Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2840

Date 22 November 2024
Number 2840
Setter Hurley
Day of week Friday
NITCH 104
Count of ref solvers 76
Ref solvers excluded with errors 5
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2840

* 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 02:35 128 123
Paul Gilbert 02:27 02:41 109 104
cmjhutton 02:28 02:20 94 90
Jason 02:33 02:48 109 104
verlaine 02:34 02:42 105 100
hilarym 02:46 03:27 124 119
aphis99 aphis99 02:47 02:14 80 76
Flimmy flammy 03:21 04:18 128 123
Sheapey Sheapey 03:25 02:48 81 77
SGHanson 03:29 03:21 96 92
markdobell 03:39 03:34 97 93
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:54 04:17 109 104
Ciolf 03:55 03:15 82 78
Kinghedger 03:59 04:44 118 113
Umpire 04:02 04:29 111 106
Golvellius 04:06 03:15 79 75
SimonAnthony 04:07 03:15 78 75
chindit 04:10 04:46 114 109
Roscoe 04:11 04:18 102 98
glheard 04:13 03:46 89 85
MikeOsborne 04:16 04:58 116 111
Glencairn 04:17 05:34 129 124
lickert 04:22 04:07 94 90
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:25 04:53 110 105
tilbee 04:27 07:13 162 155
Morphosis 04:28 04:19 96 92
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:30 07:00 155 149
canismiser 04:31 06:28 143 137
AlanS 04:31 06:11 136 130
andrewlake 04:42 05:54 125 120
alexh 04:45 05:44 120 115
LouWeed LouWeed 04:49 07:24 153 147
March 04:49 05:12 107 102
wwalker50 04:51 04:39 95 91
andy 04:53 05:10 105 100
CentralLine CentralLine 04:53 06:04 124 119
neilr neilr 04:55 07:00 142 136
Bluejacket 05:01 03:54 77 74
LuckOfLucien 05:04 04:46 94 90
scrabbler 05:05 03:47 74 71
Liari 05:07 03:58 77 74
Tibthorpe 05:08 05:21 104 100
Ed freshpot 05:10 07:25 143 137
McBeakLives 05:14 04:31 86 82
Squallaby 05:15 05:31 105 100
ChuckB 05:16 06:14 118 113
Rabbitoh galspray 05:16 05:11 98 94
fshephe 05:17 05:34 105 100
cdb_100 05:19 04:18 80 76
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:19 07:48 146 140
AndyKnott321 05:21 06:33 122 117
rrricharrrd 05:35 05:32 99 95
Penfold_61 05:35 05:53 105 100
MrChumley MrChumley 05:35 06:06 109 104
KarenR 05:36 06:53 122 117
Looch 05:41 05:17 92 88
denislaw 05:43 04:07 72 69
Encota 05:43 05:42 99 95
Finzi 05:44 05:47 100 96
JayEm 05:45 05:04 88 84
Streaky Bacon 05:51 07:05 121 116
Freemers 05:55 05:35 94 90
mcrossib1 05:58 05:57 99 95
Shabbo 06:01 06:45 112 107
KET 06:04 05:24 89 85
Adelaider 06:06 07:41 125 120
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 06:12 06:35 106 101
Tudds 06:17 10:57 174 167
Adrian Cobb 06:17 06:30 103 99
Riche Riche 06:18 06:09 97 93
Mike C 06:20 06:47 107 102
Aloysius 06:21 07:16 114 109
Dzhigit 06:21 05:06 80 76
PGooden 06:25 07:32 117 112
hopkinb hopkinb 06:26 05:29 85 81
jimwetzler 06:27 07:11 111 106
robinh 06:28 06:59 107 102
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 06:31 07:05 108 103
SlumdogEngineer 06:38 05:01 75 72
GMcD 06:39 08:37 129 124
Vannyx 06:42 08:57 133 127
James P 06:48 07:47 114 109
paul.whitehouse69 06:49 07:58 116 111
Puzzleplease 06:52 06:51 99 95
Nangle 06:55 07:31 108 103
DianeRS 06:56 08:58 129 124
Dvynys Dvynys 07:03 07:27 105 100
tds 07:04 06:47 95 91
andrewfeist96 07:04 06:40 94 90
KenD51 07:10 07:15 101 97
Corymbia Corymbia 07:20 09:34 130 125
Obrador 07:21 07:27 101 97
martinede 07:23 06:57 94 90
ChrisBrea 07:23 06:54 93 89
1234 07:28 09:09 122 117
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:31 06:20 84 80
DamienKnapma 07:36 08:30 111 106
mjsaunders9 07:41 08:01 104 100
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:48 07:11 92 88
wwicksteed 08:01 05:44 71 68
docg 08:02 09:46 121 116
plett11 Plett11 08:06 07:30 92 88
ulaca ulaca 08:06 11:44 144 138
timbo 08:08 10:01 123 118
johndun John Dunleavy 08:10 09:20 114 109
Aldus 08:12 10:05 122 117
Templar Redux Templar 08:13 07:09 87 83
Zabadak3 Zabadak 08:15 09:38 116 111
nigelmzzz 08:19 07:29 89 85
jaraab 08:20 08:31 102 98
mattindoha 08:23 07:55 94 90
m5harp 08:33 09:34 111 106
Edprof 08:40 08:02 92 88
vefatica vefatica 08:40 07:48 90 86
goblin 08:40 09:46 112 107
luxtonj61 08:41 17:13 198 190
raincloud 08:42 12:24 142 136
gsriordan52 08:46 08:03 91 87
Deezzaa Deezzaa 08:53 14:24 162 155
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:03 11:59 132 126
Doyler 09:03 06:21 70 67
smalley552 09:04 07:36 83 79
Poff 09:20 09:56 106 101
barracuda barracuda 09:26 07:48 82 78
ezoredfox 09:29 07:53 83 79
steven j l 09:46 07:40 78 75
maisiemae 09:55 10:10 102 98
Pendrov 09:58 14:30 145 139
hemantyd 09:59 08:11 81 77
FelicityTT 10:00 07:26 74 71
Birdingbob 10:13 09:57 97 93
TonyN6 10:17 10:21 100 96
Word Psmith 10:43 10:50 101 97
Nuck_the_king 10:47 08:22 77 74
simjt simjt 11:22 13:17 116 111
Dr. Memory 11:37 10:30 90 86
jarenstein 11:39 14:33 124 119
paul.verney 11:57 13:36 113 108
phatman 12:23 08:22 67 64
intentional rounding 12:28 11:23 91 87
mpbthorpe 12:31 16:10 129 124
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 12:33 11:37 92 88
chabuduo chabuduo 12:42 12:47 100 96
ifincham2 12:49 12:53 100 96
Sonofjim 13:06 09:27 72 69
kapietro kapietro 13:32 15:40 115 110
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 14:13 14:35 102 98
Guy Hatton 14:55 17:18 115 110
Mendes Mendesest 15:07 13:36 89 85
RPE10538 RPE10538 15:18 15:04 98 94
trish_tang 15:47 16:40 105 100
Charpentier 16:30 16:47 101 97
tomtom2 17:35 11:49 67 64
david.14587 18:26 22:13 120 115
140 Mandak 262 Jamuna 18:43 14:51 79 75
TonyK 18:49 20:37 109 104
New Driver 18:58 18:10 95 91
pfalloon 20:37 09:39 46 44
Mark from Ipswich 21:12 12:04 56 53
ian.shepherd 21:37 17:59 83 79
philby 21:45 19:46 90 86
maryht 22:15 17:10 77 74
Pompeydave 23:49 36:37 153 147
youngbaz 24:29 10:51 44 42
Philip van Dyck 29:16 15:31 53 50
mcfarl 44:51 44:58 100 96

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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