Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3036

Date 09 July 2025
Number 3036
Setter Joker
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 100
Count of ref solvers 80
Ref solvers excluded with errors 11
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3036

* 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 02:26 114 114
Paul Gilbert 02:14 01:59 88 88
cmjhutton 02:18 02:17 99 99
Jason 02:35 04:49 186 186
verlaine 02:38 02:11 82 82
mistigris 02:39 03:09 118 118
Magoo 02:46 02:49 101 101
hilarym 02:50 03:05 108 108
aphis99 aphis99 02:51 03:03 107 107
Flimmy flammy 03:11 03:35 112 112
Ciolf 03:37 03:23 93 93
markdobell 03:39 03:09 86 86
Sheapey Sheapey 03:43 03:47 101 101
Amoeba89 03:55 03:27 88 88
AlanS 03:55 03:27 88 88
Kinghedger 04:01 04:41 116 116
SimonAnthony 04:04 04:02 99 99
Deane Short 04:13 03:19 78 78
lickert 04:15 04:31 106 106
MikeOsborne 04:17 05:16 122 122
Umpire 04:21 04:52 111 111
Morphosis 04:28 04:37 103 103
toots 04:30 04:27 98 98
Roscoe 04:32 05:05 112 112
MK76 04:35 05:05 110 110
chindit 04:37 04:42 101 101
Bluejacket 04:39 04:34 98 98
tilbee 04:40 05:18 113 113
lucyg43484 04:41 03:54 83 83
Freemers 04:44 05:40 119 119
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:46 05:36 117 117
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:46 04:56 103 103
LuckOfLucien 04:48 04:50 100 100
scrabbler 04:51 05:42 117 117
canismiser 04:52 04:47 98 98
LouWeed LouWeed 04:53 05:40 116 116
andrewlake 04:53 03:54 79 79
andy 04:55 05:40 115 115
fshephe 04:56 04:03 82 82
Liari 04:57 05:33 112 112
cdb_100 05:00 06:02 120 120
Johninterred 05:00 05:03 101 101
JayEm 05:01 03:30 69 69
neilr neilr 05:02 06:50 135 135
March 05:03 04:06 81 81
Honggui 05:06 04:48 94 94
Adelaider 05:06 05:45 112 112
Aybee 05:07 04:21 85 85
Zander 05:14 05:50 111 111
Squallaby 05:15 05:37 106 106
Tibthorpe 05:19 05:07 96 96
babka 05:21 04:50 90 90
AndyKnott321 05:27 05:56 108 108
Vannyx 05:30 06:13 113 113
rrricharrrd 05:32 04:24 79 79
whichcraft 05:36 07:32 134 134
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:38 04:57 87 87
esmeralda 05:38 05:17 93 93
Finzi 05:39 06:14 110 110
Crossiant 05:42 05:27 95 95
Encota 05:47 06:18 108 108
Rabbitoh galspray 05:49 07:50 134 134
SBQuick 05:54 05:56 100 100
KarenR 05:57 04:41 78 78
Looch 05:58 06:07 102 102
Mike C 06:04 07:03 116 116
hopkinb hopkinb 06:07 05:03 82 82
Anomalospiza 06:10 07:25 120 120
PGooden 06:15 06:15 100 100
Onelug 06:17 05:30 87 87
Carol 06:20 05:54 93 93
dr.shred 06:26 06:24 99 99
thewanderingeditor 06:27 08:25 130 130
Adrian Cobb 06:34 07:58 121 121
Dzhigit 06:34 05:23 81 81
julian_w 06:35 07:00 106 106
Tudds 06:38 06:42 101 101
GMcD 06:38 07:19 110 110
jimwetzler 06:39 07:14 108 108
ilan 06:52 05:59 87 87
edwards.robert1 06:53 04:44 68 68
CrystalPip 06:54 07:59 115 115
mjsaunders9 06:56 13:11 190 190
KenD51 06:57 08:25 121 121
DianeRS 07:06 07:32 106 106
Nangle 07:08 08:59 125 125
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 07:13 09:19 129 129
robertL 07:13 08:48 121 121
Jamie Fox 07:15 06:13 85 85
Aldus 07:23 07:25 100 100
earlylight 07:24 08:02 108 108
Puzzleplease 07:27 07:47 104 104
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:31 09:03 120 120
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 09:36 126 126
TomHerbert 07:44 08:12 106 106
Dvynys Dvynys 07:45 07:05 91 91
Doyler 07:49 06:06 78 78
1234 07:51 08:27 107 107
ChrisBrea 07:51 08:26 107 107
Solving slo mo 08:07 08:43 107 107
John Arnold 08:12 05:47 70 70
plett11 Plett11 08:14 09:05 110 110
steve.laverock 08:14 09:29 115 115
ulaca ulaca 08:25 10:03 119 119
OldSolver 08:27 11:26 135 135
Templar Redux Templar 08:30 07:10 84 84
Jeeves 08:38 09:59 115 115
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:40 10:01 115 115
johndun John Dunleavy 08:40 09:25 108 108
goblin 08:43 11:07 127 127
Cuppa378 08:46 08:50 100 100
mattindoha 08:49 09:23 106 106
RPY 08:52 07:51 88 88
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:04 08:05 89 89
nigelmzzz 09:06 11:35 127 127
annbrew 09:28 13:51 146 146
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:31 09:39 101 101
Dr_Bob 09:31 11:19 118 118
mamster 09:35 07:42 80 80
Poff 09:40 09:19 96 96
annikins 09:51 07:18 74 74
intentional rounding 10:10 09:47 96 96
Alias Noble 10:29 07:38 72 72
russellcannon 10:51 16:19 150 150
jackk.larg 11:10 15:31 138 138
TonyN6 11:14 16:36 147 147
simjt simjt 11:21 11:53 104 104
The Real Steve Snackman 11:38 12:37 108 108
maisiemae 11:43 11:06 94 94
Pendrov 11:44 09:50 83 83
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:52 11:29 96 96
BertieVII 12:14 09:01 73 73
Richard the First 12:20 14:43 119 119
kapietro kapietro 12:39 09:48 77 77
Sonofjim 12:42 11:25 89 89
Hugster 12:49 17:16 134 134
hectorslave 12:50 12:26 96 96
martinr486 13:02 14:15 109 109
tyrotim tyrotim 13:07 12:01 91 91
trish_tang 13:12 11:35 87 87
ifincham2 13:15 15:10 114 114
Mendes Mendesest 14:04 20:49 147 147
mpbthorpe 14:13 11:09 78 78
Mark from Ipswich 14:31 19:54 137 137
Steve Wood 14:31 12:50 88 88
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:50 12:04 81 81
pfalloon 15:15 16:16 106 106
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 15:25 09:25 61 61
horners1974 Jonathan Hornby 15:45 15:41 99 99
tomtom2 17:47 10:55 61 61
TonyK 19:27 18:00 92 92
bangsar DearHector 21:12 27:06 127 127
Hazelnut 21:47 17:48 81 81
philby 22:00 28:30 129 129
maryht 23:25 25:25 108 108
paulmcl 24:28 17:07 69 69
Flora Garden 25:01 28:14 112 112
Aresbiscuits 27:48 28:16 101 101
kevinlimanta 35:46 31:00 86 86
Jikolp 38:17 46:43 122 122
revolting tonic 38:45 23:15 60 60

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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