Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2814

Date 23 October 2024
Number 2814
Setter Orpheus
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 114
Count of ref solvers 76
Ref solvers excluded with errors 7
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2814

* 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
Paul Gilbert 02:28 03:03 123 107
Jason 02:29 02:48 112 98
cmjhutton 02:29 02:27 98 85
verlaine 02:36 02:01 77 67
mistigris 02:38 02:42 102 89
aphis99 aphis99 02:44 03:19 121 106
hilarym 02:45 03:24 123 107
Sheapey Sheapey 03:19 05:11 156 136
Flimmy flammy 03:19 03:35 108 94
richard 03:28 03:31 101 88
markdobell 03:38 05:30 151 132
Heyesey 03:44 03:27 92 80
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:54 06:17 161 141
Ciolf 03:56 06:50 173 151
Kinghedger 03:57 04:54 124 108
Umpire 03:59 05:48 145 127
SimonAnthony 04:04 04:48 118 103
chindit 04:07 05:04 123 107
MikeOsborne 04:12 03:57 94 82
lickert 04:18 05:57 138 121
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:23 04:41 106 92
canismiser 04:26 07:06 160 140
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:30 05:40 125 109
Honggui 04:32 06:14 137 120
lucyg43484 04:33 04:52 106 92
AlanS 04:34 06:02 132 115
MK76 04:39 06:23 137 120
toots 04:41 04:36 98 85
andrewlake 04:43 04:37 97 85
March 04:46 04:47 100 87
alexh 04:48 04:29 93 81
CentralLine CentralLine 04:54 05:11 105 92
andy 04:56 05:24 109 95
LuckOfLucien 04:58 04:55 98 85
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 05:01 05:34 110 96
scrabbler 05:03 03:58 78 68
Ed freshpot 05:07 05:26 106 92
Zander 05:09 07:27 144 126
Tibthorpe 05:09 06:00 116 101
Squallaby 05:14 05:27 104 91
fshephe 05:15 05:06 97 85
McBeakLives 05:16 06:25 121 106
cdb_100 05:16 04:53 92 80
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:16 06:46 128 112
Bluejacket 05:24 05:14 96 84
KarenR 05:27 06:33 120 105
nina s 05:31 07:46 140 122
Penfold_61 05:32 04:57 89 78
Encota 05:41 08:25 148 129
JayEm 05:42 07:16 127 111
Looch 05:43 05:44 100 87
Finzi 05:44 06:56 120 105
rrricharrrd 05:53 08:00 135 118
KET 05:54 07:55 134 117
mw7000 05:59 07:53 131 114
Freemers 06:00 05:26 90 78
RobR RobR 06:07 06:23 104 91
Curarist 06:11 06:26 104 91
Adrian Cobb 06:16 06:56 110 96
julian_w 06:16 08:10 130 114
Dzhigit 06:17 07:18 116 101
Tudds 06:17 08:16 131 114
SBQuick 06:20 06:13 98 85
Mike C 06:20 06:50 107 93
robinh 06:20 09:35 151 132
hopkinb hopkinb 06:22 09:26 148 129
PGooden 06:26 06:27 100 87
GMcD 06:34 07:46 118 103
ilan 06:35 07:50 118 103
Onelug 06:37 14:05 212 185
jon 06:39 08:03 121 106
Vannyx 06:45 09:51 145 127
Puzzleplease 06:51 09:44 142 124
FraserH 06:54 08:21 121 106
Nangle 06:57 07:21 105 92
tds 07:10 11:00 153 134
KenD51 07:14 08:31 117 102
ChrisBrea 07:19 08:03 110 96
Corymbia Corymbia 07:21 07:12 97 85
1234 07:21 09:49 133 116
DamienKnapma 07:36 12:40 166 145
drginacoco 07:40 10:51 141 123
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:41 14:02 182 159
Crippens1 07:44 10:57 141 123
wwicksteed 07:51 05:56 75 65
plett11 Plett11 08:00 08:41 108 94
johndun John Dunleavy 08:07 10:47 132 115
endafk 08:08 15:08 186 163
nigelmzzz 08:08 10:58 134 117
ulaca ulaca 08:09 09:05 111 97
Templar Redux Templar 08:10 09:04 111 97
TomHerbert 08:11 09:45 119 104
Sheen 08:12 08:42 106 92
Zabadak3 Zabadak 08:13 07:32 91 79
richardCV22 08:20 10:30 126 110
gsriordan52 08:25 11:00 130 114
mattindoha 08:28 09:25 111 97
Deezzaa Deezzaa 08:30 12:49 150 131
smalley552 08:34 11:45 137 120
kath 08:36 09:51 114 100
vefatica vefatica 08:40 10:32 121 106
CWM65 08:42 14:39 168 147
goblin 08:43 08:22 95 83
luxtonj61 08:43 11:22 130 114
hipponym 08:44 06:07 70 61
dr.shred 08:45 07:48 89 78
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:46 11:03 126 110
Jeeves 08:46 09:18 106 92
Edprof 08:46 09:00 102 89
jemcd33 08:49 12:08 137 120
edwards.robert1 08:52 07:45 87 76
JeffHobbs 08:55 10:13 114 100
barracuda barracuda 09:18 11:53 127 111
piltdown man 09:24 15:25 164 143
hemantyd 09:31 27:52 292 256
Cryptique 09:36 15:29 161 141
annikins 10:03 09:20 92 80
Birdingbob 10:06 12:56 128 112
TonyN6 10:10 10:48 106 92
Word Psmith 10:38 13:48 129 113
Nuck_the_king 10:47 13:39 126 110
E Bradford 10:47 15:12 140 122
horners1974 10:53 13:40 125 109
BertieVII 11:00 22:56 208 182
simjt simjt 11:29 11:38 101 88
crucihacker 11:33 09:17 80 70
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:59 19:29 162 142
tyrotim tyrotim 12:29 18:02 144 126
alistair.boere 12:31 23:58 191 167
ifincham2 12:42 14:52 117 102
chabuduo chabuduo 13:01 32:12 247 216
intentional rounding 13:02 17:45 136 119
flashman flashman 13:18 14:27 108 94
kapietro kapietro 13:34 13:28 99 86
mich_punk 14:26 09:05 62 54
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 14:30 15:00 103 90
j0nnyl0ng 14:43 18:14 123 107
Jax74 15:47 15:56 100 87
Holly O 16:04 15:08 94 82
The Real Steve Snackman 16:10 12:29 77 67
Steve Wood 16:20 28:04 171 150
tomtom2 17:47 23:34 132 115
TonyK 18:55 25:41 135 118
New Driver 20:19 28:28 140 122
Geldart 21:30 28:09 130 114
maryht 22:29 23:45 105 92
philby 22:36 24:09 106 92
pamelalewis51 25:35 24:17 94 82
mcfarl 42:48 58:23 136 119

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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