Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2463

Date 17 August 2023
Number 2463
Setter Pedro
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 142
Count of ref solvers 63
Ref solvers excluded with errors 0
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2463

* 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 02:28 03:20 135 95
Jason 02:32 03:43 146 102
verlaine 02:36 03:29 133 93
mistigris 02:40 03:16 122 85
cmjhutton 02:44 03:36 131 92
aphis99 aphis99 02:49 03:53 137 96
Flimmy flammy 03:04 04:12 136 95
Sheapey Sheapey 03:31 04:20 123 86
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:38 05:27 150 105
richard 03:39 05:18 145 102
markdobell 03:50 04:51 126 88
Heyesey 03:52 06:09 159 111
glheard 04:02 04:17 106 74
lickert 04:11 06:47 162 114
chindit 04:13 06:53 163 114
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:14 07:01 165 116
nina s 04:19 08:20 193 135
AlanS 04:19 05:30 127 89
PaulCooke 04:19 10:08 234 164
MikeOsborne 04:21 07:53 181 127
tilbee 04:21 04:48 110 77
Roscoe 04:26 06:42 151 106
patrickcates 04:33 05:47 127 89
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:36 06:10 134 94
andrewlake 04:44 06:16 132 92
canismiser 04:45 07:32 158 111
andy 04:46 06:04 127 89
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 04:48 06:48 141 99
Ed freshpot 04:50 05:29 113 79
MK76 04:53 06:20 129 90
Umpire 04:54 05:44 117 82
Honggui 04:54 07:49 159 111
Johninterred 04:54 06:31 132 92
Zander 05:02 07:54 156 109
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:05 05:51 115 80
Squallaby 05:09 06:33 127 89
Liari 05:09 05:40 110 77
neilr neilr 05:10 07:32 145 102
andy_knott 05:13 05:54 113 79
esmeralda 05:23 08:28 157 110
fshephe 05:25 06:26 118 83
daulbs 05:26 07:49 143 100
john.marshall 05:33 07:40 138 97
AndyR 05:36 06:22 113 79
Finzi 05:39 07:21 130 91
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:41 10:20 181 127
monkfish 05:44 07:38 133 93
Looch 05:48 09:22 161 113
cheryllayne cheryllayne 05:50 11:49 202 142
cath23 05:52 10:11 173 121
McBeak McBeak 06:00 09:41 161 113
Crossiant 06:01 11:57 198 139
DunPangolin 06:03 07:51 129 90
PGooden 06:03 08:21 138 97
Tudds 06:05 10:26 171 120
GMcD 06:08 11:03 180 126
hopkinb hopkinb 06:08 09:50 160 112
Curarist 06:12 09:40 155 109
jimwetzler 06:16 09:57 158 111
James P 06:18 08:12 130 91
robinh 06:19 07:04 111 78
Michael Dove 06:23 11:55 186 130
paul.whitehouse69 06:25 10:07 157 110
Wyn Lewis Wyn Lewis 06:28 08:31 131 92
uvofiz 06:30 10:27 160 112
Mike Harper Mike Harper 06:32 09:15 141 99
Gussie 06:35 11:37 176 123
KenD51 06:42 11:39 173 121
jon 06:42 07:38 113 79
Riche Riche 06:43 07:00 104 73
Puzzleplease 06:46 10:42 158 111
endafk 06:48 10:46 158 111
Viscomte 06:51 11:07 162 114
Corymbia Corymbia 06:57 08:00 115 80
ratterz 07:00 09:53 141 99
barracuda barracuda 07:08 08:25 117 82
kath 07:10 09:22 130 91
johndun John Dunleavy 07:17 12:00 164 115
gsriordan52 07:20 08:59 122 85
Sheen 07:21 10:35 143 100
Templar Redux Templar 07:37 11:23 149 104
Crippens1 07:41 11:27 149 104
crosswordian 07:46 11:23 146 102
TomHerbert 07:52 08:37 109 76
vinyl12345 vinyl1 07:53 11:53 150 105
mattindoha 07:57 12:10 153 107
TonyN6 07:59 11:31 144 101
CrystalPip 08:59 11:39 129 90
edwards.robert1 09:41 10:52 112 78
Troothful 11:26 10:21 90 63

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.