Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2682

Date 22 May 2024
Number 2682
Setter Orpheus
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 106
Count of ref solvers 76
Ref solvers excluded with errors 18
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2682

* 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 01:51 89 83
Paul Gilbert 02:27 02:59 121 114
aphis99 aphis99 02:43 02:43 100 94
Flimmy flammy 03:01 03:33 117 110
markdobell 03:36 04:36 127 119
Heyesey 03:37 04:15 117 110
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:52 04:05 105 99
SimonAnthony 03:58 03:07 78 73
chindit 04:02 04:33 112 105
lickert 04:06 05:19 129 121
Umpire 04:18 07:19 170 160
scrabbler 04:18 05:53 136 128
MikeOsborne 04:26 04:27 100 94
tiggis 04:32 05:16 116 109
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:34 04:04 89 83
tilbee 04:36 05:41 123 116
alexh 04:40 04:43 101 95
andy 04:47 06:58 145 136
lucyg43484 04:48 06:02 125 117
Liari 04:50 08:07 167 157
March 04:50 05:33 114 107
chriss 04:51 05:15 108 101
andrewlake 04:53 07:33 154 145
LouWeed LouWeed 04:57 05:36 113 106
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 04:57 05:23 108 101
Johninterred 04:59 04:27 89 83
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:09 04:24 85 80
Tibthorpe 05:12 03:55 75 70
Zander 05:14 05:01 95 89
Squallaby 05:16 05:08 97 91
ChuckB 05:17 05:49 110 103
Penfold_61 05:21 05:59 111 104
neilr neilr 05:28 05:03 92 86
Finzi 05:38 06:13 110 103
Freemers 05:41 05:43 100 94
Looch 05:42 05:34 97 91
fishernick79 05:43 10:58 191 180
Rabbitoh 05:44 06:12 108 101
Aly Duncan 05:46 08:48 152 143
Shabbo 05:48 04:36 79 74
nina s 05:50 08:11 140 132
SimonB 05:50 06:54 118 111
mw7000 05:52 07:29 127 119
Encota 05:53 06:12 105 99
esmeralda 05:58 08:08 136 128
Carol 06:02 08:21 138 130
RobR RobR 06:17 06:12 98 92
GMcD 06:17 07:14 115 108
Mike C 06:18 07:55 125 117
uvofiz 06:25 07:12 112 105
Curarist 06:26 09:00 139 131
robinh 06:28 06:34 101 95
paul.whitehouse69 06:32 07:40 117 110
ilan 06:35 09:27 143 134
PGooden 06:39 03:57 59 55
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 06:42 11:13 167 157
James P 06:46 08:41 128 120
jon 06:46 06:12 91 85
julian_w 06:47 07:38 112 105
Kalakuta72 06:59 09:35 137 129
DianeRS 07:02 05:47 82 77
Dvynys Dvynys 07:17 05:16 72 67
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:24 07:34 102 96
ChrisBrea 07:40 10:34 137 129
Corymbia Corymbia 07:42 09:04 117 110
endafk 07:46 05:58 76 71
gsriordan52 07:47 07:14 92 86
TomHerbert 07:49 10:22 132 124
dec 07:52 09:52 125 117
nigelmzzz 07:54 10:00 126 118
Templar Redux Templar 08:07 07:32 92 86
jaraab 08:10 06:58 85 80
m5harp 08:14 07:58 96 90
timbo 08:21 10:07 121 114
richardCV22 08:23 08:39 103 97
Cuppa378 08:26 10:31 124 116
Sheen 08:28 08:12 96 90
johndun John Dunleavy 08:34 07:52 91 85
Doyler 08:34 12:26 145 136
goblin 08:38 08:17 95 89
mattindoha 08:38 12:13 141 133
Deezzaa Deezzaa 08:43 06:11 70 66
Mkgnao Mkgnao 08:47 10:37 120 113
john.brassey 08:47 09:17 105 99
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:48 13:32 153 144
barracuda barracuda 08:52 09:14 104 98
ulaca ulaca 08:56 08:05 90 84
TonyN6 08:57 08:59 100 94
Zabadak3 Zabadak 09:00 13:52 154 145
jemcd33 09:04 10:14 112 105
Yatton50 09:19 08:13 88 83
Mudge 09:26 14:19 151 142
FelicityTT 09:26 09:15 98 92
Laputan 09:29 08:44 92 86
CoxBurglar 09:30 08:58 94 88
Nigel1953 09:34 10:28 109 102
Jeeves 09:35 08:41 90 84
hipponym 09:36 13:47 143 134
raincloud 09:41 10:09 104 98
BinLinerBob 09:47 07:26 75 70
BertieVII 09:55 14:20 144 135
Poff 09:56 26:28 266 250
Birdingbob 10:03 14:08 140 132
Pauline Minter 10:05 10:15 101 95
TripleDouble 10:19 16:36 160 150
Currieface 10:22 19:39 189 178
Troothful 10:41 13:51 129 121
MichaelE 11:11 12:55 115 108
Nuck_the_king 11:18 17:18 153 144
maisiemae 11:27 08:41 75 70
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:37 10:10 87 82
potter_al 12:11 22:37 185 174
tyrotim tyrotim 12:17 14:05 114 107
Rhys 12:19 10:08 82 77
kapietro kapietro 12:28 12:22 99 93
mpbthorpe 12:30 16:46 134 126
MartianAlien 12:30 15:31 124 116
chabuduo chabuduo 12:55 14:48 114 107
flashman flashman 12:58 05:00 38 35
phmfantom 13:07 46:46 356 335
albrecht1959 13:13 09:47 74 69
alistair.boere 13:25 12:18 91 85
140 Mandak 262 Jamuna 15:07 16:21 108 101
JanetP 15:09 22:03 145 136
Guy Hatton 15:57 14:21 89 83
intentional rounding 16:29 38:10 231 217
ginnythomson 17:23 11:58 68 64
pfalloon 18:13 17:02 93 87
TonyK 18:57 25:18 133 125
The Real Steve Snackman 20:19 22:10 109 102
Geldart 22:19 32:01 143 134
danielbluebisson 22:34 47:12 209 197
david 24:06 32:53 136 128
mcfarl 41:07 63:29 154 145

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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