Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2951

Date 01 April 2025
Number 2951
Setter Oink
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 112
Count of ref solvers 83
Ref solvers excluded with errors 12
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2951

* Requires access to the Times Crossword Club

Detailed solving results

 

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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 03:23 148 132
Paul Gilbert 02:23 02:33 106 94
Jason 02:35 02:50 109 97
verlaine 02:38 02:54 110 98
mistigris 02:40 02:32 95 84
aphis99 aphis99 02:53 02:35 89 79
Magoo 02:54 02:45 94 83
Flimmy flammy 03:14 04:33 140 125
Ciolf 03:42 03:29 94 83
markdobell 03:42 03:40 99 88
Heyesey 03:47 08:30 224 200
SimonAnthony 04:09 04:16 102 91
Kinghedger 04:11 05:15 125 111
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:16 04:41 109 97
MikeOsborne 04:19 04:56 114 101
Deane Short 04:21 06:57 159 141
lickert 04:23 06:08 139 124
Morphosis 04:27 04:43 105 93
chindit 04:29 05:54 131 116
MK76 04:36 04:31 98 87
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:43 06:50 144 128
alexh 04:46 05:44 120 107
tilbee 04:48 07:11 149 133
LouWeed LouWeed 04:49 05:41 117 104
Bluejacket 04:50 10:00 206 183
lucyg43484 04:50 05:50 120 107
Liari 04:52 04:32 93 83
andrewlake 04:54 07:16 148 132
Honggui 04:55 06:47 137 122
scrabbler 04:55 05:11 105 93
canismiser 04:55 05:26 110 98
Freemers 04:55 05:48 117 104
cdb_100 04:57 07:59 161 143
andy 05:01 05:39 112 100
EricK 05:02 04:41 93 83
McBeakLives 05:03 07:58 157 140
JayEm 05:09 05:32 107 95
Johninterred 05:11 06:00 115 102
Ed freshpot 05:12 07:18 140 125
Jon Delfin 05:13 06:06 116 103
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:16 05:23 102 91
neilr neilr 05:16 05:19 100 89
fshephe 05:18 05:31 104 92
Tibthorpe 05:20 08:31 159 141
Zander 05:20 06:48 127 113
Squallaby 05:25 04:57 91 81
Aly Duncan 05:26 06:36 121 108
esmeralda 05:36 08:19 148 132
Adelaider 05:36 04:52 86 76
Finzi 05:39 07:12 127 113
Rabbitoh galspray 05:46 06:07 106 94
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:46 09:31 165 147
rrricharrrd 05:49 07:12 123 109
Looch 05:49 07:10 123 109
mcrossib1 05:50 07:03 120 107
Encota 05:54 07:41 130 116
whichcraft 05:54 08:10 138 123
andrewfeist96 06:04 06:36 108 96
Streaky Bacon 06:05 04:44 77 68
KarenR 06:06 07:30 122 108
Mike C 06:12 08:31 137 122
PGooden 06:17 06:25 102 91
Vannyx 06:18 05:24 85 75
hopkinb hopkinb 06:18 06:10 97 86
ramf 06:22 06:53 108 96
Carol 06:25 07:43 120 107
julian_w 06:30 06:03 93 83
Shabbo 06:31 08:30 130 116
Dzhigit 06:33 07:03 107 95
robertL 06:40 08:48 132 117
paul.whitehouse69 06:42 06:43 100 89
GMcD 06:46 07:45 114 101
Gaius 06:49 08:17 121 108
Tudds 06:53 06:33 95 84
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 07:00 06:29 92 82
thewanderingeditor 07:03 08:16 117 104
robinh 07:10 10:49 150 133
James P 07:12 08:08 112 100
FraserH 07:18 11:19 155 138
dr.shred 07:24 10:38 143 127
Dvynys Dvynys 07:32 11:31 152 135
td349 07:37 12:12 160 142
valerian1967 07:38 08:32 111 99
Corymbia Corymbia 07:41 08:02 104 92
CrystalPip 07:44 09:45 126 112
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:46 08:08 104 92
ChrisBrea 07:51 09:11 116 103
mjwiseman 07:55 10:26 131 116
Jamie Fox 07:57 06:39 83 74
John Arnold 08:19 09:01 108 96
Sheen 08:23 10:09 121 108
vefatica vefatica 08:33 11:51 138 123
goblin 08:41 09:28 109 97
Templar Redux Templar 08:41 10:19 118 105
crucihacker 08:43 09:16 106 94
Jeeves 08:43 09:00 103 91
Jamescheck JamesCheck 08:43 08:57 102 91
m5harp 08:48 09:13 104 92
johndun John Dunleavy 08:50 09:49 111 99
kath 08:54 11:05 124 110
nigelmzzz 08:55 10:55 122 108
Cuppa378 08:56 10:26 116 103
mjsaunders9 08:56 08:40 97 86
Edprof 09:00 11:37 129 115
timbo 09:06 12:39 139 124
JeffHobbs 09:07 13:58 153 136
Doyler 09:10 10:24 113 100
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:15 09:50 106 94
gsriordan52 09:23 13:03 139 124
crosswordian 09:23 10:07 107 95
cerds 09:25 10:43 113 100
barracuda barracuda 09:33 10:17 107 95
Coffell 09:35 13:45 143 127
raincloud 09:38 08:15 85 75
jemcd33 09:44 10:47 110 98
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:45 18:22 188 167
mamster 09:50 10:12 103 91
annbrew 09:52 10:19 104 92
mich_punk 09:59 08:52 88 78
richardCV22 10:15 18:05 176 157
Poff 10:21 11:56 115 102
f4rch 10:22 11:33 111 99
annikins 10:31 08:35 81 72
russellcannon 10:32 14:41 139 124
Troothful 10:39 16:50 158 141
TonyN6 11:07 12:52 115 102
starstruck starstruck_au 11:08 17:36 158 141
simjt simjt 11:22 17:44 156 139
Cedric Statherby 11:29 12:51 111 99
intentional rounding 11:42 10:51 92 82
BertieVII 12:21 13:41 110 98
martinr486 12:41 16:51 132 117
flashman flashman 13:01 19:00 145 129
tyrotim tyrotim 13:08 12:37 96 85
kapietro kapietro 13:09 17:13 130 116
The Real Steve Snackman 13:17 09:38 72 64
chabuduo chabuduo 13:23 09:59 74 66
Richard the First 13:31 11:52 87 77
nick.wilson 13:47 13:26 97 86
MichaelE 14:32 14:01 96 85
Charpentier 15:01 18:01 119 106
Muckypuppy 15:38 12:48 81 72
Mark from Ipswich 16:04 17:42 110 98
Steve Wood 16:17 14:25 88 78
dan_tman 16:40 16:00 96 85
tomtom2 17:02 28:17 166 148
140 Mandak 262 Jamuna 17:25 34:37 198 176
keithandginnybirrell 18:10 34:14 188 167
New Driver 18:29 20:59 113 100
ian.shepherd 20:48 15:40 75 66
maryht 21:14 21:39 101 90
pfalloon 22:05 20:25 92 82
anderson1965 22:16 27:40 124 110
Jean in Oxford 22:40 24:44 109 97
pamelalewis51 23:18 22:43 97 86
MrMonro 27:09 24:18 89 79
revolting tonic 41:12 30:53 74 66
mcfarl 46:42 45:55 98 87

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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