Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3011

Date 10 June 2025
Number 3011
Setter Orpheus
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 68
Count of ref solvers 72
Ref solvers excluded with errors 10
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3011

* 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 02:17 01:26 62 91
cmjhutton 02:19 01:52 80 117
Jason 02:33 02:00 78 114
verlaine 02:37 01:59 75 110
mistigris 02:39 02:09 81 119
hilarym 02:47 02:13 79 116
aphis99 aphis99 02:53 02:11 75 110
Flimmy flammy 03:11 02:17 71 104
richard 03:37 03:18 91 133
Ciolf 03:39 02:52 78 114
markdobell 03:39 02:46 75 110
Heyesey 03:41 01:57 52 76
Sheapey Sheapey 03:50 02:24 62 91
AlanS 03:54 03:35 91 133
Amoeba89 03:59 02:43 68 100
glheard 04:00 03:35 89 130
SimonAnthony 04:02 03:20 82 120
Kinghedger 04:03 03:23 83 122
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:07 02:34 62 91
Deane Short 04:14 03:14 76 111
lickert 04:15 02:41 63 92
MikeOsborne 04:16 02:38 61 89
MK76 04:34 02:49 61 89
chindit 04:35 03:50 83 122
Roscoe 04:35 03:38 79 116
tilbee 04:39 03:56 84 123
toots 04:39 03:15 69 101
John Walsh 04:40 03:47 81 119
cdb_100 04:42 03:25 72 105
Freemers 04:44 02:47 58 85
lucyg43484 04:44 02:50 59 86
EricK 04:45 03:07 65 95
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:46 03:16 68 100
Bluejacket 04:46 02:51 59 86
alexh 04:48 03:40 76 111
LouWeed LouWeed 04:53 03:31 72 105
scrabbler 04:53 03:47 77 113
Paul Bacon 04:54 04:35 93 136
Jon Delfin 04:55 03:34 72 105
andy 04:55 02:53 58 85
footballblue 04:56 03:44 75 110
canismiser 04:56 03:46 76 111
andrewlake 04:56 02:24 48 70
Liari 04:57 04:18 86 126
fshephe 04:59 03:45 75 110
Ed freshpot 04:59 04:56 98 144
JayEm 05:00 05:56 118 173
Honggui 05:01 03:17 65 95
LuckOfLucien 05:01 03:04 61 89
Johninterred 05:05 03:23 66 97
March 05:05 03:19 65 95
Aybee 05:10 06:10 119 175
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:13 03:56 75 110
Adelaider 05:14 04:05 78 114
Squallaby 05:17 03:46 71 104
DunPangolin 05:19 04:28 84 123
Tibthorpe 05:20 03:23 63 92
Zander 05:22 03:31 65 95
cmcnsmith 05:24 05:07 94 138
AndyKnott321 05:34 04:53 87 127
Finzi 05:39 05:04 89 130
esmeralda 05:39 03:26 60 88
whichcraft 05:40 04:38 81 119
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:43 04:33 79 116
Vannyx 05:45 05:23 93 136
Streaky Bacon 05:50 02:57 50 73
mw7000 05:51 04:06 70 102
chriswestontour 05:52 05:45 98 144
mcrossib1 05:52 03:18 56 82
Looch 05:58 04:34 76 111
KarenR 06:02 03:18 54 79
SBQuick 06:02 04:11 69 101
hopkinb hopkinb 06:07 03:57 64 94
Mike C 06:15 04:52 77 113
PGooden 06:17 03:53 61 89
andrewfeist96 06:18 04:08 65 95
Carol 06:20 04:39 73 107
Anomalospiza 06:20 03:12 50 73
Adrian Cobb 06:28 06:03 93 136
hazyfantazee 06:36 04:29 67 98
paul.whitehouse69 06:36 04:36 69 101
Dzhigit 06:40 03:57 59 86
Tudds 06:43 04:00 59 86
GMcD 06:43 04:54 72 105
jimwetzler 06:44 05:17 78 114
jon 06:50 04:24 64 94
ilan 06:51 03:43 54 79
CrystalPip 06:55 05:15 75 110
mjsaunders9 06:57 05:02 72 105
Nangle 07:05 05:38 79 116
robertL 07:07 05:36 78 114
James P 07:08 04:16 59 86
valerian1967 07:14 04:18 59 86
uvofiz 07:15 05:35 77 113
Gussie 07:15 03:56 54 79
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 07:21 05:31 75 110
KenD51 07:21 03:23 46 67
Jamie Fox 07:29 03:52 51 75
Puzzleplease 07:29 04:05 54 79
DamienKnapma 07:33 05:55 78 114
Aldus 07:35 05:36 73 107
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:36 05:04 66 97
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:37 06:06 80 117
Dvynys Dvynys 07:45 05:31 71 104
1234 07:48 05:15 67 98
Corymbia Corymbia 07:50 05:18 67 98
martinede 08:02 06:27 80 117
plett11 Plett11 08:13 06:00 73 107
John Arnold 08:17 05:11 62 91
ulaca ulaca 08:31 06:50 80 117
john.brassey 08:33 05:32 64 94
goblin 08:35 07:28 86 126
OldSolver 08:35 05:08 59 86
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:37 07:32 87 127
johndun John Dunleavy 08:37 07:25 86 126
Templar Redux Templar 08:38 04:41 54 79
hemantyd 08:38 05:39 65 95
smalley552 08:40 05:14 60 88
Jeeves 08:41 05:57 68 100
alex.scordellis 08:42 06:44 77 113
vefatica vefatica 08:52 07:47 87 127
mattindoha 08:56 07:03 78 114
nigelmzzz 09:00 05:46 64 94
Calculator001 09:05 07:28 82 120
dec 09:10 09:06 99 145
RPY 09:14 04:42 50 73
gsriordan52 09:15 05:46 62 91
f4rch 09:15 04:50 52 76
FelicityTT 09:23 04:52 51 75
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:27 05:44 60 88
Coffell 09:39 07:03 73 107
Poff 09:57 05:18 53 77
Word Psmith 09:58 08:49 88 129
piltdown man 10:02 05:56 59 86
richardCV22 10:11 07:52 77 113
Cryptique 10:11 04:23 43 63
annikins 10:17 06:35 64 94
Alias Noble 10:18 07:30 72 105
Birdingbob 10:26 08:07 77 113
phatman 10:36 05:10 48 70
russellcannon 10:57 07:39 69 101
starstruck starstruck_au 11:01 05:36 50 73
intentional rounding 11:07 05:17 47 69
Nuck_the_king 11:09 05:16 47 69
symbenall2 11:11 07:22 65 95
TonyN6 11:11 07:30 67 98
simjt simjt 11:22 05:49 51 75
maisiemae 11:26 06:43 58 85
Dr. Memory 11:38 08:36 73 107
Cedric Statherby 11:39 07:45 66 97
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:40 14:13 121 177
rlowin2 11:42 07:25 63 92
maggiema 11:56 08:37 72 105
The Real Steve Snackman 12:05 09:58 82 120
youngbaz 12:16 08:35 69 101
Sonofjim 12:34 05:06 40 58
kapietro kapietro 12:46 06:39 52 76
suethepotterer 12:48 08:34 66 97
hectorslave 12:50 08:53 69 101
chabuduo chabuduo 13:01 04:59 38 55
ifincham2 13:13 08:42 65 95
tyrotim tyrotim 13:14 11:21 85 125
trish_tang 13:33 08:54 65 95
Hugster 13:39 06:57 50 73
Mendes Mendesest 14:04 09:08 64 94
nigel 14:10 06:58 49 72
domski 14:29 19:18 133 195
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:42 10:23 70 102
Guy Hatton 14:59 10:11 67 98
Steve Wood 15:06 09:12 60 88
Mark from Ipswich 15:08 07:56 52 76
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 15:12 08:02 52 76
pfalloon 15:43 06:50 43 63
david.14587 15:57 09:03 56 82
Chrisa9 16:11 07:40 47 69
danielbluebisson Blue92 16:42 08:39 51 75
New Driver 16:43 05:39 33 48
keithandginnybirrell 19:07 14:00 73 107
winelover 19:40 10:06 51 75
TonyK 19:42 13:04 66 97
ian.shepherd 20:12 12:05 59 86
RK123 20:23 06:25 31 45
david 20:27 12:21 60 88
ttto 20:37 13:31 65 95
bangsar DearHector 21:22 11:10 52 76
philby 22:12 14:39 65 95
Askani 23:18 19:01 81 119
maryht 23:26 17:24 74 108
Tired_commuter Tired_commuter 24:50 19:09 77 113
Damien Grover 25:28 12:36 49 72
Flora Garden 25:34 22:43 88 129
paulmcl 27:01 08:52 32 47
IanV IanV 32:12 16:47 52 76
shankar 33:32 12:11 36 52
kevinlimanta 38:50 30:13 77 113
Jikolp 40:56 17:49 43 63
mcfarl 46:48 25:05 53 77
crossworder 52:03 21:39 41 60

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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