Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2931

Date 08 March 2025
Number 2931
Setter Cheeko
Day of week Saturday
NITCH 139
Count of ref solvers 73
Ref solvers excluded with errors 11
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2931

* 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 02:03 02:23 116 83
Jason 02:34 02:45 107 76
verlaine 02:36 03:34 137 98
aphis99 aphis99 02:54 03:26 118 84
Flimmy flammy 03:16 03:32 108 77
richard 03:37 03:48 105 75
markdobell 03:39 04:26 121 87
Ciolf 03:48 05:54 155 111
Heyesey 03:54 05:16 135 97
AlanS 04:09 04:34 110 79
SimonAnthony 04:11 04:44 113 81
lickert 04:23 04:59 113 81
chindit 04:25 05:28 123 88
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:36 06:15 135 97
MK76 04:40 08:07 173 124
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:43 07:21 155 111
tilbee 04:45 10:44 225 161
alexh 04:48 05:45 119 85
LouWeed LouWeed 04:52 06:32 134 96
Bluejacket 04:53 08:23 171 123
lucyg43484 04:53 07:40 156 112
andrewlake 04:54 09:21 190 136
Liari 04:55 08:22 170 122
scrabbler 04:57 05:16 106 76
andy 05:00 05:31 110 79
Freemers 05:02 05:10 102 73
cdb_100 05:04 07:01 138 99
March 05:06 06:54 135 97
EricK 05:07 11:18 220 158
Tibthorpe 05:17 06:31 123 88
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:18 05:53 111 79
Zander 05:21 07:50 146 105
fshephe 05:21 04:28 83 59
Ed freshpot 05:21 06:24 119 85
Squallaby 05:24 13:45 254 182
nina s 05:28 08:14 150 107
rrricharrrd 05:33 07:17 131 94
mcrossib1 05:39 08:22 148 106
Finzi 05:41 07:09 125 89
Rabbitoh galspray 05:44 09:27 164 117
Adelaider 05:45 05:57 103 74
robertL 05:50 09:19 159 114
Looch 05:51 10:39 182 130
whichcraft 06:01 06:57 115 82
KarenR 06:03 12:59 214 153
Mike C 06:10 09:32 154 110
Shabbo 06:18 13:40 216 155
ilan 06:44 10:23 154 110
Tudds 06:46 10:23 153 110
GMcD 06:48 10:05 148 106
Curarist 06:49 06:19 92 66
paul.whitehouse69 06:58 10:05 144 103
Michael Dove 07:01 16:49 239 171
James P 07:04 11:00 155 111
FraserH 07:20 14:31 197 141
Puzzleplease 07:20 09:58 135 97
thewanderingeditor 07:21 10:53 148 106
DianeRS 07:24 11:52 160 115
tds 07:27 07:22 98 70
Corymbia Corymbia 07:33 08:27 111 79
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 09:59 131 94
endafk 07:40 10:21 135 97
Jamie Fox 07:52 15:40 199 143
Rozz 08:02 11:50 147 105
td349 08:04 14:26 178 128
Aldus 08:16 09:24 113 81
plett11 Plett11 08:16 11:29 138 99
John Arnold 08:28 10:54 128 92
jaraab 08:35 12:16 142 102
Jamescheck JamesCheck 08:39 15:32 179 128
johndun John Dunleavy 08:41 14:35 167 120
goblin 08:42 12:29 143 102
Edprof 08:42 12:49 147 105
Jeeves 08:45 09:50 112 80
mattindoha 08:50 12:26 140 100
goldenpie 09:05 13:40 150 107
gsriordan52 09:07 10:06 110 79
luxtonj61 09:07 10:36 116 83
mjsaunders9 09:09 09:26 103 74
hemantyd 09:11 20:15 220 158
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:14 15:10 164 117
crosswordian 09:19 11:55 127 91
ofarrell 09:23 12:21 131 94
barracuda barracuda 09:28 15:44 166 119
f4rch 09:29 29:54 315 226
Manuel1 09:33 12:23 129 92
jemcd33 09:36 17:02 177 127
RPY 09:40 10:46 111 79
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:43 15:07 155 111
Nigel1953 09:49 15:59 162 116
Coffell 09:50 11:01 112 80
richardCV22 09:52 11:16 114 82
annbrew 09:53 12:49 129 92
Laputan 10:17 12:34 122 87
maisiemae 10:38 22:49 214 153
Troothful 10:44 14:50 138 99
russellcannon 10:45 17:25 162 116
Birdingbob 10:50 15:58 147 105
banni-wae 11:01 19:13 174 125
starstruck starstruck_au 11:04 14:19 129 92
alexngbr 11:16 14:45 130 93
Cedric Statherby 11:17 14:36 129 92
simjt simjt 11:18 14:06 124 89
Pauline Minter 11:28 12:43 110 79
BertieVII 11:57 15:10 126 90
symbenall2 12:08 15:11 125 89
youngbaz 12:17 17:23 141 101
chabuduo chabuduo 12:48 17:32 136 97
jackk.larg 13:04 21:29 164 117
nick.wilson 13:34 16:06 118 84
The Real Steve Snackman 13:52 21:10 152 109
trish_tang 15:02 21:33 143 102
Charpentier 15:13 13:40 89 64
K_estrel Kestrel 15:24 19:13 124 89
kfb20 16:01 18:59 118 84
Xebeq 16:21 19:30 119 85
Mark from Ipswich 16:43 24:42 147 105
Steve Wood 16:54 17:49 105 75
New Driver 18:18 40:39 222 159
TonyK 19:40 22:48 115 82
Yiggsy 21:50 26:18 120 86
philby 21:52 34:24 157 112
Jean in Oxford 22:39 26:43 117 84
david 23:20 27:45 118 84
paulmcl 23:38 25:53 109 78
mozbadel mozbadel 25:43 27:11 105 75
brett.anthony 42:44 45:29 106 76

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.

Stored SNITCH Values

Here are the SNITCH values (stored on the day) from the crossword.

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