Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2683

Date 23 May 2024
Number 2683
Setter Hurley
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 88
Count of ref solvers 77
Ref solvers excluded with errors 5
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2683

* 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 01:49 87 98
Paul Gilbert 02:27 01:51 75 85
mistigris 02:41 02:22 88 100
aphis99 aphis99 02:43 02:31 92 104
hilarym 02:47 02:50 101 114
Flimmy flammy 03:01 02:52 95 107
markdobell 03:36 04:56 137 155
Heyesey 03:37 02:52 79 89
richard 03:37 03:58 109 123
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:52 03:58 102 115
glheard 03:58 02:47 70 79
SimonAnthony 03:58 03:00 75 85
chindit 04:02 04:07 102 115
lickert 04:06 04:19 105 119
Kinghedger 04:10 04:00 96 109
Umpire 04:18 02:34 59 67
scrabbler 04:18 04:13 98 111
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:22 04:06 93 105
MikeOsborne 04:26 02:49 63 71
canismiser 04:32 04:37 101 114
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:34 03:54 85 96
chriswords 04:35 05:44 125 142
tilbee 04:36 05:34 121 137
alexh 04:40 04:11 89 101
denislaw 04:46 03:55 82 93
andy 04:47 05:08 107 121
AlanS 04:47 03:50 80 90
lucyg43484 04:48 04:17 89 101
Liari 04:50 04:21 90 102
andrewlake 04:53 03:07 63 71
Ed freshpot 04:54 06:16 127 144
LouWeed LouWeed 04:57 04:55 99 112
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 04:57 05:17 106 120
Ease This Jam 05:00 06:13 124 140
Eddddddd 05:08 04:35 89 101
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:09 04:38 89 101
daulbs 05:09 04:14 82 93
fshephe 05:12 05:08 98 111
Tibthorpe 05:12 04:56 94 106
Zander 05:14 04:13 80 90
ChuckB 05:17 05:43 108 122
cdb_100 05:18 06:13 117 132
Penfold_61 05:21 04:38 86 97
neilr neilr 05:28 03:53 71 80
Finzi 05:38 05:24 95 107
Freemers 05:41 04:29 78 88
Looch 05:42 08:03 141 160
Rabbitoh 05:44 04:55 85 96
Aly Duncan 05:46 04:59 86 97
Shabbo 05:48 05:26 93 105
nina s 05:50 04:37 79 89
SimonB 05:50 06:31 111 126
mw7000 05:52 05:08 87 98
Encota 05:53 06:00 101 114
esmeralda 05:58 04:59 83 94
Crossiant 06:00 04:45 79 89
Carol 06:02 05:24 89 101
Dzhigit 06:03 06:22 105 119
Michael Dove 06:04 04:31 74 84
RobR RobR 06:17 04:52 77 87
GMcD 06:17 06:24 101 114
Mike C 06:18 05:54 93 105
hopkinb hopkinb 06:21 04:15 66 75
uvofiz 06:25 06:09 95 107
Tudds 06:25 07:28 116 131
jimwetzler 06:25 07:05 110 125
Curarist 06:26 06:12 96 109
robinh 06:28 06:31 100 113
paul.whitehouse69 06:32 05:53 90 102
ilan 06:35 06:08 93 105
PGooden 06:39 04:53 73 82
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 06:42 04:56 73 82
James P 06:46 07:22 108 122
julian_w 06:47 05:25 79 89
Blackbeard 06:48 04:38 68 77
Riche Riche 06:49 06:25 94 106
Kalakuta72 06:59 05:39 80 90
Pxspxs 07:01 06:09 87 98
Obrador 07:01 05:55 84 95
SlumdogEngineer 07:07 06:29 91 103
KenD51 07:07 08:21 117 132
tds 07:10 07:23 103 117
Puzzleplease 07:11 05:15 73 82
Nangle 07:11 05:58 83 94
chriswestontour 07:12 05:56 82 93
Dvynys Dvynys 07:17 05:24 74 84
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:24 06:00 81 92
ChrisBrea 07:40 05:35 72 81
Corymbia Corymbia 07:42 08:12 106 120
endafk 07:46 05:47 74 84
martinede 07:46 08:21 107 121
gsriordan52 07:47 08:01 102 115
dec 07:52 09:22 119 135
nigelmzzz 07:54 09:23 118 134
GMB 07:57 06:23 80 90
docg 07:58 08:36 107 121
John Arnold 08:02 09:05 113 128
m5harp 08:14 07:31 91 103
timbo 08:21 07:40 91 103
plett11 Plett11 08:22 07:20 87 98
DamienKnapma 08:28 05:56 70 79
Sheen 08:28 06:35 77 87
johndun John Dunleavy 08:34 06:37 77 87
crucihacker 08:34 09:14 107 121
mattindoha 08:38 08:04 93 105
goblin 08:38 06:25 74 84
Deezzaa Deezzaa 08:43 09:57 114 129
john.brassey 08:47 08:54 101 114
vefatica vefatica 08:48 07:08 81 92
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:48 08:02 91 103
barracuda barracuda 08:52 09:03 102 115
ulaca ulaca 08:56 07:07 79 89
TonyN6 08:57 08:47 98 111
OldSolver 08:57 07:44 86 97
kath 09:00 09:45 108 122
Zabadak3 Zabadak 09:00 08:57 99 112
jemcd33 09:04 08:39 95 107
luxtonj61 09:23 09:06 96 109
joe.mcgrane 09:23 06:26 68 77
smalley552 09:25 14:06 149 169
FelicityTT 09:26 07:06 75 85
CoxBurglar 09:30 07:46 81 92
Jeeves 09:35 08:24 87 98
hipponym 09:36 07:37 79 89
Rubeculaw Rubeculaw 09:38 06:20 65 73
hemantyd 09:38 09:56 103 117
hookyt 09:47 08:17 84 95
BinLinerBob 09:47 14:27 147 167
Poff 09:56 12:05 121 137
Birdingbob 10:03 10:43 106 120
Destime 10:22 08:20 80 90
Nuck_the_king 11:18 09:03 80 90
maisiemae 11:27 13:33 118 134
home.bright 11:27 09:29 82 93
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:37 11:18 97 110
simjt simjt 11:38 10:52 93 105
SlowSteady 11:41 15:55 136 154
Romulus66 11:57 12:03 100 113
pammar 11:58 06:14 52 59
potter_al 12:11 09:59 81 92
ezoredfox 12:16 07:36 61 69
tyrotim tyrotim 12:17 10:48 87 98
kapietro kapietro 12:28 12:45 102 115
Dofray 12:55 08:55 69 78
chabuduo chabuduo 12:55 10:09 78 88
flashman flashman 12:58 09:40 74 84
anonymous 13:06 14:47 112 127
Sonofjim 13:13 07:36 57 64
alistair.boere 13:25 08:58 66 75
Corbo 13:44 11:19 82 93
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:06 13:09 93 105
rlowin2 14:21 16:44 116 131
phcbarnes 14:34 14:00 96 109
phatman 14:51 12:33 84 95
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 15:03 13:57 92 104
intentional rounding 16:29 11:34 70 79
kfb20 16:45 19:09 114 129
pfalloon 18:13 08:05 44 50
TonyK 18:57 14:36 77 87
keithandginnybirrell 19:35 13:50 70 79
The Real Steve Snackman 20:19 17:18 85 96
deebeeem 21:15 10:59 51 57
Geldart 22:19 16:14 72 81
winelover 23:55 13:03 54 61
domski 24:15 21:59 90 102
Pompeydave 28:04 27:43 98 111
shankar 29:07 33:39 115 130
IanV IanV 34:05 34:00 99 112
mcfarl 41:07 45:37 110 125

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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