Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2811

Date 19 October 2024
Number 2811
Setter Jalna
Day of week Saturday
NITCH 130
Count of ref solvers 75
Ref solvers excluded with errors 7
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2811

* 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 02:29 03:55 157 120
cmjhutton 02:29 02:45 110 84
verlaine 02:36 02:36 100 76
hilarym 02:45 04:22 158 121
Flimmy flammy 03:19 04:07 124 95
markdobell 03:38 04:39 127 97
Ciolf 03:56 04:11 106 81
SimonAnthony 04:04 07:24 181 139
Jim Willis 04:09 04:43 113 86
lickert 04:18 04:18 100 76
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:23 07:03 160 123
tilbee 04:25 05:51 132 101
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:30 09:13 204 156
lucyg43484 04:33 09:22 205 157
Morphosis 04:34 03:45 82 63
MK76 04:39 05:48 124 95
andrewlake 04:43 08:01 169 130
March 04:46 06:11 129 99
andy 04:56 06:42 135 103
scrabbler 05:03 06:56 137 105
Johninterred 05:05 07:02 138 106
Zander 05:09 05:39 109 83
Tibthorpe 05:09 07:40 148 113
Squallaby 05:14 06:33 125 96
Rabbitoh 05:15 06:16 119 91
fshephe 05:15 03:33 67 51
Bluejacket 05:24 04:50 89 68
KarenR 05:27 10:52 199 153
esmeralda 05:31 10:07 183 140
nina s 05:31 07:26 134 103
MossDef 05:41 07:06 124 95
JayEm 05:42 08:38 151 116
footballblue 05:43 05:17 92 70
Looch 05:43 10:04 176 135
Finzi 05:44 07:35 132 101
rrricharrrd 05:53 06:18 107 82
KET 05:54 08:47 148 113
mcrossib1 05:57 06:32 109 83
Freemers 06:00 06:17 104 80
Curarist 06:11 06:25 103 79
Dzhigit 06:17 07:59 127 97
Tudds 06:17 07:50 124 95
SBQuick 06:20 06:50 107 82
robinh 06:20 07:51 123 94
hopkinb hopkinb 06:22 09:27 148 113
Riche Riche 06:32 08:07 124 95
GMcD 06:34 07:42 117 90
jimwetzler 06:34 08:10 124 95
paul.whitehouse69 06:45 09:24 139 106
PuzzleMaestro 06:45 07:35 112 86
James P 06:45 07:48 115 88
uvofiz 06:46 11:41 172 132
Puzzleplease 06:51 08:00 116 89
FraserH 06:54 16:18 236 181
KenD51 07:14 09:07 126 96
ChrisBrea 07:19 11:56 163 125
1234 07:21 13:07 178 136
Corymbia Corymbia 07:21 10:44 146 112
andrewfeist96 07:28 09:41 129 99
janesa 07:32 09:01 119 91
DamienKnapma 07:36 07:31 98 75
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:45 12:19 158 121
earlylight 07:50 11:28 146 112
John Arnold 07:58 10:48 135 103
plett11 Plett11 08:00 11:05 138 106
johndun John Dunleavy 08:07 11:58 147 113
endafk 08:08 08:21 102 78
nigelmzzz 08:08 12:53 158 121
ulaca ulaca 08:09 12:28 152 116
Templar Redux Templar 08:10 12:41 155 119
Sheen 08:12 16:45 204 156
m5harp 08:16 11:32 139 106
richardCV22 08:20 08:55 107 82
jaraab 08:21 12:47 153 117
gsriordan52 08:25 11:02 131 100
Laputan 08:27 11:11 132 101
mattindoha 08:28 11:21 134 103
Deezzaa Deezzaa 08:30 10:26 122 93
raincloud 08:36 10:37 123 94
goblin 08:43 03:49 43 33
hipponym 08:44 12:12 139 106
Jeeves 08:46 12:33 143 110
robert.buchele 08:46 50:53 580 446
JeffHobbs 08:55 12:52 144 110
Mkgnao Mkgnao 08:57 12:31 139 106
Nigel1953 08:57 16:52 188 144
barracuda barracuda 09:18 15:56 171 131
hemantyd 09:31 10:00 105 80
annikins 10:03 12:42 126 96
Birdingbob 10:06 14:22 142 109
TonyN6 10:10 14:14 140 107
ofarrell 10:14 12:05 118 90
FelicityTT 10:17 13:42 133 102
Chimblet Lyle 10:34 14:09 133 102
Troothful 10:46 11:09 103 79
Nuck_the_king 10:47 15:50 146 112
symbenall2 10:54 16:50 154 118
BertieVII 11:00 21:55 199 153
Struwa Struwa 11:16 17:43 157 120
crucihacker 11:33 11:26 98 75
jackk.larg 11:43 23:49 203 156
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:59 12:40 105 80
alistair.boere 12:31 16:25 131 100
phatman 12:44 30:15 237 182
mpbthorpe 12:46 20:55 163 125
chabuduo chabuduo 13:01 16:20 125 96
intentional rounding 13:02 17:51 136 104
kapietro kapietro 13:34 17:41 130 100
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:03 20:00 142 109
JanetP 14:06 18:45 132 101
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 14:30 18:36 128 98
j0nnyl0ng 14:43 19:59 135 103
The Real Steve Snackman 16:10 19:27 120 92
david.14587 19:11 28:59 151 116
Jean in Oxford 19:34 31:56 163 125
Mark from Ipswich 19:52 31:12 157 120
New Driver 20:19 25:53 127 97
Geldart 21:30 24:56 115 88
mozbadel mozbadel 22:21 23:26 104 80
ian.shepherd 22:24 30:30 136 104
pamelalewis51 25:35 32:08 125 96
shankar 27:39 42:22 153 117
Philip van Dyck 29:34 41:46 141 108
mcfarl 42:48 68:52 160 123
deebeeem 49:07 13:46 28 21

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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