Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3044

Date 18 July 2025
Number 3044
Setter Cheeko
Day of week Friday
NITCH 101
Count of ref solvers 79
Ref solvers excluded with errors 9
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3044

* 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
cmjhutton 02:18 02:06 91 90
Jason 02:35 02:43 105 103
verlaine 02:38 01:46 67 66
mistigris 02:39 03:18 124 122
Magoo 02:46 02:36 93 92
hilarym 02:50 03:28 122 120
aphis99 aphis99 02:51 03:27 121 119
Flimmy flammy 03:11 03:16 102 100
Ciolf 03:37 02:44 75 74
markdobell 03:39 04:08 113 111
Heyesey 03:41 03:26 93 92
Amoeba89 03:55 03:13 82 81
Kinghedger 04:01 05:16 131 129
SimonAnthony 04:04 03:28 85 84
glheard 04:06 04:46 116 114
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:11 04:37 110 108
lickert 04:15 04:41 110 108
MikeOsborne 04:17 05:13 121 119
John Walsh 04:27 04:07 92 91
Morphosis 04:28 05:51 130 128
Roscoe 04:32 04:29 98 97
MK76 04:35 04:30 98 97
chindit 04:37 03:41 79 78
EricK 04:38 04:01 86 85
Bluejacket 04:39 05:16 113 111
tilbee 04:40 03:33 76 75
lucyg43484 04:41 04:04 86 85
Freemers 04:44 06:32 138 136
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:46 05:26 113 111
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:46 04:42 98 97
alexh 04:47 04:27 93 92
LuckOfLucien 04:48 04:06 85 84
scrabbler 04:51 05:17 108 106
Jon Delfin 04:52 04:57 101 100
LouWeed LouWeed 04:53 05:42 116 114
andrewlake 04:53 06:06 124 122
fshephe 04:56 04:40 94 93
cdb_100 05:00 05:23 107 105
JayEm 05:01 05:16 104 102
Ed freshpot 05:04 06:17 124 122
Aybee 05:07 06:13 121 119
Squallaby 05:15 05:59 113 111
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:16 07:02 133 131
ChuckB 05:18 05:25 102 100
Tibthorpe 05:19 04:58 93 92
babka 05:21 07:44 144 142
rrricharrrd 05:32 06:24 115 113
Riche Riche 05:32 06:31 117 115
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:38 05:12 92 91
esmeralda 05:38 06:30 115 113
Finzi 05:39 04:40 82 81
Crossiant 05:42 05:58 104 102
mcrossib1 05:45 06:46 117 115
Encota 05:47 08:40 149 147
mw7000 05:48 06:17 108 106
Rabbitoh galspray 05:49 04:51 83 82
SBQuick 05:54 06:20 107 105
Looch 05:58 08:17 138 136
Mike C 06:04 06:48 112 110
hopkinb hopkinb 06:07 06:49 111 109
Anomalospiza 06:10 05:50 94 93
PGooden 06:15 07:04 113 111
Carol 06:20 05:55 93 92
andrewfeist96 06:22 05:50 91 90
thewanderingeditor 06:27 06:50 105 103
Shabbo 06:32 10:15 156 154
paul.whitehouse69 06:34 08:48 134 132
Dzhigit 06:34 06:33 99 98
julian_w 06:35 04:54 74 73
GMcD 06:38 08:31 128 126
hazyfantazee 06:43 06:46 100 99
jon 06:47 07:55 116 114
ilan 06:52 06:29 94 93
mjsaunders9 06:56 06:09 88 87
valerian1967 06:56 05:39 81 80
uvofiz 07:01 09:17 132 130
James P 07:05 09:11 129 127
DianeRS 07:06 07:08 100 99
Nangle 07:08 06:57 97 96
Obrador 07:10 07:05 98 97
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 07:13 07:12 99 98
robertL 07:13 08:17 114 112
Jamie Fox 07:15 08:45 120 118
robinh 07:18 07:49 107 105
Puzzleplease 07:27 10:27 140 138
DamienKnapma 07:29 06:19 84 83
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:31 10:05 134 132
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 12:51 169 167
Dvynys Dvynys 07:45 08:25 108 106
Corymbia Corymbia 07:47 08:23 107 105
1234 07:51 06:20 80 79
ChrisBrea 07:51 07:10 91 90
docg 07:56 06:50 86 85
Solving slo mo 08:07 06:38 81 80
plett11 Plett11 08:14 08:55 108 106
Sheen 08:15 07:40 92 91
ulaca ulaca 08:25 09:44 115 113
jemcd33 08:25 08:04 95 94
OldSolver 08:27 07:36 89 88
Templar Redux Templar 08:30 07:29 88 87
hemantyd 08:36 07:48 90 89
Jeeves 08:38 12:21 143 141
johndun John Dunleavy 08:40 12:35 145 143
goblin 08:43 09:43 111 109
m5harp 08:46 10:03 114 112
mattindoha 08:49 08:50 100 99
MichelinPoitiers 08:55 10:49 121 119
vefatica vefatica 08:56 08:51 99 98
Troothful 08:56 09:48 109 107
Peloton 08:59 14:30 161 159
crosswordian 09:00 08:38 95 94
JeffHobbs 09:02 12:37 139 137
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:04 13:16 146 144
nigelmzzz 09:06 10:26 114 112
Kernowdoc 09:08 11:05 121 119
f4rch 09:09 06:08 67 66
mich_punk 09:17 11:02 118 116
raincloud 09:25 10:43 113 111
barracuda barracuda 09:28 12:12 128 126
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:31 05:58 62 61
annikins 09:51 08:51 89 88
phatman 10:02 21:05 210 207
intentional rounding 10:10 10:58 107 105
starstruck starstruck_au 10:49 11:13 103 101
Nuck_the_king 11:07 10:42 96 95
TonyN6 11:14 20:38 183 181
rlowin2 11:21 13:23 117 115
simjt simjt 11:21 16:58 149 147
Cedric Statherby 11:34 14:09 122 120
The Real Steve Snackman 11:38 12:58 111 109
alistair.boere 11:45 11:40 99 98
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:52 13:52 116 114
BertieVII 12:14 09:54 80 79
chabuduo chabuduo 12:22 11:33 93 92
kapietro kapietro 12:39 13:40 108 106
Sonofjim 12:42 12:41 99 98
Hugster 12:49 15:04 117 115
tyrotim tyrotim 13:07 13:24 102 100
Mendes Mendesest 14:04 14:37 103 101
Charpentier 14:13 19:22 136 134
Muckypuppy 14:25 15:01 104 102
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:50 15:24 103 101
pfalloon 15:15 50:08 328 324
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 15:25 17:49 115 113
horners1974 Jonathan Hornby 15:45 09:57 63 62
thechan 16:27 16:44 101 100
tomtom2 17:47 16:00 89 88
winelover 18:07 20:02 110 108
david 19:23 15:54 82 81
TonyK 19:27 23:15 119 117
bangsar DearHector 21:12 32:36 153 151
pamelalewis51 23:10 32:58 142 140
mozbadel mozbadel 24:24 22:13 91 90
paulmcl 24:28 15:49 64 63
Flora Garden 25:01 25:49 103 101
jlloyd4424 26:32 38:50 146 144
Aresbiscuits 27:48 45:55 165 163
shankar 33:03 52:45 159 157
kevinlimanta 35:46 26:46 74 73

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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