Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2823

Date 02 November 2024
Number 2823
Setter Cheeko
Day of week Saturday
NITCH 111
Count of ref solvers 77
Ref solvers excluded with errors 10
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2823

* 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 02:09 106 95
Paul Gilbert 02:27 02:32 103 92
cmjhutton 02:28 02:34 104 93
Jason 02:33 03:31 137 123
verlaine 02:34 02:22 92 82
aphis99 aphis99 02:47 03:03 109 98
Sheapey Sheapey 03:25 03:42 108 97
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:54 04:20 111 100
Umpire 04:02 05:26 134 120
Jim Willis 04:04 03:18 81 72
SimonAnthony 04:07 04:31 109 98
chindit 04:10 06:02 144 129
MikeOsborne 04:16 04:36 107 96
lickert 04:22 04:02 92 82
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:25 05:32 125 112
tilbee 04:27 06:54 155 139
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:30 05:18 117 105
lucyg43484 04:36 05:56 128 115
andrewlake 04:42 03:15 69 62
alexh 04:45 05:26 114 102
LouWeed LouWeed 04:49 06:55 143 128
andy 04:53 07:08 146 131
neilr neilr 04:55 05:55 120 108
Bluejacket 05:01 03:33 70 63
scrabbler 05:05 05:42 112 100
Liari 05:07 04:28 87 78
Tibthorpe 05:08 06:38 129 116
Ed freshpot 05:10 05:50 112 100
Zander 05:14 06:07 116 104
Rabbitoh 05:16 05:28 103 92
ChuckB 05:16 06:09 116 104
fshephe 05:17 02:38 49 44
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:19 05:05 95 85
esmeralda 05:25 05:38 104 93
rrricharrrd 05:35 09:42 173 155
MrChumley MrChumley 05:35 05:46 103 92
KarenR 05:36 04:57 88 79
Encota 05:43 06:55 120 108
denislaw 05:43 06:37 115 103
Finzi 05:44 05:03 88 79
JayEm 05:45 05:13 90 81
Streaky Bacon 05:51 10:41 182 163
RobR RobR 05:51 07:50 133 119
Freemers 05:55 07:48 131 118
mcrossib1 05:58 09:45 163 146
KET 06:04 08:10 134 120
Adelaider 06:06 07:50 128 115
SBQuick 06:17 09:29 150 135
Dzhigit 06:21 08:36 135 121
hopkinb hopkinb 06:26 06:46 105 94
robinh 06:28 07:12 111 100
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 06:31 07:29 114 102
SlumdogEngineer 06:38 12:57 195 175
GMcD 06:39 09:08 137 123
James P 06:48 10:21 152 136
uvofiz 06:49 08:23 122 109
Puzzleplease 06:52 09:39 140 126
valerian1967 07:00 07:26 106 95
tds 07:04 12:02 170 153
hazyfantazee 07:08 06:12 86 77
adamhanley71 07:17 06:04 83 74
Corymbia Corymbia 07:20 08:13 112 100
ChrisBrea 07:23 07:52 106 95
janesa 07:27 07:48 104 93
1234 07:28 12:10 162 145
mjsaunders9 07:41 08:11 106 95
CrystalPip 07:44 08:59 116 104
drginacoco 07:48 07:18 93 83
wwicksteed 08:01 05:10 64 57
ulaca ulaca 08:06 10:05 124 111
plett11 Plett11 08:06 08:51 109 98
endafk 08:10 08:20 102 91
johndun John Dunleavy 08:10 09:04 111 100
Templar Redux Templar 08:13 09:33 116 104
nigelmzzz 08:19 10:34 127 114
dec 08:25 06:41 79 71
OldSolver 08:30 10:51 127 114
richardCV22 08:31 09:29 111 100
kath 08:40 10:22 119 107
goblin 08:40 09:40 111 100
luxtonj61 08:41 11:06 127 114
Jeeves 08:43 10:18 118 106
Laputan 08:44 08:15 94 84
gsriordan52 08:46 07:41 87 78
Nigel1953 08:56 13:12 147 132
uffindellbirtjn 08:59 05:59 66 59
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:03 08:05 89 80
smalley552 09:04 10:36 116 104
jemcd33 09:08 10:10 111 100
Poff 09:20 11:21 121 109
robert.buchele 09:32 19:59 209 188
maisiemae 09:55 23:58 241 217
FelicityTT 10:00 07:47 77 69
Pauline Minter 10:01 18:22 183 164
TonyN6 10:17 12:38 122 109
Troothful 10:47 12:23 114 102
albrecht1959 10:59 09:05 82 73
horners1974 11:09 21:39 194 174
BertieVII 11:22 09:52 86 77
simjt simjt 11:22 14:23 126 113
crucihacker 11:40 12:05 103 92
symbenall2 12:10 08:49 72 64
phatman 12:23 13:53 112 100
intentional rounding 12:28 18:35 149 134
mpbthorpe 12:31 16:11 129 116
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 12:33 17:55 142 127
flashman flashman 12:59 19:52 153 137
mich_punk 13:01 39:20 302 272
kapietro kapietro 13:32 18:58 140 126
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 14:13 16:52 118 106
Mendes 15:07 21:14 140 126
The Real Steve Snackman 15:23 20:41 134 120
daverob 15:28 33:54 219 197
trish_tang 15:47 14:34 92 82
kfb20 15:50 19:13 121 109
Xebeq 16:18 16:53 103 92
Steve Wood 16:29 14:54 90 81
thechan 16:45 20:43 123 110
tomtom2 17:35 10:57 62 55
Cathyhuns 18:37 12:47 68 61
TonyK 18:49 27:54 148 133
New Driver 18:58 25:28 134 120
paulmcl 20:20 58:07 285 256
pfalloon 20:37 20:15 98 88
Hazelnut 20:48 19:22 93 83
danielbluebisson 20:54 32:35 155 139
Mark from Ipswich 21:12 19:13 90 81
david 21:23 23:23 109 98
ian.shepherd 21:37 19:37 90 81
philby 21:45 29:45 136 122
maryht 22:15 32:09 144 129
42colin 22:46 20:27 89 80
mozbadel mozbadel 23:32 29:44 126 113
pamelalewis51 24:28 23:07 94 84

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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