Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2937

Date 15 March 2025
Number 2937
Setter Teazel
Day of week Saturday
NITCH 116
Count of ref solvers 75
Ref solvers excluded with errors 7
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2937

* 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
Paul Gilbert 02:24 03:38 151 130
Jason 02:34 03:02 118 101
verlaine 02:36 02:35 99 85
mistigris 02:43 03:23 124 106
aphis99 aphis99 02:54 03:21 115 99
Flimmy flammy 03:16 04:13 129 111
richard 03:37 04:46 131 112
markdobell 03:39 03:36 98 84
AlanS 04:09 04:10 100 86
SimonAnthony 04:11 04:24 105 90
Amoeba89 04:13 06:50 162 139
MikeOsborne 04:18 04:30 104 89
lickert 04:23 05:51 133 114
chindit 04:25 04:53 110 94
Deane Short 04:31 05:27 120 103
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:36 05:03 109 93
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:43 05:53 124 106
tilbee 04:45 05:09 108 93
alexh 04:48 04:05 85 73
LouWeed LouWeed 04:52 06:45 138 118
lucyg43484 04:53 04:19 88 75
denislaw 04:54 12:48 261 225
andrewlake 04:54 05:37 114 98
Liari 04:55 05:39 114 98
scrabbler 04:57 06:42 135 116
andy 05:00 10:06 202 174
Freemers 05:02 05:29 108 93
March 05:06 06:05 119 102
EricK 05:07 04:17 83 71
Tibthorpe 05:17 07:11 135 116
Johninterred 05:17 07:32 142 122
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:18 07:05 133 114
Zander 05:21 04:22 81 69
fshephe 05:21 03:48 71 61
Ed freshpot 05:21 05:17 98 84
Squallaby 05:24 03:59 73 62
nina s 05:28 07:22 134 115
rrricharrrd 05:33 06:40 120 103
mcrossib1 05:39 06:58 123 106
Finzi 05:41 06:05 107 92
Rabbitoh galspray 05:44 07:12 125 107
Adelaider 05:45 05:14 91 78
Looch 05:51 06:47 115 99
mw7000 06:03 08:10 134 115
Mike C 06:10 05:23 87 75
Dzhigit 06:24 07:59 124 106
Adrian Cobb 06:28 08:06 125 107
ramf 06:36 08:10 123 106
Tudds 06:46 08:31 125 107
GMcD 06:48 06:37 97 83
Curarist 06:49 06:35 96 82
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 06:52 07:05 103 88
paul.whitehouse69 06:58 12:52 184 158
James P 07:04 09:44 137 118
hazyfantazee 07:05 09:05 128 110
robinh 07:07 06:49 95 81
uvofiz 07:15 07:08 98 84
Nangle 07:17 08:08 111 95
Dvynys Dvynys 07:17 15:38 214 184
KenD51 07:17 07:43 105 90
Puzzleplease 07:20 09:13 125 107
FraserH 07:20 12:20 168 144
thewanderingeditor 07:21 07:02 95 81
DianeRS 07:24 07:25 100 86
tds 07:27 10:40 143 123
janesa 07:32 09:31 126 108
Corymbia Corymbia 07:33 08:57 118 101
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 08:39 114 98
ChrisBrea 07:43 09:36 124 106
Jamie Fox 07:52 09:52 125 107
td349 08:04 22:28 278 239
John Arnold 08:28 08:13 97 83
Templar Redux Templar 08:34 09:39 112 96
jaraab 08:35 07:44 90 77
Jamescheck JamesCheck 08:39 11:52 137 118
johndun John Dunleavy 08:41 11:35 133 114
Edprof 08:42 13:45 158 136
goblin 08:42 15:19 176 151
Jeeves 08:45 09:07 104 89
m5harp 08:47 11:55 135 116
mattindoha 08:50 11:24 129 111
Cuppa378 09:01 10:30 116 100
luxtonj61 09:07 11:28 125 107
gsriordan52 09:07 09:44 106 91
mjsaunders9 09:09 09:20 102 87
crosswordian 09:19 13:04 140 120
raincloud 09:22 10:29 111 95
barracuda barracuda 09:28 14:07 149 128
f4rch 09:29 12:35 132 113
Manuel1 09:33 08:43 91 78
RPY 09:40 17:39 182 156
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:43 11:00 113 97
Coffell 09:50 13:13 134 115
richardCV22 09:52 17:24 176 151
annbrew 09:53 10:11 103 88
moirconsult 10:17 03:52 37 31
Laputan 10:17 14:27 140 120
annikins 10:26 10:49 103 88
Nuck_the_king 10:27 20:11 193 166
johnwynnewilliams 10:31 19:33 185 159
Troothful 10:44 16:59 158 136
russellcannon 10:45 31:39 294 253
Birdingbob 10:50 20:06 185 159
TonyN6 10:57 11:50 108 93
banni-wae 11:01 21:21 193 166
alexngbr 11:16 16:49 149 128
Cedric Statherby 11:17 20:23 180 155
simjt simjt 11:18 10:32 93 80
Pauline Minter 11:28 12:47 111 95
Dr. Memory 11:36 10:16 88 75
BertieVII 11:57 09:26 78 67
Captain Burnaby 12:22 15:17 123 106
ifincham2 12:38 14:08 111 95
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 12:46 16:33 129 111
chabuduo chabuduo 12:48 14:55 116 100
kapietro kapietro 12:57 15:58 123 106
jackk.larg 13:04 10:31 80 68
mpbthorpe 13:09 13:02 99 85
martinr486 13:13 13:53 105 90
The Real Steve Snackman 13:52 27:48 200 172
trish_tang 15:02 19:57 132 113
horners1974 Jonathan Hornby 15:10 35:04 231 199
Charpentier 15:13 23:18 153 131
Mark from Ipswich 16:43 19:03 113 97
tomtom2 17:00 33:41 198 170
140 Mandak 262 Jamuna 17:08 25:33 149 128
Cathyhuns 17:32 17:55 102 87
hcmsm 17:49 32:55 184 158
New Driver 18:18 31:15 170 146
TonyK 19:40 25:42 130 112
Pontypandy 21:06 37:59 180 155
bangsar DearHector 21:27 45:45 213 183
maryht 21:32 18:42 86 74
Yiggsy 21:50 24:05 110 94
Jean in Oxford 22:39 27:26 121 104
david 23:20 23:32 100 86
Jilks 23:24 33:17 142 122
paulmcl 23:38 31:32 133 114
pamelalewis51 24:31 67:35 275 237
mozbadel mozbadel 25:43 27:20 106 91
IanV IanV 33:27 46:10 138 118
lilias.allan 44:24 51:27 115 99
mcfarl 46:44 72:15 154 132

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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