Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2395

Date 15 May 2023
Number 2395
Setter Jalna
Day of week Monday
NITCH 111
Count of ref solvers 75
Ref solvers excluded with errors 0
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2395

* 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 01:49 83 74
Paul Gilbert 02:28 02:17 92 82
Jason 02:32 02:18 90 81
verlaine 02:36 03:02 116 104
mistigris 02:40 02:21 88 79
hilarym 02:43 03:41 135 121
cmjhutton 02:44 02:22 86 77
aphis99 aphis99 02:49 03:06 110 99
Flimmy flammy 03:04 02:49 91 81
Sheapey Sheapey 03:31 03:51 109 98
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:38 05:10 142 127
richard 03:39 04:02 110 99
markdobell 03:50 04:57 129 116
Heyesey 03:52 03:51 99 89
glheard 04:02 03:57 97 87
Strober 04:04 04:42 115 103
xyster 04:04 04:28 109 98
lickert 04:11 04:45 113 101
chindit 04:13 03:57 93 83
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:14 03:49 90 81
AlanS 04:19 03:36 83 74
MikeOsborne 04:21 03:53 89 80
tilbee 04:21 04:19 99 89
Roscoe 04:26 04:38 104 93
trux 04:29 06:39 148 133
lucyg43484 04:30 04:50 107 96
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:36 05:28 118 106
Jim Willis 04:38 05:18 114 102
scrabbler 04:39 04:56 106 95
andrewlake 04:44 03:50 80 72
canismiser 04:45 04:03 85 76
wwalker50 04:45 05:46 121 109
March 04:46 06:15 131 118
LouWeed LouWeed 04:46 05:00 104 93
denislaw 04:47 04:07 86 77
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 04:48 04:57 103 92
Ed freshpot 04:50 04:32 93 83
Ease This Jam 04:50 05:05 105 94
MK76 04:53 06:02 123 110
Honggui 04:54 04:49 98 88
Zander 05:02 05:20 105 94
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:05 05:35 109 98
Squallaby 05:09 07:13 140 126
neilr neilr 05:10 05:13 100 90
Tibthorpe 05:12 06:41 128 115
andy_knott 05:13 07:20 140 126
Aly Duncan 05:21 06:25 119 107
esmeralda 05:23 08:08 151 136
daulbs 05:26 04:20 79 71
ChuckB 05:26 06:34 120 108
jimpen 05:26 06:00 110 99
KET 05:29 05:43 104 93
Rabbitoh 05:32 05:26 98 88
Finzi 05:39 05:42 100 90
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:41 07:30 131 118
Looch 05:48 06:26 110 99
squark 05:50 07:01 120 108
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 05:51 07:48 133 119
PuzzleMaestro 05:51 06:26 109 98
cath23 05:52 05:55 100 90
SlumdogEngineer 05:54 06:39 112 100
Dzhigit 05:54 07:13 122 109
Carol 05:56 07:00 117 105
McBeak McBeak 06:00 08:00 133 119
Crossiant 06:01 06:15 103 92
DunPangolin 06:03 08:04 133 119
Tudds 06:05 06:43 110 99
GMcD 06:08 07:09 116 104
Curarist 06:12 08:06 130 117
ilan 06:17 07:18 116 104
robinh 06:19 07:07 112 100
chrismarch 06:27 07:27 115 103
Aloysius 06:28 06:16 96 86
Mike Harper Mike Harper 06:32 08:05 123 110
jon 06:42 07:18 108 97
John Arnold 06:44 07:43 114 102
Puzzleplease 06:46 07:49 115 103
1234 06:48 08:04 118 106
Edprof 06:49 08:22 122 109
FraserH 06:56 07:55 114 102
ratterz 07:00 07:46 110 99
benedick 07:04 07:29 105 94
barracuda barracuda 07:08 08:03 112 100
Sheen 07:21 04:21 59 53
TomHerbert 07:52 07:38 97 87
branch branch 08:11 07:39 93 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.