Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2376

Date 18 April 2023
Number 2376
Setter Rongo
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 95
Count of ref solvers 61
Ref solvers excluded with errors 0
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2376

* 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 02:02 93 97
Paul Gilbert 02:28 02:04 83 87
Jason 02:32 02:17 90 94
verlaine 02:36 02:06 80 84
hilarym 02:43 02:40 98 103
cmjhutton 02:44 02:09 78 82
aphis99 aphis99 02:49 02:31 89 93
Flimmy flammy 03:04 03:13 104 109
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:38 03:07 85 89
markdobell 03:50 02:55 76 80
lickert 04:11 03:41 88 92
chindit 04:13 03:40 86 90
tilbee 04:21 04:13 96 101
lucyg43484 04:30 03:30 77 81
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:36 04:25 96 101
d.middleton 04:39 04:57 106 111
scrabbler 04:39 04:07 88 92
canismiser 04:45 03:24 71 74
wwalker50 04:45 03:02 63 66
LouWeed LouWeed 04:46 04:56 103 108
March 04:46 04:14 88 92
alexh 04:47 03:19 69 72
denislaw 04:47 04:47 100 105
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 04:48 03:41 76 80
Ed freshpot 04:50 05:17 109 114
Ease This Jam 04:50 07:25 153 161
Umpire 04:54 04:52 99 104
michaelbell53 04:58 05:21 107 112
Zander 05:02 05:20 105 110
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:05 04:19 84 88
Squallaby 05:09 05:18 102 107
Liari 05:09 04:45 92 96
Paul Bacon 05:09 05:11 100 105
andy_knott 05:13 05:13 100 105
daulbs 05:26 05:08 94 98
Spanna 05:27 04:53 89 93
MossDef 05:30 05:39 102 107
admin 05:31 06:47 122 128
Rabbitoh 05:32 05:13 94 98
john.marshall 05:33 08:24 151 158
AndyR 05:36 05:26 97 102
Finzi 05:39 05:06 90 94
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:41 05:45 101 106
Shabbo 05:46 04:25 76 80
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 05:51 07:57 135 142
MrChumley MrChumley 05:52 06:02 102 107
cath23 05:52 04:28 76 80
Tommo87 05:53 08:05 137 144
Carol 05:56 04:30 75 78
Crossiant 06:01 06:18 104 109
DunPangolin 06:03 04:49 79 83
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 06:05 06:32 107 112
Rosron 06:07 05:38 92 96
GMcD 06:08 05:13 85 89
Curarist 06:12 04:53 78 82
ilan 06:17 06:21 101 106
James P 06:18 07:44 122 128
robinh 06:19 05:58 94 98
IreneC 06:19 04:30 71 74
paul.whitehouse69 06:25 06:36 102 107
chrismarch 06:27 07:44 119 125
uvofiz 06:30 06:57 106 111
Gussie 06:35 07:49 118 124
robertbridge 06:38 05:05 76 80
KenD51 06:42 04:47 71 74
JeffHobbs 06:42 04:46 71 74
DianeRS 06:46 06:09 90 94
endafk 06:48 06:29 95 100
1234 06:48 07:53 115 121
plett11 Plett11 06:48 08:06 119 125
Edprof 06:49 07:44 113 118
Deezzaa Deezzaa 06:56 07:31 108 113
ChrisBrea 06:57 06:01 86 90
Corymbia Corymbia 06:57 06:57 100 105
ratterz 07:00 06:44 96 101
benedick 07:04 06:56 98 103
johndun John Dunleavy 07:17 06:42 91 95
Cryptique 07:17 08:04 110 115
Sheen 07:21 05:12 70 73
luxtonj61 07:21 08:09 110 115
CoxBurglar 07:37 06:18 82 86
crosswordian 07:46 07:00 90 94
vefatica vefatica 07:46 07:30 96 101
TomHerbert 07:52 07:39 97 102
OldSolver 07:52 08:20 105 110
vinyl12345 vinyl1 07:53 07:21 93 97
mattindoha 07:57 07:37 95 100
goblin 08:21 07:12 86 90
paulmcl 11:32 08:28 73 76

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.