Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2674

Date 13 May 2024
Number 2674
Setter Pipsqueak
Day of week Monday
NITCH 85
Count of ref solvers 76
Ref solvers excluded with errors 9
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2674

* 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 02:17 110 129
Paul Gilbert 02:27 01:59 80 94
mistigris 02:41 02:00 74 87
aphis99 aphis99 02:43 02:13 81 95
hilarym 02:47 02:42 97 114
Flimmy flammy 03:01 02:45 91 107
Sheapey Sheapey 03:19 03:52 116 136
markdobell 03:36 03:00 83 97
Heyesey 03:37 03:01 83 97
richard 03:37 04:37 127 149
LJCN 03:38 04:40 128 150
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:52 03:22 87 102
SimonAnthony 03:58 02:45 69 81
chindit 04:02 03:57 97 114
lickert 04:06 04:06 100 117
Kinghedger 04:10 04:22 104 122
scrabbler 04:18 04:28 103 121
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:22 04:02 92 108
MikeOsborne 04:26 03:15 73 85
Strober 04:30 05:03 112 131
tiggis 04:32 03:52 85 100
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:34 03:27 75 88
chriswords 04:35 03:52 84 98
tilbee 04:36 03:56 85 100
alexh 04:40 04:08 88 103
denislaw 04:46 05:57 124 145
AlanS 04:47 04:20 90 105
andy 04:47 04:06 85 100
lucyg43484 04:48 03:44 77 90
Liari 04:50 04:24 91 107
March 04:50 04:11 86 101
chriss 04:51 03:39 75 88
andrewlake 04:53 04:19 88 103
Ed freshpot 04:54 04:39 94 110
LouWeed LouWeed 04:57 04:54 98 115
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 04:57 04:45 95 111
Johninterred 04:59 03:36 72 84
Eddddddd 05:08 03:57 76 89
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:09 04:58 96 112
fshephe 05:12 02:46 53 62
Tibthorpe 05:12 04:59 95 111
Zander 05:14 03:40 70 82
M Bennett 05:15 05:43 108 127
Squallaby 05:16 05:16 100 117
ChuckB 05:17 04:23 82 96
cdb_100 05:18 03:56 74 87
grape 05:20 04:28 83 97
Penfold_61 05:21 06:21 118 138
neilr neilr 05:28 05:11 94 110
LuckOfLucien 05:30 04:06 74 87
KET 05:31 07:58 144 169
Finzi 05:38 06:02 107 125
Freemers 05:41 06:13 109 128
Looch 05:42 04:29 78 91
fishernick79 05:43 07:18 127 149
Rabbitoh galspray 05:44 03:16 56 65
Shabbo 05:48 05:26 93 109
nina s 05:50 04:17 73 85
Encota 05:53 05:30 93 109
mcrossib1 05:55 05:40 95 111
GeorgeTz 05:57 05:16 88 103
Crossiant 06:00 05:35 93 109
Dzhigit 06:03 04:39 76 89
Michael Dove 06:04 04:28 73 85
Aloysius 06:17 06:06 97 114
RobR RobR 06:17 06:36 105 123
GMcD 06:17 04:33 72 84
Adrian Cobb 06:21 06:29 102 120
hopkinb hopkinb 06:21 06:13 97 114
uvofiz 06:25 07:13 112 131
Tudds 06:25 04:48 74 87
Curarist 06:26 05:40 88 103
robinh 06:28 05:42 88 103
ilan 06:35 05:13 79 92
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 06:42 05:48 86 101
James P 06:46 09:02 133 156
julian_w 06:47 06:08 90 105
Riche Riche 06:49 06:06 89 104
Gussie 06:57 05:59 86 101
Obrador 07:01 08:18 118 138
Pxspxs 07:01 05:16 75 88
KenD51 07:07 06:11 86 101
Nangle 07:11 05:57 82 96
chriswestontour 07:12 07:20 101 118
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:24 05:56 80 94
banishspam 07:31 07:30 99 116
1234 07:33 06:19 83 97
ChrisBrea 07:40 06:25 83 97
pc54 07:41 03:34 46 54
Corymbia Corymbia 07:42 06:13 80 94
martinede 07:46 07:11 92 108
endafk 07:46 09:06 117 137
gsriordan52 07:47 06:58 89 104
TomHerbert 07:49 07:15 92 108
dec 07:52 06:47 86 101
docg 07:58 08:20 104 122
hazyfantazee 07:59 07:11 89 104
John Arnold 08:02 07:12 89 104
jaraab 08:10 08:53 108 127
crosswordian 08:18 07:35 91 107
plett11 Plett11 08:22 07:29 89 104
richardCV22 08:23 07:08 85 100
Sheen 08:28 08:06 95 111
Dr_Bob 08:30 08:07 95 111
wwicksteed 08:32 08:07 95 111
johndun John Dunleavy 08:34 08:48 102 120
goblin 08:38 07:15 83 97
mattindoha 08:38 07:48 90 105
Deezzaa Deezzaa 08:43 07:33 86 101
goldenpie 08:43 06:18 72 84
Mkgnao Mkgnao 08:47 07:37 86 101
vefatica vefatica 08:48 07:31 85 100
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:48 06:53 78 91
ulaca ulaca 08:56 07:02 78 91
Zabadak3 Zabadak 09:00 05:04 56 65
Yatton50 09:19 09:08 98 115
luxtonj61 09:23 07:07 75 88
smalley552 09:25 08:33 90 105
Mudge 09:26 06:41 70 82
Laputan 09:29 05:55 62 72
CoxBurglar 09:30 05:47 60 70
Nigel1953 09:34 08:24 87 102
Jeeves 09:35 08:32 89 104
hipponym 09:36 06:11 64 75
hookyt 09:47 10:41 109 128
BertieVII 09:55 10:03 101 118
Poff 09:56 09:00 90 105
Mike Mansbridge 09:57 06:09 61 71
Birdingbob 10:03 08:18 82 96
Chimblet Lyle 10:06 10:37 105 123
iholloway 10:07 07:43 76 89
Pendrov 10:24 07:46 74 87
Nuck_the_king 11:18 10:16 90 105
maisiemae 11:27 09:45 85 100
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:37 12:34 108 127
simjt simjt 11:38 08:29 72 84
potter_al 12:11 11:52 97 114
tyrotim tyrotim 12:17 13:21 108 127
Rhys 12:19 10:43 87 102
kapietro kapietro 12:28 10:49 86 101
chabuduo chabuduo 12:55 09:37 74 87
flashman flashman 12:58 13:00 100 117
anonymous 13:06 14:56 113 132
Sonofjim 13:13 15:16 115 135
albrecht1959 13:13 06:39 50 58
alistair.boere 13:25 16:31 123 144
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:06 17:13 122 143
rlowin2 14:21 11:42 81 95
phcbarnes 14:34 02:53 19 22
phatman 14:51 18:43 126 148
kfb20 16:45 14:01 83 97
pfalloon 18:13 12:32 68 80
TonyK 18:57 17:17 91 107
david.14587 19:58 22:53 114 134
The Real Steve Snackman 20:19 12:53 63 74
deebeeem 21:15 66:32 313 368
winelover 23:55 11:57 49 57
ian.shepherd 26:39 20:05 75 88
Sotogrande1 34:29 24:53 72 84
youngbaz 72:07 11:40 16 18

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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