Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2816

Date 25 October 2024
Number 2816
Setter Hurley
Day of week Friday
NITCH 94
Count of ref solvers 72
Ref solvers excluded with errors 7
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2816

* 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 01:53 93 98
Paul Gilbert 02:28 02:22 95 101
Jason 02:29 03:01 121 128
cmjhutton 02:29 01:51 74 78
verlaine 02:36 02:16 87 92
mistigris 02:38 02:27 93 98
aphis99 aphis99 02:44 02:37 95 101
Flimmy flammy 03:19 03:53 117 124
richard 03:28 03:28 100 106
markdobell 03:38 03:53 106 112
michaelbell53 03:47 03:56 103 109
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:54 05:12 133 141
Ciolf 03:56 02:56 74 78
Umpire 03:59 05:24 135 143
SimonAnthony 04:04 05:18 130 138
chindit 04:07 03:40 89 94
MikeOsborne 04:12 06:05 144 153
lickert 04:18 03:38 84 89
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:23 04:03 92 97
tilbee 04:25 04:56 111 118
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:30 03:19 73 77
lucyg43484 04:33 05:27 119 126
Morphosis 04:34 03:50 83 88
AlanS 04:34 04:02 88 93
andrewlake 04:43 05:02 106 112
LouWeed LouWeed 04:45 05:09 108 114
March 04:46 04:58 104 110
alexh 04:48 05:19 110 117
neilr neilr 04:54 04:41 95 101
andy 04:56 04:28 90 95
LuckOfLucien 04:58 05:29 110 117
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 05:01 04:25 88 93
scrabbler 05:03 07:37 150 159
Ed freshpot 05:07 05:08 100 106
Tibthorpe 05:09 05:29 106 112
Zander 05:09 05:53 114 121
Squallaby 05:14 05:33 106 112
fshephe 05:15 05:04 96 102
Rabbitoh galspray 05:15 04:50 92 97
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:16 04:37 87 92
McBeakLives 05:16 05:09 97 103
cdb_100 05:16 04:53 92 97
ChuckB 05:19 05:38 105 111
Bluejacket 05:24 03:03 56 59
KarenR 05:27 06:15 114 121
nina s 05:31 05:28 99 105
Encota 05:41 05:30 96 102
MossDef 05:41 04:26 78 82
JayEm 05:42 05:31 96 102
denislaw 05:42 05:14 91 96
Looch 05:43 04:48 83 88
footballblue 05:43 05:43 100 106
Finzi 05:44 05:58 104 110
mcrossib1 05:57 05:31 92 97
Shabbo 05:57 06:46 113 120
mw7000 05:59 04:52 81 86
Freemers 06:00 06:20 105 111
Rosron 06:00 07:03 117 124
RobR RobR 06:07 07:07 116 123
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 06:14 06:11 99 105
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 06:14 06:27 103 109
Adrian Cobb 06:16 07:15 115 122
julian_w 06:16 05:03 80 85
Dzhigit 06:17 07:09 113 120
Tudds 06:17 06:11 98 104
Gaius 06:19 08:05 127 135
SBQuick 06:20 05:36 88 93
Mike C 06:20 05:02 79 84
hopkinb hopkinb 06:22 06:37 103 109
PGooden 06:26 05:12 80 85
GMcD 06:34 05:43 87 92
jimwetzler 06:34 06:02 91 96
ilan 06:35 08:19 126 134
Onelug 06:37 08:13 124 131
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 06:38 05:18 79 84
tom.healey 06:42 05:50 87 92
paul.whitehouse69 06:45 06:28 95 101
Vannyx 06:45 06:19 93 98
James P 06:45 05:38 83 88
SlumdogEngineer 06:46 06:19 93 98
Puzzleplease 06:51 05:15 76 80
FraserH 06:54 05:13 75 79
DianeRS 06:55 06:59 100 106
Nangle 06:57 06:24 92 97
valerian1967 07:01 05:51 83 88
Dvynys Dvynys 07:03 06:53 97 103
tds 07:10 06:31 90 95
KenD51 07:14 06:02 83 88
ChrisBrea 07:19 06:52 93 98
Corymbia Corymbia 07:21 08:57 121 128
1234 07:21 11:24 155 164
Kalakuta72 07:22 07:32 102 108
Gussie 07:22 05:45 78 82
martinede 07:24 06:28 87 92
hazyfantazee 07:27 04:34 61 64
andrewfeist96 07:28 06:47 90 95
DamienKnapma 07:36 07:03 92 97
CrystalPip 07:37 08:55 117 124
kitty.banks 07:41 09:26 122 129
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:45 07:53 101 107
wwicksteed 07:51 06:35 83 88
John Arnold 07:58 08:07 101 107
plett11 Plett11 08:00 07:51 98 104
docg 08:02 09:57 123 130
johndun John Dunleavy 08:07 07:23 90 95
endafk 08:08 06:10 75 79
nigelmzzz 08:08 07:30 92 97
ulaca ulaca 08:09 08:24 103 109
Templar Redux Templar 08:10 09:18 113 120
Sheen 08:12 07:45 94 100
Zabadak3 Zabadak 08:13 07:21 89 94
Cuppa378 08:14 06:22 77 81
m5harp 08:16 06:57 84 89
richardCV22 08:20 08:20 100 106
john.brassey 08:23 10:13 121 128
Laputan 08:27 08:26 99 105
mattindoha 08:28 04:59 58 61
goldenpie 08:28 08:14 97 103
Deezzaa Deezzaa 08:30 16:13 190 202
kath 08:36 08:57 104 110
vefatica vefatica 08:40 08:52 102 108
Doyler 08:42 13:28 154 163
goblin 08:43 08:06 92 97
dr.shred 08:45 10:52 124 131
Jeeves 08:46 08:19 94 100
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:46 08:03 91 96
edwards.robert1 08:52 07:12 81 86
Rowleyrag 08:53 09:31 107 113
Mkgnao Mkgnao 08:57 09:28 105 111
Nigel1953 08:57 08:10 91 96
uffindellbirtjn 09:01 08:58 99 105
piltdown man 09:24 11:44 124 131
maisiemae 09:28 10:40 112 119
hemantyd 09:31 09:12 96 102
TonyN6 10:10 07:22 72 76
Pauline Minter 10:16 09:12 89 94
Word Psmith 10:38 07:09 67 71
russellcannon 10:47 07:48 72 76
Nuck_the_king 10:47 06:45 62 65
alastair52 10:51 06:45 62 65
symbenall2 10:54 12:42 116 123
BertieVII 11:00 10:28 95 101
simjt simjt 11:29 11:34 100 106
crucihacker 11:33 07:57 68 72
Dr. Memory 11:40 10:34 90 95
Currieface 11:55 10:46 90 95
tyrotim tyrotim 12:29 09:06 72 76
alistair.boere 12:31 09:26 75 79
ifincham2 12:42 11:34 91 96
phatman 12:44 20:44 162 172
martinr486 13:01 10:09 77 81
chabuduo chabuduo 13:01 06:36 50 53
Sonofjim 13:10 09:05 68 72
rlowin2 13:12 10:35 80 85
kapietro kapietro 13:34 11:46 86 91
Corbo 13:48 11:38 84 89
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:03 11:23 81 86
mich_punk 14:26 07:07 49 52
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 14:30 23:49 164 174
Mendes Mendesest 15:14 10:51 71 75
kfb20 15:26 11:32 74 78
Xebeq 15:33 18:41 120 127
Guy Hatton 16:15 11:28 70 74
Steve Wood 16:20 11:55 72 76
140 Mandak 262 Jamuna 16:48 12:12 72 76
thechan 17:16 21:30 124 131
tomtom2 17:47 17:23 97 103
TonyK 18:55 21:44 114 121
david.14587 19:11 09:21 48 51
pfalloon 19:22 10:43 55 58
Jean in Oxford 19:34 17:41 90 95
Mark from Ipswich 19:52 18:23 92 97
New Driver 20:19 10:40 52 55
moirconsult 21:10 17:45 83 88
Geldart 21:30 18:28 85 90
maryht 22:29 20:14 89 94
philby 22:36 19:37 86 91
danielbluebisson 22:42 09:44 42 44
SilleG 23:28 21:28 91 96
pamelalewis51 25:35 14:07 55 58
youngbaz 35:49 12:15 34 36
mcfarl 42:48 36:31 85 90

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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