Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2978

Date 02 May 2025
Number 2978
Setter Hurley
Day of week Friday
NITCH 107
Count of ref solvers 81
Ref solvers excluded with errors 3
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2978

* 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
Paul Gilbert 02:18 02:43 118 110
cmjhutton 02:18 02:42 117 109
Jason 02:34 02:38 102 95
mistigris 02:40 03:06 116 108
verlaine 02:40 02:50 106 99
hilarym 02:47 03:22 120 112
Magoo 02:48 02:38 94 87
aphis99 aphis99 02:55 02:53 98 91
Flimmy flammy 03:16 03:40 112 104
Ciolf 03:39 04:01 110 102
markdobell 03:42 03:46 101 94
SimonAnthony 04:05 04:59 122 114
Amoeba89 04:12 04:44 112 104
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:14 03:46 88 82
MikeOsborne 04:17 05:25 126 117
lickert 04:21 05:09 118 110
chindit 04:27 04:29 100 93
Roscoe 04:37 05:14 113 105
lucyg43484 04:48 06:37 137 128
cdb_100 04:48 05:43 119 111
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:48 06:18 131 122
alexh 04:49 05:21 111 103
scrabbler 04:52 06:25 131 122
LouWeed LouWeed 04:52 06:03 124 115
Liari 04:53 05:56 121 113
Freemers 04:54 03:51 78 72
Jon Delfin 04:54 04:51 98 91
Bluejacket 04:55 05:26 110 102
Honggui 04:55 06:29 131 122
canismiser 04:58 05:45 115 107
EricK 04:58 04:26 89 83
andrewlake 05:01 04:57 98 91
andy 05:01 07:53 157 146
tiggis 05:02 05:39 112 104
JayEm 05:02 05:16 104 97
McBeakLives 05:04 04:26 87 81
March 05:09 04:58 96 89
Ed freshpot 05:10 06:21 122 114
fshephe 05:16 06:37 125 116
Johninterred 05:16 05:59 113 105
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:19 06:12 116 108
Zander 05:21 09:31 177 165
Adelaider 05:30 07:13 131 122
KET 05:39 08:20 147 137
Finzi 05:39 06:15 110 102
whichcraft 05:47 07:09 123 114
Rabbitoh galspray 05:51 07:51 134 125
mcrossib1 05:51 08:20 142 132
Looch 05:53 07:55 134 125
Encota 05:53 08:50 150 140
Streaky Bacon 05:57 05:21 89 83
Rosron 06:03 07:17 120 112
KarenR 06:05 10:04 165 154
Vannyx 06:07 05:26 88 82
andrewfeist96 06:13 08:00 128 119
PGooden 06:17 09:43 154 143
hopkinb hopkinb 06:17 06:08 97 90
plusjeremy (Jeremy Weissmann) plusjeremy 06:20 08:44 137 128
SBQuick 06:27 06:28 100 93
Carol 06:29 06:27 99 92
Kalakuta72 06:32 08:15 126 117
ramf 06:33 07:27 113 105
Dzhigit 06:34 11:30 175 163
GMcD 06:41 08:17 123 114
Shabbo 06:44 06:19 93 86
paul.whitehouse69 06:45 06:59 103 96
ilan 06:48 07:02 103 96
Curarist 06:49 09:07 133 124
Tudds 06:51 09:34 139 129
jon 06:55 08:16 119 111
Manveru 07:05 08:56 126 117
Gussie 07:11 09:10 127 118
James P 07:12 07:40 106 99
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 07:18 10:53 149 139
Nangle 07:20 06:08 83 77
earlylight 07:24 09:38 130 121
Puzzleplease 07:26 10:06 135 126
Willie F 07:27 10:46 144 134
Obrador 07:27 08:37 115 107
DianeRS 07:28 09:37 128 119
KenD51 07:31 08:48 117 109
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:41 11:16 146 136
valerian1967 07:41 08:05 105 98
DamienKnapma 07:42 09:38 125 116
edwards.robert1 07:42 10:47 140 130
Jamie Fox 07:45 10:16 132 123
Dvynys Dvynys 07:45 08:08 104 97
Corymbia Corymbia 07:55 09:40 122 114
TomHerbert 08:07 08:07 100 93
plett11 Plett11 08:21 06:57 83 77
John Arnold 08:22 09:19 111 103
Sheen 08:31 09:08 107 100
ulaca ulaca 08:35 08:59 104 97
OldSolver 08:35 10:52 126 117
vefatica vefatica 08:37 10:19 119 111
goblin 08:40 08:59 103 96
john.brassey 08:40 11:57 137 128
Jeeves 08:45 11:58 136 127
m5harp 08:45 12:00 137 128
Templar Redux Templar 08:45 07:45 88 82
hemantyd 08:46 07:57 90 84
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:49 14:33 165 154
mjsaunders9 08:50 06:24 72 67
johndun John Dunleavy 08:50 11:20 128 119
crucihacker 08:54 14:24 161 150
kath 08:56 14:18 160 149
mattindoha 09:03 11:28 126 117
Cuppa378 09:04 09:24 103 96
crosswordian 09:09 13:09 143 133
jemcd33 09:09 08:44 95 88
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:14 10:32 114 106
gsriordan52 09:17 12:42 136 127
MichelinPoitiers 09:30 10:06 106 99
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:36 14:52 154 143
Coffell 09:41 11:07 114 106
mamster 09:42 11:24 117 109
annbrew 09:46 13:32 138 128
raincloud 09:47 09:53 101 94
mich_punk 09:56 07:16 73 68
Word Psmith 10:00 16:39 166 155
richardCV22 10:18 14:07 137 128
Poff 10:24 08:11 78 72
FelicityTT 10:31 10:53 103 96
Nuck_the_king 10:44 14:39 136 127
Birdingbob 10:48 06:07 56 52
Laputan 10:57 12:02 109 101
phatman 11:07 09:16 83 77
TonyN6 11:25 19:15 168 157
symbenall2 11:29 15:38 136 127
simjt simjt 11:32 18:09 157 146
maisiemae 11:33 17:52 154 143
intentional rounding 11:37 15:24 132 123
Captain Burnaby 11:46 21:00 178 166
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 12:02 15:24 127 118
BertieVII 12:14 19:14 157 146
youngbaz 12:15 15:11 123 114
ifincham2 13:08 19:31 148 138
chabuduo chabuduo 13:11 12:40 96 89
tyrotim tyrotim 13:15 16:00 120 112
nick.wilson 13:31 11:01 81 75
hectorslave 13:58 13:53 99 92
dan_tman 14:31 16:03 110 102
trish_tang 14:41 15:35 106 99
Charpentier 14:50 03:09 21 19
Merlin_55 Merlin 15:01 19:55 132 123
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 15:10 17:13 113 105
horners1974 Jonathan Hornby 15:20 16:55 110 102
kfb20 15:23 16:18 105 98
Xebeq 15:35 18:34 119 111
Steve Wood 15:50 15:04 95 88
Muckypuppy 15:51 19:33 123 114
Mark from Ipswich 15:53 15:42 98 91
Narayanan 16:58 18:57 111 103
david.14587 17:12 19:41 114 106
tomtom2 17:23 21:58 126 117
New Driver 18:11 14:23 79 73
danielbluebisson Blue92 18:54 21:27 113 105
winelover 19:27 26:22 135 126
TonyK 19:42 24:10 122 114
ian.shepherd 20:33 16:02 78 72
david 22:00 21:19 96 89
thechan 22:30 18:39 82 76
dominic.c-b 22:39 26:13 115 107
Askani 24:34 18:53 76 71
Flora Garden 29:04 37:15 128 119
shankar 37:20 21:40 58 54
revolting tonic 40:26 25:29 63 58
mcfarl 47:04 53:46 114 106
Jikolp 47:38 45:04 94 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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