Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2635

Date 28 March 2024
Number 2635
Setter Teazel
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 108
Count of ref solvers 79
Ref solvers excluded with errors 12
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2635

* 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 02:21 95 87
Jason 02:35 02:43 105 97
mistigris 02:39 03:15 122 112
cmjhutton 02:41 02:45 102 94
aphis99 aphis99 02:48 02:50 101 93
hilarym 02:48 02:49 100 92
Flimmy flammy 03:02 03:40 120 111
Heyesey 03:36 02:39 73 67
markdobell 03:40 03:32 96 88
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:43 04:28 120 111
glheard 04:01 03:35 89 82
scrabbler 04:03 05:19 131 121
chindit 04:06 03:58 96 88
lickert 04:08 03:42 89 82
Kinghedger 04:11 05:01 119 110
Strober 04:21 04:39 106 98
Umpire 04:26 05:21 120 111
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:31 06:02 133 123
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:31 04:07 91 84
MikeOsborne 04:31 03:45 83 76
Roscoe 04:31 05:05 112 103
MK76 04:42 05:57 126 116
AlanS 04:42 04:57 105 97
Liari 04:42 06:18 134 124
chriss 04:45 04:33 95 87
andy 04:51 08:00 164 151
lucyg43484 04:51 04:24 90 83
Ed freshpot 04:57 04:51 97 89
Johninterred 04:57 06:26 129 119
March 04:58 04:48 96 88
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 04:58 05:07 103 95
andrewlake 04:59 07:50 157 145
LouWeed LouWeed 05:00 05:58 119 110
andy_knott 05:11 05:44 110 101
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:14 09:00 171 158
ChuckB 05:17 07:56 150 138
daulbs 05:21 05:32 103 95
Spanna 05:22 06:12 115 106
KET 05:33 09:43 175 162
nina s 05:34 08:09 146 135
neilr neilr 05:35 05:10 92 85
Finzi 05:41 08:38 151 139
Looch 05:47 05:37 97 89
Rabbitoh galspray 05:50 05:39 96 88
Encota 05:56 07:13 121 112
LuckOfLucien 05:56 05:46 97 89
McBeak McBeak 05:59 05:13 87 80
Crossiant 06:03 06:18 104 96
Freemers 06:03 06:18 104 96
mw7000 06:03 08:49 145 134
cmcnsmith 06:03 06:55 114 105
Tudds 06:14 06:54 110 101
GMcD 06:17 06:16 99 91
jimwetzler 06:21 08:07 127 117
Viscomte 06:31 06:39 102 94
ilan 06:33 07:04 107 99
uvofiz 06:34 07:12 109 100
Curarist 06:34 06:14 94 87
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 06:38 08:02 121 112
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 06:40 06:10 92 85
robinh 06:40 07:19 109 100
PGooden 06:47 08:41 128 118
jon 06:50 08:59 131 121
James P 06:54 11:11 162 150
KenD51 07:01 10:47 153 141
DianeRS 07:22 08:21 113 104
Dvynys Dvynys 07:23 06:54 93 86
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:27 08:20 111 102
robertbridge 07:29 07:28 99 91
banishspam 07:33 09:47 129 119
1234 07:37 11:38 152 140
frost 07:45 07:57 102 94
gsriordan52 07:52 08:13 104 96
Corymbia Corymbia 08:02 10:02 124 114
TomHerbert 08:07 12:06 149 137
CrystalPip 08:11 11:00 134 124
Cuppa378 08:13 12:11 148 137
hazyfantazee 08:19 10:52 130 120
nigelmzzz 08:21 11:24 136 125
m5harp 08:22 08:12 98 90
plett11 Plett11 08:29 11:53 140 129
DamienKnapma 08:33 13:24 156 144
goblin 08:34 12:53 150 138
Mike Mansbridge 08:35 10:11 118 109
richardCV22 08:37 10:17 119 110
johndun John Dunleavy 08:38 09:58 115 106
Sheen 08:39 09:20 107 99
timbo 08:41 08:47 101 93
AndyLast 08:43 11:24 130 120
Dr_Bob 08:47 09:37 109 100
Deezzaa Deezzaa 08:48 07:29 85 78
barracuda barracuda 08:48 10:10 115 106
Claverton74 08:51 11:42 132 122
john.brassey 08:52 11:47 132 122
TonyN6 08:53 09:43 109 100
ulaca ulaca 08:58 11:34 128 118
vefatica vefatica 08:58 08:35 95 87
kath 09:01 07:38 84 77
vinyl12345 vinyl1 09:07 09:21 102 94
Nigel1953 09:07 14:11 155 143
luxtonj61 09:13 14:38 158 146
Zabadak3 Zabadak 09:13 08:37 93 86
hookyt 09:19 10:28 112 103
raincloud 09:21 26:54 287 265
Yatton50 09:29 10:32 111 102
wwicksteed 09:41 05:41 58 53
Jeeves 09:54 10:59 110 101
BertieVII 09:56 11:28 115 106
maisiemae 10:00 11:32 115 106
alastair52 10:03 17:49 177 163
Chimblet Lyle 10:09 09:11 90 83
Birdingbob 10:15 14:54 145 134
Poff 10:22 11:05 106 98
hipponym 10:56 06:16 57 52
dr.shred 10:58 09:34 87 80
alex.scordellis 10:59 09:42 88 81
suethepotterer 11:09 16:23 146 135
Troothful 11:18 14:43 130 120
simjt simjt 11:48 11:29 97 89
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:52 18:25 155 143
SMSEsq 11:53 18:30 155 143
Dofray 12:00 21:34 179 165
ifincham2 12:11 14:43 120 111
flashman flashman 12:28 13:59 112 103
mpbthorpe 12:30 30:03 240 222
chabuduo chabuduo 12:38 14:20 113 104
phmfantom 13:02 17:09 131 121
albrecht1959 13:02 12:25 95 87
ezoredfox 13:14 13:14 100 92
Nuck_the_king 13:19 19:21 145 134
Sonofjim 13:32 16:18 120 111
william.horner 14:28 36:57 255 236
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:41 22:26 152 140
Dr. Venn 14:57 15:21 102 94
Mozbo 15:08 16:40 110 101
JanetP 15:16 19:22 126 116
140 Mandak 262 Jamuna 15:37 26:25 169 156
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 15:45 10:45 68 62
daverob 15:57 31:50 199 184
thechan 16:59 22:58 135 125
intentional rounding 18:04 16:20 90 83
pfalloon 19:04 10:42 56 51
TonyK 19:20 20:29 105 97
Hazelnut 20:38 23:55 115 106
The Real Steve Snackman 21:34 19:50 91 84
david.14587 22:28 21:33 95 87
mozbadel mozbadel 22:39 23:42 104 96
paulmcl 24:49 12:34 50 46
shankar 27:26 22:17 81 75
ian.shepherd 27:33 28:42 104 96
deebeeem 37:14 10:10 27 25

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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