Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2786

Date 20 September 2024
Number 2786
Setter Mara
Day of week Friday
NITCH 96
Count of ref solvers 73
Ref solvers excluded with errors 8
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2786

* 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
Jason 02:25 02:25 100 104
Paul Gilbert 02:30 02:51 114 118
cmjhutton 02:30 02:04 82 85
mistigris 02:39 02:44 103 107
verlaine 02:41 02:42 100 104
aphis99 aphis99 02:42 02:55 108 112
hilarym 02:46 03:22 121 126
Flimmy flammy 03:15 03:37 111 115
Heyesey 03:39 03:19 90 93
markdobell 03:40 03:19 90 93
Ciolf 03:52 05:03 130 135
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:53 03:31 90 93
SimonAnthony 04:03 03:18 81 84
glheard 04:05 04:34 111 115
chindit 04:06 04:08 100 104
Roscoe 04:11 05:56 141 146
lickert 04:15 04:54 115 119
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:21 04:57 113 117
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:28 04:27 99 103
lucyg43484 04:28 05:19 119 123
canismiser 04:30 03:32 78 81
Morphosis 04:33 04:16 93 96
MK76 04:36 04:53 106 110
John Walsh 04:36 05:02 109 113
AlanS 04:40 04:13 90 93
daulbs 04:43 05:24 114 118
March 04:46 05:00 104 108
alexh 04:46 05:00 104 108
LouWeed LouWeed 04:47 04:51 101 105
Ed freshpot 04:52 04:37 94 97
scrabbler 04:53 04:24 90 93
andy 04:58 05:22 108 112
LuckOfLucien 05:02 04:01 79 82
Eddddddd 05:03 04:34 90 93
Tibthorpe 05:05 05:33 109 113
Zander 05:12 06:20 121 126
fshephe 05:12 05:28 105 109
cdb_100 05:12 04:03 77 80
Squallaby 05:13 04:00 76 79
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:17 04:29 84 87
Rabbitoh galspray 05:21 05:19 99 103
Bluejacket 05:27 05:52 107 111
esmeralda 05:31 05:38 102 106
Penfold_61 05:32 05:28 98 102
nina s 05:36 05:09 91 94
Looch 05:44 05:54 102 106
Finzi 05:44 07:25 129 134
Encota 05:46 06:51 118 122
GeorgeTz 05:49 06:04 104 108
KET 05:56 06:46 114 118
Vannyx 05:57 04:49 80 83
mcrossib1 06:03 04:38 76 79
Curarist 06:07 06:41 109 113
Aloysius 06:09 06:53 111 115
chriswestontour 06:10 07:24 120 125
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 06:11 04:50 78 81
SBQuick 06:13 05:21 86 89
Onelug 06:16 08:09 130 135
Adrian Cobb 06:16 07:14 115 119
robinh 06:19 05:31 87 90
hopkinb hopkinb 06:22 06:18 98 102
Mike C 06:24 06:04 94 97
fishernick79 06:25 04:24 68 70
GMcD 06:25 07:17 113 117
PGooden 06:26 05:24 83 86
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 06:27 05:57 92 95
jimwetzler 06:29 06:16 96 100
ilan 06:39 06:56 104 108
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 06:42 06:53 102 106
uvofiz 06:43 06:22 94 97
FraserH 06:52 07:10 104 108
Nangle 06:57 06:28 93 96
valerian1967 06:59 07:42 110 114
Dvynys Dvynys 07:00 05:44 81 84
janesa 07:10 07:54 110 114
Gussie 07:11 05:50 81 84
tds 07:13 07:13 100 104
1234 07:16 08:04 111 115
Kalakuta72 07:18 07:47 106 110
martinede 07:21 07:54 107 111
banishspam 07:24 07:37 102 106
Corymbia Corymbia 07:25 08:28 114 118
ChrisBrea 07:28 08:16 110 114
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 08:19 109 113
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:40 08:50 115 119
andrewfeist96 07:41 06:18 81 84
earlylight 07:42 06:48 88 91
John Arnold 07:44 09:06 117 121
cerds 07:45 09:28 122 127
DamienKnapma 07:47 08:28 108 112
wwicksteed 07:52 05:09 65 67
endafk 07:55 06:58 88 91
drginacoco 07:56 08:46 110 114
plett11 Plett11 07:58 09:54 124 129
TomHerbert 08:00 05:47 72 75
johndun John Dunleavy 08:06 11:01 136 141
richardCV22 08:10 10:07 123 128
nigelmzzz 08:11 08:57 109 113
Templar Redux Templar 08:12 08:26 102 106
ulaca ulaca 08:18 08:31 102 106
gsriordan52 08:20 06:52 82 85
Sheen 08:25 08:11 97 101
Zabadak3 Zabadak 08:25 06:28 76 79
CWM65 08:30 10:24 122 127
Edprof 08:33 07:00 81 84
kath 08:34 08:58 104 108
mattindoha 08:35 07:38 88 91
Deezzaa Deezzaa 08:36 09:09 106 110
vefatica vefatica 08:37 10:08 117 121
crucihacker 08:39 09:36 110 114
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:41 10:00 115 119
goblin 08:45 08:31 97 101
Mkgnao Mkgnao 08:49 07:38 86 89
luxtonj61 08:50 07:20 83 86
Jeeves 08:55 09:03 101 105
edwards.robert1 09:03 07:49 86 89
uffindellbirtjn 09:38 07:07 73 76
steven j l 09:47 10:39 108 112
Pendrov 10:02 07:01 69 71
maisiemae 10:05 10:50 107 111
BertieVII 10:43 09:42 90 93
Nuck_the_king 10:49 10:00 92 95
starstruck starstruck_au 10:54 10:31 96 100
hookyt 11:01 09:35 86 89
albrecht1959 11:35 08:08 70 72
simjt simjt 11:42 08:35 73 76
paul.verney 12:19 15:32 126 131
tyrotim tyrotim 12:22 15:07 122 127
Oldandweary 12:24 10:53 87 90
ifincham2 12:40 09:59 78 81
phatman 12:48 12:29 97 101
alistair.boere 12:49 12:20 96 100
mpbthorpe 13:00 10:47 82 85
flashman flashman 13:11 12:44 96 100
chabuduo chabuduo 13:21 11:11 83 86
intentional rounding 13:23 13:51 103 107
kapietro kapietro 13:40 14:55 109 113
Merlin_55 Merlin 13:53 17:23 125 130
j0nnyl0ng 14:46 09:15 62 64
Mendes Mendesest 15:00 17:41 117 121
Xebeq 15:11 17:15 113 117
Holly O 15:55 19:53 124 129
Steve Wood 16:04 17:11 106 110
Charpentier 16:22 14:51 90 93
The Real Steve Snackman 16:50 17:39 104 108
domski 17:46 19:08 107 111
tomtom2 17:48 15:09 85 88
dankramlich 17:59 12:34 69 71
TonyK 18:34 16:36 89 92
pfalloon 19:05 08:26 44 45
dan_tman 19:13 13:25 69 71
david.14587 19:22 12:23 63 65
Geldart 21:38 17:40 81 84
maryht 22:07 31:19 141 146
philby 22:58 20:42 90 93
ian.shepherd 23:01 26:04 113 117
pamelalewis51 24:29 13:43 56 58
Philip van Dyck 30:00 35:20 117 121
shankar 32:05 26:17 81 84
mcfarl 42:45 49:22 115 119
youngbaz 45:42 11:58 26 27

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