Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2935

Date 13 March 2025
Number 2935
Setter Mara
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 80
Count of ref solvers 81
Ref solvers excluded with errors 6
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2935

* 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
cmjhutton 02:18 01:39 71 88
Paul Gilbert 02:24 01:26 59 73
Jason 02:34 02:08 83 103
verlaine 02:36 02:25 92 115
mistigris 02:43 02:27 90 112
hilarym 02:47 02:39 95 118
Magoo 02:53 01:55 66 82
aphis99 aphis99 02:54 02:49 97 121
Flimmy flammy 03:16 02:52 87 108
markdobell 03:39 03:09 86 107
Ciolf 03:48 02:27 64 80
Heyesey 03:54 03:17 84 105
AlanS 04:09 03:59 95 118
Kinghedger 04:11 03:35 85 106
SimonAnthony 04:11 02:36 62 77
Amoeba89 04:13 02:20 55 68
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:16 04:58 116 145
MikeOsborne 04:18 02:37 60 75
lickert 04:23 03:30 79 98
chindit 04:25 03:38 82 102
Roscoe 04:26 05:24 121 151
Morphosis 04:28 04:22 97 121
Deane Short 04:31 04:10 92 115
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:36 04:14 92 115
MK76 04:40 04:00 85 106
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:43 04:32 96 120
canismiser 04:47 04:29 93 116
alexh 04:48 03:22 70 87
LouWeed LouWeed 04:52 02:30 51 63
Bluejacket 04:53 05:25 110 137
lucyg43484 04:53 04:11 85 106
Paul Bacon 04:53 04:47 97 121
andrewlake 04:54 04:36 93 116
denislaw 04:54 05:09 105 131
scrabbler 04:57 04:46 96 120
andy 05:00 03:50 76 95
Freemers 05:02 03:59 79 98
cdb_100 05:04 03:46 74 92
March 05:06 03:56 77 96
McBeakLives 05:07 03:02 59 73
EricK 05:07 03:42 72 90
neilr neilr 05:16 03:52 73 91
ChuckB 05:16 05:23 102 127
JayEm 05:17 18:05 342 427
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:18 05:34 105 131
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 05:19 05:54 110 137
fshephe 05:21 06:13 116 145
Ed freshpot 05:21 03:53 72 90
Squallaby 05:24 03:46 69 86
AndyKnott321 05:33 06:11 111 138
cmcnsmith 05:34 05:54 105 131
mcrossib1 05:39 04:53 86 107
Finzi 05:41 04:43 82 102
Penfold_61 05:43 05:24 94 117
Rabbitoh galspray 05:44 03:53 67 83
Adelaider 05:45 04:37 80 100
KET 05:46 05:02 87 108
Riche Riche 05:47 04:30 77 96
Encota 05:51 05:36 95 118
Looch 05:51 04:25 75 93
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:53 04:06 69 86
Rosron 05:58 05:11 86 107
whichcraft 06:01 04:20 72 90
mw7000 06:03 04:40 77 96
KarenR 06:03 05:33 91 113
Streaky Bacon 06:07 04:40 76 95
Mike C 06:10 04:43 76 95
andrewfeist96 06:17 04:06 65 81
hopkinb hopkinb 06:18 05:53 93 116
PGooden 06:19 04:37 73 91
julian_w 06:22 06:02 94 117
Dzhigit 06:24 06:11 96 120
Carol 06:24 06:08 95 118
Adrian Cobb 06:28 04:08 63 78
jimwetzler 06:28 06:37 102 127
SBQuick 06:31 04:56 75 93
Kalakuta72 06:43 05:26 80 100
ilan 06:44 05:14 77 96
Tudds 06:46 05:38 83 103
GMcD 06:48 05:51 86 107
Curarist 06:49 06:29 95 118
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 06:52 06:55 100 125
paul.whitehouse69 06:58 04:03 58 72
Onelug 06:59 05:03 72 90
Michael Dove 07:01 04:22 62 77
earlylight 07:04 08:29 120 150
robinh 07:07 07:46 109 136
uvofiz 07:15 07:13 99 123
Nangle 07:17 06:30 89 111
KenD51 07:17 06:11 84 105
Puzzleplease 07:20 05:06 69 86
thewanderingeditor 07:21 05:09 70 87
DianeRS 07:24 06:05 82 102
tds 07:27 05:36 75 93
banishspam 07:28 06:49 91 113
janesa 07:32 04:54 65 81
Corymbia Corymbia 07:33 05:58 79 98
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 05:55 78 97
SlumdogEngineer 07:39 09:22 122 152
nigel 07:40 07:44 100 125
endafk 07:40 04:45 61 76
DamienKnapma 07:51 06:15 79 98
Jamie Fox 07:52 04:22 55 68
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:54 08:04 102 127
CrystalPip 07:57 07:04 88 110
td349 08:04 03:55 48 60
plett11 Plett11 08:16 09:19 112 140
ulaca ulaca 08:25 06:44 80 100
John Arnold 08:28 09:31 112 140
Templar Redux Templar 08:34 07:32 87 108
vefatica vefatica 08:38 08:37 99 123
johndun John Dunleavy 08:41 07:14 83 103
goblin 08:42 06:08 70 87
Jeeves 08:45 08:04 92 115
m5harp 08:47 07:06 80 100
crucihacker 08:48 07:30 85 106
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:48 05:38 64 80
kath 09:02 08:43 96 120
gsriordan52 09:07 10:40 117 146
mjsaunders9 09:09 05:01 54 67
timbo 09:10 08:14 89 111
hemantyd 09:11 07:55 86 107
ofarrell 09:23 08:50 94 117
f4rch 09:29 08:36 90 112
Manuel1 09:33 05:46 60 75
RPY 09:40 07:22 76 95
mamster 09:42 07:37 78 97
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:43 08:16 85 106
mich_punk 09:46 08:11 83 103
Coffell 09:50 09:30 96 120
hookyt 10:01 08:01 80 100
Poff 10:09 06:12 61 76
moirconsult 10:17 03:28 33 41
maisiemae 10:38 14:56 140 175
Troothful 10:44 06:35 61 76
russellcannon 10:45 09:59 92 115
Birdingbob 10:50 12:05 111 138
starstruck starstruck_au 11:04 07:24 66 82
paul.verney 11:15 08:17 73 91
Cedric Statherby 11:17 11:20 100 125
simjt simjt 11:18 08:24 74 92
Pauline Minter 11:28 07:06 61 76
phatman 11:29 07:56 69 86
intentional rounding 11:39 07:21 63 78
BertieVII 11:57 09:16 77 96
symbenall2 12:08 08:45 72 90
ifincham2 12:38 11:51 93 116
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 12:46 07:03 55 68
chabuduo chabuduo 12:48 20:34 160 200
flashman flashman 12:52 11:37 90 112
kapietro kapietro 12:57 18:13 140 175
tyrotim tyrotim 13:03 13:11 101 126
mpbthorpe 13:09 10:40 81 101
martinr486 13:13 13:13 100 125
Rammy Trainor 13:25 09:28 70 87
nick.wilson 13:34 12:22 91 113
The Real Steve Snackman 13:52 08:00 57 71
Merlin_55 Merlin 15:08 07:19 48 60
Charpentier 15:13 13:58 91 113
MichaelE 15:19 10:02 65 81
kfb20 16:01 12:18 76 95
Xebeq 16:21 12:06 74 92
Holly O 16:27 11:12 68 85
Mark from Ipswich 16:43 11:15 67 83
RPE10538 RPE10538 16:48 08:07 48 60
david.14587 16:49 12:26 73 91
Steve Wood 16:54 16:44 99 123
tomtom2 17:00 19:48 116 145
danielbluebisson 17:26 11:11 64 80
james 17:34 09:03 51 63
New Driver 18:18 11:55 65 81
keithandginnybirrell 18:25 15:07 82 102
TonyK 19:40 15:45 80 100
ian.shepherd 21:22 17:04 79 98
pfalloon 21:24 06:35 30 37
philby 21:52 13:31 61 76
Jean in Oxford 22:39 15:11 67 83
paulmcl 23:38 39:49 168 210
pamelalewis51 24:31 20:32 83 103
shankar 25:35 17:22 67 83
Askani 26:42 21:41 81 101
Damien Grover 28:22 08:11 28 35
Aresbiscuits 30:57 20:16 65 81
IanV IanV 33:27 23:22 69 86
revolting tonic 41:48 24:06 57 71
lilias.allan 44:24 38:30 86 107

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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