aphis99 02:47 03:21 120 87
Flimmy flammy 03:04 05:36 182 132
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:40 05:31 150 109
Kinghedger 03:55 05:37 143 104
Strober 04:10 03:26 82 59
lickert 04:11 05:04 121 88
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:12 03:53 92 67
chriss 04:13 06:54 163 118
chindit 04:14 04:34 107 78
xyster 04:17 05:19 124 90
PaulCooke 04:20 12:24 286 208
MikeOsborne 04:21 08:23 192 140
AlanS 04:22 05:23 123 89
Roscoe 04:25 04:06 92 67
tilbee 04:25 10:20 233 170
Umpire 04:38 07:02 151 110
alexh 04:43 03:51 81 59
Ed freshpot 04:46 08:18 174 127
Liari 04:47 06:30 135 98
March 04:48 06:58 145 105
andrewlake 04:48 04:33 94 68
andy 04:51 08:00 164 119
Johninterred 04:54 07:36 155 113
Honggui 04:55 04:59 101 73
Zander 05:06 07:03 138 100
Penfold_61 05:17 06:05 115 83
Tibthorpe 05:17 06:31 123 89
daulbs 05:19 16:19 306 223
fshephe 05:25 04:44 87 63
george.plumbly 05:26 11:53 218 159
Rabbitoh 05:31 32:46 593 432
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:39 06:22 112 81
Finzi 05:43 06:48 118 86
cath23 05:48 06:37 114 83
fishernick79 05:48 07:04 121 88
Looch 05:50 06:45 115 83
McBeak McBeak 05:54 05:24 91 66
Crossiant 05:57 12:04 202 147
Tudds 06:00 06:38 110 80
PGooden 06:04 10:52 179 130
GMcD 06:07 08:31 139 101
Freemers 06:07 04:46 77 56
Curarist 06:19 08:38 136 99
hopkinb hopkinb 06:24 10:26 163 118
robinh 06:31 06:57 106 77
earlylight 06:33 11:24 174 127
LuckOfLucien 06:38 08:18 125 91
uvofiz 06:38 06:26 96 70
Mike Mansbridge 06:39 13:26 202 147
Nangle 06:43 11:14 167 121
Mike Harper Mike Harper 06:50 08:11 119 86
jon 06:55 06:59 100 72
Puzzleplease 06:57 07:12 103 75
endafk 07:03 13:59 198 144
m5harp 07:30 12:01 160 116
ChrisBrea 07:32 10:15 136 99
Corymbia Corymbia 07:33 11:19 149 108
barracuda barracuda 07:36 14:08 185 135
gsriordan52 07:44 08:06 104 75
johndun John Dunleavy 07:49 09:45 124 90
jaraab 07:49 09:15 118 86
plett11 Plett11 07:50 15:19 195 142
kath 07:53 09:09 116 84
mattindoha 08:03 08:56 110 80
luxtonj61 08:05 10:50 134 97
TomHerbert 08:06 11:44 144 105
crosswordian 08:08 12:07 148 108
Deezzaa Deezzaa 08:09 16:45 205 149
Sheen 08:20 12:34 150 109
goblin 08:35 07:14 84 61
john.brassey 08:36 14:37 169 123
Zabadak3 Zabadak 09:11 09:53 107 78
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:21 12:01 128 93
nigelmzzz 09:43 08:48 90 65
edwards.robert1 10:08 10:09 100 72
Jeeves 10:14 15:13 148 108
alistair.boere 10:40 14:13 133 97
Rozz 11:12 19:25 173 126
flashman flashman 11:48 21:08 179 130
tyrotim tyrotim 11:53 12:17 103 75
suethepotterer 11:54 11:19 95 69
pfalloon 14:56 15:22 102 74
Nuck_the_king 15:11 15:26 101 73
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 16:37 21:48 131 95
mcfarl 38:21 55:57 145 105

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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