Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2360

Date 27 March 2023
Number 2360
Setter Hurley
Day of week Monday
NITCH 77
Count of ref solvers 71
Ref solvers excluded with errors 0
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2360

* 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 01:55 87 112
Paul Gilbert 02:28 01:32 62 80
Jason 02:32 01:46 69 89
verlaine 02:36 01:50 70 90
mistigris 02:40 01:52 70 90
hilarym 02:43 02:07 77 100
cmjhutton 02:44 02:11 79 102
aphis99 aphis99 02:49 02:41 95 123
Flimmy flammy 03:04 02:36 84 109
Sheapey Sheapey 03:31 02:47 79 102
richard 03:39 02:39 72 93
markdobell 03:50 02:48 73 94
Heyesey 03:52 02:35 66 85
glheard 04:02 02:51 70 90
Strober 04:04 05:14 128 166
xyster 04:04 03:09 77 100
lickert 04:11 03:54 93 120
chindit 04:13 03:10 75 97
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:14 04:51 114 148
chriswords 04:14 04:25 104 135
AlanS 04:19 03:39 84 109
MikeOsborne 04:21 03:22 77 100
tilbee 04:21 03:14 74 96
lucyg43484 04:30 02:48 62 80
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:36 03:35 77 100
John Walsh 04:37 04:30 97 125
scrabbler 04:39 03:43 79 102
d.middleton 04:39 04:47 102 132
andrewlake 04:44 03:58 83 107
canismiser 04:45 03:29 73 94
andy 04:46 03:25 71 92
March 04:46 03:50 80 103
LouWeed LouWeed 04:46 03:53 81 105
alexh 04:47 04:01 83 107
denislaw 04:47 04:03 84 109
Ed freshpot 04:50 04:39 96 124
Ease This Jam 04:50 04:03 83 107
MK76 04:53 04:14 86 111
Ostralegus 04:53 05:22 109 141
Umpire 04:54 04:40 95 123
Honggui 04:54 03:34 72 93
Zander 05:02 04:04 80 103
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:05 04:28 87 112
Squallaby 05:09 03:14 62 80
Liari 05:09 04:06 79 102
Paul Bacon 05:09 04:59 96 124
neilr neilr 05:10 03:49 73 94
Tibthorpe 05:12 04:59 95 123
andy_knott 05:13 05:04 97 125
footballblue 05:17 04:38 87 112
Aly Duncan 05:21 04:11 78 101
esmeralda 05:23 02:28 45 58
daulbs 05:26 05:08 94 122
jimpen 05:26 04:15 78 101
Spanna 05:27 04:24 80 103
KET 05:29 03:54 71 92
MossDef 05:30 04:49 87 112
Rabbitoh 05:32 04:01 72 93
AndyR 05:36 03:47 67 87
Finzi 05:39 04:54 86 111
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:41 04:46 83 107
Shabbo 05:46 04:59 86 111
Looch 05:48 04:45 81 105
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 05:51 03:59 68 88
cath23 05:52 05:07 87 112
SlumdogEngineer 05:54 04:13 71 92
Carol 05:56 03:46 63 81
Crossiant 06:01 03:42 61 79
DunPangolin 06:03 04:30 74 96
PGooden 06:03 04:23 72 93
Tudds 06:05 04:25 72 93
Rosron 06:07 05:07 83 107
GMcD 06:08 04:23 71 92
earlylight 06:09 04:58 80 103
Curarist 06:12 04:14 68 88
jimwetzler 06:16 04:13 67 87
ilan 06:17 01:33 24 31
robinh 06:19 05:25 85 110
paul.whitehouse69 06:25 04:56 76 98
chrismarch 06:27 05:03 78 101
uvofiz 06:30 05:23 82 106
John Arnold 06:44 03:55 58 75
Puzzleplease 06:46 04:24 65 84
1234 06:48 05:20 78 101
ulaca ulaca 06:57 04:41 67 87
Yatton50 07:02 05:17 75 97
Dan W 07:27 04:41 62 80

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.