Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2803

Date 10 October 2024
Number 2803
Setter Orpheus
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 77
Count of ref solvers 73
Ref solvers excluded with errors 3
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2803

* 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 02:01 01:40 82 106
Paul Gilbert 02:28 01:50 74 96
Jason 02:29 02:44 110 142
cmjhutton 02:29 01:56 77 100
verlaine 02:36 01:59 76 98
mauefw 02:36 02:46 106 137
mistigris 02:38 02:34 97 125
aphis99 aphis99 02:44 02:17 83 107
hilarym 02:45 02:03 74 96
Sheapey Sheapey 03:19 02:58 89 115
Flimmy flammy 03:19 02:22 71 92
richard 03:28 03:03 87 112
markdobell 03:38 03:32 97 125
Heyesey 03:44 03:41 98 127
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:54 03:05 79 102
Kinghedger 03:57 04:29 113 146
Umpire 03:59 03:48 95 123
SimonAnthony 04:04 02:54 71 92
chindit 04:07 03:06 75 97
Jim Willis 04:09 03:20 80 103
glheard 04:11 03:08 74 96
MikeOsborne 04:12 03:51 91 118
Roscoe 04:14 04:23 103 133
Glencairn 04:15 03:37 85 110
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:23 03:28 79 102
canismiser 04:26 04:10 93 120
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:30 03:01 67 87
lucyg43484 04:33 03:41 80 103
Morphosis 04:34 03:35 78 101
MK76 04:39 03:00 64 83
andrewlake 04:43 03:50 81 105
March 04:46 04:37 96 124
alexh 04:48 04:32 94 122
neilr neilr 04:54 06:33 133 172
CentralLine CentralLine 04:54 03:46 76 98
andy 04:56 03:18 66 85
LuckOfLucien 04:58 03:14 65 84
scrabbler 05:03 03:47 74 96
Ed freshpot 05:07 03:37 70 90
Tibthorpe 05:09 04:38 89 115
Zander 05:09 04:35 88 114
fshephe 05:15 04:35 87 112
Rabbitoh 05:15 04:59 94 122
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:16 04:10 79 102
cdb_100 05:16 03:26 65 84
Bluejacket 05:24 04:36 85 110
KarenR 05:27 04:21 79 102
nina s 05:31 03:16 59 76
esmeralda 05:31 03:42 67 87
Encota 05:41 06:07 107 138
footballblue 05:43 04:10 72 93
Looch 05:43 04:29 78 101
Finzi 05:44 04:35 79 102
rrricharrrd 05:53 04:02 68 88
Shabbo 05:57 04:50 81 105
Carol 05:59 04:40 77 100
Freemers 06:00 03:51 64 83
Rosron 06:00 05:46 96 124
Curarist 06:11 04:47 77 100
chriswestontour 06:15 06:47 108 140
Adrian Cobb 06:16 05:04 80 103
Dzhigit 06:17 04:34 72 93
Mike C 06:20 04:28 70 90
SBQuick 06:20 04:54 77 100
robinh 06:20 06:16 98 127
hopkinb hopkinb 06:22 04:33 71 92
PGooden 06:26 04:47 74 96
Riche Riche 06:32 04:28 68 88
jimwetzler 06:34 05:17 80 103
ilan 06:35 04:12 63 81
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 06:38 07:22 111 144
jon 06:39 05:32 83 107
tom.healey 06:42 05:38 84 109
paul.whitehouse69 06:45 07:09 105 136
James P 06:45 04:57 73 94
Vannyx 06:45 05:30 81 105
uvofiz 06:46 05:27 80 103
SlumdogEngineer 06:46 05:36 82 106
Puzzleplease 06:51 05:21 78 101
Nangle 06:57 05:14 75 97
tds 07:10 05:35 77 100
Obrador 07:11 05:48 80 103
nigel 07:13 06:10 85 110
banishspam 07:19 05:21 73 94
ChrisBrea 07:19 05:47 79 102
Corymbia Corymbia 07:21 05:04 68 88
martinede 07:24 06:17 84 109
hazyfantazee 07:27 05:16 70 90
andrewfeist96 07:28 05:43 76 98
janesa 07:32 07:31 99 128
DamienKnapma 07:36 04:50 63 81
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:41 06:43 87 112
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:45 04:22 56 72
wwicksteed 07:51 08:11 104 135
ombek 07:51 05:12 66 85
plett11 Plett11 08:00 07:51 98 127
docg 08:02 05:56 73 94
johndun John Dunleavy 08:07 05:41 70 90
endafk 08:08 10:03 123 159
nigelmzzz 08:08 05:49 71 92
ulaca ulaca 08:09 05:58 73 94
Templar Redux Templar 08:10 05:12 63 81
gsriordan52 08:25 06:40 79 102
Deezzaa Deezzaa 08:30 04:59 58 75
kath 08:36 04:33 52 67
vefatica vefatica 08:40 09:22 108 140
Doyler 08:42 05:41 65 84
luxtonj61 08:43 06:48 78 101
goblin 08:43 07:34 86 111
hipponym 08:44 04:46 54 70
dr.shred 08:45 05:01 57 74
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:46 07:19 83 107
GMB 08:46 05:59 68 88
Mkgnao Mkgnao 08:57 09:54 110 142
uffindellbirtjn 09:01 09:32 105 136
piltdown man 09:24 05:49 61 79
maisiemae 09:28 08:16 87 112
Poff 09:28 05:59 63 81
Calculator001 09:57 10:10 102 132
Birdingbob 10:06 06:44 66 85
TonyN6 10:10 07:21 72 93
starstruck starstruck_au 10:26 08:05 77 100
Word Psmith 10:38 09:01 84 109
Nuck_the_king 10:47 07:40 71 92
symbenall2 10:54 08:26 77 100
BertieVII 11:00 10:00 90 116
simjt simjt 11:29 07:24 64 83
crucihacker 11:33 06:39 57 74
Dr. Memory 11:40 12:12 104 135
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:59 11:19 94 122
Rammy Trainor 12:05 08:57 74 96
paul.verney 12:19 12:45 103 133
alistair.boere 12:31 08:01 64 83
Oldandweary 12:33 10:18 82 106
ifincham2 12:42 07:53 62 80
mpbthorpe 12:46 06:49 53 68
SMSEsq 12:50 11:13 87 112
martinr486 13:01 11:44 90 116
chabuduo chabuduo 13:01 05:03 38 49
intentional rounding 13:02 16:26 126 163
rlowin2 13:12 09:26 71 92
flashman flashman 13:18 06:10 46 59
kapietro kapietro 13:34 07:55 58 75
Corbo 13:48 16:21 118 153
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:03 08:47 62 80
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 14:30 09:57 68 88
kfb20 15:26 10:21 67 87
Jax74 15:47 09:36 60 77
Holly O 16:04 12:51 79 102
The Real Steve Snackman 16:10 14:45 91 118
Guy Hatton 16:15 12:27 76 98
tomtom2 17:47 15:55 89 115
david.14587 19:11 18:13 94 122
pfalloon 19:22 08:57 46 59
New Driver 20:19 13:38 67 87
Hazelnut 21:18 17:49 83 107
Geldart 21:30 17:26 81 105
ian.shepherd 22:24 15:26 68 88
dominic.c-b 22:45 15:29 68 88
paulmcl 23:17 08:17 35 45
shankar 27:39 35:28 128 166
youngbaz 35:49 07:49 21 27
mcfarl 42:48 54:43 127 164
deebeeem 49:07 16:21 33 42

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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