Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3021

Date 21 June 2025
Number 3021
Setter Bjorn
Day of week Saturday
NITCH 115
Count of ref solvers 74
Ref solvers excluded with errors 12
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3021

* 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 03:36 157 136
Jason 02:33 02:45 107 93
verlaine 02:37 02:24 91 79
mistigris 02:39 03:58 149 129
aphis99 aphis99 02:53 03:30 121 105
Flimmy flammy 03:11 02:42 84 73
markdobell 03:39 07:55 216 187
Heyesey 03:41 04:43 128 111
AlanS 03:54 04:39 119 103
Amoeba89 03:59 02:34 64 55
Kinghedger 04:03 03:10 78 67
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:07 07:40 186 161
lickert 04:15 04:55 115 100
chindit 04:35 05:55 129 112
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:41 05:12 111 96
Freemers 04:44 05:32 116 100
lucyg43484 04:44 07:42 162 140
EricK 04:45 04:18 90 78
Bluejacket 04:46 06:19 132 114
LouWeed LouWeed 04:53 06:04 124 107
scrabbler 04:53 06:05 124 107
fshephe 04:59 04:40 93 80
Ed freshpot 04:59 08:20 167 145
JayEm 05:00 05:55 118 102
Johninterred 05:05 05:05 100 86
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:13 06:33 125 108
Squallaby 05:17 05:02 95 82
alisonm74 05:21 05:07 95 82
Zander 05:22 07:20 136 118
Rabbitoh galspray 05:52 04:59 84 73
mcrossib1 05:52 05:55 100 86
Looch 05:58 07:45 129 112
KarenR 06:02 08:04 133 115
cath23 06:03 08:16 136 118
andrewfeist96 06:18 07:43 122 106
paul.whitehouse69 06:36 08:40 131 113
Tudds 06:43 09:36 142 123
GMcD 06:43 09:52 146 126
Nigel1953 06:45 12:35 186 161
ilan 06:51 07:34 110 95
kate 06:54 26:42 386 335
CrystalPip 06:55 10:32 152 132
mjsaunders9 06:57 07:52 113 98
Nangle 07:05 11:03 156 135
valerian1967 07:14 06:46 93 80
KenD51 07:21 10:49 147 127
Obrador 07:21 08:54 121 105
robinh 07:25 08:51 119 103
Puzzleplease 07:29 09:12 122 106
DamienKnapma 07:33 06:37 87 75
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:36 11:42 153 133
Corymbia Corymbia 07:50 09:36 122 106
ChrisBrea 07:58 13:49 173 150
plett11 Plett11 08:13 10:08 123 106
Sheen 08:18 07:58 95 82
goblin 08:35 10:38 123 106
johndun John Dunleavy 08:37 09:07 105 91
Templar Redux Templar 08:38 13:05 151 131
Jeeves 08:41 10:31 121 105
luxtonj61 08:44 11:12 128 111
m5harp 08:47 07:37 86 74
Cuppa378 08:50 08:12 92 80
kath 08:52 07:50 88 76
mattindoha 08:56 09:25 105 91
crucihacker 09:03 10:05 111 96
Troothful 09:03 09:43 107 93
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:07 08:40 95 82
crosswordian 09:10 12:00 130 113
gsriordan52 09:15 11:50 127 110
annbrew 09:15 14:10 153 133
dedly 09:18 12:50 137 119
FelicityTT 09:23 11:28 122 106
barracuda barracuda 09:30 17:02 179 155
Edprof 09:30 09:38 101 87
raincloud 09:37 09:18 96 83
Coffell 09:39 10:13 105 91
Word Psmith 09:58 12:37 126 109
piltdown man 10:02 15:56 158 137
richardCV22 10:11 08:24 82 71
annikins 10:17 11:36 112 97
Alias Noble 10:18 12:57 125 108
phatman 10:36 16:13 152 132
intentional rounding 11:07 10:14 92 80
symbenall2 11:11 14:57 133 115
TonyN6 11:11 09:48 87 75
paul.verney 11:20 13:01 114 99
Cedric Statherby 11:39 15:06 129 112
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:40 26:21 225 195
rlowin2 11:42 11:27 97 84
alistair.boere 12:04 11:19 93 80
The Real Steve Snackman 12:05 13:25 111 96
BertieVII 12:14 10:12 83 72
Richard the First 12:21 13:44 111 96
Sonofjim 12:34 24:29 194 168
kapietro kapietro 12:46 15:43 123 106
suethepotterer 12:48 17:05 133 115
hectorslave 12:50 14:34 113 98
martinr486 13:00 15:32 119 103
chabuduo chabuduo 13:01 11:15 86 74
trish_tang 13:33 13:01 96 83
mpbthorpe 13:42 11:37 84 73
nigel 14:10 12:12 86 74
Muckypuppy 15:01 18:01 119 103
Steve Wood 15:06 13:57 92 80
Mark from Ipswich 15:08 17:19 114 99
kfb20 15:10 18:11 119 103
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 15:12 16:13 106 92
pfalloon 15:43 12:45 81 70
Chrisa9 16:11 08:10 50 43
RPE10538 RPE10538 16:37 22:47 137 119
james 16:38 17:23 104 90
New Driver 16:43 15:55 95 82
TonyK 19:42 17:25 88 76
david 20:27 15:56 77 66
Pontypandy 20:59 05:00 23 20
bangsar DearHector 21:22 24:21 113 98
dominic.c-b 21:45 43:44 201 174
Flora Garden 25:34 24:25 95 82
MrMonro 25:37 25:29 99 86
IanV IanV 32:12 50:00 155 134

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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