Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2824

Date 04 November 2024
Number 2824
Setter Izetti
Day of week Monday
NITCH 94
Count of ref solvers 75
Ref solvers excluded with errors 12
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2824

* 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 02:05 103 109
Paul Gilbert 02:27 02:45 112 119
cmjhutton 02:28 02:01 81 86
Jason 02:33 03:04 120 127
verlaine 02:34 02:31 98 104
mistigris 02:40 02:31 94 100
hilarym 02:46 02:50 102 108
aphis99 aphis99 02:47 02:39 95 101
Flimmy flammy 03:21 02:31 75 79
Sheapey Sheapey 03:25 03:36 105 111
markdobell 03:39 03:05 84 89
michaelbell53 03:47 03:59 105 111
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:54 03:42 94 100
Ciolf 03:55 04:07 105 111
Umpire 04:02 04:34 113 120
Golvellius 04:06 03:55 95 101
SimonAnthony 04:07 05:40 137 145
chindit 04:10 04:21 104 110
Roscoe 04:11 03:41 88 93
MikeOsborne 04:16 04:07 96 102
Glencairn 04:17 04:32 105 111
lickert 04:22 03:39 83 88
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:25 04:23 99 105
Morphosis 04:28 05:01 112 119
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:30 03:57 87 92
AlanS 04:31 04:16 94 100
canismiser 04:31 03:44 82 87
Honggui 04:32 05:01 110 117
lucyg43484 04:36 03:46 81 86
tiggis 04:37 04:23 94 100
MK76 04:38 07:07 153 162
andrewlake 04:42 05:14 111 118
toots 04:42 05:27 115 122
alexh 04:45 06:08 129 137
March 04:49 05:16 109 115
andy 04:53 04:13 86 91
Eddddddd 05:01 05:04 100 106
Bluejacket 05:01 04:37 92 97
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 05:05 04:49 94 100
Johninterred 05:06 04:46 93 98
Liari 05:07 05:35 109 115
Tibthorpe 05:08 05:39 110 117
McBeakLives 05:14 04:24 84 89
Zander 05:14 05:30 105 111
Squallaby 05:15 05:03 96 102
Rabbitoh 05:16 05:21 101 107
ChuckB 05:16 05:02 95 101
fshephe 05:17 05:31 104 110
cdb_100 05:19 06:25 120 127
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:19 04:12 78 82
AndyKnott321 05:21 06:04 113 120
esmeralda 05:25 05:52 108 114
rrricharrrd 05:35 04:43 84 89
KarenR 05:36 05:52 104 110
pc54 05:39 06:31 115 122
Looch 05:41 04:46 83 88
Encota 05:43 05:16 92 97
Finzi 05:44 05:58 104 110
JayEm 05:45 05:45 100 106
Rosron 05:45 08:30 147 156
RobR RobR 05:51 05:23 92 97
Streaky Bacon 05:51 04:13 72 76
Viscomte 05:55 06:14 105 111
Carol 05:58 06:27 108 114
mcrossib1 05:58 04:03 67 71
mw7000 06:01 05:35 92 97
Shabbo 06:01 06:28 107 113
KET 06:04 04:55 81 86
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 06:11 06:14 100 106
Curarist 06:14 05:55 94 100
julian_w 06:15 05:26 86 91
Tudds 06:17 06:04 96 102
Riche Riche 06:18 04:55 78 82
Dzhigit 06:21 06:57 109 115
PGooden 06:25 04:44 73 77
hopkinb hopkinb 06:26 05:38 87 92
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 06:31 05:52 90 95
tom.healey 06:32 06:47 103 109
jon 06:38 07:27 112 119
ilan 06:39 09:53 148 157
GMcD 06:39 06:04 91 96
Vannyx 06:42 06:47 101 107
Onelug 06:45 07:04 104 110
James P 06:48 07:28 109 115
paul.whitehouse69 06:49 08:28 124 131
uvofiz 06:49 06:15 91 96
Puzzleplease 06:52 07:41 111 118
Nangle 06:55 06:02 87 92
valerian1967 07:00 06:49 97 103
andrewfeist96 07:04 05:15 74 78
Kalakuta72 07:05 09:10 129 137
banishspam 07:10 07:01 97 103
KenD51 07:10 05:22 74 78
Gussie 07:13 06:42 92 97
adamhanley71 07:17 06:14 85 90
Corymbia Corymbia 07:20 07:45 105 111
martinede 07:23 07:44 104 110
ChrisBrea 07:23 06:34 88 93
janesa 07:27 07:12 96 102
1234 07:28 07:03 94 100
Andrew Whiffin 07:38 06:38 86 91
mjsaunders9 07:41 07:20 95 101
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:48 07:58 102 108
drginacoco 07:48 08:14 105 111
ulaca ulaca 08:06 07:27 91 96
John Arnold 08:06 11:18 139 147
plett11 Plett11 08:06 05:40 69 73
timbo 08:08 08:57 110 117
endafk 08:10 07:48 95 101
Sheen 08:12 09:07 111 118
TomHerbert 08:13 09:15 112 119
Templar Redux Templar 08:13 08:15 100 106
Zabadak3 Zabadak 08:15 07:24 89 94
nigelmzzz 08:19 07:41 92 97
mattindoha 08:23 10:46 128 136
OldSolver 08:30 08:51 104 110
vefatica vefatica 08:40 09:27 109 115
goblin 08:40 06:34 75 79
luxtonj61 08:41 10:28 120 127
raincloud 08:42 12:20 141 150
Jeeves 08:43 08:16 94 100
Laputan 08:44 08:58 102 108
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:45 07:16 83 88
gsriordan52 08:46 10:39 121 128
Rowleyrag 08:46 08:10 93 98
edwards.robert1 08:49 09:49 111 118
JeffHobbs 08:52 07:18 82 87
uffindellbirtjn 08:59 09:18 103 109
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:03 09:06 100 106
smalley552 09:04 12:32 138 146
jemcd33 09:08 07:03 77 81
Poff 09:20 06:50 73 77
piltdown man 09:26 14:19 151 160
barracuda barracuda 09:26 10:12 108 114
maisiemae 09:55 08:32 86 91
Pendrov 09:58 08:00 80 85
Birdingbob 10:13 08:30 83 88
annikins 10:15 09:15 90 95
TonyN6 10:17 09:34 93 98
Nuck_the_king 10:47 08:19 77 81
horners1974 11:09 09:39 86 91
BertieVII 11:22 08:47 77 81
Struwa Struwa 11:38 10:50 93 98
crucihacker 11:40 09:39 82 87
paul.verney 11:57 10:16 85 90
jackk.larg 12:06 09:15 76 80
phatman 12:23 37:43 304 323
intentional rounding 12:28 16:22 131 139
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 12:33 15:20 122 129
chabuduo chabuduo 12:42 12:29 98 104
ifincham2 12:49 15:52 123 130
rlowin2 13:09 09:49 74 78
kapietro kapietro 13:32 12:28 92 97
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 14:13 10:57 77 81
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:13 21:21 150 159
RPE10538 RPE10538 15:18 23:09 151 160
kfb20 15:50 15:30 97 103
Xebeq 16:18 15:28 94 100
Steve Wood 16:29 15:12 92 97
thechan 16:45 24:48 148 157
david.14587 18:26 40:23 219 232
New Driver 18:58 22:03 116 123
pfalloon 20:37 45:25 220 234
danielbluebisson 20:54 14:39 70 74
Geldart 21:13 20:01 94 100
maryht 22:15 17:31 78 82
dominic.c-b 23:33 19:43 83 88
Pompeydave 23:49 49:21 207 220
pamelalewis51 24:28 22:48 93 98
youngbaz 24:29 10:43 43 45
deebeeem 42:16 18:08 42 44
mcfarl 44:51 42:16 94 100

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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