Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3035

Date 08 July 2025
Number 3035
Setter Izetti
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 79
Count of ref solvers 81
Ref solvers excluded with errors 11
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3035

* 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 01:54 89 112
Jason 02:35 02:27 94 118
verlaine 02:38 02:16 86 108
mistigris 02:39 02:13 83 105
Magoo 02:46 02:34 92 116
aphis99 aphis99 02:51 02:18 80 101
Ciolf 03:37 03:58 109 137
Heyesey 03:41 02:45 74 93
Sheapey Sheapey 03:43 02:22 63 79
Amoeba89 03:55 02:24 61 77
Kinghedger 04:01 03:04 76 96
SimonAnthony 04:04 03:01 74 93
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:11 02:45 65 82
Deane Short 04:13 03:04 72 91
lickert 04:15 03:17 77 97
MikeOsborne 04:17 03:55 91 115
toots 04:30 03:49 84 106
MK76 04:35 03:49 83 105
chindit 04:37 03:21 72 91
Bluejacket 04:39 04:01 86 108
tilbee 04:40 03:22 72 91
Freemers 04:44 04:34 96 121
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:46 04:02 84 106
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:46 03:48 79 100
Jon Delfin 04:52 04:01 82 103
canismiser 04:52 03:27 70 88
LouWeed LouWeed 04:53 05:49 119 150
andrewlake 04:53 03:39 74 93
andy 04:55 04:01 81 102
fshephe 04:56 03:41 74 93
cdb_100 05:00 03:10 63 79
JayEm 05:01 03:23 67 84
neilr neilr 05:02 03:53 77 97
March 05:03 04:07 81 102
Ed freshpot 05:04 05:34 109 137
Honggui 05:06 05:20 104 131
Aybee 05:07 04:15 83 105
Squallaby 05:15 04:17 81 102
Tibthorpe 05:19 04:19 81 102
AndyKnott321 05:27 05:07 93 117
rrricharrrd 05:32 03:05 55 69
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:38 05:53 104 131
Finzi 05:39 05:49 102 129
chriswestontour 05:47 04:44 81 102
Encota 05:47 03:35 61 77
Rabbitoh galspray 05:49 04:04 69 87
hopkinb hopkinb 06:07 04:56 80 101
Anomalospiza 06:10 04:52 78 98
plusjeremy (Jeremy Weissmann) plusjeremy 06:21 04:37 72 91
dr.shred 06:26 04:51 75 94
Adrian Cobb 06:34 06:02 91 115
Dzhigit 06:34 06:04 92 116
paul.whitehouse69 06:34 05:22 81 102
Tudds 06:38 05:58 89 112
GMcD 06:38 06:05 91 115
mjsaunders9 06:56 05:30 79 100
janesa 07:03 06:51 97 122
Nangle 07:08 08:52 124 156
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 07:13 07:09 99 125
Jamie Fox 07:15 04:47 65 82
robinh 07:18 05:25 74 93
Aldus 07:23 06:09 83 105
DamienKnapma 07:29 06:05 81 102
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:31 06:26 85 107
SlumdogEngineer 07:33 13:00 172 217
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 04:51 63 79
TomHerbert 07:44 05:40 73 92
Doyler 07:49 06:21 81 102
docg 07:56 07:35 95 120
Solving slo mo 08:07 05:35 68 86
smalley552 08:08 06:49 83 105
plett11 Plett11 08:14 06:07 74 93
OldSolver 08:27 06:34 77 97
Templar Redux Templar 08:30 05:55 69 87
Jeeves 08:38 07:00 81 102
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:40 06:56 80 101
johndun John Dunleavy 08:40 06:31 75 94
goblin 08:43 06:36 75 94
RPY 08:52 08:01 90 113
vefatica vefatica 08:56 07:50 87 110
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:04 06:48 75 94
nigelmzzz 09:06 08:44 95 120
Kernowdoc 09:08 08:15 90 113
barracuda barracuda 09:28 08:22 88 111
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:31 05:32 58 73
Dr_Bob 09:31 08:33 89 112
Calculator001 09:35 08:38 90 113
Solfynn 09:39 09:45 101 127
Word Psmith 09:43 07:16 74 93
piltdown man 10:06 08:09 80 101
intentional rounding 10:10 06:57 68 86
Birdingbob 10:12 06:06 59 74
CoxBurglar 10:31 08:50 83 105
iholloway 10:45 08:45 81 102
starstruck starstruck_au 10:49 08:33 79 100
russellcannon 10:51 08:18 76 96
symbenall2 11:11 07:41 68 86
TonyN6 11:14 08:48 78 98
Cedric Statherby 11:34 10:06 87 110
The Real Steve Snackman 11:38 08:10 70 88
Pendrov 11:44 10:46 91 115
alistair.boere 11:45 09:05 77 97
Captain Burnaby 11:50 09:12 77 97
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:52 09:32 80 101
Richard the First 12:20 08:29 68 86
kapietro kapietro 12:39 09:38 76 96
suethepotterer 12:51 09:04 70 88
martinr486 13:02 07:53 60 75
tyrotim tyrotim 13:07 07:44 58 73
ifincham2 13:15 09:15 69 87
Muckypuppy 14:25 07:05 49 62
Mark from Ipswich 14:31 09:50 67 84
Steve Wood 14:31 10:26 71 89
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:50 12:22 83 105
kfb20 14:58 08:10 54 68
pfalloon 15:15 08:10 53 67
RPE10538 RPE10538 16:35 17:12 103 130
tomtom2 17:47 11:11 62 78
david 19:23 13:25 69 87
TonyK 19:27 15:20 78 98
ttto 19:50 25:42 129 163
bangsar DearHector 21:12 19:53 93 117
Hazelnut 21:47 19:46 90 113
philby 22:00 21:42 98 124
pamelalewis51 23:10 14:14 61 77
judi 23:18 10:39 45 56
maryht 23:25 15:08 64 81
paulmcl 24:28 12:14 50 63
Flora Garden 25:01 18:50 75 94
jlloyd4424 26:32 15:42 59 74
DrAnatomist 30:18 26:15 86 108
kevinlimanta 35:46 13:40 38 48
revolting tonic 38:45 22:04 56 70
mcfarl 46:44 22:58 49 62
crossworder 48:57 51:01 104 131

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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