Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2676

Date 15 May 2024
Number 2676
Setter Jalna
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 97
Count of ref solvers 74
Ref solvers excluded with errors 7
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2676

* 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 02:23 115 118
Paul Gilbert 02:27 02:26 99 102
cmjhutton 02:34 01:58 76 78
mistigris 02:41 02:29 92 94
aphis99 aphis99 02:43 02:20 85 87
hilarym 02:47 02:40 95 97
Flimmy flammy 03:01 03:11 105 108
markdobell 03:36 03:39 101 104
Heyesey 03:37 02:54 80 82
richard 03:37 03:48 105 108
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:52 03:36 93 95
SimonAnthony 03:58 05:12 131 135
glheard 03:58 04:54 123 126
chindit 04:02 04:57 122 125
Kinghedger 04:10 03:41 88 90
Umpire 04:18 03:22 78 80
scrabbler 04:18 04:44 110 113
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:22 03:47 86 88
MikeOsborne 04:26 05:16 118 121
Strober 04:30 04:54 108 111
tiggis 04:32 03:45 82 84
canismiser 04:32 03:45 82 84
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:34 04:35 100 103
chriswords 04:35 06:03 132 136
alexh 04:40 04:18 92 94
denislaw 04:46 21:08 443 456
andy 04:47 04:59 104 107
AlanS 04:47 04:12 87 89
lucyg43484 04:48 05:50 121 124
March 04:50 05:33 114 117
chriss 04:51 03:28 71 73
andrewlake 04:53 05:02 103 106
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 04:57 06:12 125 128
LouWeed LouWeed 04:57 05:24 109 112
Johninterred 04:59 06:40 133 137
daulbs 05:09 03:47 73 75
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:09 05:17 102 105
Tibthorpe 05:12 04:49 92 94
Zander 05:14 06:20 121 124
M Bennett 05:15 06:52 130 134
Squallaby 05:16 07:00 132 136
ChuckB 05:17 06:07 115 118
cdb_100 05:18 08:55 168 173
Penfold_61 05:21 05:07 95 97
footballblue 05:22 06:39 123 126
neilr neilr 05:28 04:27 81 83
MossDef 05:30 04:07 74 76
Freemers 05:41 04:52 85 87
Looch 05:42 06:34 115 118
Rabbitoh 05:44 04:48 83 85
Aly Duncan 05:46 04:30 78 80
Shabbo 05:48 05:19 91 93
nina s 05:50 04:42 80 82
SimonB 05:50 06:24 109 112
Encota 05:53 05:10 87 89
mcrossib1 05:55 09:00 152 156
MrChumley MrChumley 05:57 06:13 104 107
esmeralda 05:58 06:56 116 119
Crossiant 06:00 06:57 115 118
Dzhigit 06:03 07:31 124 127
cmcnsmith 06:05 06:07 100 103
GMcD 06:17 07:32 119 122
Mike C 06:18 07:29 118 121
Adrian Cobb 06:21 07:37 119 122
hopkinb hopkinb 06:21 07:01 110 113
jimwetzler 06:25 07:20 114 117
uvofiz 06:25 06:41 104 107
Curarist 06:26 08:21 129 132
robinh 06:28 05:13 80 82
ilan 06:35 06:22 96 98
James P 06:46 07:04 104 107
julian_w 06:47 06:33 96 98
Riche Riche 06:49 06:28 94 96
Obrador 07:01 07:44 110 113
SlumdogEngineer 07:07 08:57 125 128
KenD51 07:07 08:37 121 124
Puzzleplease 07:11 09:12 128 131
Julian Forbes 07:15 37:35 518 534
Dvynys Dvynys 07:17 07:51 107 110
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:24 07:14 97 100
1234 07:33 08:39 114 117
ChrisBrea 07:40 07:19 95 97
pc54 07:41 03:10 41 42
Corymbia Corymbia 07:42 07:08 92 94
endafk 07:46 08:46 112 115
martinede 07:46 06:37 85 87
gsriordan52 07:47 08:30 109 112
TomHerbert 07:49 08:23 107 110
earlylight 07:49 06:53 88 90
nigelmzzz 07:54 09:26 119 122
GMB 07:57 09:14 116 119
John Arnold 08:02 07:19 91 93
Templar Redux Templar 08:07 08:27 104 107
crosswordian 08:18 10:08 122 125
timbo 08:21 08:52 106 109
plett11 Plett11 08:22 07:19 87 89
richardCV22 08:23 08:16 98 101
DamienKnapma 08:28 07:04 83 85
Sheen 08:28 06:00 70 72
Dr_Bob 08:30 07:15 85 87
wwicksteed 08:32 08:55 104 107
johndun John Dunleavy 08:34 13:21 155 159
Doyler 08:34 09:27 110 113
goblin 08:38 09:35 111 114
Deezzaa Deezzaa 08:43 08:36 98 101
Mkgnao Mkgnao 08:47 11:54 135 139
john.brassey 08:47 09:53 112 115
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:48 10:46 122 125
vefatica vefatica 08:48 12:50 145 149
AndyLast 08:52 10:42 120 123
barracuda barracuda 08:52 09:55 111 114
OldSolver 08:57 08:34 95 97
TonyN6 08:57 09:44 108 111
kath 09:00 07:47 86 88
Zabadak3 Zabadak 09:00 08:13 91 93
jemcd33 09:04 12:07 133 137
luxtonj61 09:23 08:26 89 91
joe.mcgrane 09:23 06:55 73 75
smalley552 09:25 05:16 55 56
Mudge 09:26 15:04 159 163
edwards.robert1 09:31 08:42 91 93
Nigel1953 09:34 11:37 121 124
hipponym 09:36 13:55 144 148
Rubeculaw Rubeculaw 09:38 06:35 68 70
hemantyd 09:38 08:45 90 92
BertieVII 09:55 11:21 114 117
Mike Mansbridge 09:57 06:43 67 69
Birdingbob 10:03 10:45 106 109
Pauline Minter 10:05 11:24 113 116
starstruck starstruck_au 11:14 14:57 133 137
Nuck_the_king 11:18 14:36 129 132
maisiemae 11:27 09:09 79 81
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:37 13:14 113 116
simjt simjt 11:38 10:50 93 95
SMSEsq 11:49 27:13 230 237
Romulus66 11:57 13:40 114 117
ifincham2 11:57 09:13 77 79
JeffHobbs 11:58 14:25 120 123
potter_al 12:11 15:43 129 132
ezoredfox 12:16 11:16 91 93
tyrotim tyrotim 12:17 13:56 113 116
Rhys 12:19 15:12 123 126
kapietro kapietro 12:28 14:27 115 118
chabuduo chabuduo 12:55 15:58 123 126
Dofray 12:55 15:02 116 119
albrecht1959 13:13 11:27 86 88
alistair.boere 13:25 13:43 102 105
Mozbo 14:32 20:07 138 142
Mendes 14:33 16:50 115 118
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 15:03 17:07 113 116
intentional rounding 16:29 09:50 59 60
kfb20 16:45 12:33 74 76
Simon M 17:38 12:54 73 75
maryht 18:07 19:08 105 108
pfalloon 18:13 19:10 105 108
TonyK 18:57 19:13 101 104
DaveH 19:23 18:37 96 98
Jean in Oxford 19:29 29:19 150 154
mozbadel mozbadel 20:18 25:55 127 130
The Real Steve Snackman 20:19 24:23 120 123
deebeeem 21:15 69:31 327 337
Geldart 22:19 23:11 103 106
danielbluebisson 22:34 32:02 141 145
dominic.c-b 23:25 20:14 86 88
ian.shepherd 26:39 19:56 74 76
shankar 29:07 19:54 68 70

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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