Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2357

Date 22 March 2023
Number 2357
Setter Beck
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 95
Count of ref solvers 71
Ref solvers excluded with errors 0
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2357

* 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 01:45 80 84
Paul Gilbert 02:28 02:20 94 98
Jason 02:32 02:11 86 90
verlaine 02:36 02:22 91 95
mistigris 02:40 03:32 132 138
hilarym 02:43 03:07 114 120
cmjhutton 02:44 02:18 84 88
aphis99 aphis99 02:49 02:18 81 85
Flimmy flammy 03:04 02:43 88 92
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:38 03:06 85 89
richard 03:39 03:27 94 98
markdobell 03:50 03:13 83 87
Heyesey 03:52 04:50 125 131
Strober 04:04 03:26 84 88
lickert 04:11 05:33 132 138
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:14 04:04 96 101
AlanS 04:19 04:40 108 113
MikeOsborne 04:21 03:36 82 86
tilbee 04:21 04:35 105 110
tiggis 04:29 04:35 102 107
lucyg43484 04:30 05:10 114 120
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:36 05:05 110 115
scrabbler 04:39 03:47 81 85
andrewlake 04:44 03:54 82 86
wwalker50 04:45 04:14 89 93
canismiser 04:45 04:33 95 100
March 04:46 04:02 84 88
LouWeed LouWeed 04:46 03:41 77 81
andy 04:46 04:57 103 108
alexh 04:47 05:27 113 118
Ed freshpot 04:50 04:52 100 105
Ease This Jam 04:50 04:58 102 107
MK76 04:53 03:39 74 77
Umpire 04:54 06:39 135 142
Honggui 04:54 04:06 83 87
Zander 05:02 04:46 94 98
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:05 05:53 115 121
Squallaby 05:09 05:17 102 107
Liari 05:09 04:50 93 97
neilr neilr 05:10 05:10 100 105
andy_knott 05:13 05:07 98 103
Aly Duncan 05:21 04:46 89 93
esmeralda 05:23 04:49 89 93
fshephe 05:25 04:16 78 82
jimpen 05:26 05:56 109 114
george.plumbly 05:28 04:57 90 94
MossDef 05:30 04:25 80 84
Rabbitoh 05:32 04:28 80 84
AndyR 05:36 06:13 111 116
Finzi 05:39 04:50 85 89
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:41 03:26 60 63
Shabbo 05:46 04:55 85 89
Looch 05:48 06:02 104 109
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 05:51 06:09 105 110
Tommo87 05:53 02:17 38 40
cmcnsmith 05:56 05:56 100 105
Carol 05:56 05:15 88 92
McBeak McBeak 06:00 06:16 104 109
Colin2355 06:02 05:34 92 96
DunPangolin 06:03 05:14 86 90
PGooden 06:03 04:58 82 86
RobR RobR 06:03 05:05 84 88
Rosron 06:07 06:24 104 109
GMcD 06:08 06:42 109 114
earlylight 06:09 06:54 112 117
martinphillips 06:09 06:56 112 117
Curarist 06:12 05:44 92 96
ilan 06:17 06:14 99 104
James P 06:18 06:24 101 106
robinh 06:19 06:29 102 107
IreneC 06:19 04:57 78 82
Aloysius 06:28 04:17 66 69
uvofiz 06:30 07:01 107 112
julian_w 06:34 06:28 98 103
Gussie 06:35 05:23 81 85
KenD51 06:42 06:53 102 107
maisiemae 06:45 05:50 86 90
FraserH 06:56 07:05 102 107
Corymbia Corymbia 06:57 06:14 89 93
ratterz 07:00 06:36 94 98
benedick 07:04 06:05 86 90
m5harp 07:15 06:12 85 89
gsriordan52 07:20 06:17 85 89
Dan W 07:27 06:30 87 91
crosswordian 07:46 06:54 88 92
mattindoha 07:57 06:16 78 82
iholloway 08:28 07:08 84 88

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.