Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3058

Date 04 August 2025
Number 3058
Day of week Monday
NITCH 75
Count of ref solvers 80
Ref solvers excluded with errors 12
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3058

* 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 01:34 73 97
mistigris 02:37 01:43 65 86
Jason 02:41 01:35 59 78
aphis99 aphis99 02:47 01:49 65 86
Sheapey Sheapey 03:35 02:08 59 78
richard 03:37 02:24 66 88
Amoeba89 03:47 01:54 50 66
AlanS 03:50 02:57 76 101
Kinghedger 03:56 04:17 108 144
Deane Short 03:59 02:48 70 93
SimonAnthony 04:02 02:08 52 69
glheard 04:03 03:49 94 125
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:03 02:26 60 80
MikeOsborne 04:13 04:06 97 129
John Walsh 04:24 05:19 120 160
Nigel1953 04:29 08:15 184 245
MK76 04:31 02:53 63 84
chindit 04:35 03:21 73 97
fshephe 04:36 04:04 88 117
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:44 03:26 72 96
Freemers 04:45 03:57 83 110
Jon Delfin 04:48 03:20 69 92
scrabbler 04:49 03:44 77 102
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:49 03:20 69 92
andy 04:50 03:53 80 106
JayEm 04:51 04:34 94 125
cdb_100 04:51 04:08 85 113
LouWeed LouWeed 04:58 03:57 79 105
Ed freshpot 04:59 03:33 71 94
neilr neilr 04:59 05:18 106 141
DunPangolin 05:00 05:19 106 141
Honggui 05:04 05:19 104 138
Aybee 05:07 03:25 66 88
Tibthorpe 05:08 03:57 76 101
ChuckB 05:13 05:01 96 128
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:14 04:07 78 104
Riche Riche 05:24 04:04 75 100
Encota 05:35 03:51 68 90
Finzi 05:37 04:51 86 114
Rabbitoh galspray 05:38 04:26 78 104
chriswestontour 05:41 06:07 107 142
SBQuick 05:43 04:11 73 97
RobR RobR 05:49 06:24 110 146
Looch 05:52 03:56 67 89
Anomalospiza 06:00 05:54 98 130
dr.shred 06:05 03:27 56 74
PGooden 06:13 05:42 91 121
Rosron 06:17 05:05 80 106
Tudds 06:24 04:51 75 100
Dzhigit 06:25 03:40 57 76
Shabbo 06:29 04:08 63 84
Adrian Cobb 06:29 05:47 89 118
valerian1967 06:51 05:13 76 101
mjsaunders9 06:57 04:59 71 94
Nangle 06:59 05:07 73 97
DamienKnapma 07:13 04:56 68 90
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 07:14 06:37 91 121
robinh 07:16 05:44 78 104
Puzzleplease 07:20 04:56 67 89
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 04:38 61 81
Corymbia Corymbia 07:37 05:01 65 86
docg 07:46 07:20 94 125
Doyler 07:49 05:48 74 98
Templar Redux Templar 08:14 04:28 54 72
John Arnold 08:17 07:07 85 113
hemantyd 08:23 04:26 52 69
johndun John Dunleavy 08:24 07:10 85 113
Jeeves 08:29 07:23 87 116
Cuppa378 08:38 05:57 68 90
goblin 08:38 06:42 77 102
mattindoha 08:42 06:12 71 94
Kernowdoc 08:43 06:33 75 100
Mkgnao Mkgnao 08:47 06:06 69 92
vefatica vefatica 08:48 07:09 81 108
crosswordian 08:52 07:53 88 117
Peloton 08:56 07:28 83 110
gsriordan52 09:01 06:28 71 94
Calculator001 09:28 09:22 98 130
intentional rounding 09:33 07:59 83 110
Birdingbob 09:35 06:10 64 85
Chrisa9 09:38 06:11 64 85
Coffell 09:40 06:32 67 89
starstruck starstruck_au 10:11 06:45 66 88
CoxBurglar 10:18 06:58 67 89
symbenall2 10:35 08:36 81 108
russellcannon 10:43 06:33 61 81
Nuck_the_king 10:46 06:42 62 82
rlowin2 10:50 09:55 91 121
TonyN6 11:00 05:58 54 72
The Real Steve Snackman 11:09 11:31 103 137
Struwa Struwa 11:16 08:50 78 104
Cedric Statherby 11:21 08:37 75 100
simjt simjt 11:28 10:16 89 118
Pendrov 11:31 13:33 117 156
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:33 08:24 72 96
maisiemae 11:36 07:21 63 84
Hugster 12:12 09:11 75 100
trish_tang 12:20 08:56 72 96
martinr486 12:24 06:47 54 72
suethepotterer 12:25 08:29 68 90
youngbaz 12:37 19:05 151 201
tyrotim tyrotim 12:52 10:27 81 108
ifincham2 13:08 09:56 75 100
Steve Wood 13:14 11:22 85 113
Muckypuppy 13:40 08:12 60 80
Mendes Mendesest 13:43 09:19 67 89
Mark from Ipswich 13:57 09:24 67 89
Charpentier 14:01 10:58 78 104
New Driver 15:06 07:04 46 61
james 15:23 06:46 43 57
RPE10538 RPE10538 15:57 13:39 85 113
danielbluebisson Blue92 15:57 09:26 59 78
thechan 16:16 11:51 72 96
harryjmm 16:25 08:51 53 70
tomtom2 17:27 11:59 68 90
david 18:18 14:20 78 104
Askani 18:24 16:45 91 121
TonyK 18:30 13:19 71 94
Damien Grover 18:38 08:24 45 60
ian.shepherd 19:07 12:13 63 84
Hazelnut 19:58 12:18 61 81
pfalloon 21:33 21:10 98 130
jlloyd4424 25:04 14:05 56 74
Flora Garden 25:14 17:00 67 89
shankar 28:37 14:54 52 69
kevinlimanta 33:11 13:59 42 56
Jikolp 39:16 32:18 82 109
andybry 40:31 19:52 49 65
stephenpmars 41:34 26:13 63 84
mcfarl 45:38 40:15 88 117
crossworder 46:41 40:06 85 113
revolting tonic 57:06 16:44 29 38

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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