Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2359

Date 24 March 2023
Number 2359
Setter Felix
Day of week Friday
NITCH 102
Count of ref solvers 61
Ref solvers excluded with errors 0
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2359

* 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 02:07 96 94
Paul Gilbert 02:28 02:24 97 95
Jason 02:32 02:15 88 86
mistigris 02:40 03:13 120 117
hilarym 02:43 03:02 111 108
cmjhutton 02:44 02:14 81 79
aphis99 aphis99 02:49 03:07 110 107
Flimmy flammy 03:04 02:52 93 91
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:38 02:48 77 75
richard 03:39 02:28 67 65
markdobell 03:50 03:34 93 91
Strober 04:04 03:39 89 87
lickert 04:11 05:06 121 118
chindit 04:13 03:55 92 90
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:14 04:42 111 108
AlanS 04:19 03:46 87 85
MikeOsborne 04:21 04:31 103 100
tilbee 04:21 04:35 105 102
lucyg43484 04:30 05:51 130 127
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:36 07:04 153 150
scrabbler 04:39 04:51 104 101
andrewlake 04:44 03:24 71 69
canismiser 04:45 06:17 132 129
andy 04:46 05:04 106 103
March 04:46 06:33 137 134
LouWeed LouWeed 04:46 04:11 87 85
alexh 04:47 03:52 80 78
Ed freshpot 04:50 05:29 113 110
Ease This Jam 04:50 05:06 105 102
MK76 04:53 03:48 77 75
Umpire 04:54 06:02 123 120
Honggui 04:54 05:45 117 114
Zander 05:02 05:46 114 111
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:05 05:01 98 96
Squallaby 05:09 07:05 137 134
Liari 05:09 07:03 136 133
Paul Bacon 05:09 05:55 114 111
neilr neilr 05:10 06:20 122 119
andy_knott 05:13 04:19 82 80
footballblue 05:17 06:17 118 115
Aly Duncan 05:21 04:29 83 81
fshephe 05:25 04:53 90 88
jimpen 05:26 05:16 96 94
Spanna 05:27 06:32 119 116
george.plumbly 05:28 04:48 87 85
mw7000 05:29 05:53 107 104
admin 05:31 04:33 82 80
Eddddddd 05:34 04:27 79 77
Finzi 05:39 04:59 88 86
squark 05:50 04:45 81 79
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 05:51 05:52 100 98
PuzzleMaestro 05:51 06:53 117 114
MrChumley MrChumley 05:52 04:55 83 81
cath23 05:52 05:46 98 96
Tommo87 05:53 06:24 108 105
SlumdogEngineer 05:54 04:26 75 73
Carol 05:56 05:56 100 98
Colin2355 06:02 05:49 96 94
DunPangolin 06:03 05:46 95 93
GMcD 06:08 06:56 113 110
Curarist 06:12 04:56 79 77
npweston 06:14 06:03 97 95
jimwetzler 06:16 06:04 96 94
ilan 06:17 06:46 107 104
James P 06:18 06:20 100 98
robinh 06:19 05:33 87 85
IreneC 06:19 06:44 106 103
Michael Dove 06:23 07:06 111 108
paul.whitehouse69 06:25 06:41 104 101
uvofiz 06:30 05:22 82 80
Mike Harper Mike Harper 06:32 06:45 103 100
Nuck_the_king 06:34 07:08 108 105
julian_w 06:34 06:39 101 99
Gussie 06:35 04:48 72 70
Dvynys Dvynys 06:37 05:06 77 75
Nangle 06:41 07:01 104 101
jon 06:42 06:49 101 99
Edprof 06:49 06:43 98 96
timbo 06:51 06:26 93 91
ulaca ulaca 06:57 06:24 92 90
Bobby D 06:58 05:44 82 80
Dr_Bob 07:24 06:04 81 79
Crippens1 07:41 06:52 89 87
crosswordian 07:46 06:44 86 84
pauliwan 08:00 06:52 85 83

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.