Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 2991

Date 17 May 2025
Number 2991
Setter Hurley
Day of week Saturday
NITCH 102
Count of ref solvers 78
Ref solvers excluded with errors 9
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 2991

* 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 02:52 124 121
Jason 02:34 03:10 123 120
mistigris 02:40 02:41 100 98
verlaine 02:40 02:24 90 88
hilarym 02:47 02:38 94 92
aphis99 aphis99 02:55 02:57 101 99
Flimmy flammy 03:16 03:10 96 94
Ciolf 03:39 03:42 101 99
markdobell 03:42 03:04 82 80
Heyesey 03:47 04:09 109 106
SimonAnthony 04:05 03:41 90 88
Amoeba89 04:12 02:55 69 67
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:14 03:53 91 89
Deane Short 04:21 04:59 114 111
lickert 04:21 05:17 121 118
chindit 04:27 05:30 123 120
MK76 04:42 04:33 96 94
tilbee 04:46 06:13 130 127
lucyg43484 04:48 06:12 129 126
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:48 05:07 106 103
alexh 04:49 05:05 105 102
scrabbler 04:52 04:56 101 99
LouWeed LouWeed 04:52 04:54 100 98
Liari 04:53 05:45 117 114
Jon Delfin 04:54 04:21 88 86
Freemers 04:54 06:09 125 122
EricK 04:58 04:19 86 84
d.middleton 04:58 08:10 164 160
andrewlake 05:01 04:07 82 80
JayEm 05:02 03:51 76 74
tiggis 05:02 05:05 100 98
Ed freshpot 05:10 06:44 130 127
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:19 05:32 104 101
Tibthorpe 05:22 06:54 128 125
Squallaby 05:26 05:20 98 96
Adelaider 05:30 06:10 112 109
esmeralda 05:37 05:27 97 95
Finzi 05:39 05:30 97 95
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:50 05:52 100 98
Rabbitoh galspray 05:51 04:37 78 76
mcrossib1 05:51 04:35 78 76
Looch 05:53 09:55 168 164
KarenR 06:05 04:49 79 77
andrewfeist96 06:13 06:39 106 103
Adrian Cobb 06:33 06:38 101 99
GMcD 06:41 07:40 114 111
Shabbo 06:44 05:46 85 83
Curarist 06:49 06:50 100 98
hazyfantazee 06:54 05:29 79 77
robertL 07:00 08:11 116 113
James P 07:12 12:05 167 163
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 07:18 09:12 126 123
robinh 07:20 08:05 110 107
Puzzleplease 07:26 09:10 123 120
Obrador 07:27 07:17 97 95
KenD51 07:31 06:45 89 87
valerian1967 07:41 08:03 104 101
DamienKnapma 07:42 10:14 132 129
Jamie Fox 07:45 06:33 84 82
Dvynys Dvynys 07:45 10:36 136 133
1234 07:54 08:10 103 100
Corymbia Corymbia 07:55 10:33 133 130
ChrisBrea 07:55 10:23 131 128
mjwiseman 08:04 09:42 120 117
Aldus 08:05 06:24 79 77
martinede 08:06 09:50 121 118
jaraab 08:18 10:24 125 122
plett11 Plett11 08:21 11:50 141 138
John Arnold 08:22 10:17 122 119
Sheen 08:31 12:18 144 141
vefatica vefatica 08:37 11:08 129 126
goblin 08:40 14:22 165 161
Jeeves 08:45 10:31 120 117
hemantyd 08:46 12:56 147 144
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:49 14:57 169 165
mjsaunders9 08:50 06:01 68 66
kath 08:56 11:26 127 124
mattindoha 09:03 06:33 72 70
Cuppa378 09:04 09:01 99 97
ezoredfox 09:05 15:43 173 169
jemcd33 09:09 10:03 109 106
Nigel1953 09:12 11:24 123 120
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:14 12:15 132 129
gsriordan52 09:17 09:14 99 97
JeffHobbs 09:21 19:04 203 199
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:36 10:32 109 106
mich_punk 09:56 11:31 115 112
Word Psmith 10:00 20:20 203 199
f4rch 10:10 12:09 119 116
richardCV22 10:18 11:11 108 105
Poff 10:24 07:16 69 67
Nuck_the_king 10:44 13:00 121 118
Birdingbob 10:48 15:19 141 138
russellcannon 10:49 13:31 124 121
TonyN6 11:25 10:03 88 86
symbenall2 11:29 12:48 111 108
Cedric Statherby 11:30 13:46 119 116
Pauline Minter 11:31 12:23 107 104
simjt simjt 11:32 16:10 140 137
maisiemae 11:33 11:43 101 99
starstruck starstruck_au 11:35 12:07 104 101
intentional rounding 11:37 11:37 100 98
Captain Burnaby 11:46 12:24 105 102
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 12:02 10:36 88 86
The Real Steve Snackman 12:43 08:08 63 61
kapietro kapietro 13:10 10:59 83 81
chabuduo chabuduo 13:11 11:19 85 83
trish_tang 14:41 15:25 104 101
Merlin_55 Merlin 15:01 15:50 105 102
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 15:10 27:16 179 175
JanetP 15:12 14:01 92 90
kfb20 15:23 11:51 77 75
Xebeq 15:35 20:36 132 129
Steve Wood 15:50 11:55 75 73
Muckypuppy 15:51 12:33 79 77
K_estrel Kestrel 16:08 13:06 81 79
RPE10538 RPE10538 16:39 27:34 165 161
Narayanan 16:58 12:09 71 69
david.14587 17:12 18:16 106 103
140 Mandak 262 Jamuna 17:17 15:42 90 88
New Driver 18:11 20:35 113 110
james 19:23 16:23 84 82
ian.shepherd 20:33 20:32 99 97
maryht 21:21 22:15 104 101
bangsar DearHector 21:36 18:59 87 85
Jean in Oxford 22:08 27:13 122 119
pfalloon 23:51 10:03 42 41
Askani 24:34 22:14 90 88
stephenpmars 52:00 49:10 94 92

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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