Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2406

Date 30 May 2023
Number 2406
Setter Teazel
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 103
Count of ref solvers 57
Ref solvers excluded with errors 0
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2406

* 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
Jason 02:32 04:12 165 160
verlaine 02:36 02:48 107 103
mistigris 02:40 02:58 111 107
hilarym 02:43 02:43 100 97
cmjhutton 02:44 02:22 86 83
aphis99 aphis99 02:49 03:19 117 113
Flimmy flammy 03:04 03:11 103 100
Sheapey Sheapey 03:31 06:07 173 167
Topical Tim Topical Tim 03:38 03:36 99 96
richard 03:39 02:45 75 72
markdobell 03:50 04:30 117 113
Kinghedger 03:52 03:03 78 75
glheard 04:02 03:10 78 75
lickert 04:11 04:08 98 95
chindit 04:13 04:43 111 107
nina s 04:19 02:38 61 59
AlanS 04:19 04:24 101 98
tilbee 04:21 03:57 90 87
lucyg43484 04:30 04:36 102 99
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:36 03:56 85 82
scrabbler 04:39 04:14 91 88
andrewlake 04:44 05:30 116 112
canismiser 04:45 05:27 114 110
andy 04:46 03:53 81 78
LouWeed LouWeed 04:46 04:32 95 92
March 04:46 05:03 105 101
alexh 04:47 04:39 97 94
Ed freshpot 04:50 05:04 104 100
Honggui 04:54 04:53 99 96
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:05 05:26 106 102
The Dabbler 05:05 07:43 151 146
Squallaby 05:09 04:00 77 74
neilr neilr 05:10 06:23 123 119
Tibthorpe 05:12 04:11 80 77
Aly Duncan 05:21 03:33 66 64
fshephe 05:25 08:23 154 149
daulbs 05:26 07:01 129 125
ChuckB 05:26 05:10 95 92
jimpen 05:26 05:58 109 105
Spanna 05:27 04:47 87 84
george.plumbly 05:28 03:51 70 67
Rabbitoh 05:32 05:12 93 90
Finzi 05:39 05:04 89 86
Looch 05:48 05:18 91 88
cheryllayne cheryllayne 05:50 08:13 140 135
cath23 05:52 04:46 81 78
Carol 05:56 06:04 102 99
Crossiant 06:01 06:08 101 98
DunPangolin 06:03 05:36 92 89
Curarist 06:12 06:30 104 100
ilan 06:17 07:19 116 112
James P 06:18 06:08 97 94
uvofiz 06:30 06:30 100 97
Mike Harper Mike Harper 06:32 08:33 130 126
julian_w 06:34 09:33 145 140
DrBill 06:42 07:45 115 111
JeffHobbs 06:42 11:11 166 161
rburman 06:43 12:19 183 177
John Arnold 06:44 06:13 92 89
Puzzleplease 06:46 07:25 109 105
1234 06:48 06:08 90 87
Edprof 06:49 07:37 111 107
jjspomeroy 06:54 11:45 170 165
Deezzaa Deezzaa 06:56 10:43 154 149
ChrisBrea 06:57 08:15 118 114
ulaca ulaca 06:57 07:24 106 102
Corymbia Corymbia 06:57 09:39 138 133
Bobby D 06:58 09:50 141 136
ratterz 07:00 06:33 93 90
Yatton50 07:02 11:20 161 156
benedick 07:04 08:12 116 112
martinede 07:15 10:44 148 143
m5harp 07:15 11:54 164 159
johndun John Dunleavy 07:17 10:15 140 135
gsriordan52 07:20 08:11 111 107
crosswordian 07:46 11:47 151 146
OldSolver 07:52 11:03 140 135
vinyl12345 vinyl1 07:53 10:29 132 128
jaraab 07:54 12:26 157 152
mattindoha 07:57 10:08 127 123
TonyN6 07:59 07:25 92 89
john.brassey 08:08 07:38 93 90
goblin 08:21 08:28 101 98
nigelmzzz 08:44 10:27 119 115
Mkgnao Mkgnao 08:53 11:15 126 122
MichaelE 08:54 08:31 95 92
BertieVII 09:06 08:22 91 88
suethepotterer 09:07 09:33 104 100
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 09:39 12:50 132 128
Struwa Struwa 11:54 12:56 108 104

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.