Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2473

Date 31 August 2023
Number 2473
Setter Orpheus
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 97
Count of ref solvers 64
Ref solvers excluded with errors 0
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2473

* 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 02:47 112 115
Jason 02:32 02:49 111 114
verlaine 02:36 02:40 102 105
mistigris 02:40 02:38 98 101
hilarym 02:43 02:05 76 78
cmjhutton 02:44 03:39 133 137
aphis99 aphis99 02:49 02:50 100 103
Flimmy flammy 03:04 03:57 128 131
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:38 02:43 74 76
richard 03:39 03:52 105 108
markdobell 03:50 03:11 83 85
Heyesey 03:52 02:38 68 70
Kinghedger 03:52 04:24 113 116
glheard 04:02 04:15 105 108
Strober 04:04 04:36 113 116
lickert 04:11 03:04 73 75
chindit 04:13 04:25 104 107
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:14 03:53 91 93
nina s 04:19 02:37 60 61
AlanS 04:19 04:17 99 102
tiggis 04:29 03:49 85 87
lucyg43484 04:30 04:13 93 95
patrickcates 04:33 03:31 77 79
jfisher60 04:33 04:07 90 92
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:36 04:27 96 98
andrewlake 04:44 03:31 74 76
canismiser 04:45 03:03 64 65
March 04:46 04:47 100 103
LouWeed LouWeed 04:46 06:03 126 129
alexh 04:47 03:57 82 84
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 04:48 03:44 77 79
MK76 04:53 04:37 94 96
Honggui 04:54 05:25 110 113
Johninterred 04:54 05:06 104 107
michaelbell53 04:58 05:07 103 106
Zander 05:02 03:46 74 76
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:05 06:29 127 130
The Dabbler 05:05 05:42 112 115
Squallaby 05:09 06:20 122 125
Tibthorpe 05:12 04:36 88 90
Penfold_61 05:18 05:19 100 103
Aly Duncan 05:21 03:43 69 71
esmeralda 05:23 04:21 80 82
fshephe 05:25 05:17 97 100
daulbs 05:26 04:17 78 80
ChuckB 05:26 05:45 105 108
Spanna 05:27 06:30 119 122
KET 05:29 05:46 105 108
mw7000 05:29 05:42 103 106
Dekkers 05:31 05:48 105 108
Rabbitoh 05:32 06:57 125 128
Julian Forbes 05:45 01:58 34 35
Looch 05:48 06:14 107 110
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 05:51 05:48 99 102
cath23 05:52 07:40 130 134
Dzhigit 05:54 03:38 61 62
cmcnsmith 05:56 05:47 97 100
Carol 05:56 06:18 106 109
GeorgeTz 05:56 06:42 112 115
McBeak McBeak 06:00 05:12 86 88
nigel 06:00 06:51 114 117
Crossiant 06:01 06:57 115 118
Tudds 06:05 06:19 103 106
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 06:05 05:52 96 98
Rosron 06:07 07:19 119 122
GMcD 06:08 04:40 76 78
hopkinb hopkinb 06:08 05:51 95 97
rhi.andrew 06:10 05:12 84 86
Curarist 06:12 05:34 89 91
jimwetzler 06:16 04:27 71 73
ilan 06:17 07:08 113 116
James P 06:18 04:51 76 78
Wyn Lewis Wyn Lewis 06:28 04:29 69 71
Mike Harper Mike Harper 06:32 05:56 90 92
julian_w 06:34 05:54 89 91
jon 06:42 07:23 110 113
DrBill 06:42 07:26 110 113
Riche Riche 06:43 06:03 90 92
Puzzleplease 06:46 06:57 102 105
DianeRS 06:46 05:09 76 78
1234 06:48 07:36 111 114
plett11 Plett11 06:48 05:24 79 81
raincloud 06:49 07:40 112 115
Viscomte 06:51 07:32 109 112
Deezzaa Deezzaa 06:56 07:09 103 106
Corymbia Corymbia 06:57 07:22 105 108
johndun John Dunleavy 07:17 05:22 73 75
CoxBurglar 07:37 07:12 94 96
vinyl12345 vinyl1 07:53 07:38 96 98
mattindoha 07:57 06:26 80 82
flashman flashman 11:48 08:05 68 70
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 16:37 10:21 62 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.