Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2347

Date 08 March 2023
Number 2347
Setter Hurley
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 116
Count of ref solvers 64
Ref solvers excluded with errors 0
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2347

* 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
verlaine 02:36 02:13 85 73
hilarym 02:43 02:51 104 89
cmjhutton 02:44 03:20 121 104
aphis99 aphis99 02:49 02:47 98 84
Flimmy flammy 03:04 03:18 107 92
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:38 04:47 131 112
richard 03:39 03:24 93 80
markdobell 03:50 04:38 120 103
Heyesey 03:52 04:25 114 98
glheard 04:02 04:29 111 95
Strober 04:04 03:35 88 75
lickert 04:11 04:19 103 88
chindit 04:13 05:16 124 106
MikeOsborne 04:21 04:23 100 86
tilbee 04:21 06:27 148 127
lucyg43484 04:30 04:41 104 89
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:36 05:56 128 110
scrabbler 04:39 04:47 102 87
andrewlake 04:44 04:08 87 75
andy 04:46 04:18 90 77
March 04:46 04:07 86 74
LouWeed LouWeed 04:46 04:21 91 78
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 04:48 06:42 139 119
Ed freshpot 04:50 04:42 97 83
Ease This Jam 04:50 05:48 120 103
Honggui 04:54 05:41 115 99
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:05 04:41 92 79
Squallaby 05:09 07:21 142 122
Liari 05:09 09:16 179 154
neilr neilr 05:10 05:47 111 95
annbrew 05:11 05:06 98 84
Tibthorpe 05:12 06:06 117 100
Penfold_61 05:18 05:33 104 89
Aly Duncan 05:21 06:15 116 100
esmeralda 05:23 04:55 91 78
fshephe 05:25 04:39 85 73
jimpen 05:26 05:19 97 83
george.plumbly 05:28 03:23 61 52
Rabbitoh 05:32 07:45 140 120
AndyR 05:36 07:56 141 121
Finzi 05:39 06:11 109 93
Shabbo 05:46 08:20 144 124
Looch 05:48 06:13 107 92
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 05:51 06:52 117 100
MrChumley MrChumley 05:52 06:11 105 90
cath23 05:52 06:44 114 98
SlumdogEngineer 05:54 05:36 94 81
Carol 05:56 04:56 83 71
McBeak McBeak 06:00 09:02 150 129
Crossiant 06:01 07:47 129 111
Colin2355 06:02 08:32 141 121
DunPangolin 06:03 07:46 128 110
Tudds 06:05 07:58 130 112
Rosron 06:07 07:42 125 107
GMcD 06:08 08:05 131 112
earlylight 06:09 09:00 146 125
martinphillips 06:09 10:04 163 140
auntflo 06:14 06:42 107 92
robinh 06:19 06:49 107 92
paul.whitehouse69 06:25 08:23 130 112
uvofiz 06:30 07:51 120 103
DrBill 06:42 07:28 111 95
Puzzleplease 06:46 09:17 137 118
DianeRS 06:46 08:35 126 108
endafk 06:48 08:45 128 110
1234 06:48 08:48 129 111
plett11 Plett11 06:48 09:30 139 119
Edprof 06:49 09:12 134 115
ulaca ulaca 06:57 08:34 123 106
benedick 07:04 09:18 131 112
barracuda barracuda 07:08 06:57 97 83
m5harp 07:15 09:56 137 118
Sheen 07:21 08:41 118 101
Andrew Whiffin 07:25 08:27 113 97
crosswordian 07:46 07:19 94 81
vefatica vefatica 07:46 08:46 112 96
sue.cresswell 07:46 08:18 106 91
TomHerbert 07:52 09:17 118 101
vinyl12345 vinyl1 07:53 09:25 119 102
mattindoha 07:57 09:57 125 107
TonyN6 07:59 09:13 115 99
goblin 08:21 08:34 102 87
Pauline Minter 08:42 07:55 90 77
Dr. Memory 08:56 08:58 100 86
paulwestside 09:37 09:57 103 88
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 09:39 09:18 96 82

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.