Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2384

Date 28 April 2023
Number 2384
Setter Joker
Day of week Friday
NITCH 93
Count of ref solvers 71
Ref solvers excluded with errors 0
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2384

* 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 01:57 89 95
Paul Gilbert 02:28 01:47 72 77
Jason 02:32 03:25 134 144
verlaine 02:36 02:29 95 102
mistigris 02:40 02:03 76 81
hilarym 02:43 02:12 80 86
cmjhutton 02:44 02:51 104 111
aphis99 aphis99 02:49 02:30 88 94
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:38 02:46 76 81
markdobell 03:50 05:00 130 139
Strober 04:04 03:54 95 102
chindit 04:13 02:57 69 74
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:14 04:31 106 113
AlanS 04:19 03:56 91 97
PaulCooke 04:19 05:21 123 132
MikeOsborne 04:21 04:24 101 108
tilbee 04:21 03:44 85 91
Roscoe 04:26 04:23 98 105
lucyg43484 04:30 04:19 95 102
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:36 03:35 77 82
John Walsh 04:37 04:49 104 111
Jim Willis 04:38 03:58 85 91
scrabbler 04:39 03:56 84 90
andrewlake 04:44 06:39 140 150
canismiser 04:45 04:28 94 101
andy 04:46 03:55 82 88
March 04:46 05:31 115 123
LouWeed LouWeed 04:46 04:57 103 110
alexh 04:47 04:01 83 89
grape 04:47 04:29 93 100
denislaw 04:47 04:28 93 100
Ease This Jam 04:50 03:34 73 78
Umpire 04:54 04:09 84 90
Honggui 04:54 03:54 79 84
michaelbell53 04:58 05:07 103 110
Pompeydave 05:04 06:17 124 133
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:05 04:47 94 101
Squallaby 05:09 04:56 95 102
Paul Bacon 05:09 05:24 104 111
neilr neilr 05:10 06:46 130 139
Tibthorpe 05:12 04:58 95 102
andy_knott 05:13 05:13 100 107
esmeralda 05:23 03:55 72 77
fshephe 05:25 05:07 94 101
daulbs 05:26 06:30 119 127
ChuckB 05:26 05:08 94 101
jimpen 05:26 05:20 98 105
george.plumbly 05:28 04:32 82 88
KET 05:29 04:47 87 93
MossDef 05:30 06:08 111 119
Rabbitoh 05:32 06:37 119 127
AndyR 05:36 04:40 83 89
Finzi 05:39 05:27 96 103
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:41 04:11 73 78
Julian Forbes 05:45 04:58 86 92
Looch 05:48 05:25 93 100
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 05:51 06:59 119 127
MrChumley MrChumley 05:52 04:53 83 89
cath23 05:52 04:50 82 88
Tommo87 05:53 06:27 109 117
Carol 05:56 05:19 89 95
McBeak McBeak 06:00 06:16 104 111
nigel 06:00 05:54 98 105
Crossiant 06:01 05:07 85 91
PGooden 06:03 04:47 79 84
Tudds 06:05 06:56 113 121
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 06:05 06:36 108 116
Rosron 06:07 06:33 107 115
GMcD 06:08 06:32 106 113
earlylight 06:09 05:40 92 98
jimwetzler 06:16 05:51 93 100
ilan 06:17 06:16 99 106
James P 06:18 04:24 69 74
robinh 06:19 05:26 86 92
paul.whitehouse69 06:25 06:27 100 107
Aloysius 06:28 05:27 84 90
uvofiz 06:30 05:25 83 89
Gussie 06:35 05:14 79 84
Dvynys Dvynys 06:37 06:48 102 109
DianeRS 06:46 06:52 101 108
1234 06:48 06:42 98 105
Viscomte 06:51 06:10 90 96
Corymbia Corymbia 06:57 05:00 71 76
ratterz 07:00 06:15 89 95
hookyt 07:13 06:20 87 93
johndun John Dunleavy 07:17 06:26 88 94
jaraab 07:54 06:35 83 89
jemcd33 08:05 05:51 72 77

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.