Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2349

Date 10 March 2023
Number 2349
Setter Felix
Day of week Friday
NITCH 111
Count of ref solvers 68
Ref solvers excluded with errors 0
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2349

* 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 02:11 02:42 123 110
Paul Gilbert 02:28 02:36 105 94
verlaine 02:36 03:39 140 126
mistigris 02:40 03:44 140 126
hilarym 02:43 03:26 126 113
cmjhutton 02:44 03:48 139 125
aphis99 aphis99 02:49 03:36 127 114
Flimmy flammy 03:04 04:06 133 119
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:38 02:53 79 71
richard 03:39 03:39 100 90
markdobell 03:50 04:14 110 99
Heyesey 03:52 05:43 147 132
Strober 04:04 03:32 86 77
lickert 04:11 05:43 136 122
chindit 04:13 04:51 115 103
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:14 04:45 112 100
AlanS 04:19 04:40 108 97
MikeOsborne 04:21 04:07 94 84
tilbee 04:21 05:00 114 102
tiggis 04:29 04:22 97 87
lucyg43484 04:30 04:48 106 95
jfisher60 04:33 07:23 162 145
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:36 06:47 147 132
scrabbler 04:39 06:03 130 117
andrewlake 04:44 05:02 106 95
canismiser 04:45 05:46 121 109
andy 04:46 04:07 86 77
March 04:46 04:57 103 92
LouWeed LouWeed 04:46 04:23 91 81
alexh 04:47 04:31 94 84
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 04:48 06:22 132 118
Ease This Jam 04:50 05:19 110 99
MK76 04:53 05:36 114 102
Umpire 04:54 04:43 96 86
Honggui 04:54 05:11 105 94
Liari 05:09 04:30 87 78
Squallaby 05:09 06:47 131 118
annbrew 05:11 05:03 97 87
Tibthorpe 05:12 05:58 114 102
Aly Duncan 05:21 05:33 103 92
esmeralda 05:23 05:42 105 94
jimpen 05:26 05:22 98 88
KET 05:29 07:02 128 115
admin 05:31 08:12 148 133
Rabbitoh 05:32 08:12 148 133
AndyR 05:36 05:51 104 93
Finzi 05:39 05:39 100 90
lazydays 05:44 08:19 145 130
Shabbo 05:46 06:03 104 93
Looch 05:48 06:43 115 103
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 05:51 06:26 109 98
cath23 05:52 05:03 86 77
Carol 05:56 08:15 139 125
Crossiant 06:01 05:20 88 79
DunPangolin 06:03 06:40 110 99
RobR RobR 06:03 06:46 111 100
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 06:05 05:46 94 84
Rosron 06:07 07:12 117 105
cerds 06:14 06:35 105 94
jimwetzler 06:16 07:17 116 104
ilan 06:17 07:33 120 108
James P 06:18 05:43 90 81
robinh 06:19 07:16 115 103
Michael Dove 06:23 07:52 123 110
Mike Mansbridge 06:24 08:29 132 118
paul.whitehouse69 06:25 05:37 87 78
Wyn Lewis Wyn Lewis 06:28 08:08 125 112
Aloysius 06:28 06:30 100 90
uvofiz 06:30 06:52 105 94
Gussie 06:35 07:52 119 107
jon 06:42 08:47 131 118
JeffHobbs 06:42 06:52 102 91
DrBill 06:42 06:53 102 91
endafk 06:48 06:40 98 88
1234 06:48 08:20 122 109
Edprof 06:49 06:40 97 87
nishadamri nishadamri 06:59 06:59 100 90
ratterz 07:00 07:22 105 94
barracuda barracuda 07:08 08:14 115 103
docg 07:15 07:06 97 87
m5harp 07:15 07:06 97 87
Andrew Whiffin 07:25 07:03 95 85
AndyLast 07:35 08:31 112 100
TomHerbert 07:52 07:22 93 83
home.bright 08:04 08:23 103 92
edwards.robert1 09:41 08:36 88 79

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.