Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3031

Date 03 July 2025
Number 3031
Setter Mara
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 100
Count of ref solvers 74
Ref solvers excluded with errors 6
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3031

* 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 01:49 85 85
verlaine 02:38 03:17 124 124
aphis99 aphis99 02:51 03:00 105 105
Ciolf 03:37 05:28 151 151
Heyesey 03:41 03:12 86 86
Kinghedger 04:01 04:45 118 118
Deane Short 04:13 03:16 77 77
MikeOsborne 04:17 05:08 119 119
toots 04:30 05:06 113 113
MK76 04:35 05:38 122 122
Freemers 04:44 03:49 80 80
LuckOfLucien 04:48 04:15 88 88
scrabbler 04:51 04:37 95 95
Jon Delfin 04:52 04:23 90 90
canismiser 04:52 05:06 104 104
LouWeed LouWeed 04:53 06:10 126 126
fshephe 04:56 03:57 80 80
cdb_100 05:00 04:04 81 81
JayEm 05:01 05:21 106 106
March 05:03 05:43 113 113
Ed freshpot 05:04 06:06 120 120
Aybee 05:07 06:58 136 136
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:16 05:30 104 104
alisonm74 05:18 05:22 101 101
Tibthorpe 05:19 05:04 95 95
cmcnsmith 05:25 06:05 112 112
Riche Riche 05:32 04:46 86 86
rrricharrrd 05:32 06:05 109 109
Encota 05:47 04:37 79 79
chriswestontour 05:47 05:55 102 102
mw7000 05:48 06:14 107 107
KET 06:02 06:19 104 104
Anomalospiza 06:10 05:19 86 86
Onelug 06:17 08:25 133 133
Adrian Cobb 06:34 07:20 111 111
Dzhigit 06:34 06:50 104 104
Tudds 06:38 07:02 106 106
ilan 06:52 07:19 106 106
mjsaunders9 06:56 05:16 75 75
uvofiz 07:01 08:41 123 123
Aldus 07:23 06:02 81 81
DamienKnapma 07:29 05:57 79 79
SlumdogEngineer 07:33 09:19 123 123
Dvynys Dvynys 07:45 07:22 95 95
Corymbia Corymbia 07:47 08:41 111 111
1234 07:51 07:24 94 94
smalley552 08:08 05:50 71 71
John Arnold 08:12 09:00 109 109
ulaca ulaca 08:25 10:25 123 123
Templar Redux Templar 08:30 06:58 81 81
alex.scordellis 08:34 09:22 109 109
hemantyd 08:36 09:32 110 110
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:40 09:47 112 112
johndun John Dunleavy 08:40 07:23 85 85
goblin 08:43 10:01 114 114
mattindoha 08:49 07:24 83 83
RPY 08:52 09:41 109 109
MichelinPoitiers 08:55 09:04 101 101
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:04 08:17 91 91
gsriordan52 09:08 10:21 113 113
Cryptique 09:10 16:54 184 184
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:31 09:55 104 104
Solfynn 09:39 10:39 110 110
Coffell 09:48 10:42 109 109
piltdown man 10:06 09:49 97 97
intentional rounding 10:10 06:32 64 64
Alias Noble 10:29 09:41 92 92
starstruck starstruck_au 10:49 09:32 88 88
russellcannon 10:51 09:34 88 88
Nuck_the_king 11:07 10:54 98 98
simjt simjt 11:21 11:52 104 104
Cedric Statherby 11:34 13:26 116 116
The Real Steve Snackman 11:38 10:15 88 88
Pendrov 11:44 11:24 97 97
alistair.boere 11:45 15:25 131 131
Captain Burnaby 11:50 12:12 103 103
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:52 10:22 87 87
kapietro kapietro 12:39 10:25 82 82
hectorslave 12:50 10:31 81 81
suethepotterer 12:51 15:12 118 118
tyrotim tyrotim 13:07 15:24 117 117
trish_tang 13:12 12:32 94 94
Mendes Mendesest 14:04 15:45 111 111
Muckypuppy 14:25 14:21 99 99
Steve Wood 14:31 13:16 91 91
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:50 12:28 84 84
kfb20 14:58 08:45 58 58
pfalloon 15:15 10:18 67 67
Holly O 15:34 16:12 104 104
New Driver 16:06 25:59 161 161
RPE10538 RPE10538 16:35 17:51 107 107
danielbluebisson Blue92 16:40 16:00 96 96
tomtom2 17:47 22:09 124 124
david 19:23 18:24 94 94
TonyK 19:27 24:06 123 123
Hazelnut 21:47 16:37 76 76
SilleG 21:52 45:26 207 207
philby 22:00 24:16 110 110
paulmcl 24:28 12:41 51 51
MrMonro 24:59 16:35 66 66
Flora Garden 25:01 22:06 88 88
jlloyd4424 26:32 11:37 43 43
shankar 33:03 24:35 74 74
kevinlimanta 35:46 19:44 55 55
Jikolp 38:17 52:45 137 137
revolting tonic 38:45 56:09 144 144

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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