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 91
Count of ref solvers 75
Ref solvers excluded with errors 0
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
Paul Gilbert 02:14 01:57 87 95
cmjhutton 02:18 02:17 99 108
Jason 02:35 02:41 103 113
verlaine 02:38 02:29 94 103
mistigris 02:39 02:44 103 113
Magoo 02:46 03:03 110 120
aphis99 aphis99 02:51 02:52 100 109
Flimmy flammy 03:11 02:44 85 93
Ciolf 03:37 03:18 91 100
richard 03:37 04:47 132 145
markdobell 03:39 03:24 93 102
Heyesey 03:41 03:44 101 110
Sheapey Sheapey 03:43 03:05 82 90
AlanS 03:55 04:08 105 115
Amoeba89 03:55 02:48 71 78
Kinghedger 04:01 02:53 71 78
SimonAnthony 04:04 03:46 92 101
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:11 03:58 94 103
lickert 04:15 04:00 94 103
MikeOsborne 04:17 04:19 100 109
Umpire 04:21 05:17 121 132
Morphosis 04:28 04:02 90 98
Roscoe 04:32 04:40 102 112
MK76 04:35 03:50 83 91
EricK 04:38 03:26 74 81
Bluejacket 04:39 04:47 102 112
tilbee 04:40 03:28 74 81
lucyg43484 04:41 04:05 87 95
Freemers 04:44 03:59 84 92
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:46 04:15 89 97
alexh 04:47 05:20 111 121
scrabbler 04:51 04:49 99 108
Jon Delfin 04:52 03:48 78 85
canismiser 04:52 04:27 91 100
andrewlake 04:53 03:58 81 89
LouWeed LouWeed 04:53 05:26 111 121
andy 04:55 05:10 105 115
fshephe 04:56 05:42 115 126
Liari 04:57 03:54 78 85
tiggis 04:57 05:12 105 115
cdb_100 05:00 04:52 97 106
neilr neilr 05:02 04:35 91 100
March 05:03 05:32 109 119
Ed freshpot 05:04 04:00 78 85
Aybee 05:07 04:32 88 96
Aly Duncan 05:07 04:35 89 97
nina s 05:10 05:18 102 112
Zander 05:14 04:20 82 90
Squallaby 05:15 05:39 107 117
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:16 05:06 96 105
Tibthorpe 05:19 04:48 90 98
GeorgeTz 05:30 04:33 82 90
rrricharrrd 05:32 04:21 78 85
Riche Riche 05:32 05:09 93 102
Streaky Bacon 05:35 05:15 94 103
whichcraft 05:36 04:35 81 89
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:38 04:33 80 87
esmeralda 05:38 06:24 113 124
Finzi 05:39 05:43 101 110
Crossiant 05:42 06:13 109 119
Encota 05:47 05:21 92 101
Penfold_61 05:48 05:23 92 101
Rabbitoh galspray 05:49 05:03 86 94
Gaius 05:53 04:56 83 91
SBQuick 05:54 04:38 78 85
RobR RobR 05:55 05:08 86 94
KarenR 05:57 05:19 89 97
Looch 05:58 05:47 96 105
hopkinb hopkinb 06:07 06:33 107 117
Anomalospiza 06:10 05:07 82 90
cath23 06:13 04:47 76 83
PGooden 06:15 05:29 87 95
Carol 06:20 06:24 101 110
paul.whitehouse69 06:34 06:22 96 105
Curarist 06:42 05:47 86 94
jon 06:47 05:56 87 95
mjsaunders9 06:56 05:24 77 84
tds 06:57 05:20 76 83
James P 07:05 05:16 74 81
Jamie Fox 07:15 06:07 84 92
robinh 07:18 06:13 85 93
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:31 07:39 101 110
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 06:18 83 91
TomHerbert 07:44 04:54 63 69
Dvynys Dvynys 07:45 05:48 74 81
mjwiseman 07:53 05:31 69 75
plett11 Plett11 08:14 09:48 119 130
Templar Redux Templar 08:30 07:07 83 91
johndun John Dunleavy 08:40 10:03 115 126
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:40 10:03 115 126
gsriordan52 09:08 06:26 70 76
simjt simjt 11:21 12:19 108 118
Cedric Statherby 11:34 09:31 82 90
E Bradford E Bradford 11:52 14:50 125 137
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:52 09:35 80 87
chabuduo chabuduo 12:22 09:21 75 82
Mendes Mendesest 14:04 16:37 118 129
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:50 15:29 104 114
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 15:25 11:34 75 82
New Driver 16:06 09:31 59 64
danielbluebisson Blue92 16:40 09:31 57 62
bangsar DearHector 21:12 14:13 67 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.