Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2817

Date 26 October 2024
Number 2817
Setter Corelli
Day of week Saturday
NITCH 103
Count of ref solvers 79
Ref solvers excluded with errors 3
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2817

* 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 02:01 100 97
Paul Gilbert 02:28 04:27 180 174
cmjhutton 02:29 01:48 72 69
Jason 02:29 02:23 95 92
verlaine 02:36 02:44 105 101
aphis99 aphis99 02:44 02:53 105 101
Flimmy flammy 03:19 04:02 121 117
Sheapey Sheapey 03:19 03:36 108 104
Heyesey 03:44 03:50 102 99
Ciolf 03:56 03:13 81 78
Umpire 03:59 04:32 113 109
chindit 04:07 04:52 118 114
Glencairn 04:15 04:49 113 109
lickert 04:18 04:35 106 102
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:23 04:35 104 100
tilbee 04:25 04:50 109 105
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:30 04:32 100 97
lucyg43484 04:33 04:54 107 103
Morphosis 04:34 05:17 115 111
AlanS 04:34 04:50 105 101
tiggis 04:38 05:03 108 104
MK76 04:39 06:13 133 129
andrewlake 04:43 06:11 131 127
LouWeed LouWeed 04:45 06:09 129 125
alexh 04:48 05:16 109 105
neilr neilr 04:54 05:24 110 106
andy 04:56 06:38 134 130
scrabbler 05:03 05:19 105 101
Ed freshpot 05:07 04:03 79 76
Tibthorpe 05:09 05:53 114 110
Zander 05:09 04:18 83 80
Squallaby 05:14 05:30 105 101
fshephe 05:15 05:41 108 104
Rabbitoh 05:15 06:21 120 116
Bluejacket 05:24 04:19 79 76
KarenR 05:27 10:56 200 194
nina s 05:31 05:50 105 101
MossDef 05:41 05:02 88 85
JayEm 05:42 06:13 109 105
Looch 05:43 05:35 97 94
Finzi 05:44 05:48 101 98
KET 05:54 06:12 105 101
mw7000 05:59 06:42 111 107
Freemers 06:00 05:08 85 82
Curarist 06:11 06:58 112 108
chriswestontour 06:15 06:51 109 105
Tudds 06:17 05:22 85 82
Dzhigit 06:17 11:09 177 171
robinh 06:20 07:54 124 120
SBQuick 06:20 05:34 87 84
hopkinb hopkinb 06:22 08:46 137 133
GMcD 06:34 06:27 98 95
ilan 06:35 06:58 105 101
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 06:38 06:36 99 96
James P 06:45 07:15 107 103
paul.whitehouse69 06:45 08:18 122 118
Puzzleplease 06:51 06:37 96 93
FraserH 06:54 10:02 145 140
DianeRS 06:55 08:10 118 114
Nangle 06:57 06:50 98 95
tds 07:10 07:03 98 95
KenD51 07:14 05:35 77 74
ChrisBrea 07:19 08:06 110 106
Corymbia Corymbia 07:21 13:58 190 184
Kalakuta72 07:22 08:30 115 111
DamienKnapma 07:36 06:46 89 86
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:45 09:04 116 112
John Arnold 07:58 06:16 78 75
plett11 Plett11 08:00 07:29 93 90
johndun John Dunleavy 08:07 07:46 95 92
endafk 08:08 10:57 134 130
nigelmzzz 08:08 09:34 117 113
Templar Redux Templar 08:10 07:39 93 90
Sheen 08:12 08:51 107 103
richardCV22 08:20 12:30 150 145
jaraab 08:21 07:34 90 87
john.brassey 08:23 09:47 116 112
gsriordan52 08:25 08:23 99 96
mattindoha 08:28 09:39 113 109
Deezzaa Deezzaa 08:30 15:18 180 174
smalley552 08:34 08:17 96 93
vefatica vefatica 08:40 08:17 95 92
goblin 08:43 08:37 98 95
Jeeves 08:46 09:25 107 103
Mkgnao Mkgnao 08:57 08:49 98 95
Nigel1953 08:57 12:00 134 130
barracuda barracuda 09:18 09:46 105 101
Poff 09:28 11:28 121 117
annikins 10:03 10:17 102 99
Birdingbob 10:06 12:13 120 116
TonyN6 10:10 12:43 125 121
Pauline Minter 10:16 15:21 149 144
Word Psmith 10:38 11:12 105 101
Troothful 10:46 10:51 100 97
Nuck_the_king 10:47 11:07 103 100
russellcannon 10:47 08:36 79 76
horners1974 10:53 11:57 109 105
symbenall2 10:54 12:57 118 114
Struwa Struwa 11:16 18:04 160 155
simjt simjt 11:29 15:09 131 127
SlowSteady 11:47 15:13 129 125
Rammy Trainor 12:05 15:34 128 124
alistair.boere 12:31 11:14 89 86
ifincham2 12:42 11:04 87 84
phatman 12:44 08:39 67 65
mpbthorpe 12:46 15:33 121 117
Sonofjim 13:10 13:39 103 100
rlowin2 13:12 12:20 93 90
kapietro kapietro 13:34 14:32 107 103
Corbo 13:48 11:25 82 79
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:03 21:30 153 148
kfb20 15:26 21:14 137 133
The Real Steve Snackman 16:10 09:53 61 59
140 Mandak 262 Jamuna 16:48 12:55 76 73
thechan 17:16 17:30 101 98
TonyK 18:55 21:20 112 108
Cathyhuns 18:59 02:51 15 14
david.14587 19:11 21:58 114 110
pfalloon 19:22 09:08 47 45
New Driver 20:19 15:25 75 72
Hazelnut 21:18 18:57 88 85
Geldart 21:30 32:14 149 144
david 21:53 17:00 77 74
mozbadel mozbadel 22:21 23:27 104 100
maryht 22:29 20:27 90 87
paulmcl 23:17 18:33 79 76
Pompeydave 25:33 20:08 78 75
pamelalewis51 25:35 23:20 91 88
shankar 27:39 22:51 82 79
mcfarl 42:48 42:36 99 96
deebeeem 49:07 33:52 68 66

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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