Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2378

Date 20 April 2023
Number 2378
Setter Felix
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 95
Count of ref solvers 73
Ref solvers excluded with errors 0
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2378

* 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 02:15 103 108
Paul Gilbert 02:28 02:16 91 95
Jason 02:32 03:16 128 134
mistigris 02:40 03:09 118 124
hilarym 02:43 02:45 101 106
cmjhutton 02:44 02:43 99 104
aphis99 aphis99 02:49 02:48 99 104
Flimmy flammy 03:04 03:06 101 106
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:38 03:29 95 100
richard 03:39 03:54 106 111
markdobell 03:50 04:40 121 127
Kinghedger 03:52 03:44 96 101
Strober 04:04 04:31 111 116
chindit 04:13 03:59 94 98
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:14 05:21 126 132
AlanS 04:19 04:44 109 114
MikeOsborne 04:21 04:03 93 97
tilbee 04:21 04:14 97 102
Roscoe 04:26 04:50 109 114
tiggis 04:29 03:13 71 74
lucyg43484 04:30 05:13 115 121
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:36 04:33 98 103
Jim Willis 04:38 04:04 87 91
andrewlake 04:44 04:25 93 97
canismiser 04:45 04:48 101 106
wwalker50 04:45 04:16 89 93
andy 04:46 04:34 95 100
March 04:46 04:40 97 102
LouWeed LouWeed 04:46 03:33 74 77
alexh 04:47 03:50 80 84
denislaw 04:47 05:14 109 114
Ed freshpot 04:50 04:30 93 97
Ease This Jam 04:50 03:59 82 86
MK76 04:53 04:56 101 106
Umpire 04:54 03:08 63 66
Honggui 04:54 04:13 86 90
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:05 05:27 107 112
Squallaby 05:09 06:43 130 136
neilr neilr 05:10 05:39 109 114
annbrew 05:11 04:38 89 93
Tibthorpe 05:12 04:47 91 95
andy_knott 05:13 04:56 94 98
esmeralda 05:23 04:46 88 92
fshephe 05:25 05:00 92 96
daulbs 05:26 04:38 85 89
jimpen 05:26 05:05 93 97
ChuckB 05:26 05:36 103 108
george.plumbly 05:28 04:37 84 88
mw7000 05:29 04:17 78 82
MossDef 05:30 05:50 106 111
stguest2 05:32 04:40 84 88
Rabbitoh 05:32 04:14 76 80
Eddddddd 05:34 04:36 82 86
Finzi 05:39 05:43 101 106
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:41 04:53 85 89
Looch 05:48 05:41 97 102
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 05:51 06:06 104 109
MrChumley MrChumley 05:52 05:31 94 98
cath23 05:52 05:13 88 92
cmcnsmith 05:56 06:02 101 106
Crossiant 06:01 06:03 100 105
Colin2355 06:02 05:38 93 97
DunPangolin 06:03 06:29 107 112
Tudds 06:05 05:38 92 96
Rosron 06:07 05:08 83 87
martinphillips 06:09 05:00 81 85
earlylight 06:09 06:08 99 104
rhi.andrew 06:10 05:08 83 87
jimwetzler 06:16 06:19 100 105
James P 06:18 05:11 82 86
JMbrow29 06:19 05:24 85 89
robinh 06:19 06:08 97 102
Mike Mansbridge 06:24 05:46 90 94
paul.whitehouse69 06:25 05:39 88 92
Aloysius 06:28 06:11 95 100
uvofiz 06:30 05:53 90 94
Gussie 06:35 06:43 102 107
jon 06:42 06:43 100 105
alastair52 06:43 06:08 91 95
endafk 06:48 06:06 89 93
raincloud 06:49 04:56 72 75
FraserH 06:56 06:18 90 94
Claverton74 06:56 06:02 87 91
Corymbia Corymbia 06:57 05:45 82 86
Bobby D 06:58 05:58 85 89
Andrew Whiffin 07:25 06:37 89 93
RPY 07:35 06:44 88 92
crosswordian 07:46 06:21 81 85
TomHerbert 07:52 06:04 77 81

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.