Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2953

Date 03 April 2025
Number 2953
Setter Jalna
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 93
Count of ref solvers 86
Ref solvers excluded with errors 10
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2953

* 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 02:00 87 93
Paul Gilbert 02:23 02:28 103 110
Jason 02:35 02:26 94 101
verlaine 02:38 02:20 88 94
mistigris 02:40 02:28 92 98
hilarym 02:47 03:18 118 126
aphis99 aphis99 02:53 02:22 82 88
Magoo 02:54 03:10 109 117
Flimmy flammy 03:14 03:30 108 116
markdobell 03:42 04:08 111 119
Ciolf 03:42 03:02 81 87
Sheapey Sheapey 03:44 03:57 105 112
Heyesey 03:47 03:27 91 97
glheard 04:08 04:02 97 104
Amoeba89 04:09 05:04 122 131
SimonAnthony 04:09 02:43 65 69
Kinghedger 04:11 04:40 111 119
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:16 05:10 121 130
MikeOsborne 04:19 04:37 106 113
Deane Short 04:21 03:32 81 87
lickert 04:23 03:35 81 87
Morphosis 04:27 03:11 71 76
Roscoe 04:29 04:20 96 103
chindit 04:29 03:55 87 93
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:43 05:29 116 124
alexh 04:46 03:56 82 88
tilbee 04:48 04:40 97 104
LouWeed LouWeed 04:49 05:23 111 119
lucyg43484 04:50 04:34 94 101
Liari 04:52 04:49 98 105
andrewlake 04:54 08:19 169 181
scrabbler 04:55 04:00 81 87
Freemers 04:55 04:25 89 95
canismiser 04:55 06:50 138 148
cdb_100 04:57 04:57 100 107
EricK 05:02 06:09 122 131
McBeakLives 05:03 05:16 104 111
JayEm 05:09 07:16 141 151
March 05:10 06:22 123 132
Ed freshpot 05:12 04:48 92 98
Jon Delfin 05:13 05:24 103 110
neilr neilr 05:16 04:38 87 93
Tibthorpe 05:20 04:47 89 95
Zander 05:20 04:31 84 90
Squallaby 05:25 05:19 98 105
pitcaithlie Pitcaithlie 05:25 06:12 114 122
MossDef 05:26 06:15 115 123
esmeralda 05:36 06:16 111 119
Adelaider 05:36 04:56 88 94
Riche Riche 05:39 04:57 87 93
Finzi 05:39 05:09 91 97
drginacoco 05:41 01:23 24 25
MrChumley MrChumley 05:41 06:36 116 124
Rabbitoh galspray 05:46 05:22 93 100
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:46 05:36 97 104
Looch 05:49 06:39 114 122
rrricharrrd 05:49 05:56 102 109
mcrossib1 05:50 06:14 106 113
whichcraft 05:54 05:24 91 97
mw7000 05:55 04:43 79 84
RobR RobR 05:55 05:24 91 97
KarenR 06:06 04:20 71 76
PGooden 06:17 05:55 94 101
hopkinb hopkinb 06:18 08:05 128 137
Vannyx 06:18 04:47 75 80
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 06:20 04:36 72 77
ramf 06:22 05:37 88 94
jimwetzler 06:27 05:54 91 97
SBQuick 06:28 07:12 111 119
Adrian Cobb 06:29 06:25 98 105
Dzhigit 06:33 06:23 97 104
robertL 06:40 09:23 140 150
paul.whitehouse69 06:42 06:59 104 111
GMcD 06:46 06:29 95 102
jon 06:49 07:16 106 113
Onelug 06:51 13:07 191 205
Curarist 06:51 07:00 102 109
Tudds 06:53 06:49 99 106
Michael Dove 06:59 07:30 107 115
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 07:00 07:53 112 120
earlylight 07:06 06:01 84 90
robinh 07:10 06:23 89 95
James P 07:12 08:24 116 124
uvofiz 07:13 08:44 121 130
FraserH 07:18 07:01 96 103
Nangle 07:19 08:26 115 123
dr.shred 07:24 08:00 108 116
Puzzleplease 07:25 07:45 104 111
tds 07:26 08:21 112 120
banishspam 07:29 09:42 129 138
Dvynys Dvynys 07:32 07:02 93 100
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 07:52 103 110
Obrador 07:35 08:24 110 118
td349 07:37 07:24 97 104
valerian1967 07:38 06:09 80 86
DamienKnapma 07:38 09:14 120 129
Corymbia Corymbia 07:41 06:50 88 94
SlumdogEngineer 07:43 07:45 100 107
CrystalPip 07:44 08:46 113 121
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:46 07:53 101 108
ChrisBrea 07:51 09:02 115 123
mjwiseman 07:55 09:39 121 130
Jamie Fox 07:57 15:09 190 204
Aldus 08:14 06:38 80 86
TomHerbert 08:17 08:01 96 103
John Arnold 08:19 12:02 144 154
plett11 Plett11 08:27 08:29 100 107
vefatica vefatica 08:33 07:31 87 93
goblin 08:41 11:18 130 139
ulaca ulaca 08:42 06:48 78 83
Jeeves 08:43 10:45 123 132
crucihacker 08:43 08:37 98 105
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:44 08:48 100 107
johndun John Dunleavy 08:50 07:42 87 93
Zabadak3 Zabadak 08:50 08:46 99 106
mjsaunders9 08:56 04:54 54 58
john.brassey 08:57 08:01 89 95
Edprof 09:00 06:54 76 81
hemantyd 09:00 09:07 101 108
timbo 09:06 09:01 99 106
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:15 10:42 115 123
gsriordan52 09:23 11:24 121 130
crosswordian 09:23 11:08 118 126
barracuda barracuda 09:33 09:39 101 108
raincloud 09:38 10:27 108 116
jemcd33 09:44 09:02 92 98
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:45 10:33 108 116
ofarrell 09:46 11:19 115 123
Cryptique 09:47 09:22 95 102
RPY 09:56 09:18 93 100
richardCV22 10:15 11:01 107 115
Poff 10:21 09:59 96 103
f4rch 10:22 09:32 91 97
piltdown man 10:23 17:03 164 176
annikins 10:31 07:57 75 80
Pendrov 10:39 15:50 148 159
Birdingbob 10:51 07:20 67 72
TonyN6 11:07 15:37 140 150
Cedric Statherby 11:29 17:03 148 159
maisiemae 11:37 12:13 105 112
intentional rounding 11:42 06:19 53 56
symbenall2 12:09 13:10 108 116
youngbaz 12:10 09:36 78 83
alistair.boere 12:17 13:37 110 118
BertieVII 12:21 12:25 100 107
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 12:21 15:17 123 132
flashman flashman 13:01 19:00 145 155
tyrotim tyrotim 13:08 21:23 162 174
The Real Steve Snackman 13:17 09:51 74 79
Rammy Trainor 13:21 12:21 92 98
chabuduo chabuduo 13:23 14:04 105 112
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 14:32 15:50 108 116
Mendes Mendesest 14:34 19:30 133 143
Charpentier 15:01 15:45 104 111
horners1974 Jonathan Hornby 15:11 16:28 108 116
Xebeq 15:51 16:00 100 107
Mark from Ipswich 16:04 17:28 108 116
Steve Wood 16:17 12:32 76 81
david.14587 16:50 14:44 87 93
tomtom2 17:02 17:34 103 110
140 Mandak 262 Jamuna 17:25 17:49 102 109
New Driver 18:29 24:28 132 141
TonyK 19:42 21:39 109 117
Jack-in-the-box 20:53 18:21 87 93
bangsar DearHector 21:07 21:42 102 109
pfalloon 22:05 08:08 36 38
anderson1965 22:16 30:41 137 147
DrAnatomist 30:22 39:56 131 140
revolting tonic 41:12 44:16 107 115
mcfarl 46:42 58:05 124 133
Jikolp 48:35 46:37 95 102

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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