Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3023

Date 24 June 2025
Number 3023
Setter Joker
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 112
Count of ref solvers 78
Ref solvers excluded with errors 6
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3023

* 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 04:10 182 162
cmjhutton 02:19 02:10 93 83
Jason 02:33 03:46 147 131
verlaine 02:37 06:00 229 204
Magoo 02:47 03:08 112 100
aphis99 aphis99 02:53 04:03 140 125
Flimmy flammy 03:11 03:12 100 89
Ciolf 03:39 03:33 97 86
Sheapey Sheapey 03:50 04:31 117 104
AlanS 03:54 03:55 100 89
Amoeba89 03:59 03:53 97 86
Kinghedger 04:03 04:31 111 99
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:07 05:16 127 113
lickert 04:15 05:52 138 123
MikeOsborne 04:16 03:28 81 72
chindit 04:35 04:32 98 87
toots 04:39 04:34 98 87
tilbee 04:39 08:20 179 159
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:41 05:24 115 102
Freemers 04:44 07:39 161 143
EricK 04:45 05:44 120 107
Bluejacket 04:46 04:01 84 75
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:46 09:01 189 168
alexh 04:48 03:41 76 67
LouWeed LouWeed 04:53 06:32 133 118
scrabbler 04:53 07:03 144 128
Jon Delfin 04:55 05:30 111 99
andy 04:55 09:25 191 170
andrewlake 04:56 06:42 135 120
d.middleton 04:57 06:14 125 111
fshephe 04:59 04:06 82 73
Ed freshpot 04:59 06:39 133 118
JayEm 05:00 06:24 128 114
Honggui 05:01 05:34 110 98
March 05:05 05:21 105 93
Aybee 05:10 06:24 123 109
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:13 07:18 139 124
Squallaby 05:17 04:09 78 69
alisonm74 05:21 05:08 95 84
Zander 05:22 04:22 81 72
cmcnsmith 05:24 05:37 104 92
Crossiant 05:33 07:04 127 113
Riche Riche 05:37 05:09 91 81
Finzi 05:39 06:19 111 99
esmeralda 05:39 04:54 86 76
whichcraft 05:40 08:46 154 137
rrricharrrd 05:44 06:48 118 105
Streaky Bacon 05:50 06:58 119 106
mw7000 05:51 05:06 87 77
mcrossib1 05:52 05:39 96 85
Rabbitoh galspray 05:52 09:03 154 137
Encota 05:53 09:48 166 148
RobR RobR 05:58 06:01 100 89
Looch 05:58 07:25 124 110
KET 05:59 06:56 115 102
KarenR 06:02 05:00 82 73
hopkinb hopkinb 06:07 06:09 100 89
PGooden 06:17 08:21 132 117
andrewfeist96 06:18 08:41 137 122
Kalakuta72 06:27 05:25 83 74
Shabbo 06:33 07:31 114 101
thewanderingeditor 06:33 09:03 138 123
julian_w 06:34 07:16 110 98
JoeyC 06:38 12:47 192 171
Dzhigit 06:40 06:31 97 86
plusjeremy (Jeremy Weissmann) plusjeremy 06:40 08:14 123 109
Tudds 06:43 09:19 138 123
GMcD 06:43 07:07 105 93
Curarist 06:43 09:36 142 126
jon 06:50 10:24 152 135
ilan 06:51 08:09 118 105
mjsaunders9 06:57 09:04 130 116
Nangle 07:05 09:11 129 115
Willie F 07:05 07:48 110 98
robertL 07:07 08:41 122 108
James P 07:08 08:30 119 106
uvofiz 07:15 07:13 99 88
earlylight 07:20 08:26 115 102
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 07:21 07:33 102 91
robinh 07:25 06:54 93 83
Puzzleplease 07:29 07:50 104 92
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:36 06:04 79 70
TomHerbert 07:36 07:16 95 84
Dvynys Dvynys 07:45 10:55 140 125
1234 07:48 09:40 123 109
Corymbia Corymbia 07:50 07:46 99 88
ChrisBrea 07:58 09:14 115 102
mjwiseman 07:59 06:51 85 75
plett11 Plett11 08:13 08:30 103 91
ulaca ulaca 08:31 09:33 112 100
goblin 08:35 08:19 96 85
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:37 07:48 90 80
johndun John Dunleavy 08:37 07:09 82 73
Templar Redux Templar 08:38 08:26 97 86
Jeeves 08:41 10:58 126 112
m5harp 08:47 08:12 93 83
vefatica vefatica 08:52 08:34 96 85
mattindoha 08:56 11:00 123 109
nigelmzzz 09:00 11:14 124 110
crucihacker 09:03 08:27 93 83
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:07 06:52 75 66
crosswordian 09:10 09:01 98 87
gsriordan52 09:15 06:49 73 65
f4rch 09:15 07:58 86 76
annbrew 09:15 10:29 113 100
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:27 10:52 114 101
barracuda barracuda 09:30 09:47 102 91
raincloud 09:37 18:24 191 170
Coffell 09:39 12:26 128 114
hookyt 09:47 12:29 127 113
Poff 09:57 11:28 115 102
richardCV22 10:11 12:03 118 105
Alias Noble 10:18 14:00 135 120
starstruck starstruck_au 11:01 10:02 91 81
intentional rounding 11:07 12:24 111 99
Nuck_the_king 11:09 18:49 168 150
TonyN6 11:11 12:01 107 95
simjt simjt 11:22 12:40 111 99
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:40 16:09 138 123
rlowin2 11:42 14:36 124 110
E Bradford E Bradford 12:01 17:25 144 128
jackk.larg 12:03 11:46 97 86
alistair.boere 12:04 11:40 96 85
BertieVII 12:14 16:57 138 123
youngbaz 12:16 13:27 109 97
Sonofjim 12:34 19:22 154 137
kapietro kapietro 12:46 14:44 115 102
suethepotterer 12:48 16:48 131 116
chabuduo chabuduo 13:01 07:48 59 52
tyrotim tyrotim 13:14 12:50 96 85
trish_tang 13:33 12:41 93 83
Hugster 13:39 15:58 116 103
nick.wilson 13:48 10:56 79 70
Mendes Mendesest 14:04 15:48 112 100
nigel 14:10 11:31 81 72
Charpentier 14:33 16:23 112 100
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:42 13:02 88 78
Muckypuppy 15:01 15:58 106 94
Mark from Ipswich 15:08 14:33 96 85
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 15:12 17:06 112 100
horners1974 Jonathan Hornby 15:18 22:00 143 127
pfalloon 15:43 29:15 186 166
david.14587 15:57 23:58 150 133
Chrisa9 16:11 09:33 59 52
RPE10538 RPE10538 16:37 15:17 91 81
New Driver 16:43 44:27 265 236
tomtom2 17:31 18:42 106 94
TonyK 19:42 18:05 91 81
ian.shepherd 20:12 19:37 97 86
david 20:27 20:46 101 90
bangsar DearHector 21:22 30:10 141 125
Hazelnut 21:35 18:16 84 75
dominic.c-b 21:45 20:04 92 82
maryht 23:26 19:54 84 75
mozbadel mozbadel 25:19 25:09 99 88
Damien Grover 25:28 33:48 132 117
Flora Garden 25:34 24:57 97 86
revolting tonic 37:51 30:49 81 72
mcfarl 46:48 74:49 159 141
crossworder 52:03 71:03 136 121

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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