Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2941

Date 20 March 2025
Number 2941
Setter Shay
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 160
Count of ref solvers 81
Ref solvers excluded with errors 11
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2941

* 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 04:06 200 125
cmjhutton 02:18 03:40 159 99
Jason 02:34 04:13 164 102
verlaine 02:36 06:23 245 153
mistigris 02:43 04:20 159 99
Magoo 02:53 04:41 162 101
aphis99 aphis99 02:54 05:46 198 123
Flimmy flammy 03:16 05:08 157 98
markdobell 03:39 06:19 173 108
Ciolf 03:48 05:51 153 95
Heyesey 03:54 04:15 108 67
SimonAnthony 04:11 08:05 193 120
Amoeba89 04:13 05:36 132 82
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:16 06:26 150 93
MikeOsborne 04:18 09:35 222 138
lickert 04:23 07:31 171 106
chindit 04:25 08:41 196 122
Roscoe 04:26 05:11 116 72
Morphosis 04:28 06:25 143 89
Deane Short 04:31 06:58 154 96
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:43 07:31 159 99
tilbee 04:45 07:11 151 94
LouWeed LouWeed 04:52 07:32 154 96
Bluejacket 04:53 07:53 161 100
andrewlake 04:54 08:06 165 103
Liari 04:55 04:37 93 58
scrabbler 04:57 07:31 151 94
andy 05:00 06:30 130 81
Freemers 05:02 07:56 157 98
cdb_100 05:04 10:23 204 127
tiggis 05:05 08:19 163 101
March 05:06 09:21 183 114
EricK 05:07 08:15 161 100
McBeakLives 05:07 08:33 167 104
JayEm 05:17 08:34 162 101
Tibthorpe 05:17 07:15 137 85
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:18 09:53 186 116
Zander 05:21 10:48 201 125
fshephe 05:21 07:55 147 91
Ed freshpot 05:21 09:35 179 111
rrricharrrd 05:33 08:24 151 94
mcrossib1 05:39 16:37 294 183
Finzi 05:41 07:25 130 81
Rabbitoh galspray 05:44 09:51 171 106
KET 05:46 06:49 118 73
Encota 05:51 14:54 254 158
Looch 05:51 07:55 135 84
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:53 08:23 142 88
mw7000 06:03 11:01 182 113
KarenR 06:03 08:02 132 82
Mike C 06:10 11:06 180 112
Shabbo 06:18 10:58 174 108
hopkinb hopkinb 06:18 09:58 158 98
PGooden 06:19 12:49 202 126
Carol 06:24 09:00 140 87
Adrian Cobb 06:28 10:10 157 98
SBQuick 06:31 14:09 217 135
Tudds 06:46 18:13 269 168
GMcD 06:48 10:35 155 96
Curarist 06:49 12:10 178 111
drginacoco 06:55 01:35 22 13
earlylight 07:04 12:42 179 111
robinh 07:07 11:16 158 98
uvofiz 07:15 09:24 129 80
KenD51 07:17 13:14 181 113
Dvynys Dvynys 07:17 21:48 299 186
valerian1967 07:32 12:43 168 105
Corymbia Corymbia 07:33 13:43 181 113
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 09:34 126 78
Jamie Fox 07:52 29:49 379 236
plett11 Plett11 08:16 20:46 251 156
Sheen 08:21 13:44 164 102
ulaca ulaca 08:25 21:32 255 159
Templar Redux Templar 08:34 13:19 155 96
ratterz 08:36 13:32 157 98
steve.laverock 08:37 17:36 204 127
johndun John Dunleavy 08:41 17:56 206 128
Edprof 08:42 18:56 217 135
goblin 08:42 10:15 117 73
Jeeves 08:45 14:43 168 105
crucihacker 08:48 14:34 165 103
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:48 17:33 199 124
dec 08:59 11:02 122 76
Cuppa378 09:01 11:15 124 77
gsriordan52 09:07 24:29 268 167
Doyler 09:07 17:43 194 121
mjsaunders9 09:09 13:45 150 93
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:14 23:37 255 159
raincloud 09:22 13:33 144 90
ofarrell 09:23 18:29 196 122
jemcd33 09:36 15:23 160 100
MichelinPoitiers 09:39 19:42 204 127
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:43 11:36 119 74
mich_punk 09:46 19:25 198 123
Coffell 09:50 13:14 134 83
richardCV22 09:52 15:22 155 96
hookyt 10:01 22:00 219 136
Poff 10:09 14:38 144 90
FelicityTT 10:11 17:42 173 108
Laputan 10:17 23:26 227 141
moirconsult 10:17 03:15 31 19
annikins 10:26 20:15 194 121
TonyN6 10:57 22:36 206 128
banni-wae 11:01 14:23 130 81
starstruck starstruck_au 11:04 20:22 184 115
alexngbr 11:16 21:28 190 118
Cedric Statherby 11:17 19:53 176 110
simjt simjt 11:18 14:39 129 80
intentional rounding 11:39 17:46 152 95
BertieVII 11:57 22:43 190 118
Captain Burnaby 12:22 22:45 183 114
ifincham2 12:38 19:12 151 94
chabuduo chabuduo 12:48 35:48 279 174
kapietro kapietro 12:57 21:43 167 104
mpbthorpe 13:09 24:42 187 116
nick.wilson 13:34 17:53 131 81
The Real Steve Snackman 13:52 21:30 155 96
trish_tang 15:02 18:31 123 76
Charpentier 15:13 14:36 95 59
MichaelE 15:19 18:46 122 76
Xebeq 16:21 30:14 184 115
Mark from Ipswich 16:43 23:20 139 86
Narayanan 16:54 19:31 115 71
Cathyhuns 17:32 18:11 103 64
TonyK 19:40 21:23 108 67
winelover 20:55 20:47 99 61
pfalloon 21:24 19:44 92 57
maryht 21:32 25:15 117 73
RK123 23:01 32:41 141 88
david 23:20 26:38 114 71
pamelalewis51 24:31 25:27 103 64
mozbadel mozbadel 25:43 33:27 130 81
Jay_W 38:02 57:42 151 94
revolting tonic 41:48 47:40 114 71
brett.anthony 42:44 36:55 86 53

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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