Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3020

Date 20 June 2025
Number 3020
Setter Breadman
Day of week Friday
NITCH 103
Count of ref solvers 81
Ref solvers excluded with errors 11
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3020

* 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
mohn 02:05 02:09 103 100
Paul Gilbert 02:17 02:23 104 100
cmjhutton 02:19 03:05 133 129
Jason 02:33 02:59 116 112
verlaine 02:37 03:46 143 138
mistigris 02:39 03:05 116 112
hilarym 02:47 02:51 102 99
Magoo 02:47 02:43 97 94
Flimmy flammy 03:11 03:27 108 104
markdobell 03:39 03:35 98 95
Ciolf 03:39 03:19 90 87
Heyesey 03:41 02:50 76 73
Sheapey Sheapey 03:50 03:56 102 99
AlanS 03:54 04:22 111 107
Amoeba89 03:59 08:02 201 195
SimonAnthony 04:02 04:56 122 118
Kinghedger 04:03 04:00 98 95
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:07 04:07 100 97
Deane Short 04:14 03:07 73 70
lickert 04:15 04:16 100 97
MikeOsborne 04:16 04:41 109 105
MK76 04:34 04:32 99 96
chindit 04:35 04:59 108 104
tilbee 04:39 05:06 109 105
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:41 06:01 128 124
cdb_100 04:42 04:58 105 101
lucyg43484 04:44 05:34 117 113
Freemers 04:44 05:16 111 107
EricK 04:45 04:31 95 92
Bluejacket 04:46 05:46 120 116
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:46 05:22 112 108
alexh 04:48 05:58 124 120
LouWeed LouWeed 04:53 07:45 158 153
scrabbler 04:53 04:50 98 95
Jon Delfin 04:55 04:13 85 82
andy 04:55 04:19 87 84
canismiser 04:56 04:56 100 97
andrewlake 04:56 05:41 115 111
fshephe 04:59 04:17 85 82
Honggui 05:01 06:16 124 120
March 05:05 04:32 89 86
Aybee 05:10 06:17 121 117
Squallaby 05:17 05:59 113 109
Tibthorpe 05:20 04:30 84 81
alisonm74 05:21 06:22 119 115
Crossiant 05:33 05:34 100 97
Riche Riche 05:37 05:56 105 101
Finzi 05:39 06:37 117 113
esmeralda 05:39 06:37 117 113
whichcraft 05:40 04:47 84 81
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:43 05:56 103 100
rrricharrrd 05:44 04:49 84 81
Vannyx 05:45 07:15 126 122
Streaky Bacon 05:50 05:26 93 90
mw7000 05:51 06:18 107 103
Rabbitoh galspray 05:52 08:48 150 145
mcrossib1 05:52 05:37 95 92
Looch 05:58 07:20 122 118
KarenR 06:02 06:00 99 96
cath23 06:03 09:30 157 152
Mike C 06:15 08:20 133 129
PGooden 06:17 09:36 152 147
Anomalospiza 06:20 09:11 145 140
thewanderingeditor 06:33 06:34 100 97
Shabbo 06:33 10:43 163 158
julian_w 06:34 06:47 103 100
Dzhigit 06:40 06:25 96 93
Tudds 06:43 07:54 117 113
GMcD 06:43 09:09 136 132
jon 06:50 07:31 110 106
ilan 06:51 05:39 82 79
kate 06:54 07:09 103 100
mjsaunders9 06:57 06:01 86 83
janesa 07:04 11:14 158 153
Nangle 07:05 07:05 100 97
robertL 07:07 07:22 103 100
James P 07:08 06:39 93 90
earlylight 07:20 11:51 161 156
Obrador 07:21 06:48 92 89
Puzzleplease 07:29 12:14 163 158
DamienKnapma 07:33 10:08 134 130
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:36 07:33 99 96
Dvynys Dvynys 07:45 08:55 115 111
1234 07:48 08:48 112 108
Corymbia Corymbia 07:50 10:20 131 127
ChrisBrea 07:58 11:21 142 137
mjwiseman 07:59 06:42 83 80
plett11 Plett11 08:13 10:07 123 119
Doyler 08:14 11:18 137 133
jaraab 08:25 08:54 105 101
ulaca ulaca 08:31 07:23 86 83
john.brassey 08:33 08:38 100 97
goblin 08:35 08:16 96 93
johndun John Dunleavy 08:37 08:54 103 100
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:37 09:54 114 110
hemantyd 08:38 22:08 256 248
Templar Redux Templar 08:38 08:37 99 96
Jeeves 08:41 08:49 101 98
Rosey6 08:45 11:18 129 125
m5harp 08:47 14:51 169 164
ratterz 08:56 08:34 95 92
mattindoha 08:56 08:23 93 90
nigelmzzz 09:00 06:54 76 73
crucihacker 09:03 13:15 146 141
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:07 10:53 119 115
MichelinPoitiers 09:07 07:13 79 76
crosswordian 09:10 10:23 113 109
annbrew 09:15 09:50 106 102
f4rch 09:15 08:30 91 88
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:27 10:32 111 107
barracuda barracuda 09:30 08:26 88 85
mich_punk 09:35 09:01 94 91
piltdown man 10:02 09:02 90 87
richardCV22 10:11 08:52 87 84
Alias Noble 10:18 10:52 105 101
Pauline Minter 10:20 09:51 95 92
Birdingbob 10:26 12:37 120 116
starstruck starstruck_au 11:01 10:43 97 94
symbenall2 11:11 12:48 114 110
simjt simjt 11:22 14:50 130 126
Cedric Statherby 11:39 20:15 173 167
alistair.boere 12:04 11:45 97 94
The Real Steve Snackman 12:05 18:44 155 150
BertieVII 12:14 11:44 95 92
Sonofjim 12:34 20:08 160 155
kapietro kapietro 12:46 14:19 112 108
suethepotterer 12:48 17:04 133 129
hectorslave 12:50 12:43 99 96
martinr486 13:00 16:02 123 119
chabuduo chabuduo 13:01 25:40 197 191
ifincham2 13:13 13:13 100 97
tyrotim tyrotim 13:14 13:00 98 95
mpbthorpe 13:42 20:14 147 142
MichaelE 14:08 10:42 75 72
nigel 14:10 10:33 74 71
Charpentier 14:33 17:49 122 118
Muckypuppy 15:01 15:19 101 98
Steve Wood 15:06 11:21 75 72
Mark from Ipswich 15:08 17:28 115 111
kfb20 15:10 22:14 146 141
Xebeq 15:22 19:26 126 122
thechan 16:03 19:35 122 118
danielbluebisson Blue92 16:42 23:30 140 135
New Driver 16:43 13:47 82 79
tomtom2 17:31 20:26 116 112
TonyK 19:42 19:58 101 98
david 20:27 22:27 109 105
Pontypandy 20:59 32:50 156 151
bangsar DearHector 21:22 31:07 145 140
dominic.c-b 21:45 25:07 115 111
maryht 23:26 23:58 102 99
mozbadel mozbadel 25:19 25:53 102 99
Damien Grover 25:28 23:40 92 89
paulmcl 27:01 12:35 46 44
shankar 33:32 38:43 115 111
revolting tonic 37:51 51:56 137 133
kevinlimanta 38:50 27:10 69 66

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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