Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3030

Date 02 July 2025
Number 3030
Setter Teazel
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 90
Count of ref solvers 81
Ref solvers excluded with errors 9
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3030

* 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 02:07 01:46 83 92
cmjhutton 02:18 02:16 98 108
verlaine 02:38 02:35 98 108
aphis99 aphis99 02:51 02:53 101 112
Ciolf 03:37 03:24 94 104
markdobell 03:39 03:18 90 100
Sheapey Sheapey 03:43 03:39 98 108
AlanS 03:55 03:51 98 108
Kinghedger 04:01 03:58 98 108
SimonAnthony 04:04 03:39 89 98
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:11 02:46 66 73
Deane Short 04:13 03:15 77 85
lickert 04:15 05:05 119 132
MikeOsborne 04:17 03:36 84 93
toots 04:30 04:34 101 112
MK76 04:35 05:06 111 123
Bluejacket 04:39 04:44 101 112
tilbee 04:40 06:17 134 148
Freemers 04:44 04:49 101 112
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:46 05:10 108 120
scrabbler 04:51 04:24 90 100
Jon Delfin 04:52 05:22 110 122
LouWeed LouWeed 04:53 06:07 125 138
andrewlake 04:53 04:40 95 105
andy 04:55 04:51 98 108
fshephe 04:56 04:12 85 94
cdb_100 05:00 03:23 67 74
Johninterred 05:00 05:15 105 116
JayEm 05:01 04:10 83 92
neilr neilr 05:02 04:46 94 104
March 05:03 04:41 92 102
Ed freshpot 05:04 04:05 80 88
Honggui 05:06 05:58 116 128
Aybee 05:07 04:36 89 98
Aly Duncan 05:07 04:56 96 106
nina s 05:10 03:43 71 78
DunPangolin 05:14 04:50 92 102
Squallaby 05:15 05:33 105 116
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:16 05:04 96 106
ChuckB 05:18 04:49 90 100
Tibthorpe 05:19 04:11 78 86
cmcnsmith 05:25 05:44 105 116
Riche Riche 05:32 04:50 87 96
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:38 05:31 97 107
Finzi 05:39 04:54 86 95
chriswestontour 05:47 05:57 102 113
Encota 05:47 04:41 80 88
mw7000 05:48 07:02 121 134
KarenR 05:57 06:16 105 116
Looch 05:58 05:01 84 93
hopkinb hopkinb 06:07 04:35 74 82
Anomalospiza 06:10 06:21 102 113
PGooden 06:15 06:00 96 106
Onelug 06:17 05:49 92 102
dr.shred 06:26 06:19 98 108
Dzhigit 06:34 05:11 78 86
Tudds 06:38 05:37 84 93
GMcD 06:38 08:09 122 135
ilan 06:52 08:16 120 133
edwards.robert1 06:53 04:06 59 65
valerian1967 06:56 06:10 88 97
KenD51 06:57 05:41 81 90
FraserH 07:01 09:27 134 148
uvofiz 07:01 06:54 98 108
James P 07:05 05:14 73 81
Willie F 07:05 06:56 97 107
Nangle 07:08 05:31 77 85
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 07:13 06:28 89 98
Jamie Fox 07:15 07:19 100 111
Aldus 07:23 07:10 97 107
DamienKnapma 07:29 07:16 97 107
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:31 07:23 98 108
SlumdogEngineer 07:33 06:51 90 100
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 09:50 129 143
TomHerbert 07:44 07:32 97 107
Corymbia Corymbia 07:47 08:13 105 116
Doyler 07:49 12:34 160 177
nigel 07:54 05:30 69 76
martinede 08:01 08:07 101 112
Solving slo mo 08:07 11:12 137 152
plett11 Plett11 08:14 08:17 100 111
ulaca ulaca 08:25 05:17 62 68
OldSolver 08:27 08:12 97 107
Templar Redux Templar 08:30 05:52 69 76
john.brassey 08:30 07:49 91 101
johndun John Dunleavy 08:40 05:33 64 71
goblin 08:43 07:38 87 96
m5harp 08:46 06:55 78 86
mattindoha 08:49 09:04 102 113
RPY 08:52 11:30 129 143
MichelinPoitiers 08:55 06:28 72 80
crosswordian 09:00 06:50 75 83
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:04 07:14 79 87
Kernowdoc 09:08 06:36 72 80
gsriordan52 09:08 06:47 74 82
f4rch 09:09 09:46 106 117
crucihacker 09:11 07:32 82 91
raincloud 09:25 07:26 78 86
barracuda barracuda 09:28 11:28 121 134
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:31 06:52 72 80
Dr_Bob 09:31 09:28 99 110
Edprof 09:38 10:13 106 117
Word Psmith 09:43 09:24 96 106
Coffell 09:48 08:24 85 94
phatman 10:02 18:23 183 203
piltdown man 10:06 08:37 85 94
intentional rounding 10:10 08:26 82 91
starstruck starstruck_au 10:49 09:59 92 102
Nuck_the_king 11:07 09:35 86 95
symbenall2 11:11 11:13 100 111
TonyN6 11:14 09:21 83 92
rlowin2 11:21 11:36 102 113
simjt simjt 11:21 09:39 85 94
paul.verney 11:23 13:01 114 126
Cedric Statherby 11:34 08:10 70 77
The Real Steve Snackman 11:38 16:14 139 154
Dr. Memory 11:41 10:30 89 98
alistair.boere 11:45 19:33 166 184
Captain Burnaby 11:50 09:25 79 87
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:52 17:12 144 160
E Bradford E Bradford 11:52 09:43 81 90
BertieVII 12:14 11:55 97 107
kapietro kapietro 12:39 11:33 91 101
Hugster 12:49 10:30 81 90
suethepotterer 12:51 09:49 76 84
martinr486 13:02 11:42 89 98
tyrotim tyrotim 13:07 16:35 126 140
trish_tang 13:12 11:09 84 93
nick.wilson 13:19 10:46 80 88
Muckypuppy 14:25 10:02 69 76
Mark from Ipswich 14:31 18:33 127 141
Steve Wood 14:31 10:59 75 83
Guy Hatton 14:40 10:22 70 77
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:50 15:22 103 114
kfb20 14:58 19:13 128 142
james 15:08 36:47 243 270
Xebeq 15:13 14:19 94 104
pfalloon 15:15 11:35 75 83
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 15:25 14:42 95 105
horners1974 Jonathan Hornby 15:45 08:24 53 58
New Driver 16:06 19:02 118 131
tomtom2 17:47 14:18 80 88
TonyK 19:27 20:05 103 114
bangsar DearHector 21:12 17:48 83 92
Hazelnut 21:47 17:00 78 86
philby 22:00 48:02 218 242
maryht 23:25 22:43 97 107
paulmcl 24:28 12:13 49 54
jlloyd4424 26:32 24:46 93 103
shankar 33:03 24:49 75 83
revolting tonic 38:45 59:08 152 168

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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