Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2954

Date 04 April 2025
Number 2954
Setter Dangle
Day of week Friday
NITCH 88
Count of ref solvers 81
Ref solvers excluded with errors 13
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2954

* 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 02:23 01:42 71 80
Jason 02:35 02:25 93 105
verlaine 02:38 02:42 102 115
mistigris 02:40 02:40 100 113
aphis99 aphis99 02:53 02:32 87 98
Magoo 02:54 02:38 90 102
Flimmy flammy 03:14 03:01 93 105
Ciolf 03:42 02:56 79 89
markdobell 03:42 03:17 88 100
Sheapey Sheapey 03:44 03:07 83 94
Heyesey 03:47 03:50 101 114
AlanS 04:01 04:12 104 118
glheard 04:08 04:13 102 115
Amoeba89 04:09 03:12 77 87
SimonAnthony 04:09 03:40 88 100
Kinghedger 04:11 03:38 86 97
MikeOsborne 04:19 05:13 120 136
Deane Short 04:21 03:52 88 100
lickert 04:23 04:03 92 104
Morphosis 04:27 05:26 122 138
Roscoe 04:29 05:13 116 131
chindit 04:29 05:49 129 146
MK76 04:36 05:28 118 134
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:43 06:12 131 148
tilbee 04:48 04:25 92 104
LouWeed LouWeed 04:49 04:03 84 95
Bluejacket 04:50 05:59 123 139
Liari 04:52 04:14 86 97
Paul Bacon 04:53 05:25 110 125
Freemers 04:55 03:49 77 87
Honggui 04:55 04:08 84 95
scrabbler 04:55 04:32 92 104
wwalker50 04:56 06:34 133 151
cdb_100 04:57 05:25 109 123
andy 05:01 04:36 91 103
tiggis 05:01 06:06 121 137
EricK 05:02 04:39 92 104
McBeakLives 05:03 03:35 70 79
JayEm 05:09 02:59 57 64
March 05:10 04:23 84 95
Johninterred 05:11 04:11 80 90
Ed freshpot 05:12 04:47 91 103
Jon Delfin 05:13 04:41 89 101
fshephe 05:18 05:01 94 106
Tibthorpe 05:20 05:07 95 107
ChuckB 05:21 04:11 78 88
Squallaby 05:25 04:34 84 95
cmcnsmith 05:34 06:29 116 131
esmeralda 05:36 05:04 90 102
Riche Riche 05:39 05:54 104 118
Finzi 05:39 06:27 114 129
drginacoco 05:41 01:19 23 26
MrChumley MrChumley 05:41 06:15 109 123
fishernick79 05:43 05:26 95 107
KET 05:45 06:22 110 125
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:46 07:04 122 138
Rabbitoh galspray 05:46 08:18 143 162
Looch 05:49 05:55 101 114
rrricharrrd 05:49 04:59 85 96
mcrossib1 05:50 05:25 92 104
Encota 05:54 05:27 92 104
whichcraft 05:54 05:20 90 102
Rosron 05:57 09:50 165 187
andrewfeist96 06:04 07:40 126 143
Streaky Bacon 06:05 05:03 83 94
KarenR 06:06 04:28 73 82
PGooden 06:17 05:24 85 96
Vannyx 06:18 05:00 79 89
hopkinb hopkinb 06:18 05:44 91 103
Jeremy Weissmann plusjeremy 06:20 07:35 119 135
Carol 06:25 06:41 104 118
jimwetzler 06:27 06:42 103 117
SBQuick 06:28 05:25 83 94
Dzhigit 06:33 04:39 70 79
GMcD 06:46 05:51 86 97
Onelug 06:51 05:29 80 90
Curarist 06:51 05:24 78 88
Tudds 06:53 05:35 81 92
Aloysius 06:54 05:51 84 95
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 07:00 08:13 117 132
earlylight 07:06 05:44 80 90
robinh 07:10 06:30 90 102
endafk 07:10 09:11 128 145
James P 07:12 06:40 92 104
janesa 07:14 07:48 107 121
FraserH 07:18 06:06 83 94
Nangle 07:19 05:33 75 85
Puzzleplease 07:25 06:04 81 92
moirconsult 07:25 03:07 42 47
KenD51 07:26 07:40 103 117
Dvynys Dvynys 07:32 08:10 108 122
td349 07:37 08:21 109 123
DamienKnapma 07:38 05:34 72 81
Corymbia Corymbia 07:41 06:38 86 97
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:46 07:59 102 115
ChrisBrea 07:51 05:40 72 81
docg 07:58 07:47 97 110
TomHerbert 08:17 07:06 85 96
John Arnold 08:19 06:03 72 81
plett11 Plett11 08:27 06:35 77 87
vefatica vefatica 08:33 08:41 101 114
Templar Redux Templar 08:41 07:40 88 100
goblin 08:41 07:32 86 97
ulaca ulaca 08:42 07:18 83 94
crucihacker 08:43 07:08 81 92
Jeeves 08:43 08:18 95 107
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:44 09:33 109 123
m5harp 08:48 07:23 83 94
johndun John Dunleavy 08:50 05:17 59 67
mattindoha 08:55 08:46 98 111
mjsaunders9 08:56 06:28 72 81
Edprof 09:00 16:03 178 202
smalley552 09:00 05:47 64 72
JeffHobbs 09:07 07:19 80 90
Doyler 09:10 05:58 65 73
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:15 09:15 100 113
JanieP 09:16 07:21 79 89
crosswordian 09:23 07:12 76 86
barracuda barracuda 09:33 06:35 68 77
Coffell 09:35 08:38 90 102
raincloud 09:38 09:10 95 107
jemcd33 09:44 10:59 112 127
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:45 08:28 86 97
RPY 09:56 07:51 79 89
mich_punk 09:59 08:56 89 101
richardCV22 10:15 09:44 94 106
Poff 10:21 07:11 69 78
f4rch 10:22 06:14 60 68
hookyt 10:30 07:05 67 76
russellcannon 10:32 07:24 70 79
Troothful 10:39 06:15 58 65
TonyN6 11:07 12:21 111 126
starstruck starstruck_au 11:08 08:04 72 81
simjt simjt 11:22 10:21 91 103
Cedric Statherby 11:29 09:48 85 96
maisiemae 11:37 08:54 76 86
intentional rounding 11:42 13:01 111 126
E Bradford E Bradford 11:45 19:46 168 190
youngbaz 12:10 19:34 160 181
Captain Burnaby 12:13 14:24 117 132
alistair.boere 12:17 12:44 103 117
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 12:21 12:56 104 118
martinr486 12:41 10:40 84 95
Sonofjim 12:55 10:16 79 89
ifincham2 13:08 14:22 109 123
kapietro kapietro 13:09 14:31 110 125
The Real Steve Snackman 13:17 09:46 73 82
Rammy Trainor 13:21 12:40 94 106
chabuduo chabuduo 13:23 08:56 66 75
nick.wilson 13:47 18:40 135 153
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 14:32 20:50 143 162
Mendes Mendesest 14:34 14:07 96 109
trish_tang 14:54 17:08 114 129
horners1974 Jonathan Hornby 15:11 07:39 50 56
K_estrel Kestrel 15:34 09:09 58 65
kfb20 15:54 15:41 98 111
Mark from Ipswich 16:04 15:11 94 106
Steve Wood 16:17 16:46 102 115
RPE10538 RPE10538 16:35 19:59 120 136
tomtom2 17:02 14:07 82 93
New Driver 18:29 20:28 110 125
TonyK 19:42 22:51 115 130
ian.shepherd 20:48 17:11 82 93
bangsar DearHector 21:07 13:45 65 73
pfalloon 22:05 19:12 86 97
anderson1965 22:16 13:39 61 69
paulmcl 23:08 09:38 41 46
pamelalewis51 23:18 21:06 90 102
Dofray 24:00 21:25 89 101
Askani 25:40 20:08 78 88
MrMonro 27:09 25:02 92 104
shankar 36:18 16:33 45 51

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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