Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2946

Date 26 March 2025
Number 2946
Setter Joker
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 98
Count of ref solvers 76
Ref solvers excluded with errors 7
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2946

* 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 02:31 109 111
Paul Gilbert 02:24 02:12 91 92
Jason 02:34 02:46 107 109
verlaine 02:36 03:17 126 128
mistigris 02:43 02:56 107 109
aphis99 aphis99 02:54 02:44 94 95
Flimmy flammy 03:16 03:41 112 114
richard 03:37 03:40 101 103
markdobell 03:39 03:19 90 91
Sheapey Sheapey 03:40 03:19 90 91
Heyesey 03:54 03:32 90 91
glheard 04:09 03:27 83 84
AlanS 04:09 03:45 90 91
SimonAnthony 04:11 03:56 94 95
Kinghedger 04:11 04:29 107 109
Amoeba89 04:13 05:30 130 132
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:16 05:52 137 139
MikeOsborne 04:18 04:01 93 94
lickert 04:23 05:17 120 122
chindit 04:25 04:02 91 92
Roscoe 04:26 04:35 103 105
Morphosis 04:28 04:49 107 109
Deane Short 04:31 04:22 96 97
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:36 06:29 140 142
MK76 04:40 04:51 103 105
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:43 05:06 108 110
toots 04:43 04:37 97 98
tilbee 04:45 04:25 92 93
Honggui 04:46 05:33 116 118
canismiser 04:47 05:04 105 107
alexh 04:48 05:10 107 109
LouWeed LouWeed 04:52 06:51 140 142
Bluejacket 04:53 04:48 98 100
lucyg43484 04:53 04:45 97 98
andrewlake 04:54 08:13 167 170
denislaw 04:54 05:16 107 109
Liari 04:55 04:12 85 86
scrabbler 04:57 06:11 124 126
andy 05:00 05:01 100 102
Freemers 05:02 04:33 90 91
cdb_100 05:04 05:09 101 103
tiggis 05:05 04:58 97 98
March 05:06 05:03 99 101
footballblue 05:06 06:18 123 125
McBeakLives 05:07 05:40 110 112
EricK 05:07 05:11 101 103
neilr neilr 05:16 05:44 108 110
ChuckB 05:16 06:34 124 126
JayEm 05:17 04:55 93 94
Johninterred 05:17 05:33 105 107
Tibthorpe 05:17 04:23 82 83
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:18 05:00 94 95
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 05:19 05:04 95 96
Ed freshpot 05:21 07:30 140 142
Zander 05:21 04:52 90 91
Squallaby 05:24 04:47 88 89
rrricharrrd 05:33 06:49 122 124
mcrossib1 05:39 07:15 128 130
Finzi 05:41 06:02 106 108
GeorgeTz 05:43 05:26 95 96
Rabbitoh galspray 05:44 07:41 134 136
Adelaider 05:45 06:49 118 120
esmeralda 05:45 05:13 90 91
KET 05:46 07:52 136 138
Rinteff Rinteff 05:47 06:30 112 114
Looch 05:51 06:08 104 106
Encota 05:51 04:44 80 81
fishernick79 05:52 04:58 84 85
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:53 05:32 94 95
RobR RobR 05:58 06:15 104 106
whichcraft 06:01 06:37 109 111
KarenR 06:03 05:34 92 93
Streaky Bacon 06:07 07:17 119 121
Mike C 06:10 07:15 117 119
andrewfeist96 06:17 06:56 110 112
Shabbo 06:18 06:42 106 108
PGooden 06:19 06:58 110 112
Dzhigit 06:24 09:32 148 151
Adrian Cobb 06:28 07:37 117 119
jimwetzler 06:28 08:03 124 126
SBQuick 06:31 05:36 85 86
ramf 06:36 06:10 93 94
ilan 06:44 06:24 95 96
Tudds 06:46 09:15 136 138
GMcD 06:48 09:07 134 136
drginacoco 06:55 01:27 20 20
Onelug 06:59 09:20 133 135
Michael Dove 07:01 06:42 95 96
earlylight 07:04 07:01 99 101
robinh 07:07 06:54 96 97
uvofiz 07:15 05:53 81 82
mfg1971 07:15 08:48 121 123
KenD51 07:17 07:33 103 105
Dvynys Dvynys 07:17 11:35 159 162
Puzzleplease 07:20 07:48 106 108
FraserH 07:20 07:05 96 97
thewanderingeditor 07:21 06:23 86 87
valerian1967 07:32 08:11 108 110
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 12:53 169 172
SlumdogEngineer 07:39 07:08 93 94
ChrisBrea 07:43 08:03 104 106
DamienKnapma 07:51 08:44 111 113
Jamie Fox 07:52 05:47 73 74
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:54 06:49 86 87
CrystalPip 07:57 07:15 91 92
td349 08:04 06:26 79 80
Aldus 08:16 09:52 119 121
plett11 Plett11 08:16 09:34 115 117
Sheen 08:21 07:08 85 86
ulaca ulaca 08:25 13:06 155 158
Templar Redux Templar 08:34 09:25 109 111
vefatica vefatica 08:38 09:21 108 110
johndun John Dunleavy 08:41 11:45 135 137
OldSolver 08:41 08:06 93 94
Edprof 08:42 12:54 148 151
goblin 08:42 07:48 89 90
Jeeves 08:45 08:23 95 96
m5harp 08:47 14:00 159 162
crucihacker 08:48 07:18 82 83
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:48 09:10 104 106
mattindoha 08:50 10:27 118 120
kath 09:02 11:36 128 130
gsriordan52 09:07 10:00 109 111
Doyler 09:07 11:25 125 127
mjsaunders9 09:09 06:38 72 73
timbo 09:10 10:31 114 116
hemantyd 09:11 09:05 98 100
barracuda barracuda 09:28 10:15 108 110
f4rch 09:29 02:31 26 26
jemcd33 09:36 06:22 66 67
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:43 11:05 114 116
Nigel1953 09:49 03:09 32 32
richardCV22 09:52 15:43 159 162
Poff 10:09 09:54 97 98
Pendrov 10:20 12:56 125 127
annikins 10:26 08:36 82 83
Nuck_the_king 10:27 14:44 140 142
piltdown man 10:37 08:13 77 78
maisiemae 10:38 11:46 110 112
Troothful 10:44 06:21 59 60
Birdingbob 10:50 12:47 118 120
CoxBurglar 10:52 08:11 75 76
TonyN6 10:57 09:34 87 88
Cedric Statherby 11:17 10:18 91 92
simjt simjt 11:18 17:22 153 156
Pauline Minter 11:28 08:40 75 76
E Bradford E Bradford 11:39 10:27 89 90
BertieVII 11:57 16:08 135 137
ifincham2 12:38 13:29 106 108
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 12:46 14:31 113 115
chabuduo chabuduo 12:48 27:25 214 218
flashman flashman 12:52 18:00 139 141
kapietro kapietro 12:57 15:35 120 122
tyrotim tyrotim 13:03 12:05 92 93
The Real Steve Snackman 13:52 10:00 72 73
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 14:35 24:21 166 169
Mendes Mendesest 14:59 22:08 147 150
trish_tang 15:02 10:55 72 73
Merlin_55 Merlin 15:08 16:06 106 108
horners1974 Jonathan Hornby 15:10 10:22 68 69
Xebeq 16:21 14:01 85 86
thechan 16:32 17:40 106 108
Mark from Ipswich 16:43 13:44 82 83
RPE10538 RPE10538 16:48 39:31 235 239
Steve Wood 16:54 11:42 69 70
tomtom2 17:00 26:23 155 158
james 17:34 51:52 295 301
New Driver 18:18 14:26 78 79
TonyK 19:40 17:23 88 89
ian.shepherd 21:22 23:50 111 113
pfalloon 21:24 13:48 64 65
philby 21:52 29:50 136 138
RK123 23:01 21:08 91 92
david 23:20 15:21 65 66
Jilks 23:24 34:19 146 148
paulmcl 23:38 35:05 148 151
Dofray 23:59 22:53 95 96
pamelalewis51 24:31 18:15 74 75
shankar 25:35 59:29 232 236
Askani 26:42 38:28 144 146
IanV IanV 33:27 34:16 102 104
prognosticat 34:49 42:26 121 123
revolting tonic 41:48 30:33 73 74
lilias.allan 44:24 54:04 121 123
mcfarl 46:44 38:33 82 83

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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