Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2964

Date 16 April 2025
Number 2964
Setter Wurm
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 95
Count of ref solvers 80
Ref solvers excluded with errors 16
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2964

* 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 02:34 112 117
Paul Gilbert 02:23 01:54 79 83
Jason 02:35 02:25 93 97
verlaine 02:38 02:30 94 98
mistigris 02:40 04:50 181 190
aphis99 aphis99 02:53 04:13 146 153
Magoo 02:54 02:32 87 91
Flimmy flammy 03:14 05:06 157 165
richard 03:38 03:41 101 106
Ciolf 03:42 02:25 65 68
markdobell 03:42 03:52 104 109
Heyesey 03:47 02:46 73 76
AlanS 04:01 03:28 86 90
glheard 04:08 04:22 105 110
SimonAnthony 04:09 04:09 100 105
Amoeba89 04:09 04:08 99 104
Kinghedger 04:11 04:31 107 112
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:16 03:50 89 93
MikeOsborne 04:19 04:35 106 111
Umpire 04:19 05:22 124 130
Deane Short 04:21 03:28 79 83
lickert 04:23 04:08 94 98
Morphosis 04:27 04:17 96 101
chindit 04:29 04:03 90 94
Roscoe 04:29 05:09 114 120
MK76 04:36 06:00 130 136
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:37 04:15 92 96
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:43 04:33 96 101
alexh 04:46 07:13 151 158
tilbee 04:48 04:35 95 100
LouWeed LouWeed 04:49 05:34 115 121
Bluejacket 04:50 03:31 72 75
Liari 04:52 05:14 107 112
andrewlake 04:54 05:37 114 120
Freemers 04:55 06:27 131 137
scrabbler 04:55 04:27 90 94
cdb_100 04:57 06:31 131 137
LuckOfLucien 04:59 03:51 77 81
andy 05:01 03:41 73 76
tiggis 05:01 04:20 86 90
EricK 05:02 05:10 102 107
denislaw 05:03 07:48 154 162
March 05:10 08:22 161 169
Ed freshpot 05:12 04:34 87 91
Jon Delfin 05:13 04:11 80 84
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:16 03:59 75 78
fshephe 05:18 05:39 106 111
Tibthorpe 05:20 04:52 91 95
Zander 05:20 07:05 132 138
ChuckB 05:21 05:37 104 109
nina s 05:25 05:32 102 107
Squallaby 05:25 05:44 105 110
AndyKnott321 05:36 05:11 92 96
esmeralda 05:36 08:23 149 156
Adelaider 05:36 05:57 106 111
Finzi 05:39 05:43 101 106
drginacoco 05:41 01:27 25 26
KET 05:45 05:53 102 107
Rabbitoh galspray 05:46 05:39 97 102
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:46 05:05 88 92
rrricharrrd 05:49 06:27 110 115
Looch 05:49 06:37 113 118
whichcraft 05:54 04:32 76 80
Encota 05:54 06:48 115 121
Rosron 05:57 07:32 126 132
andrewfeist96 06:04 05:07 84 88
Streaky Bacon 06:05 05:12 85 89
Sreffej 06:16 06:30 103 108
PGooden 06:17 05:21 85 89
Vannyx 06:18 06:06 96 101
hopkinb hopkinb 06:18 07:54 125 131
ramf 06:22 05:26 85 89
Carol 06:25 04:37 71 74
Adrian Cobb 06:29 07:03 108 113
julian_w 06:30 05:10 79 83
Shabbo 06:31 07:37 116 122
Dzhigit 06:33 04:48 73 76
paul.whitehouse69 06:42 04:13 62 65
GMcD 06:46 06:32 96 101
jon 06:49 06:27 94 98
Onelug 06:51 07:20 107 112
Tudds 06:53 08:13 119 125
Michael Dove 06:59 07:05 101 106
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 07:00 08:37 123 129
thewanderingeditor 07:03 05:09 73 76
earlylight 07:06 05:27 76 80
robinh 07:10 08:56 124 130
James P 07:12 09:08 126 132
uvofiz 07:13 06:43 93 97
Gussie 07:18 05:54 80 84
FraserH 07:18 06:51 93 97
kitty.banks 07:24 09:43 131 137
Puzzleplease 07:25 08:04 108 113
moirconsult 07:25 03:08 42 44
KenD51 07:26 08:07 109 114
Dvynys Dvynys 07:32 08:14 109 114
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 07:13 95 100
DamienKnapma 07:38 05:29 71 74
edwards.robert1 07:39 09:24 122 128
Corymbia Corymbia 07:41 09:39 125 131
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:46 05:23 69 72
ChrisBrea 07:51 06:17 80 84
1234 07:55 08:16 104 109
Jamie Fox 07:57 06:59 87 91
martinede 08:01 08:03 100 105
TomHerbert 08:17 08:46 105 110
John Arnold 08:19 09:08 109 114
plett11 Plett11 08:27 08:06 95 100
Templar Redux Templar 08:41 07:20 84 88
goblin 08:41 07:27 85 89
Jeeves 08:43 08:32 97 102
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:44 07:16 83 87
m5harp 08:48 10:46 122 128
kath 08:54 09:23 105 110
nigelmzzz 08:55 09:30 106 111
Cuppa378 08:56 09:01 100 105
mjsaunders9 08:56 06:06 68 71
john.brassey 08:57 07:43 86 90
Edprof 09:00 08:18 92 96
hemantyd 09:00 11:36 128 134
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:15 10:32 113 118
crosswordian 09:23 09:05 96 101
gsriordan52 09:23 08:44 93 97
Nigel1953 09:35 03:42 38 40
Coffell 09:35 14:17 149 156
ofarrell 09:46 10:24 106 111
mich_punk 09:59 10:54 109 114
richardCV22 10:15 06:59 68 71
f4rch 10:22 09:22 90 94
alexngbr 10:33 12:22 117 123
Laputan 10:43 06:53 64 67
TonyN6 11:07 13:01 117 123
starstruck starstruck_au 11:08 12:30 112 117
phatman 11:09 10:39 95 100
SMSEsq 11:27 10:11 88 92
Cedric Statherby 11:29 09:17 80 84
Dr. Memory 11:34 13:31 116 122
maisiemae 11:37 10:31 90 94
youngbaz 12:10 11:05 91 95
alistair.boere 12:17 09:30 77 81
Corbo 12:20 11:35 93 97
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 12:21 12:58 104 109
rlowin2 12:23 12:26 100 105
martinr486 12:41 10:53 85 89
Sonofjim 12:55 11:43 90 94
The Real Steve Snackman 13:17 11:52 89 93
Rammy Trainor 13:21 14:43 110 115
chabuduo chabuduo 13:23 09:05 67 70
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 14:32 14:31 99 104
horners1974 Jonathan Hornby 15:11 10:12 67 70
Mark from Ipswich 16:04 12:25 77 81
RPE10538 RPE10538 16:35 12:03 72 75
tomtom2 17:02 18:02 105 110
Narayanan 17:09 10:45 62 65
New Driver 18:29 14:32 78 82
TonyK 19:42 17:03 86 90
Hazelnut 20:45 26:56 129 135
ian.shepherd 20:48 22:00 105 110
bangsar DearHector 21:07 38:36 182 191
pfalloon 22:05 07:17 32 33
Jean in Oxford 22:40 14:56 65 68
thechan 22:47 15:39 68 71
david 23:04 16:32 71 74
dominic.c-b 23:15 29:45 127 133
Dofray 24:00 16:53 70 73
Jilks 24:29 17:40 72 75
prognosticat 35:59 33:53 94 98
Jay_W 40:00 45:33 113 118
lilias.allan 43:49 38:41 88 92
mcfarl 46:42 115:46 247 260

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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