Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3015

Date 14 June 2025
Number 3015
Setter Cheeko
Day of week Saturday
NITCH 107
Count of ref solvers 77
Ref solvers excluded with errors 14
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3015

* 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 02:48 122 114
cmjhutton 02:19 02:33 110 102
Jason 02:33 02:23 93 86
verlaine 02:37 02:43 103 96
hilarym 02:47 03:32 126 117
aphis99 aphis99 02:53 02:57 102 95
Flimmy flammy 03:11 06:26 202 188
Ciolf 03:39 04:01 110 102
markdobell 03:39 03:22 92 85
Heyesey 03:41 04:20 117 109
AlanS 03:54 04:13 108 100
Amoeba89 03:59 03:29 87 81
SimonAnthony 04:02 05:30 136 127
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:07 03:19 80 74
Deane Short 04:14 05:20 125 116
lickert 04:15 04:14 99 92
chindit 04:35 04:57 108 100
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:41 04:33 97 90
Freemers 04:44 06:43 141 131
lucyg43484 04:44 04:49 101 94
EricK 04:45 04:16 89 83
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:46 07:25 155 144
Bluejacket 04:46 04:16 89 83
scrabbler 04:53 04:41 95 88
Jon Delfin 04:55 04:20 88 82
andy 04:55 04:06 83 77
canismiser 04:56 05:42 115 107
tiggis 04:57 05:05 102 95
Ed freshpot 04:59 10:06 202 188
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:13 06:10 118 110
Adelaider 05:14 05:46 110 102
ChuckB 05:19 06:03 113 105
alisonm74 05:21 05:59 111 103
nina s 05:21 07:00 130 121
Zander 05:22 05:40 105 98
Finzi 05:39 06:40 117 109
rrricharrrd 05:44 05:55 103 96
Streaky Bacon 05:50 07:04 121 113
chriswestontour 05:52 05:51 99 92
mcrossib1 05:52 07:24 126 117
RobR RobR 05:58 06:59 117 109
KET 05:59 08:17 138 128
KarenR 06:02 05:56 98 91
SBQuick 06:02 08:57 148 138
Gaius 06:12 11:29 185 172
Anomalospiza 06:20 08:03 127 118
Adrian Cobb 06:28 07:52 121 113
thewanderingeditor 06:33 04:45 72 67
paul.whitehouse69 06:36 07:48 118 110
hazyfantazee 06:36 07:24 112 104
Tudds 06:43 08:29 126 117
GMcD 06:43 06:18 93 86
Curarist 06:43 06:02 89 83
jimwetzler 06:44 10:19 153 142
ilan 06:51 10:33 154 143
kate 06:54 19:57 289 270
mjsaunders9 06:57 06:26 92 85
Nangle 07:05 09:14 130 121
robertL 07:07 08:08 114 106
James P 07:08 08:25 117 109
tds 07:10 08:10 113 105
uvofiz 07:15 07:52 108 100
earlylight 07:20 11:03 150 140
robinh 07:25 08:46 118 110
Jamie Fox 07:29 05:02 67 62
edwards.robert1 07:31 03:55 52 48
Aldus 07:35 07:16 95 88
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:36 07:29 98 91
Dvynys Dvynys 07:45 08:39 111 103
Corymbia Corymbia 07:50 07:50 100 93
ChrisBrea 07:58 13:35 170 158
plett11 Plett11 08:13 09:52 120 112
John Arnold 08:17 09:29 114 106
ulaca ulaca 08:31 08:35 100 93
goblin 08:35 10:19 120 112
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:37 06:52 79 73
hemantyd 08:38 10:42 123 114
Templar Redux Templar 08:38 07:59 92 85
Jeeves 08:41 08:53 102 95
Rosey6 08:45 08:16 94 87
Cuppa378 08:50 08:21 94 87
vefatica vefatica 08:52 10:01 112 104
mattindoha 08:56 09:59 111 103
nigelmzzz 09:00 11:15 125 116
Calculator001 09:05 11:57 131 122
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:07 09:51 108 100
crosswordian 09:10 11:17 123 114
RPY 09:14 08:24 90 84
gsriordan52 09:15 09:32 103 96
annbrew 09:15 10:04 108 100
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:27 08:10 86 80
barracuda barracuda 09:30 09:34 100 93
Edprof 09:30 07:32 79 73
raincloud 09:37 12:01 124 115
Word Psmith 09:58 10:45 107 100
richardCV22 10:11 10:10 99 92
annikins 10:17 09:36 93 86
Alias Noble 10:18 12:51 124 115
phatman 10:36 09:06 85 79
Laputan 10:52 08:08 74 69
intentional rounding 11:07 09:22 84 78
Nuck_the_king 11:09 17:30 156 145
TonyN6 11:11 12:48 114 106
Pendrov 11:17 16:11 143 133
simjt simjt 11:22 10:45 94 87
Cedric Statherby 11:39 14:13 122 114
jackk.larg 12:03 11:24 94 87
BertieVII 12:14 11:14 91 85
youngbaz 12:16 16:55 137 128
kapietro kapietro 12:46 14:46 115 107
suethepotterer 12:48 13:41 106 99
hectorslave 12:50 12:44 99 92
chabuduo chabuduo 13:01 18:35 142 132
ifincham2 13:13 12:38 95 88
Hugster 13:39 18:15 133 124
mpbthorpe 13:42 15:07 110 102
nigel 14:10 17:13 121 113
Muckypuppy 15:01 15:01 100 93
Mark from Ipswich 15:08 19:18 127 118
Xebeq 15:22 22:54 149 139
pfalloon 15:43 29:13 185 172
tomtom2 17:31 28:46 164 153
TonyK 19:42 21:34 109 101
ian.shepherd 20:12 25:35 126 117
david 20:27 17:17 84 78
philby 22:12 92:09 415 387
pamelalewis51 23:16 03:23 14 13
Flora Garden 25:34 22:56 89 83
paulmcl 27:01 12:10 45 42
IanV IanV 32:12 33:00 102 95
revolting tonic 37:51 39:36 104 97
kevinlimanta 38:50 36:59 95 88
mcfarl 46:48 52:12 111 103

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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