Charlotte Durif has recently made a very fast ascent of Souvenirs du pic, 8c/+, at St Guilhem. She says the route is slightly overhanging and very technical. Her personal opinion is that the route could very well be 8c+, but says that it needs more repeats to be confirmed.
Now, this has caused a couple of comments as to whether it's possible for Charlotte to believe a route to be 8c+ if she can climb it in two tries.
8c+ in two tries would mean she could make fast work of 9a and have the level to project Realization, 9a+.
Now, the question is: Does a comparably quick send automatically mean the route is soft, or maybe better, that you aren't close to your limit?
I'm not so sure. If the route or problem is easily solved and fits your style, I believe you can climb close to your limit, even first or 2nd try. Of course, normally more time spent means higher grade, but it's note a rule without exceptions. Sometimes it takes a long time to work out the best sequence, but the time spent doing this really shouldn't matter, as the grade of route or problem should be reflecting the easiest possible solution, right?