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 101
Count of ref solvers 83
Ref solvers excluded with errors 10
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 02:26 114 112
cmjhutton 02:18 02:17 99 98
Jason 02:35 04:49 186 184
verlaine 02:38 02:11 82 81
mistigris 02:39 03:09 118 116
Magoo 02:46 02:49 101 100
aphis99 aphis99 02:51 03:03 107 105
Ciolf 03:37 03:23 93 92
Sheapey Sheapey 03:43 03:47 101 100
Amoeba89 03:55 03:27 88 87
AlanS 03:55 03:27 88 87
Kinghedger 04:01 04:41 116 114
SimonAnthony 04:04 04:02 99 98
Deane Short 04:13 03:19 78 77
lickert 04:15 04:31 106 104
MikeOsborne 04:17 05:16 122 120
toots 04:30 04:27 98 97
MK76 04:35 05:05 110 108
chindit 04:37 04:42 101 100
tilbee 04:40 05:18 113 111
Freemers 04:44 05:40 119 117
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:46 05:36 117 115
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:46 04:56 103 101
LuckOfLucien 04:48 04:50 100 99
scrabbler 04:51 05:42 117 115
canismiser 04:52 04:47 98 97
LouWeed LouWeed 04:53 05:40 116 114
andy 04:55 05:40 115 113
fshephe 04:56 04:03 82 81
cdb_100 05:00 06:02 120 118
Johninterred 05:00 05:03 101 100
JayEm 05:01 03:30 69 68
March 05:03 04:06 81 80
Honggui 05:06 04:48 94 93
Aybee 05:07 04:21 85 84
Squallaby 05:15 05:37 106 104
Tibthorpe 05:19 05:07 96 95
AndyKnott321 05:27 05:56 108 106
Vannyx 05:30 06:13 113 111
rrricharrrd 05:32 04:24 79 78
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:38 04:57 87 86
Finzi 05:39 06:14 110 108
Encota 05:47 06:18 108 106
Rabbitoh galspray 05:49 07:50 134 132
SBQuick 05:54 05:56 100 99
KarenR 05:57 04:41 78 77
Looch 05:58 06:07 102 100
hopkinb hopkinb 06:07 05:03 82 81
Anomalospiza 06:10 07:25 120 118
dr.shred 06:26 06:24 99 98
Adrian Cobb 06:34 07:58 121 119
Dzhigit 06:34 05:23 81 80
julian_w 06:35 07:00 106 104
Tudds 06:38 06:42 101 100
GMcD 06:38 07:19 110 108
jimwetzler 06:39 07:14 108 106
ilan 06:52 05:59 87 86
mjsaunders9 06:56 13:11 190 188
KenD51 06:57 08:25 121 119
Nangle 07:08 08:59 125 123
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 07:13 09:19 129 127
Jamie Fox 07:15 06:13 85 84
Aldus 07:23 07:25 100 99
Puzzleplease 07:27 07:47 104 102
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 09:36 126 124
TomHerbert 07:44 08:12 106 104
1234 07:51 08:27 107 105
Solving slo mo 08:07 08:43 107 105
John Arnold 08:12 05:47 70 69
plett11 Plett11 08:14 09:05 110 108
ulaca ulaca 08:25 10:03 119 117
OldSolver 08:27 11:26 135 133
Templar Redux Templar 08:30 07:10 84 83
Jeeves 08:38 09:59 115 113
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:40 10:01 115 113
johndun John Dunleavy 08:40 09:25 108 106
goblin 08:43 11:07 127 125
Cuppa378 08:46 08:50 100 99
mattindoha 08:49 09:23 106 104
RPY 08:52 07:51 88 87
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:04 08:05 89 88
nigelmzzz 09:06 11:35 127 125
annbrew 09:28 13:51 146 144
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:31 09:39 101 100
Dr_Bob 09:31 11:19 118 116
Poff 09:40 09:19 96 95
annikins 09:51 07:18 74 73
intentional rounding 10:10 09:47 96 95
Alias Noble 10:29 07:38 72 71
russellcannon 10:51 16:19 150 148
jackk.larg 11:10 15:31 138 136
TonyN6 11:14 16:36 147 145
simjt simjt 11:21 11:53 104 102
The Real Steve Snackman 11:38 12:37 108 106
maisiemae 11:43 11:06 94 93
Pendrov 11:44 09:50 83 82
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:52 11:29 96 95
BertieVII 12:14 09:01 73 72
Richard the First 12:20 14:43 119 117
kapietro kapietro 12:39 09:48 77 76
Hugster 12:49 17:16 134 132
hectorslave 12:50 12:26 96 95
martinr486 13:02 14:15 109 107
tyrotim tyrotim 13:07 12:01 91 90
trish_tang 13:12 11:35 87 86
ifincham2 13:15 15:10 114 112
mpbthorpe 14:13 11:09 78 77
Mark from Ipswich 14:31 19:54 137 135
Steve Wood 14:31 12:50 88 87
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:50 12:04 81 80
pfalloon 15:15 16:16 106 104
horners1974 Jonathan Hornby 15:45 15:41 99 98
tomtom2 17:47 10:55 61 60
TonyK 19:27 18:00 92 91
bangsar DearHector 21:12 27:06 127 125
Hazelnut 21:47 17:48 81 80
philby 22:00 28:30 129 127
maryht 23:25 25:25 108 106
paulmcl 24:28 17:07 69 68
Flora Garden 25:01 28:14 112 110
Aresbiscuits 27:48 28:16 101 100
kevinlimanta 35:46 31:00 86 85
Jikolp 38:17 46:43 122 120
revolting tonic 38:45 23:15 60 59

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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