Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2529

Date 17 November 2023
Number 2529
Setter Wurm
Day of week Friday
NITCH 103
Count of ref solvers 58
Ref solvers excluded with errors 9
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2529

* 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
Paul Gilbert 02:30 02:06 84 81
mistigris 02:35 03:03 118 114
verlaine 02:38 02:28 93 90
hilarym 02:43 03:25 125 121
cmjhutton 02:44 02:44 100 97
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:40 05:04 138 133
Heyesey 03:46 02:41 71 68
Kinghedger 03:55 05:41 145 140
glheard 03:56 03:30 88 85
Strober 04:10 04:10 100 97
lickert 04:11 04:05 97 94
chriss 04:13 03:57 93 90
chriswords 04:13 04:38 109 105
chindit 04:14 03:42 87 84
xyster 04:17 04:14 98 95
AlanS 04:22 05:05 116 112
tilbee 04:25 04:58 112 108
Umpire 04:38 04:34 98 95
canismiser 04:39 05:06 109 105
d.middleton 04:43 05:04 107 103
alexh 04:43 05:25 114 110
Ed freshpot 04:46 05:30 115 111
LouWeed LouWeed 04:47 04:05 85 82
Liari 04:47 04:09 86 83
March 04:48 05:04 105 101
andrewlake 04:48 05:12 108 104
nina s 04:49 05:24 112 108
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 04:51 05:57 122 118
MK76 04:51 05:31 113 109
andy 04:51 04:02 83 80
Honggui 04:55 05:13 106 102
Zander 05:06 05:03 99 96
Squallaby 05:08 04:33 88 85
Ease This Jam 05:08 06:12 120 116
Eddddddd 05:10 05:24 104 100
Aly Duncan 05:13 05:41 108 104
Tibthorpe 05:17 05:12 98 95
Penfold_61 05:17 05:39 106 102
fshephe 05:25 05:04 93 90
esmeralda 05:28 04:59 91 88
Rabbitoh 05:31 07:30 135 131
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:39 03:55 69 66
admin 05:41 10:54 191 185
Finzi 05:43 06:33 114 110
Looch 05:50 06:47 116 112
Blackbeard 05:51 07:20 125 121
McBeak McBeak 05:54 05:15 88 85
Dzhigit 05:55 08:27 142 137
Crossiant 05:57 07:40 128 124
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 05:58 05:38 94 91
Tudds 06:00 09:45 162 157
MrChumley MrChumley 06:02 06:20 104 100
PGooden 06:04 09:00 148 143
GMcD 06:07 05:40 92 89
Freemers 06:07 06:32 106 102
ilan 06:12 06:44 108 104
Curarist 06:19 05:48 91 88
JMbrow29 06:20 06:33 103 100
paul.whitehouse69 06:28 05:11 80 77
Aloysius 06:29 04:16 65 63
robinh 06:31 08:24 128 124
LuckOfLucien 06:38 05:56 89 86
uvofiz 06:38 06:40 100 97
James P 06:39 06:24 96 93
Gussie 06:45 06:36 97 94
ratterz 06:49 06:15 91 88
Mike Harper Mike Harper 06:50 10:24 152 147
Viscomte 06:51 06:45 98 95
Hodge21 06:53 09:43 141 136
jon 06:55 06:53 99 96
Puzzleplease 06:57 06:31 93 90
endafk 07:03 08:10 115 111
1234 07:04 08:13 116 112
martinede 07:24 07:40 103 100
m5harp 07:30 09:51 131 127
ChrisBrea 07:32 08:34 113 109
Corymbia Corymbia 07:33 08:17 109 105
barracuda barracuda 07:36 10:42 140 135
Yatton50 07:43 06:05 78 75
ulaca ulaca 07:44 07:51 101 98
jaraab 07:49 06:24 81 78
johndun John Dunleavy 07:49 13:57 178 172
plett11 Plett11 07:50 09:28 120 116
kath 07:53 10:21 131 127
mattindoha 08:03 08:34 106 102
luxtonj61 08:05 12:24 153 148
Deezzaa Deezzaa 08:09 18:13 223 216
Templar Redux Templar 08:21 07:23 88 85
goblin 08:35 09:45 113 109
vefatica vefatica 08:46 08:59 102 99
Zabadak3 Zabadak 09:11 10:50 117 113
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:21 09:58 106 102
JeffHobbs 09:29 09:35 101 98
nigelmzzz 09:43 05:02 51 49
Doyler 09:43 07:40 78 75
BertieVII 09:59 09:03 90 87
edwards.robert1 10:08 09:04 89 86
FelicityTT 10:08 12:43 125 121
Jeeves 10:14 11:29 112 108
Pendrov 10:27 12:15 117 113
jackk.larg 10:45 13:43 127 123
Rozz 11:12 09:50 87 84
tyrotim tyrotim 11:53 14:20 120 116
suethepotterer 11:54 14:36 122 118
simjt simjt 12:05 12:15 101 98
hipponym 12:41 05:05 40 38
starstruck starstruck_au 12:52 11:41 90 87
ezoredfox 13:50 10:45 77 74
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:45 10:12 69 66
pfalloon 14:56 09:48 65 63
Nuck_the_king 15:11 10:26 68 66
maryht 20:52 18:02 86 83
mcfarl 38:21 30:21 79 76

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.

Loading...
Loading...
Back