Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3042

Date 16 July 2025
Number 3042
Setter Teazel
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 91
Count of ref solvers 83
Ref solvers excluded with errors 27
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3042

* 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 01:29 70 76
Paul Gilbert 02:14 02:01 90 98
cmjhutton 02:18 02:00 86 94
Jason 02:35 02:27 94 103
verlaine 02:38 01:54 72 79
mistigris 02:39 02:37 98 107
hilarym 02:50 02:30 88 96
aphis99 aphis99 02:51 03:07 109 119
Flimmy flammy 03:11 02:52 90 98
Ciolf 03:37 03:29 96 105
markdobell 03:39 02:36 71 78
Amoeba89 03:55 02:42 68 74
AlanS 03:55 03:36 91 100
Kinghedger 04:01 03:08 78 85
SimonAnthony 04:04 04:51 119 130
glheard 04:06 04:30 109 119
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:11 03:06 74 81
Deane Short 04:13 03:21 79 86
lickert 04:15 03:57 92 101
MikeOsborne 04:17 04:00 93 102
Umpire 04:21 05:00 114 125
Morphosis 04:28 05:39 126 138
Roscoe 04:32 04:31 99 108
MK76 04:35 04:49 105 115
chindit 04:37 04:10 90 98
Bluejacket 04:39 04:09 89 97
tilbee 04:40 03:39 78 85
Freemers 04:44 05:28 115 126
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:46 05:17 110 120
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:46 04:25 92 101
scrabbler 04:51 04:21 89 97
Jon Delfin 04:52 05:06 104 114
LouWeed LouWeed 04:53 05:50 119 130
andrewlake 04:53 04:54 100 109
fshephe 04:56 04:14 85 93
Liari 04:57 04:40 94 103
tiggis 04:57 05:24 109 119
Johninterred 05:00 04:32 90 98
JayEm 05:01 05:09 102 112
neilr neilr 05:02 04:48 95 104
Ed freshpot 05:04 05:29 108 118
Aybee 05:07 07:20 143 157
nina s 05:10 05:11 100 109
Zander 05:14 04:30 85 93
Squallaby 05:15 06:18 120 131
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:16 05:08 97 106
ChuckB 05:18 05:06 96 105
Tibthorpe 05:19 03:50 72 79
babka 05:21 04:00 74 81
Riche Riche 05:32 06:09 111 121
Nigel1953 05:38 03:13 57 62
Crossiant 05:42 04:56 86 94
mcrossib1 05:45 05:59 104 114
Encota 05:47 04:16 73 80
mw7000 05:48 06:41 115 126
Rabbitoh galspray 05:49 04:16 73 80
Looch 05:58 05:34 93 102
Mike C 06:04 05:16 86 94
hopkinb hopkinb 06:07 06:14 101 110
PGooden 06:15 04:24 70 76
Rosron 06:18 07:24 117 128
Carol 06:20 05:13 82 90
plusjeremy (Jeremy Weissmann) plusjeremy 06:21 06:48 107 117
andrewfeist96 06:22 06:36 103 113
Shabbo 06:32 05:01 76 83
Dzhigit 06:34 04:49 73 80
Adrian Cobb 06:34 05:48 88 96
julian_w 06:35 06:45 102 112
Tudds 06:38 05:31 83 91
GMcD 06:38 07:36 114 125
jon 06:47 05:42 84 92
ilan 06:52 05:01 73 80
edwards.robert1 06:53 04:03 58 63
valerian1967 06:56 08:32 123 135
mjsaunders9 06:56 06:19 91 100
James P 07:05 07:28 105 115
DianeRS 07:06 07:11 101 110
Nangle 07:08 06:14 87 95
Obrador 07:10 07:27 103 113
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 07:13 05:55 81 89
earlylight 07:24 01:43 23 25
Puzzleplease 07:27 07:16 97 106
Rembleforth 07:31 07:21 97 106
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:31 07:15 96 105
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 10:19 136 149
Corymbia Corymbia 07:47 07:35 97 106
ChrisBrea 07:51 07:31 95 104
1234 07:51 05:15 66 72
plett11 Plett11 08:14 07:08 86 94
ulaca ulaca 08:25 09:47 116 127
OldSolver 08:27 07:22 87 95
hemantyd 08:36 09:17 107 117
jaraab 08:38 06:43 77 84
Jeeves 08:38 07:44 89 97
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:40 06:51 79 86
goblin 08:43 09:53 113 124
Cuppa378 08:46 10:11 116 127
m5harp 08:46 09:00 102 112
MichelinPoitiers 08:55 05:42 63 69
vefatica vefatica 08:56 07:35 84 92
Troothful 08:56 08:54 99 108
Peloton 08:59 08:15 91 100
crosswordian 09:00 08:53 98 107
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:04 09:20 102 112
nigelmzzz 09:06 09:43 106 116
barracuda barracuda 09:28 09:07 96 105
annbrew 09:28 08:50 93 102
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:31 07:38 80 87
Edprof 09:38 07:32 78 85
Word Psmith 09:43 10:50 111 121
annikins 09:51 08:12 83 91
intentional rounding 10:10 07:04 69 75
Birdingbob 10:12 10:51 106 116
russellcannon 10:51 11:21 104 114
TonyN6 11:14 07:38 67 73
rlowin2 11:21 08:09 71 78
paul.verney 11:23 13:38 119 130
Cedric Statherby 11:34 12:43 109 119
The Real Steve Snackman 11:38 11:30 98 107
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:52 07:46 65 71
BertieVII 12:14 13:21 109 119
suethepotterer 12:51 13:30 105 115
martinr486 13:02 10:00 76 83
tyrotim tyrotim 13:07 09:26 71 78
trish_tang 13:12 11:25 86 94
mpbthorpe 14:13 11:47 82 90
Muckypuppy 14:25 10:51 75 82
Mark from Ipswich 14:31 17:44 122 134
Steve Wood 14:31 09:25 64 70
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:50 11:16 75 82
pfalloon 15:15 09:49 64 70
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 15:25 16:39 108 118
RPE10538 RPE10538 16:35 16:12 97 106
danielbluebisson Blue92 16:40 17:18 103 113
tomtom2 17:47 14:10 79 86
david 19:23 16:22 84 92
TonyK 19:27 17:01 87 95
pamelalewis51 23:10 25:21 109 119
maryht 23:25 20:30 87 95
paulmcl 24:28 08:43 35 38
Flora Garden 25:01 22:49 91 100

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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