Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3014

Date 13 June 2025
Number 3014
Setter Teazel
Day of week Friday
NITCH 97
Count of ref solvers 78
Ref solvers excluded with errors 3
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3014

* 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 01:33 67 69
cmjhutton 02:19 02:32 109 112
verlaine 02:37 02:22 90 92
mistigris 02:39 02:19 87 89
Magoo 02:47 02:39 95 97
hilarym 02:47 02:39 95 97
aphis99 aphis99 02:53 03:09 109 112
Flimmy flammy 03:11 02:46 86 88
Ciolf 03:39 05:03 138 142
Heyesey 03:41 03:27 93 95
Sheapey Sheapey 03:50 03:20 86 88
Amoeba89 03:59 04:33 114 117
SimonAnthony 04:02 03:43 92 94
Kinghedger 04:03 03:51 95 97
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:07 03:12 77 79
Deane Short 04:14 05:01 118 121
lickert 04:15 04:02 94 96
MK76 04:34 06:31 142 146
chindit 04:35 03:32 77 79
cdb_100 04:42 04:46 101 104
Freemers 04:44 04:01 84 86
lucyg43484 04:44 04:27 94 96
EricK 04:45 03:42 77 79
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:46 05:13 109 112
Bluejacket 04:46 05:23 112 115
alexh 04:48 06:00 125 128
LouWeed LouWeed 04:53 05:36 114 117
scrabbler 04:53 05:27 111 114
Jon Delfin 04:55 05:25 110 113
andy 04:55 06:09 125 128
canismiser 04:56 05:43 115 118
andrewlake 04:56 04:51 98 101
Liari 04:57 05:10 104 107
fshephe 04:59 04:20 86 88
Ed freshpot 04:59 06:44 135 139
Johninterred 05:05 05:47 113 116
March 05:05 05:39 111 114
neilr neilr 05:07 04:40 91 93
Aybee 05:10 06:04 117 120
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:13 06:02 115 118
Adelaider 05:14 04:29 85 87
Aly Duncan 05:14 06:07 116 119
Squallaby 05:17 05:52 111 114
Tibthorpe 05:20 05:09 96 98
nina s 05:21 03:04 57 58
Zander 05:22 04:43 87 89
Crossiant 05:33 07:24 133 137
Riche Riche 05:37 06:20 112 115
Finzi 05:39 06:12 109 112
esmeralda 05:39 07:20 129 132
whichcraft 05:40 06:12 109 112
rrricharrrd 05:44 04:17 74 76
Penfold_61 05:47 05:42 98 101
mcrossib1 05:52 04:33 77 79
RobR RobR 05:58 05:54 98 101
Looch 05:58 07:12 120 123
KET 05:59 06:44 112 115
KarenR 06:02 09:43 161 165
SBQuick 06:02 05:01 83 85
cath23 06:03 05:49 96 98
hopkinb hopkinb 06:07 07:15 118 121
Rosron 06:13 08:10 131 135
PGooden 06:17 07:21 116 119
andrewfeist96 06:18 06:50 108 111
Anomalospiza 06:20 05:55 93 95
Adrian Cobb 06:28 06:40 103 106
thewanderingeditor 06:33 07:40 117 120
julian_w 06:34 06:42 102 105
paul.whitehouse69 06:36 05:20 80 82
Dzhigit 06:40 07:52 118 121
Tudds 06:43 07:25 110 113
GMcD 06:43 06:34 97 100
Curarist 06:43 09:01 134 138
ilan 06:51 07:50 114 117
endafk 06:52 09:52 143 147
mjsaunders9 06:57 06:59 100 103
janesa 07:04 06:57 98 101
Nangle 07:05 08:58 126 129
robertL 07:07 08:12 115 118
James P 07:08 06:32 91 93
valerian1967 07:14 06:17 86 88
uvofiz 07:15 05:29 75 77
earlylight 07:20 07:46 105 108
KenD51 07:21 07:08 97 100
Obrador 07:21 06:44 91 93
robinh 07:25 07:51 105 108
Jamie Fox 07:29 06:36 88 90
Puzzleplease 07:29 06:57 92 94
edwards.robert1 07:31 05:13 69 71
DamienKnapma 07:33 09:12 121 124
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:36 10:28 137 141
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:37 06:47 89 91
Dvynys Dvynys 07:45 06:01 77 79
Corymbia Corymbia 07:50 08:39 110 113
ChrisBrea 07:58 06:02 75 77
mjwiseman 07:59 07:05 88 90
martinede 08:02 07:56 98 101
plett11 Plett11 08:13 09:04 110 113
Doyler 08:14 08:09 98 101
John Arnold 08:17 07:50 94 96
Sheen 08:18 06:12 74 76
jemcd33 08:23 08:34 102 105
ulaca ulaca 08:31 07:50 91 93
john.brassey 08:33 10:22 121 124
goblin 08:35 08:27 98 101
OldSolver 08:35 11:14 130 134
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:37 10:45 124 127
johndun John Dunleavy 08:37 07:56 92 94
Templar Redux Templar 08:38 09:00 104 107
Jeeves 08:41 09:34 110 113
Rosey6 08:45 08:20 95 97
m5harp 08:47 06:24 72 74
Cuppa378 08:50 08:12 92 94
vefatica vefatica 08:52 10:58 123 126
kath 08:52 09:39 108 111
mattindoha 08:56 09:15 103 106
nigelmzzz 09:00 09:35 106 109
crucihacker 09:03 11:40 128 131
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:07 08:39 94 96
dec 09:10 08:53 96 98
RPY 09:14 06:59 75 77
f4rch 09:15 09:05 98 101
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:27 09:42 102 105
barracuda barracuda 09:30 09:28 99 102
Coffell 09:39 10:40 110 113
Poff 09:57 08:39 86 88
Word Psmith 09:58 13:00 130 134
Married Admirer 10:04 10:28 103 106
richardCV22 10:11 11:16 110 113
Alias Noble 10:18 10:59 106 109
russellcannon 10:57 08:45 79 81
intentional rounding 11:07 10:35 95 97
Nuck_the_king 11:09 14:13 127 130
symbenall2 11:11 11:16 100 103
TonyN6 11:11 10:20 92 94
paul.verney 11:20 13:45 121 124
simjt simjt 11:22 13:33 119 122
Cedric Statherby 11:39 12:04 103 106
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:40 12:05 103 106
rlowin2 11:42 12:42 108 111
jackk.larg 12:03 08:14 68 70
BertieVII 12:14 12:51 105 108
Richard the First 12:21 14:58 121 124
Sonofjim 12:34 12:14 97 100
kapietro kapietro 12:46 13:43 107 110
suethepotterer 12:48 09:08 71 73
hectorslave 12:50 12:10 94 96
chabuduo chabuduo 13:01 13:53 106 109
Hugster 13:39 10:17 75 77
Mendes Mendesest 14:04 27:28 195 201
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:42 15:38 106 109
Muckypuppy 15:01 09:33 63 64
Steve Wood 15:06 13:11 87 89
Mark from Ipswich 15:08 13:16 87 89
kfb20 15:10 18:27 121 124
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 15:12 13:08 86 88
Xebeq 15:22 12:26 80 82
pfalloon 15:43 14:11 90 92
thechan 16:03 15:46 98 101
Narayanan 16:42 17:39 105 108
New Driver 16:43 09:58 59 60
tomtom2 17:31 22:22 127 130
ian.shepherd 20:12 19:27 96 98
david 20:27 21:45 106 109
bangsar DearHector 21:22 31:44 148 152
dominic.c-b 21:45 20:37 94 96
maryht 23:26 26:48 114 117
Flora Garden 25:34 25:15 98 101
MrMonro 25:37 26:38 103 106
IanV IanV 32:12 40:00 124 127
revolting tonic 37:51 40:18 106 109
kevinlimanta 38:50 56:52 146 150

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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