Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2466

Date 22 August 2023
Number 2466
Setter Hurley
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 89
Count of ref solvers 68
Ref solvers excluded with errors 0
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2466

* 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 02:11 01:44 79 88
Paul Gilbert 02:28 02:54 117 131
Jason 02:32 02:41 105 117
verlaine 02:36 02:33 98 110
mistigris 02:40 02:34 96 107
cmjhutton 02:44 03:04 112 125
aphis99 aphis99 02:49 01:57 69 77
Flimmy flammy 03:04 02:51 92 103
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:38 03:20 91 102
richard 03:39 03:04 84 94
markdobell 03:50 03:57 103 115
Heyesey 03:52 03:26 88 98
chriss 04:01 03:56 97 108
glheard 04:02 03:43 92 103
Strober 04:04 04:16 104 116
xyster 04:04 04:33 111 124
lickert 04:11 03:14 77 86
chindit 04:13 03:46 89 100
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:14 04:40 110 123
nina s 04:19 04:24 101 113
MikeOsborne 04:21 04:08 95 106
tilbee 04:21 04:48 110 123
Roscoe 04:26 03:21 75 84
trux 04:29 04:46 106 119
lucyg43484 04:30 03:57 87 97
patrickcates 04:33 03:39 80 89
jfisher60 04:33 06:04 133 149
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:36 03:50 83 93
d.middleton 04:39 04:30 96 107
andrewlake 04:44 05:46 121 135
canismiser 04:45 05:28 115 129
wwalker50 04:45 04:22 91 102
andy 04:46 04:39 97 108
March 04:46 03:47 79 88
LouWeed LouWeed 04:46 04:42 98 110
alexh 04:47 03:23 70 78
Dofray 04:48 05:41 118 132
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 04:48 03:29 72 80
MK76 04:53 04:34 93 104
Umpire 04:54 05:53 120 134
Honggui 04:54 04:07 84 94
Zander 05:02 04:07 81 91
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:05 03:46 74 83
Squallaby 05:09 03:58 77 86
Liari 05:09 06:07 118 132
neilr neilr 05:10 04:31 87 97
annbrew 05:11 04:42 90 101
Tibthorpe 05:12 05:59 115 129
footballblue 05:17 05:11 98 110
Penfold_61 05:18 04:49 90 101
Aly Duncan 05:21 04:19 80 89
esmeralda 05:23 03:53 72 80
fshephe 05:25 05:16 97 108
daulbs 05:26 03:38 66 74
ChuckB 05:26 05:07 94 105
KET 05:29 04:51 88 98
Dekkers 05:31 04:49 87 97
admin 05:31 05:08 93 104
Rabbitoh 05:32 04:27 80 89
Finzi 05:39 05:06 90 101
Shabbo 05:46 05:02 87 97
Looch 05:48 05:13 89 100
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 05:51 05:31 94 105
cath23 05:52 04:42 80 89
SlumdogEngineer 05:54 05:22 90 101
cmcnsmith 05:56 05:51 98 110
GeorgeTz 05:56 04:55 82 92
Crossiant 06:01 04:32 75 84
DunPangolin 06:03 05:17 87 97
PGooden 06:03 04:54 80 89
hopkinb hopkinb 06:08 04:24 71 79
martinphillips 06:09 04:12 68 76
Curarist 06:12 05:48 93 104
James P 06:18 04:25 70 78
robinh 06:19 05:03 79 88
Aloysius 06:28 05:19 82 92
tds 06:29 06:09 94 105
Mike Harper Mike Harper 06:32 04:01 61 68
julian_w 06:34 05:55 90 101
alastair52 06:43 05:28 81 91
maisiemae 06:45 05:59 88 98
Puzzleplease 06:46 05:48 85 95
DianeRS 06:46 05:06 75 84
Deezzaa Deezzaa 06:56 05:28 78 87
barracuda barracuda 07:08 06:07 85 95
m5harp 07:15 05:49 80 89
Crippens1 07:41 05:02 65 73
FelicityTT 07:42 06:13 80 89
Mkgnao Mkgnao 08:53 05:45 64 71
flashman flashman 11:48 07:00 59 66

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.