Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2668

Date 06 May 2024
Number 2668
Setter Trelawney
Day of week Monday
NITCH 68
Count of ref solvers 73
Ref solvers excluded with errors 4
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2668

* 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 02:04 01:22 66 97
Paul Gilbert 02:27 01:36 65 95
cmjhutton 02:34 01:40 64 94
mistigris 02:41 01:58 73 107
aphis99 aphis99 02:43 02:33 93 136
hilarym 02:47 02:18 82 120
Flimmy flammy 03:01 03:00 99 145
markdobell 03:36 02:13 61 89
Heyesey 03:37 02:27 67 98
richard 03:37 02:10 59 86
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:52 02:44 70 102
glheard 03:58 03:06 78 114
SimonAnthony 03:58 02:15 56 82
chindit 04:02 03:11 78 114
lickert 04:06 03:10 77 113
Kinghedger 04:10 03:42 88 129
Glencairn 04:10 03:39 87 127
scrabbler 04:18 04:30 104 152
Umpire 04:18 02:48 65 95
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:22 04:05 93 136
MikeOsborne 04:26 03:37 81 119
Strober 04:30 04:31 100 147
tiggis 04:32 03:11 70 102
chriswords 04:35 03:50 83 122
tilbee 04:36 04:25 96 141
MK76 04:39 02:52 61 89
alexh 04:40 04:04 87 127
Honggui 04:40 03:26 73 107
Jim Willis 04:41 03:03 65 95
John Walsh 04:41 04:10 88 129
denislaw 04:46 04:18 90 132
AlanS 04:47 03:35 74 108
March 04:50 03:44 77 113
Liari 04:50 03:15 67 98
chriss 04:51 03:42 76 111
andrewlake 04:53 03:25 69 101
Paul Bacon 04:53 04:10 85 125
Ed freshpot 04:54 03:16 66 97
d.middleton 04:56 04:40 94 138
LouWeed LouWeed 04:57 03:27 69 101
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 04:57 03:02 61 89
Johninterred 04:59 04:08 82 120
Eddddddd 05:08 02:54 56 82
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:09 04:09 80 117
daulbs 05:09 03:08 60 88
fshephe 05:12 04:06 78 114
M Bennett 05:15 03:40 69 101
Squallaby 05:16 03:28 65 95
ChuckB 05:17 04:31 85 125
cdb_100 05:18 03:27 65 95
footballblue 05:22 03:49 71 104
neilr neilr 05:28 02:50 51 75
Finzi 05:38 04:32 80 117
Looch 05:42 04:31 79 116
Rabbitoh 05:44 03:02 52 76
Shabbo 05:48 04:12 72 105
nina s 05:50 04:00 68 100
Encota 05:53 04:16 72 105
chrismarch 05:53 03:55 66 97
mcrossib1 05:55 02:56 49 72
Rosron 05:57 04:11 70 102
MrChumley MrChumley 05:57 04:53 82 120
esmeralda 05:58 03:53 65 95
Crossiant 06:00 03:55 65 95
Dzhigit 06:03 03:55 64 94
Michael Dove 06:04 05:18 87 127
cmcnsmith 06:05 04:07 67 98
GMcD 06:17 03:41 58 85
Mike C 06:18 05:59 94 138
Adrian Cobb 06:21 04:00 62 91
hopkinb hopkinb 06:21 04:36 72 105
jimwetzler 06:25 04:15 66 97
Tudds 06:25 04:53 76 111
uvofiz 06:25 04:55 76 111
Curarist 06:26 05:50 90 132
robinh 06:28 04:58 76 111
paul.whitehouse69 06:32 03:48 58 85
ilan 06:35 04:19 65 95
PGooden 06:39 05:21 80 117
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 06:42 04:12 62 91
James P 06:46 04:47 70 102
jon 06:46 04:55 72 105
julian_w 06:47 04:31 66 97
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 06:48 03:06 45 66
Riche Riche 06:49 04:43 69 101
Gussie 06:57 04:26 63 92
Pxspxs 07:01 04:35 65 95
DianeRS 07:02 05:22 76 111
SlumdogEngineer 07:07 04:20 60 88
Puzzleplease 07:11 05:07 71 104
chriswestontour 07:12 06:03 84 123
Dvynys Dvynys 07:17 04:35 62 91
Andrew Whiffin 07:20 04:01 54 79
valerian1967 07:21 05:21 72 105
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:24 03:42 50 73
1234 07:33 05:19 70 102
ChrisBrea 07:40 05:02 65 95
pauliwan 07:41 06:02 78 114
pc54 07:41 03:57 51 75
Corymbia Corymbia 07:42 04:16 55 80
endafk 07:46 04:25 56 82
earlylight 07:49 03:36 46 67
Crippens1 07:52 06:45 85 125
CrystalPip 07:57 04:54 61 89
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:58 05:23 67 98
John Arnold 08:02 05:22 66 97
jaraab 08:10 05:23 65 95
m5harp 08:14 04:58 60 88
nigel 08:14 04:38 56 82
timbo 08:21 05:21 64 94
plett11 Plett11 08:22 04:47 57 83
richardCV22 08:23 06:20 75 110
Cuppa378 08:26 06:01 71 104
DamienKnapma 08:28 03:55 46 67
johndun John Dunleavy 08:34 04:55 57 83
Deezzaa Deezzaa 08:43 08:11 93 136
Mkgnao Mkgnao 08:47 05:33 63 92
john.brassey 08:47 06:22 72 105
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:48 06:42 76 111
barracuda barracuda 08:52 06:00 67 98
ulaca ulaca 08:56 05:45 64 94
OldSolver 08:57 09:30 106 155
TonyN6 08:57 07:16 81 119
Zabadak3 Zabadak 09:00 06:28 71 104
kath 09:00 09:37 106 155
jemcd33 09:04 05:45 63 92
Bambersheila55 09:24 05:04 53 77
Mudge 09:26 06:33 69 101
Nigel1953 09:34 06:41 69 101
Jeeves 09:35 07:10 74 108
hipponym 09:36 04:44 49 72
hemantyd 09:38 05:40 58 85
BertieVII 09:55 08:06 81 119
Birdingbob 10:03 05:29 54 79
iholloway 10:07 07:27 73 107
Currieface 10:22 07:46 74 108
Pendrov 10:24 06:55 66 97
alastair52 10:35 03:55 37 54
starstruck starstruck_au 11:14 07:22 65 95
Dr. Memory 11:23 13:07 115 169
paul.verney 11:34 08:53 76 111
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:37 07:10 61 89
Struwa Struwa 11:37 08:50 76 111
simjt simjt 11:38 06:33 56 82
ifincham2 11:57 09:12 76 111
Romulus66 11:57 07:21 61 89
potter_al 12:11 07:55 64 94
ezoredfox 12:16 05:08 41 60
tyrotim tyrotim 12:17 08:03 65 95
Rhys 12:19 07:24 60 88
kapietro kapietro 12:28 09:22 75 110
mpbthorpe 12:30 05:44 45 66
chabuduo chabuduo 12:55 06:36 51 75
flashman flashman 12:58 05:30 42 61
anonymous 13:06 07:47 59 86
albrecht1959 13:13 06:51 51 75
alistair.boere 13:25 07:58 59 86
Corbo 13:44 12:49 93 136
Xebeq 13:52 07:40 55 80
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:06 08:25 59 86
jarenstein 14:09 06:06 43 63
rlowin2 14:21 07:50 54 79
phcbarnes 14:34 15:01 103 151
intentional rounding 16:29 05:13 31 45
kfb20 16:45 08:14 49 72
thechan 17:01 08:42 51 75
pfalloon 18:13 08:46 48 70
DaveH 19:23 11:18 58 85
Jean in Oxford 19:29 09:48 50 73
david.14587 19:58 06:49 34 50
The Real Steve Snackman 20:19 07:30 36 52
New Driver 20:19 06:09 30 44
Hazelnut 20:44 15:02 72 105
deebeeem 21:15 08:54 41 60
Geldart 22:19 15:28 69 101
dominic.c-b 23:25 14:11 60 88
winelover 23:55 12:26 51 75
domski 24:15 07:28 30 44
philby 26:02 16:20 62 91
lazydays 26:12 09:51 37 54
ian.shepherd 26:39 21:24 80 117
Pompeydave 28:04 11:48 42 61
shankar 29:07 11:54 40 58
mcfarl 41:07 25:24 61 89
hod45pat 102:33 08:53 8 11

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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