Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2677

Date 16 May 2024
Number 2677
Setter Wurm
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 95
Count of ref solvers 75
Ref solvers excluded with errors 5
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2677

* 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 02:22 114 120
Paul Gilbert 02:27 02:29 101 106
cmjhutton 02:34 02:32 98 103
mistigris 02:41 03:10 118 124
aphis99 aphis99 02:43 02:36 95 100
hilarym 02:47 03:09 113 118
Flimmy flammy 03:01 02:34 85 89
markdobell 03:36 03:02 84 88
richard 03:37 03:29 96 101
Heyesey 03:37 03:24 94 98
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:52 03:27 89 93
glheard 03:58 03:47 95 100
SimonAnthony 03:58 03:22 84 88
chindit 04:02 03:34 88 92
lickert 04:06 04:08 100 105
Kinghedger 04:10 03:27 82 86
scrabbler 04:18 06:18 146 153
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:22 03:46 86 90
MikeOsborne 04:26 05:19 119 125
Strober 04:30 04:26 98 103
tiggis 04:32 04:07 90 94
canismiser 04:32 04:46 105 110
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:34 04:28 97 102
chriswords 04:35 05:52 128 134
tilbee 04:36 04:37 100 105
MK76 04:39 05:57 127 133
Honggui 04:40 04:26 95 100
alexh 04:40 06:10 132 138
denislaw 04:46 20:39 433 455
andy 04:47 03:24 71 74
AlanS 04:47 04:54 102 107
lucyg43484 04:48 03:56 81 85
March 04:50 05:46 119 125
chriss 04:51 03:29 71 74
andrewlake 04:53 04:26 90 94
LouWeed LouWeed 04:57 06:35 132 138
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 04:57 04:54 98 103
Johninterred 04:59 04:37 92 96
Eddddddd 05:08 05:09 100 105
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:09 06:16 121 127
daulbs 05:09 04:35 88 92
Tibthorpe 05:12 04:43 90 94
Zander 05:14 04:36 87 91
M Bennett 05:15 10:19 196 206
Squallaby 05:16 09:44 184 193
ChuckB 05:17 05:10 97 102
footballblue 05:22 07:44 144 151
neilr neilr 05:28 05:18 96 101
LuckOfLucien 05:30 05:24 98 103
Finzi 05:38 05:39 100 105
Freemers 05:41 04:08 72 75
Looch 05:42 04:51 85 89
fishernick79 05:43 05:22 93 97
Rabbitoh 05:44 03:30 61 64
Shabbo 05:48 05:08 88 92
SimonB 05:50 06:23 109 114
nina s 05:50 06:04 104 109
Encota 05:53 05:30 93 97
esmeralda 05:58 05:25 90 94
Crossiant 06:00 05:00 83 87
Viscomte 06:02 06:08 101 106
Carol 06:02 06:02 100 105
Dzhigit 06:03 07:57 131 137
GMcD 06:17 05:06 81 85
Mike C 06:18 06:11 98 103
hopkinb hopkinb 06:21 08:00 125 131
Tudds 06:25 07:41 119 125
jimwetzler 06:25 06:45 105 110
uvofiz 06:25 07:30 116 122
Curarist 06:26 10:46 167 175
robinh 06:28 06:44 104 109
paul.whitehouse69 06:32 07:33 115 121
ilan 06:35 08:24 127 133
PGooden 06:39 05:47 86 90
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 06:42 09:33 142 149
James P 06:46 09:13 136 143
Riche Riche 06:49 07:42 112 117
Gussie 06:57 07:02 101 106
Pxspxs 07:01 09:25 134 141
KenD51 07:07 10:04 141 148
Puzzleplease 07:11 07:32 104 109
Dvynys Dvynys 07:17 07:28 102 107
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:24 09:54 133 140
banishspam 07:31 07:37 101 106
ChrisBrea 07:40 08:11 106 111
pc54 07:41 03:27 44 46
Corymbia Corymbia 07:42 06:17 81 85
JE59 07:44 09:08 118 124
endafk 07:46 11:22 146 153
gsriordan52 07:47 07:38 98 103
dec 07:52 09:50 125 131
nigelmzzz 07:54 07:42 97 102
CrystalPip 07:57 07:30 94 98
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:58 06:11 77 81
hazyfantazee 07:59 07:30 93 97
John Arnold 08:02 10:23 129 135
robertbridge 08:04 08:34 106 111
crosswordian 08:18 09:04 109 114
timbo 08:21 09:19 111 116
plett11 Plett11 08:22 07:04 84 88
richardCV22 08:23 11:30 137 144
Cuppa378 08:26 07:04 83 87
DamienKnapma 08:28 06:42 79 83
wwicksteed 08:32 06:26 75 78
johndun John Dunleavy 08:34 07:36 88 92
goblin 08:38 09:32 110 115
mattindoha 08:38 09:55 114 120
Deezzaa Deezzaa 08:43 10:55 125 131
Mkgnao Mkgnao 08:47 09:57 113 118
john.brassey 08:47 08:20 94 98
vefatica vefatica 08:48 09:08 103 108
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:48 11:47 133 140
barracuda barracuda 08:52 09:07 102 107
ulaca ulaca 08:56 10:09 113 118
Zabadak3 Zabadak 09:00 08:58 99 104
kath 09:00 11:32 128 134
jemcd33 09:04 09:36 105 110
sue.cresswell 09:05 08:57 98 103
Yatton50 09:19 07:49 83 87
joe.mcgrane 09:23 11:13 119 125
Mudge 09:26 09:55 105 110
Laputan 09:29 09:24 99 104
Nigel1953 09:34 06:24 66 69
CWM65 09:35 11:06 115 121
Jeeves 09:35 09:16 96 101
hipponym 09:36 13:54 144 151
hemantyd 09:38 10:16 106 111
BertieVII 09:55 10:12 102 107
Poff 09:56 12:19 123 129
Birdingbob 10:03 12:55 128 134
Pauline Minter 10:05 11:15 111 116
Chimblet Lyle 10:06 08:45 86 90
MichaelE 11:11 11:09 99 104
Nuck_the_king 11:18 14:45 130 136
paul.verney 11:34 12:51 111 116
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:37 12:39 108 113
simjt simjt 11:38 20:58 180 189
ifincham2 11:57 12:24 103 108
potter_al 12:11 22:18 183 192
tyrotim tyrotim 12:17 15:28 125 131
kapietro kapietro 12:28 15:47 126 132
mpbthorpe 12:30 39:18 314 330
chabuduo chabuduo 12:55 09:15 71 74
alistair.boere 13:25 12:19 91 95
Xebeq 13:52 11:59 86 90
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:06 31:12 221 232
rlowin2 14:21 16:19 113 118
Mendes 14:33 15:50 108 113
phcbarnes 14:34 17:45 121 127
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 15:03 10:49 71 74
JimAdelong 15:35 15:32 99 104
intentional rounding 16:29 19:30 118 124
daverob 17:33 14:58 85 89
Masha 18:05 17:29 96 101
pfalloon 18:13 22:43 124 130
TonyK 18:57 18:34 97 102
david.14587 19:58 10:57 54 56
The Real Steve Snackman 20:19 26:33 130 136
dominic.c-b 23:25 25:36 109 114
ian.shepherd 26:39 30:57 116 122
Pompeydave 28:04 04:32 16 16
shankar 29:07 20:40 70 73
mcfarl 41:07 45:14 110 115
youngbaz 72:07 11:27 15 15

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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