Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2355

Date 20 March 2023
Number 2355
Setter Teazel
Day of week Monday
NITCH 115
Count of ref solvers 66
Ref solvers excluded with errors 0
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2355

* 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 02:11 02:06 96 83
Paul Gilbert 02:28 03:15 131 113
Jason 02:32 02:12 86 74
verlaine 02:36 03:24 130 113
mistigris 02:40 03:00 112 97
hilarym 02:43 03:44 137 119
cmjhutton 02:44 02:44 100 86
aphis99 aphis99 02:49 03:00 106 92
Flimmy flammy 03:04 03:30 114 99
Sheapey Sheapey 03:31 03:36 102 88
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:38 03:06 85 73
richard 03:39 04:02 110 95
markdobell 03:50 04:14 110 95
Heyesey 03:52 03:23 87 75
glheard 04:02 04:27 110 95
Strober 04:04 03:28 85 73
lickert 04:11 05:27 130 113
chindit 04:13 05:07 121 105
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:14 04:47 112 97
AlanS 04:19 04:39 107 93
tilbee 04:21 04:05 93 80
MikeOsborne 04:21 05:27 125 108
tiggis 04:29 05:01 111 96
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:36 04:50 105 91
canismiser 04:45 06:08 129 112
andy 04:46 05:17 110 95
LouWeed LouWeed 04:46 04:54 102 88
March 04:46 04:46 100 86
alexh 04:47 06:33 136 118
Ed freshpot 04:50 06:16 129 112
Ease This Jam 04:50 05:48 120 104
MK76 04:53 05:38 115 100
Umpire 04:54 05:36 114 99
Honggui 04:54 06:39 135 117
michaelbell53 04:58 05:58 120 104
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:05 05:28 107 93
Paul Bacon 05:09 04:41 90 78
Liari 05:09 08:05 156 135
Squallaby 05:09 06:50 132 114
neilr neilr 05:10 05:25 104 90
Aly Duncan 05:21 05:55 110 95
esmeralda 05:23 08:44 162 140
fshephe 05:25 05:31 101 87
jimpen 05:26 07:03 129 112
Rabbitoh 05:32 05:03 91 79
Finzi 05:39 05:15 92 80
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:41 05:42 100 86
Looch 05:48 06:56 119 103
cath23 05:52 08:02 136 118
cmcnsmith 05:56 07:08 120 104
Colin2355 06:02 06:24 106 92
PGooden 06:03 07:42 127 110
RobR RobR 06:03 06:42 110 95
Tudds 06:05 06:13 102 88
Rosron 06:07 08:43 142 123
GMcD 06:08 07:19 119 103
Curarist 06:12 07:18 117 101
ilan 06:17 07:37 121 105
James P 06:18 06:49 108 93
robinh 06:19 06:40 105 91
Mike Mansbridge 06:24 06:35 102 88
chrismarch 06:27 08:35 133 115
Mike Harper Mike Harper 06:32 08:08 124 107
julian_w 06:34 08:40 131 113
Gussie 06:35 08:08 123 106
DrBill 06:42 08:38 128 111
maisiemae 06:45 06:36 97 84
Puzzleplease 06:46 07:30 110 95
DianeRS 06:46 08:34 126 109
endafk 06:48 07:47 114 99
1234 06:48 08:31 125 108
Edprof 06:49 07:51 115 100
timbo 06:51 09:56 145 126
Viscomte 06:51 08:42 127 110
FraserH 06:56 07:37 109 94
Corymbia Corymbia 06:57 07:55 113 98
ChrisBrea 06:57 08:26 121 105
ratterz 07:00 08:09 116 100
johndun John Dunleavy 07:17 09:21 128 111
Andrew Whiffin 07:25 07:22 99 86
TomHerbert 07:52 07:48 99 86
vinyl12345 vinyl1 07:53 06:33 83 72
jaraab 07:54 08:45 110 95
Mkgnao Mkgnao 08:53 07:56 89 77
edwards.robert1 09:41 08:50 91 79

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.