Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3038

Date 11 July 2025
Number 3038
Setter Asp
Day of week Friday
NITCH 102
Count of ref solvers 82
Ref solvers excluded with errors 9
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3038

* 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 02:19 109 106
cmjhutton 02:18 01:49 78 76
Jason 02:35 02:42 104 101
verlaine 02:38 02:56 111 108
mistigris 02:39 02:43 102 100
Magoo 02:46 03:15 117 114
aphis99 aphis99 02:51 03:02 106 103
Ciolf 03:37 04:18 118 115
markdobell 03:39 03:37 99 97
Heyesey 03:41 03:36 97 95
Amoeba89 03:55 02:43 69 67
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:11 04:16 101 99
lickert 04:15 04:53 114 111
chindit 04:37 05:15 113 110
EricK 04:38 04:05 88 86
Bluejacket 04:39 04:35 98 96
tilbee 04:40 04:53 104 101
Freemers 04:44 04:19 91 89
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:46 05:44 120 117
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:46 03:56 82 80
LuckOfLucien 04:48 05:01 104 101
scrabbler 04:51 04:51 100 98
Jon Delfin 04:52 07:18 150 147
LouWeed LouWeed 04:53 05:23 110 107
andrewlake 04:53 06:38 135 132
fshephe 04:56 06:02 122 119
Johninterred 05:00 07:03 141 138
cdb_100 05:00 05:36 112 109
JayEm 05:01 03:50 76 74
Aybee 05:07 07:00 136 133
Squallaby 05:15 04:46 90 88
Tibthorpe 05:19 04:53 91 89
Vannyx 05:30 06:18 114 111
Riche Riche 05:32 05:17 95 93
rrricharrrd 05:32 06:50 123 120
Finzi 05:39 05:13 92 90
Encota 05:47 05:19 91 89
mw7000 05:48 06:06 105 102
Rabbitoh galspray 05:49 04:17 73 71
SBQuick 05:54 05:27 92 90
KarenR 05:57 05:09 86 84
Looch 05:58 05:01 84 82
PGooden 06:15 06:05 97 95
Dzhigit 06:34 08:25 128 125
julian_w 06:35 05:53 89 87
Tudds 06:38 04:34 68 66
GMcD 06:38 07:35 114 111
Curarist 06:42 05:20 79 77
ilan 06:52 05:50 84 82
mjsaunders9 06:56 08:38 124 121
KenD51 06:57 10:55 157 153
James P 07:05 10:40 150 147
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 07:13 09:11 127 124
robertL 07:13 06:29 89 87
Jamie Fox 07:15 06:44 92 90
robinh 07:18 07:56 108 105
DamienKnapma 07:29 09:28 126 123
Dvynys Dvynys 07:45 05:26 70 68
Corymbia Corymbia 07:47 06:00 77 75
Doyler 07:49 07:58 101 99
ChrisBrea 07:51 10:11 129 126
Solving slo mo 08:07 08:43 107 104
plett11 Plett11 08:14 09:23 113 110
ulaca ulaca 08:25 09:25 111 108
Templar Redux Templar 08:30 10:05 118 115
john.brassey 08:30 10:46 126 123
johndun John Dunleavy 08:40 09:42 111 108
goblin 08:43 08:46 100 98
m5harp 08:46 11:03 126 123
mattindoha 08:49 09:53 112 109
vefatica vefatica 08:56 07:22 82 80
nigelmzzz 09:06 08:37 94 92
Kernowdoc 09:08 11:43 128 125
f4rch 09:09 09:16 101 99
barracuda barracuda 09:28 10:50 114 111
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:31 07:43 81 79
Edprof 09:38 10:42 111 108
Solfynn 09:39 22:20 231 226
Word Psmith 09:43 10:42 110 107
annikins 09:51 09:56 100 98
Mike Mansbridge 09:53 08:16 83 81
piltdown man 10:06 14:40 145 142
intentional rounding 10:10 09:33 93 91
Birdingbob 10:12 12:34 123 120
Alias Noble 10:29 23:31 224 219
starstruck starstruck_au 10:49 13:01 120 117
russellcannon 10:51 13:21 123 120
symbenall2 11:11 09:08 81 79
rlowin2 11:21 08:35 75 73
simjt simjt 11:21 11:37 102 100
paul.verney 11:23 12:39 111 108
Cedric Statherby 11:34 11:40 100 98
The Real Steve Snackman 11:38 16:13 139 136
alistair.boere 11:45 17:56 152 149
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:52 14:18 120 117
BertieVII 12:14 09:40 79 77
kapietro kapietro 12:39 17:30 138 135
Sonofjim 12:42 19:07 150 147
suethepotterer 12:51 10:03 78 76
tyrotim tyrotim 13:07 13:12 100 98
mpbthorpe 14:13 11:58 84 82
Muckypuppy 14:25 08:16 57 55
Steve Wood 14:31 11:21 78 76
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:50 20:33 138 135
Xebeq 15:13 11:13 73 71
pfalloon 15:15 12:29 81 79
New Driver 16:06 17:25 108 105
danielbluebisson Blue92 16:40 18:13 109 106
tomtom2 17:47 21:01 118 115
david 19:23 16:12 83 81
TonyK 19:27 21:47 111 108
pamelalewis51 23:10 14:32 62 60
maryht 23:25 24:28 104 101
mozbadel mozbadel 24:24 21:18 87 85
paulmcl 24:28 16:24 67 65
Flora Garden 25:01 29:30 117 114
jlloyd4424 26:32 45:38 171 167
IanV IanV 31:11 29:45 95 93
kevinlimanta 35:46 50:47 141 138
Jikolp 38:17 57:28 150 147
crossworder 48:57 58:30 119 116

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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