Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2687

Date 28 May 2024
Number 2687
Setter Oink
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 89
Count of ref solvers 77
Ref solvers excluded with errors 4
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2687

* 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 01:52 90 101
Paul Gilbert 02:27 02:10 88 98
aphis99 aphis99 02:43 02:50 104 116
hilarym 02:47 02:23 85 95
Flimmy flammy 03:01 02:24 79 88
markdobell 03:36 02:41 74 83
richard 03:37 03:04 84 94
Heyesey 03:37 03:49 105 117
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:52 03:17 84 94
SimonAnthony 03:58 04:05 102 114
glheard 03:58 04:07 103 115
lickert 04:06 04:59 121 135
Kinghedger 04:10 04:34 109 122
Glencairn 04:10 04:16 102 114
Umpire 04:18 02:57 68 76
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:22 04:09 95 106
MikeOsborne 04:26 03:09 71 79
Strober 04:30 05:23 119 133
canismiser 04:32 05:34 122 137
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:34 04:10 91 102
tilbee 04:36 03:34 77 86
MK76 04:39 03:27 74 83
alexh 04:40 03:55 83 93
denislaw 04:46 04:11 87 97
AlanS 04:47 03:37 75 84
andy 04:47 03:27 72 80
lucyg43484 04:48 05:43 119 133
March 04:50 04:29 92 103
Liari 04:50 04:58 102 114
chriss 04:51 03:44 76 85
andrewlake 04:53 03:59 81 91
Ed freshpot 04:54 09:54 202 226
d.middleton 04:56 04:24 89 100
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 04:57 04:50 97 108
LouWeed LouWeed 04:57 05:08 103 115
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:09 06:38 128 143
daulbs 05:09 04:44 91 102
fshephe 05:12 05:03 97 108
Tibthorpe 05:12 05:12 100 112
Zander 05:14 04:41 89 100
Squallaby 05:16 05:19 100 112
cdb_100 05:18 04:25 83 93
grape 05:20 04:41 87 97
Penfold_61 05:21 04:55 91 102
neilr neilr 05:28 06:27 117 131
LuckOfLucien 05:30 06:26 116 130
KET 05:31 05:19 96 107
Finzi 05:38 05:37 99 111
Looch 05:42 05:09 90 101
Rabbitoh galspray 05:44 05:34 97 108
Aly Duncan 05:46 05:32 95 106
Shabbo 05:48 06:31 112 125
nina s 05:50 05:05 87 97
mw7000 05:52 04:52 82 92
Encota 05:53 04:42 79 88
mcrossib1 05:55 04:44 80 89
esmeralda 05:58 06:01 100 112
Crossiant 06:00 05:39 94 105
Dzhigit 06:03 05:35 92 103
Michael Dove 06:04 06:00 98 110
RobR RobR 06:17 05:39 89 100
GMcD 06:17 06:41 106 119
Mike C 06:18 04:50 76 85
hopkinb hopkinb 06:21 06:10 97 108
Adrian Cobb 06:21 05:55 93 104
uvofiz 06:25 07:27 116 130
Tudds 06:25 05:05 79 88
Curarist 06:26 06:47 105 117
robinh 06:28 05:29 84 94
paul.whitehouse69 06:32 05:26 83 93
ilan 06:35 05:56 90 101
PGooden 06:39 05:04 76 85
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 06:42 06:43 100 112
jon 06:46 06:29 95 106
julian_w 06:47 04:53 71 79
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 06:48 04:49 70 78
Riche Riche 06:49 06:06 89 100
Gussie 06:57 06:39 95 106
Obrador 07:01 05:59 85 95
Pxspxs 07:01 07:40 109 122
DianeRS 07:02 05:12 73 82
rhi.andrew 07:09 08:48 123 138
Puzzleplease 07:11 04:45 66 74
Nangle 07:11 08:49 122 137
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:24 06:49 92 103
ChrisBrea 07:40 05:59 78 87
pc54 07:41 02:59 38 42
Corymbia Corymbia 07:42 06:24 83 93
JE59 07:44 09:55 128 143
martinede 07:46 07:43 99 111
gsriordan52 07:47 07:52 101 113
earlylight 07:49 06:38 84 94
TomHerbert 07:49 08:04 103 115
dec 07:52 06:00 76 85
nigelmzzz 07:54 09:11 116 130
docg 07:58 08:00 100 112
frost 07:59 06:45 84 94
JanieP 08:01 07:49 97 108
John Arnold 08:02 08:09 101 113
Templar Redux Templar 08:07 06:21 78 87
jaraab 08:10 07:15 88 98
crosswordian 08:18 06:42 80 89
timbo 08:21 07:35 90 101
plett11 Plett11 08:22 07:18 87 97
richardCV22 08:23 07:28 89 100
Cuppa378 08:26 08:34 101 113
DamienKnapma 08:28 07:15 85 95
Dr_Bob 08:30 07:06 83 93
crucihacker 08:34 08:58 104 116
johndun John Dunleavy 08:34 07:54 92 103
goblin 08:38 07:51 90 101
john.brassey 08:47 07:18 83 93
Mkgnao Mkgnao 08:47 07:15 82 92
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:48 07:59 90 101
vefatica vefatica 08:48 08:23 95 106
barracuda barracuda 08:52 10:52 122 137
ulaca ulaca 08:56 06:04 67 75
TonyN6 08:57 26:49 299 335
OldSolver 08:57 06:07 68 76
Zabadak3 Zabadak 09:00 08:35 95 106
kath 09:00 07:53 87 97
Yatton50 09:19 11:45 126 141
luxtonj61 09:23 08:30 90 101
smalley552 09:25 10:57 116 130
Mudge 09:26 05:50 61 68
FelicityTT 09:26 08:40 91 102
Laputan 09:29 08:01 84 94
edwards.robert1 09:31 12:55 135 151
Jeeves 09:35 06:36 68 76
CWM65 09:35 08:12 85 95
hipponym 09:36 09:09 95 106
hemantyd 09:38 09:13 95 106
raincloud 09:41 05:51 60 67
BertieVII 09:55 10:30 105 117
Birdingbob 10:03 10:25 103 115
Pauline Minter 10:05 07:17 72 80
Destime 10:22 08:53 85 95
alastair52 10:35 09:42 91 102
Rammy Trainor 11:13 09:13 82 92
Nuck_the_king 11:18 08:33 75 84
Dr. Memory 11:23 10:02 88 98
maisiemae 11:27 09:50 85 95
paul.verney 11:34 12:06 104 116
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:37 10:53 93 104
simjt simjt 11:38 09:55 85 95
potter_al 12:11 08:08 66 74
kapietro kapietro 12:28 10:27 83 93
Dofray 12:55 25:03 193 216
chabuduo chabuduo 12:55 11:39 90 101
flashman flashman 12:58 15:00 115 129
anonymous 13:06 14:55 113 126
phmfantom 13:07 13:29 102 114
Sonofjim 13:13 09:36 72 80
albrecht1959 13:13 09:26 71 79
alistair.boere 13:25 09:15 68 76
Corbo 13:44 11:46 85 95
rlowin2 14:21 14:41 102 114
Mendes Mendesest 14:33 12:28 85 95
phcbarnes 14:34 16:00 109 122
Holly O 16:08 12:35 77 86
intentional rounding 16:29 11:51 71 79
kfb20 16:45 14:31 86 96
pfalloon 18:13 08:41 47 52
david.14587 19:58 23:22 117 131
The Real Steve Snackman 20:19 13:22 65 73
deebeeem 21:15 10:36 49 55
Geldart 22:19 25:20 113 126
domski 24:15 26:26 109 122
paulmcl 24:18 26:09 107 120
ian.shepherd 26:39 26:36 99 111
prognosticat 31:37 30:19 95 106

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.

Loading...
Loading...
Back