Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3024

Date 25 June 2025
Number 3024
Setter Teazel
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 96
Count of ref solvers 80
Ref solvers excluded with errors 7
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3024

* Requires access to the Times Crossword Club

Detailed solving results

 

If you would like to help cover the costs of running the SNITCH site, please "buy me a coffee".

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 02:22 103 107
cmjhutton 02:19 04:48 207 215
Jason 02:33 02:50 111 115
verlaine 02:37 02:21 89 92
mistigris 02:39 02:35 97 101
Magoo 02:47 03:19 119 123
hilarym 02:47 02:44 98 102
aphis99 aphis99 02:53 02:13 76 79
Flimmy flammy 03:11 02:59 93 96
markdobell 03:39 03:32 96 100
Ciolf 03:39 04:13 115 119
Heyesey 03:41 03:09 85 88
Sheapey Sheapey 03:50 02:59 77 80
AlanS 03:54 04:39 119 123
Amoeba89 03:59 03:42 92 95
glheard 04:00 08:53 222 231
SimonAnthony 04:02 04:03 100 104
Kinghedger 04:03 04:27 109 113
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:07 03:40 89 92
Deane Short 04:14 04:02 95 98
lickert 04:15 03:42 87 90
MikeOsborne 04:16 04:01 94 97
Morphosis 04:29 04:37 102 106
MK76 04:34 05:42 124 129
tilbee 04:39 05:13 112 116
cdb_100 04:42 04:21 92 95
Freemers 04:44 04:27 94 97
EricK 04:45 04:34 96 100
Bluejacket 04:46 05:13 109 113
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:46 03:59 83 86
LouWeed LouWeed 04:53 07:03 144 150
scrabbler 04:53 04:03 82 85
Jon Delfin 04:55 06:02 122 127
andrewlake 04:56 04:40 94 97
d.middleton 04:57 04:53 98 102
fshephe 04:59 04:03 81 84
Ed freshpot 04:59 03:59 79 82
JayEm 05:00 06:32 130 135
Honggui 05:01 04:35 91 94
March 05:05 04:56 97 101
Aybee 05:10 06:28 125 130
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:13 04:14 81 84
Squallaby 05:17 04:58 94 97
Tibthorpe 05:20 04:39 87 90
alisonm74 05:21 07:08 133 138
Zander 05:22 04:19 80 83
Finzi 05:39 06:51 121 126
esmeralda 05:39 04:46 84 87
whichcraft 05:40 06:35 116 120
MrChumley MrChumley 05:43 06:17 109 113
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:43 04:52 85 88
Vannyx 05:45 05:05 88 91
Penfold_61 05:47 04:40 80 83
Streaky Bacon 05:50 06:10 105 109
chriswestontour 05:52 06:27 109 113
mcrossib1 05:52 08:50 150 156
Rabbitoh galspray 05:52 06:53 117 121
Encota 05:53 06:40 113 117
Looch 05:58 06:05 101 105
KarenR 06:02 04:45 78 81
cath23 06:03 07:33 124 129
hopkinb hopkinb 06:07 08:01 131 136
Rosron 06:13 07:42 123 128
PGooden 06:17 06:40 106 110
andrewfeist96 06:18 10:36 168 175
Anomalospiza 06:20 08:00 126 131
Adrian Cobb 06:28 07:11 111 115
thewanderingeditor 06:33 05:30 83 86
Shabbo 06:33 07:10 109 113
julian_w 06:34 07:10 109 113
paul.whitehouse69 06:36 05:23 81 84
Dzhigit 06:40 07:20 110 114
GMcD 06:43 06:12 92 95
Curarist 06:43 04:58 73 76
ilan 06:51 09:48 143 148
kate 06:54 05:21 77 80
mjsaunders9 06:57 10:11 146 152
janesa 07:04 06:44 95 98
Nangle 07:05 06:51 96 100
Willie F 07:05 08:23 118 122
robertL 07:07 07:27 104 108
James P 07:08 07:21 103 107
tds 07:10 06:54 96 100
valerian1967 07:14 09:34 132 137
uvofiz 07:15 05:57 82 85
earlylight 07:20 08:49 120 125
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 07:21 07:17 99 103
KenD51 07:21 05:49 79 82
Obrador 07:21 07:17 99 103
robinh 07:25 05:43 77 80
Puzzleplease 07:29 05:32 73 76
DamienKnapma 07:33 08:21 110 114
Aldus 07:35 06:39 87 90
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:36 09:56 130 135
TomHerbert 07:36 08:46 115 119
Dvynys Dvynys 07:45 07:49 100 104
Corymbia Corymbia 07:50 06:14 79 82
SlumdogEngineer 07:52 07:14 91 94
ChrisBrea 07:58 07:37 95 98
mjwiseman 07:59 06:28 81 84
steve.laverock 08:05 06:11 76 79
plett11 Plett11 08:13 06:30 79 82
John Arnold 08:17 07:10 86 89
jemcd33 08:23 07:35 90 93
jaraab 08:25 10:35 125 130
ulaca ulaca 08:31 10:11 119 123
goblin 08:35 09:37 112 116
OldSolver 08:35 10:07 117 121
johndun John Dunleavy 08:37 08:59 104 108
Templar Redux Templar 08:38 06:33 75 78
Jeeves 08:41 08:21 96 100
m5harp 08:47 07:11 81 84
kath 08:52 07:57 89 92
crucihacker 09:03 06:10 68 70
Calculator001 09:05 09:10 100 104
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:07 09:15 101 105
gsriordan52 09:15 06:28 69 71
f4rch 09:15 07:53 85 88
annbrew 09:15 10:15 110 114
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:27 07:15 76 79
Edprof 09:30 09:51 103 107
barracuda barracuda 09:30 12:08 127 132
mich_punk 09:35 08:30 88 91
raincloud 09:37 10:23 107 111
Coffell 09:39 09:30 98 102
Poff 09:57 09:38 96 100
Word Psmith 09:58 09:10 91 94
richardCV22 10:11 06:54 67 69
Alias Noble 10:18 13:31 131 136
phatman 10:36 12:04 113 117
intentional rounding 11:07 09:35 86 89
Nuck_the_king 11:09 12:46 114 118
Pendrov 11:17 11:17 100 104
simjt simjt 11:22 09:37 84 87
maisiemae 11:26 09:31 83 86
Cedric Statherby 11:39 12:48 109 113
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:40 19:16 165 171
maggiema 11:56 16:38 139 144
E Bradford E Bradford 12:01 09:30 79 82
The Real Steve Snackman 12:05 14:43 121 126
BertieVII 12:14 13:29 110 114
youngbaz 12:16 12:48 104 108
Sonofjim 12:34 11:12 89 92
kapietro kapietro 12:46 10:17 80 83
suethepotterer 12:48 12:47 99 103
martinr486 13:00 13:53 106 110
chabuduo chabuduo 13:01 10:45 82 85
ifincham2 13:13 10:42 80 83
tyrotim tyrotim 13:14 15:06 114 118
trish_tang 13:33 11:11 82 85
Hugster 13:39 14:24 105 109
Mendes Mendesest 14:04 14:35 103 107
Charpentier 14:33 13:27 92 95
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:42 12:59 88 91
Muckypuppy 15:01 09:49 65 67
Steve Wood 15:06 20:40 136 141
Mark from Ipswich 15:08 12:16 81 84
kfb20 15:10 25:11 166 172
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 15:12 25:39 168 175
horners1974 Jonathan Hornby 15:18 10:39 69 71
Holly O 15:53 15:19 96 100
david.14587 15:57 19:38 123 128
Chrisa9 16:11 08:35 53 55
RPE10538 RPE10538 16:37 16:31 99 103
tomtom2 17:31 20:10 115 119
winelover 19:40 18:13 92 95
TonyK 19:42 11:47 59 61
david 20:27 18:00 88 91
Pontypandy 20:59 28:56 137 142
dominic.c-b 21:45 19:34 89 92
pamelalewis51 23:16 16:03 68 70
maryht 23:26 15:45 67 69
Flora Garden 25:34 20:32 80 83
Aresbiscuits 26:54 30:05 111 115
DrAnatomist 30:56 35:32 114 118
Jikolp 40:56 26:34 64 66
mcfarl 46:48 53:05 113 117
crossworder 52:03 63:12 121 126

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.

Loading...
Loading...
Back