Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3052

Date 28 July 2025
Number 3052
Setter Hurley
Day of week Monday
NITCH 92
Count of ref solvers 79
Ref solvers excluded with errors 5
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3052

* 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
lili 02:08 01:53 88 95
Paul Gilbert 02:10 01:57 90 97
verlaine 02:35 02:29 96 104
mistigris 02:37 02:44 104 113
Jason 02:41 02:41 100 108
Magoo 02:45 03:03 110 119
aphis99 aphis99 02:47 02:52 102 110
Flimmy flammy 03:16 02:44 83 90
HoneyBadger 03:16 03:29 106 115
Ciolf 03:31 03:18 93 101
markdobell 03:32 03:24 96 104
Heyesey 03:35 03:44 104 113
Sheapey Sheapey 03:35 03:05 86 93
Amoeba89 03:47 02:48 74 80
Kinghedger 03:56 02:53 73 79
SimonAnthony 04:02 03:46 93 101
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:03 03:58 97 105
MikeOsborne 04:13 04:19 102 110
lickert 04:18 04:00 93 101
Umpire 04:19 05:17 122 132
Bluejacket 04:25 04:47 108 117
EricK 04:27 03:26 77 83
Nigel1953 04:29 07:59 178 193
MK76 04:31 03:50 84 91
Morphosis 04:31 04:02 89 96
fshephe 04:36 05:42 123 133
Roscoe 04:36 04:40 101 109
tilbee 04:38 03:28 74 80
lucyg43484 04:38 04:05 88 95
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:44 04:15 89 96
alexh 04:44 05:20 112 121
Freemers 04:45 03:59 83 90
Jon Delfin 04:48 03:48 79 85
tiggis 04:48 05:12 108 117
scrabbler 04:49 04:49 100 108
andy 04:50 05:10 106 115
cdb_100 04:51 04:52 100 108
andrewlake 04:51 03:58 81 88
March 04:51 05:32 114 123
Aly Duncan 04:54 04:35 93 101
canismiser 04:56 04:27 90 97
LouWeed LouWeed 04:58 05:26 109 118
Ed freshpot 04:59 04:00 80 86
neilr neilr 04:59 04:35 91 98
Aybee 05:07 04:32 88 95
Tibthorpe 05:08 04:48 93 101
nina s 05:09 05:18 102 110
Zander 05:11 04:20 83 90
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:14 05:06 97 105
Squallaby 05:18 05:39 106 115
rrricharrrd 05:18 04:21 82 89
Riche Riche 05:24 05:09 95 103
babka 05:25 06:48 125 135
esmeralda 05:28 06:24 117 127
whichcraft 05:28 04:35 83 90
Streaky Bacon 05:29 05:15 95 103
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:32 04:33 82 89
Crossiant 05:33 06:13 112 121
Encota 05:35 05:21 95 103
mcrossib1 05:36 06:35 117 127
Finzi 05:37 05:43 101 109
Rabbitoh galspray 05:38 05:03 89 96
SBQuick 05:43 04:38 81 88
KarenR 05:44 05:19 92 100
RobR RobR 05:49 05:08 88 95
fishernick79 05:51 06:41 114 123
Looch 05:52 05:47 98 106
Penfold_61 05:52 05:23 91 98
Anomalospiza 06:00 05:07 85 92
Carol 06:08 06:24 104 113
PGooden 06:13 05:29 88 95
plusjeremy (Jeremy Weissmann) plusjeremy 06:26 06:41 103 111
paul.whitehouse69 06:28 06:22 98 106
Adrian Cobb 06:29 07:29 115 125
Shabbo 06:29 06:36 101 109
Curarist 06:30 05:47 88 95
jimwetzler 06:31 08:24 128 139
jon 06:39 05:56 89 96
GMcD 06:41 08:08 121 131
ilan 06:48 06:38 97 105
CrystalPip 06:49 07:51 115 125
tds 06:54 05:20 77 83
mjsaunders9 06:57 05:24 77 83
James P 06:57 05:16 75 81
Nangle 06:59 09:03 129 140
Obrador 07:03 07:33 107 116
Jamie Fox 07:04 06:07 86 93
Gussie 07:05 08:07 114 123
DamienKnapma 07:13 06:34 90 97
robinh 07:16 06:13 85 92
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:20 07:39 104 113
Puzzleplease 07:20 08:54 121 131
earlylight 07:24 08:53 120 130
1234 07:34 06:47 89 96
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 06:18 83 90
Corymbia Corymbia 07:37 07:46 101 109
The Caffeine Kid 07:39 07:15 94 102
Dvynys Dvynys 07:41 05:48 75 81
mjwiseman 07:49 05:31 70 76
Doyler 07:49 08:40 110 119
martinede 07:50 07:50 100 108
plett11 Plett11 08:04 09:48 121 131
john.brassey 08:04 08:01 99 107
steve.laverock 08:06 08:00 98 106
OldSolver 08:14 07:06 86 93
Templar Redux Templar 08:14 07:07 86 93
MichelinPoitiers 08:18 07:16 87 94
hemantyd 08:23 06:39 79 85
ulaca ulaca 08:24 08:04 96 104
johndun John Dunleavy 08:24 10:03 119 129
Jeeves 08:29 08:02 94 102
Cuppa378 08:38 07:33 87 94
goblin 08:38 08:43 100 108
mattindoha 08:42 08:54 102 110
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:43 10:03 115 125
Kernowdoc 08:43 08:39 99 107
m5harp 08:46 09:36 109 118
Mkgnao Mkgnao 08:47 08:20 94 102
vefatica vefatica 08:48 10:16 116 126
crosswordian 08:52 11:09 125 135
kath 08:52 11:31 129 140
raincloud 08:53 08:29 95 103
Peloton 08:56 09:26 105 114
f4rch 08:59 08:26 93 101
gsriordan52 09:01 06:26 71 77
crucihacker 09:07 08:40 95 103
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:09 10:07 110 119
mich_punk 09:19 07:37 81 88
piltdown man 09:21 11:36 124 134
barracuda barracuda 09:25 09:15 98 106
Calculator001 09:28 08:16 87 94
intentional rounding 09:33 07:37 79 85
Birdingbob 09:35 10:23 108 117
Edprof 09:46 07:15 74 80
phatman 09:56 10:56 110 119
banni-wae 10:02 08:34 85 92
starstruck starstruck_au 10:11 09:21 91 98
jackk.larg 10:15 09:23 91 98
alexngbr 10:17 09:14 89 96
symbenall2 10:35 10:43 101 109
russellcannon 10:43 08:20 77 83
Nuck_the_king 10:46 13:24 124 134
TonyN6 11:00 08:11 74 80
The Real Steve Snackman 11:09 08:01 71 77
Captain Burnaby 11:10 13:36 121 131
Struwa Struwa 11:16 13:14 117 127
Cedric Statherby 11:21 09:31 83 90
E Bradford E Bradford 11:23 14:50 130 141
simjt simjt 11:28 12:19 107 116
Pendrov 11:31 10:07 87 94
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:33 09:35 82 89
Dr. Memory 11:36 16:41 143 155
chabuduo chabuduo 11:52 09:29 79 85
BertieVII 11:55 10:48 90 97
alistair.boere 12:01 09:39 80 86
Hugster 12:12 08:46 71 77
trish_tang 12:20 09:24 76 82
kapietro kapietro 12:25 10:35 85 92
suethepotterer 12:25 12:44 102 110
Sonofjim 12:45 11:20 88 95
ifincham2 13:08 18:03 137 148
Steve Wood 13:14 08:26 63 68
Muckypuppy 13:40 13:52 101 109
Mendes Mendesest 13:43 16:37 121 131
kfb20 14:17 11:04 77 83
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:26 15:29 107 116
Holly O 14:53 10:03 67 72
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 14:54 11:34 77 83
New Driver 15:06 09:31 63 68
RPE10538 RPE10538 15:57 17:35 110 119
harryjmm 16:25 15:29 94 102
tomtom2 17:27 19:19 110 119
david 18:18 20:38 112 121
TonyK 18:30 14:07 76 82
Damien Grover 18:38 15:41 84 91
bangsar DearHector 20:34 14:13 69 75
paulmcl 21:08 17:05 80 86
pfalloon 21:33 08:23 38 41
jlloyd4424 25:04 36:45 146 158
shankar 28:37 20:00 69 75
kevinlimanta 33:11 18:34 55 59
Jikolp 39:16 27:16 69 75
crossworder 46:41 63:27 135 146
revolting tonic 57:06 17:30 30 32

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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