Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2949

Date 29 March 2025
Number 2949
Setter Hurley
Day of week Saturday
NITCH 102
Count of ref solvers 78
Ref solvers excluded with errors 14
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2949

* 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 02:12 91 89
Jason 02:34 02:13 86 84
verlaine 02:36 02:52 110 107
mistigris 02:43 04:20 159 155
Magoo 02:53 02:50 98 96
aphis99 aphis99 02:54 03:00 103 100
Flimmy flammy 03:16 04:46 145 142
richard 03:37 03:57 109 106
markdobell 03:39 03:38 99 97
Ciolf 03:48 03:37 95 93
Heyesey 03:54 04:50 123 120
SimonAnthony 04:11 05:10 123 120
Amoeba89 04:13 03:54 92 90
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:16 04:21 101 99
chindit 04:25 04:41 106 103
Morphosis 04:28 05:11 116 113
Deane Short 04:31 06:28 143 140
MK76 04:40 05:02 107 104
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:43 05:27 115 112
tilbee 04:45 05:00 105 102
alexh 04:48 05:08 106 103
LouWeed LouWeed 04:52 04:44 97 95
Bluejacket 04:53 04:02 82 80
Liari 04:55 05:29 111 108
scrabbler 04:57 04:50 97 95
andy 05:00 08:29 169 165
Freemers 05:02 05:32 109 106
March 05:06 04:35 89 87
McBeakLives 05:07 04:19 84 82
EricK 05:07 04:49 94 92
neilr neilr 05:16 05:24 102 100
ChuckB 05:16 06:35 125 122
Tibthorpe 05:17 06:47 128 125
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:18 06:23 120 117
fshephe 05:21 03:57 73 71
Squallaby 05:24 06:04 112 109
nina s 05:28 06:16 114 111
mcrossib1 05:39 05:02 89 87
Finzi 05:41 05:26 95 93
Rabbitoh galspray 05:44 05:20 93 91
Adelaider 05:45 06:28 112 109
Riche Riche 05:47 06:38 114 111
robertL 05:50 07:54 135 132
Encota 05:51 05:08 87 85
Looch 05:51 07:07 121 118
RobR RobR 05:58 06:48 113 110
Streaky Bacon 06:07 05:48 94 92
Mike C 06:10 06:03 98 96
andrewfeist96 06:17 05:19 84 82
hopkinb hopkinb 06:18 06:45 107 104
Dzhigit 06:24 06:50 106 103
Adrian Cobb 06:28 07:08 110 107
jimwetzler 06:28 06:10 95 93
SBQuick 06:31 06:43 103 100
ramf 06:36 08:00 121 118
ilan 06:44 05:49 86 84
Tudds 06:46 07:56 117 114
GMcD 06:48 07:11 105 102
Curarist 06:49 05:40 83 81
drginacoco 06:55 02:15 32 31
paul.whitehouse69 06:58 10:01 143 140
earlylight 07:04 06:38 93 91
James P 07:04 09:31 134 131
robinh 07:07 07:44 108 105
uvofiz 07:15 07:54 108 105
Dvynys Dvynys 07:17 07:28 102 100
KenD51 07:17 07:07 97 95
Puzzleplease 07:20 11:57 162 158
thewanderingeditor 07:21 06:25 87 85
dr.shred 07:26 07:23 99 97
tds 07:27 07:41 103 100
Obrador 07:31 09:14 122 119
valerian1967 07:32 11:03 146 143
Corymbia Corymbia 07:33 08:36 113 110
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 10:30 138 135
nigel 07:40 07:45 101 99
ChrisBrea 07:43 07:56 102 100
DamienKnapma 07:51 12:19 156 152
Jamie Fox 07:52 06:50 86 84
td349 08:04 05:25 67 65
plett11 Plett11 08:16 09:05 109 106
Aldus 08:16 08:33 103 100
Sheen 08:21 08:14 98 96
John Arnold 08:28 08:34 101 99
Templar Redux Templar 08:34 06:54 80 78
Jamescheck JamesCheck 08:39 07:05 81 79
OldSolver 08:41 12:27 143 140
Edprof 08:42 10:39 122 119
goblin 08:42 06:42 77 75
Jeeves 08:45 08:29 96 94
nigelmzzz 08:46 14:31 165 161
m5harp 08:47 08:37 98 96
crucihacker 08:48 10:53 123 120
mattindoha 08:50 12:12 138 135
Cuppa378 09:01 08:12 90 88
kath 09:02 11:15 124 121
gsriordan52 09:07 08:58 98 96
luxtonj61 09:07 08:47 96 94
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:14 09:43 105 102
crosswordian 09:19 09:35 102 100
ofarrell 09:23 10:26 111 108
barracuda barracuda 09:28 09:29 100 98
f4rch 09:29 12:25 130 127
MichelinPoitiers 09:39 07:17 75 73
RPY 09:40 08:18 85 83
mamster 09:42 09:20 96 94
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:43 08:29 87 85
mich_punk 09:46 08:15 84 82
richardCV22 09:52 16:20 165 161
FelicityTT 10:11 09:54 97 95
annikins 10:26 11:04 106 103
Nuck_the_king 10:27 14:07 135 132
Troothful 10:44 11:09 103 100
Birdingbob 10:50 12:20 113 110
TonyN6 10:57 14:25 131 128
Cedric Statherby 11:17 09:26 83 81
simjt simjt 11:18 17:32 155 151
phatman 11:29 69:52 608 596
Dr. Memory 11:36 11:33 99 97
symbenall2 12:08 12:52 106 103
Corbo 12:17 16:30 134 131
Struwa Struwa 12:18 07:52 63 61
ifincham2 12:38 12:00 94 92
chabuduo chabuduo 12:48 11:43 91 89
kapietro kapietro 12:57 13:30 104 101
jackk.larg 13:04 16:53 129 126
The Real Steve Snackman 13:52 09:57 71 69
Merlin_55 Merlin 15:08 10:07 66 64
Mozbo 16:35 15:29 93 91
Mark from Ipswich 16:43 17:14 103 100
RPE10538 RPE10538 16:48 19:23 115 112
Steve Wood 16:54 09:33 56 54
tomtom2 17:00 20:19 119 116
james 17:34 40:15 229 224
New Driver 18:18 09:03 49 48
keithandginnybirrell 18:25 19:13 104 101
daverob 20:23 21:07 103 100
ian.shepherd 21:22 16:35 77 75
pfalloon 21:24 11:30 53 51
bangsar DearHector 21:27 27:12 126 123
maryht 21:32 22:52 106 103
Jean in Oxford 22:39 29:16 129 126
RK123 23:01 18:44 81 79
david 23:20 20:49 89 87
shankar 25:35 03:22 13 12
mozbadel mozbadel 25:43 26:12 101 99
Sotogrande1 29:58 03:08 10 9
prognosticat 34:49 33:20 95 93
revolting tonic 41:48 27:45 66 64
lilias.allan 44:24 33:38 75 73

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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