Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2950

Date 31 March 2025
Number 2950
Setter Alex
Day of week Monday
NITCH 75
Count of ref solvers 76
Ref solvers excluded with errors 5
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2950

* 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 02:17 02:17 100 133
Paul Gilbert 02:23 01:30 62 82
Jason 02:35 02:17 88 117
verlaine 02:38 03:18 125 166
mistigris 02:40 02:24 90 120
hilarym 02:47 02:09 77 102
aphis99 aphis99 02:53 02:12 76 101
Flimmy flammy 03:14 02:19 71 94
richard 03:38 03:05 84 112
Ciolf 03:42 02:39 71 94
Heyesey 03:47 03:02 80 106
AlanS 04:01 03:26 85 113
glheard 04:08 03:51 93 124
Amoeba89 04:09 02:45 66 88
SimonAnthony 04:09 02:38 63 84
Kinghedger 04:11 02:42 64 85
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:16 02:40 62 82
MikeOsborne 04:19 03:06 71 94
lickert 04:23 04:21 99 132
chindit 04:29 03:19 73 97
MK76 04:36 05:31 119 158
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:37 03:50 83 110
John Walsh 04:37 04:39 100 133
toots 04:39 04:08 88 117
Glencairn 04:41 03:32 75 100
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:43 05:59 126 168
alexh 04:46 04:47 100 133
tilbee 04:48 02:59 62 82
LouWeed LouWeed 04:49 03:41 76 101
Bluejacket 04:50 02:40 55 73
lucyg43484 04:50 01:17 26 34
Liari 04:52 03:16 67 89
Paul Bacon 04:53 04:49 98 130
andrewlake 04:54 03:46 76 101
scrabbler 04:55 04:18 87 116
Honggui 04:55 04:32 92 122
Freemers 04:55 04:13 85 113
cdb_100 04:57 03:27 69 92
d.middleton 04:59 04:35 91 121
andy 05:01 03:27 68 90
EricK 05:02 03:21 66 88
McBeakLives 05:03 05:33 109 145
denislaw 05:03 04:33 90 120
footballblue 05:06 04:05 80 106
JayEm 05:09 04:14 82 109
March 05:10 03:43 71 94
Johninterred 05:11 04:45 91 121
Ed freshpot 05:12 03:56 75 100
Jon Delfin 05:13 04:05 78 104
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:16 04:25 83 110
fshephe 05:18 05:10 97 129
Tibthorpe 05:20 05:03 94 125
Zander 05:20 03:44 70 93
ChuckB 05:21 05:54 110 146
nina s 05:25 04:33 84 112
Squallaby 05:25 04:34 84 112
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 05:25 03:39 67 89
Aly Duncan 05:26 05:05 93 124
cmcnsmith 05:34 04:28 80 106
esmeralda 05:36 04:53 87 116
AndyKnott321 05:36 04:55 87 116
Adelaider 05:36 03:53 69 92
Finzi 05:39 04:09 73 97
Riche Riche 05:39 05:00 88 117
drginacoco 05:41 01:18 22 29
KET 05:45 03:55 68 90
Rabbitoh galspray 05:46 03:37 62 82
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:46 04:23 76 101
Rinteff Rinteff 05:47 04:25 76 101
rrricharrrd 05:49 03:31 60 80
Looch 05:49 04:49 82 109
mcrossib1 05:50 03:27 59 78
Encota 05:54 04:34 77 102
RobR RobR 05:55 05:38 95 126
Streaky Bacon 06:05 05:38 92 122
KarenR 06:06 04:43 77 102
PGooden 06:17 04:45 75 100
Vannyx 06:18 04:12 66 88
hopkinb hopkinb 06:18 06:52 108 144
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 06:20 06:56 109 145
Carol 06:25 04:36 71 94
jimwetzler 06:27 07:22 114 152
Dzhigit 06:33 05:00 76 101
hofzinser 06:34 07:25 112 149
robertL 06:40 07:31 112 149
paul.whitehouse69 06:42 05:09 76 101
GMcD 06:46 05:49 85 113
ilan 06:49 05:57 87 116
Curarist 06:51 05:38 82 109
Tudds 06:53 04:41 68 90
thewanderingeditor 07:03 04:25 62 82
hazyfantazee 07:09 05:56 82 109
endafk 07:10 08:32 119 158
robinh 07:10 07:27 103 137
Manveru 07:10 06:29 90 120
James P 07:12 05:24 75 100
FraserH 07:18 05:19 72 96
Nangle 07:19 08:03 110 146
dr.shred 07:24 06:53 93 124
Puzzleplease 07:25 04:41 63 84
tds 07:26 06:46 91 121
Dvynys Dvynys 07:32 05:34 73 97
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 05:55 78 104
Obrador 07:35 05:42 75 100
td349 07:37 07:03 92 122
DamienKnapma 07:38 07:45 101 134
Corymbia Corymbia 07:41 07:53 102 136
CrystalPip 07:44 08:54 115 153
ChrisBrea 07:51 07:19 93 124
mjwiseman 07:55 10:24 131 174
nigel 07:56 05:56 74 98
Jamie Fox 07:57 03:53 48 64
TomHerbert 08:17 06:09 74 98
John Arnold 08:19 06:45 81 108
Sheen 08:23 08:18 99 132
OldSolver 08:26 10:16 121 161
plett11 Plett11 08:27 04:50 57 76
jaraab 08:32 07:49 91 121
goblin 08:41 07:46 89 118
Templar Redux Templar 08:41 08:33 98 130
Jeeves 08:43 07:25 85 113
crucihacker 08:43 09:46 112 149
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:44 06:11 70 93
m5harp 08:48 05:09 58 77
johndun John Dunleavy 08:50 05:32 62 82
steve.laverock 08:54 07:03 79 105
kath 08:54 06:45 75 100
mjsaunders9 08:56 05:07 57 76
luxtonj61 08:58 06:50 76 101
Edprof 09:00 07:36 84 112
Doyler 09:10 05:36 61 81
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:15 07:34 81 108
JanieP 09:16 05:29 59 78
crosswordian 09:23 06:28 68 90
gsriordan52 09:23 08:05 86 114
barracuda barracuda 09:33 07:39 80 106
Nigel1953 09:35 02:25 25 33
Coffell 09:35 08:12 85 113
MichelinPoitiers 09:43 08:19 85 113
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:45 06:27 66 88
ofarrell 09:46 06:09 62 82
mamster 09:50 04:58 50 66
alex.scordellis 09:54 05:51 59 78
Word Psmith 10:13 11:24 111 148
richardCV22 10:15 10:13 99 132
f4rch 10:22 07:21 70 93
piltdown man 10:23 08:01 77 102
annikins 10:31 08:39 82 109
russellcannon 10:32 09:05 86 114
simjt simjt 11:22 10:36 93 124
Cedric Statherby 11:29 08:15 71 94
Pauline Minter 11:29 08:15 71 94
Dr. Memory 11:34 09:49 84 112
maisiemae 11:37 08:34 73 97
symbenall2 12:09 08:00 65 86
youngbaz 12:10 09:22 76 101
Captain Burnaby 12:13 12:02 98 130
flashman flashman 13:01 12:00 92 122
ifincham2 13:08 09:44 74 98
tyrotim tyrotim 13:08 11:13 85 113
jackk.larg 13:09 09:11 69 92
The Real Steve Snackman 13:17 09:13 69 92
Rammy Trainor 13:21 08:18 62 82
chabuduo chabuduo 13:23 14:23 107 142
MichaelE 14:32 11:32 79 105
Mendes Mendesest 14:34 12:40 86 114
trish_tang 14:54 10:50 72 96
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:59 13:54 92 122
clivejharlow 15:29 10:53 70 93
Jax74 15:33 12:59 83 110
Muckypuppy 15:38 14:31 92 122
kfb20 15:54 16:40 104 138
Mark from Ipswich 16:04 11:23 70 93
Steve Wood 16:17 12:31 76 101
Mozbo 16:32 05:53 35 46
david.14587 16:50 30:56 183 244
tomtom2 17:02 22:04 129 172
140 Mandak 262 Jamuna 17:25 11:26 65 86
New Driver 18:29 06:08 33 44
TonyK 19:42 15:28 78 104
winelover 20:11 13:28 66 88
Hazelnut 20:45 21:44 104 138
ian.shepherd 20:48 16:27 79 105
bangsar DearHector 21:07 21:57 103 137
maryht 21:14 23:48 112 149
pfalloon 22:05 10:05 45 60
thechan 22:47 19:29 85 113
dominic.c-b 23:15 18:25 79 105
Jilks 24:29 16:37 67 89
mozbadel mozbadel 26:00 17:31 67 89
Damien Grover 26:22 09:09 34 45
MrMonro 27:09 27:23 100 133
Aresbiscuits 29:09 32:36 111 148
shankar 36:18 13:47 37 49
mcfarl 46:42 40:50 87 116

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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