Quick SNITCH

A quantitative guide to the degree of difficulty of the Times Quick Cryptic Crossword
Found crossword for 2025-08-05

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3059

Date 05 August 2025
Number 3059
Setter Alex
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 88
Count of ref solvers 78
Ref solvers excluded with errors 4
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3059

* 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 02:10 01:35 73 82
verlaine 02:35 02:39 102 115
mistigris 02:37 02:53 110 125
Magoo 02:45 02:56 106 120
aphis99 aphis99 02:47 02:12 79 89
hilarym 02:51 02:26 85 96
Flimmy flammy 03:16 03:32 108 122
HoneyBadger 03:16 03:07 95 107
markdobell 03:32 02:29 70 79
Sheapey Sheapey 03:35 02:59 83 94
Heyesey 03:35 03:03 85 96
Amoeba89 03:47 04:37 122 138
Kinghedger 03:56 04:30 114 129
Deane Short 03:59 02:27 61 69
SimonAnthony 04:02 03:47 93 105
MikeOsborne 04:13 05:08 121 137
lickert 04:18 03:40 85 96
Bluejacket 04:25 04:29 101 114
EricK 04:27 05:09 115 130
MK76 04:31 05:28 121 137
chindit 04:35 03:45 81 92
fshephe 04:36 03:28 75 85
Roscoe 04:36 04:27 96 109
alexh 04:44 04:58 104 118
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:44 04:04 85 96
Freemers 04:45 04:37 97 110
Jon Delfin 04:48 03:31 73 82
tiggis 04:48 04:36 95 107
scrabbler 04:49 05:00 103 117
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:49 04:29 93 105
andy 04:50 05:54 122 138
andrewlake 04:51 05:09 106 120
March 04:51 05:01 103 117
JayEm 04:51 03:12 65 73
cdb_100 04:51 03:42 76 86
footballblue 04:55 04:10 84 95
LouWeed LouWeed 04:58 04:53 98 111
neilr neilr 04:59 05:10 103 117
Ed freshpot 04:59 04:48 96 109
DunPangolin 05:00 05:13 104 118
Honggui 05:04 05:24 106 120
Aybee 05:07 04:28 87 98
Tibthorpe 05:08 05:10 100 113
ChuckB 05:13 05:29 105 119
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:14 04:07 78 88
AndyKnott321 05:15 05:53 112 127
Squallaby 05:18 04:22 82 93
rrricharrrd 05:18 04:52 91 103
Vannyx 05:21 06:49 127 144
cmcnsmith 05:22 06:31 121 137
babka 05:25 04:59 92 104
esmeralda 05:28 04:58 90 102
Streaky Bacon 05:29 04:14 77 87
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:32 07:39 138 156
Encota 05:35 04:15 76 86
mcrossib1 05:36 05:02 89 101
Finzi 05:37 04:50 86 97
chriswestontour 05:41 06:46 119 135
SBQuick 05:43 05:08 89 101
KarenR 05:44 03:56 68 77
RobR RobR 05:49 06:18 108 122
fishernick79 05:51 05:24 92 104
Looch 05:52 05:08 87 98
Anomalospiza 06:00 05:32 92 104
dr.shred 06:05 07:03 115 130
PGooden 06:13 04:32 72 81
thewanderingeditor 06:23 04:55 77 87
julian_w 06:23 06:47 106 120
hazyfantazee 06:24 05:45 89 101
Tudds 06:24 05:34 86 97
Dzhigit 06:25 05:47 90 102
paul.whitehouse69 06:28 05:13 80 90
Adrian Cobb 06:29 06:15 96 109
Curarist 06:30 07:18 112 127
joseffjones 06:31 03:58 60 68
jimwetzler 06:31 05:48 89 101
jon 06:39 06:18 94 106
ilan 06:48 08:14 121 137
janesa 06:49 05:33 81 92
valerian1967 06:51 06:07 89 101
mjsaunders9 06:57 05:24 77 87
James P 06:57 04:53 70 79
Nangle 06:59 05:13 74 84
uvofiz 06:59 06:06 87 98
Willie F 07:02 06:51 97 110
Jamie Fox 07:04 05:05 71 80
DamienKnapma 07:13 08:42 120 136
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 07:14 05:57 82 93
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:20 07:34 103 117
robertL 07:24 07:15 97 110
1234 07:34 06:04 80 90
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 08:46 115 130
Corymbia Corymbia 07:37 06:28 84 95
nigel 07:37 07:06 93 105
smalley552 07:39 10:05 131 148
The Caffeine Kid 07:39 03:36 47 53
Dvynys Dvynys 07:41 11:35 150 170
mjwiseman 07:49 06:23 81 92
john.brassey 08:04 08:44 108 122
plett11 Plett11 08:04 07:56 98 111
Templar Redux Templar 08:14 08:17 100 113
hemantyd 08:23 05:39 67 76
ulaca ulaca 08:24 06:43 79 89
Jeeves 08:29 08:42 102 115
goblin 08:38 08:56 103 117
mattindoha 08:42 04:10 47 53
Kernowdoc 08:43 07:56 91 103
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:43 09:28 108 122
Mkgnao Mkgnao 08:47 07:22 83 94
vefatica vefatica 08:48 09:25 107 121
crosswordian 08:52 10:52 122 138
Peloton 08:56 07:52 88 100
RPY 08:57 06:42 74 84
gsriordan52 09:01 09:54 109 123
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:09 09:06 99 112
Word Psmith 09:14 08:50 95 107
Married Admirer 09:17 06:43 72 81
dedly 09:18 09:46 105 119
piltdown man 09:21 08:15 88 100
annikins 09:23 08:40 92 104
barracuda barracuda 09:25 08:14 87 98
Cryptique 09:34 07:57 83 94
Coffell 09:40 08:50 91 103
phatman 09:56 05:35 56 63
Alias Noble 10:15 07:24 72 81
symbenall2 10:35 08:03 76 86
russellcannon 10:43 08:48 82 93
TonyN6 11:00 08:58 81 92
The Real Steve Snackman 11:09 07:20 65 73
Captain Burnaby 11:10 10:54 97 110
Cedric Statherby 11:21 09:55 87 98
simjt simjt 11:28 10:03 87 98
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:33 09:16 80 90
maisiemae 11:36 09:09 78 88
chabuduo chabuduo 11:52 19:36 165 187
BertieVII 11:55 11:14 94 106
Hugster 12:12 07:23 60 68
trish_tang 12:20 08:47 71 80
martinr486 12:24 12:29 100 113
youngbaz 12:37 12:12 96 109
Sonofjim 12:45 11:56 93 105
tyrotim tyrotim 12:52 17:49 138 156
ifincham2 13:08 11:22 86 97
Steve Wood 13:14 10:37 80 90
mpbthorpe 13:19 06:29 48 54
Muckypuppy 13:40 08:19 60 68
Mendes Mendesest 13:43 12:19 89 101
vanderwaal 13:46 14:56 108 122
Mark from Ipswich 13:57 09:46 70 79
Charpentier 14:01 09:29 67 76
kfb20 14:17 11:56 83 94
david.14587 15:02 07:44 51 57
New Driver 15:06 14:05 93 105
james 15:23 10:35 68 77
RPE10538 RPE10538 15:57 13:44 86 97
horners1974 Jonathan Hornby 16:03 08:16 51 57
thechan 16:16 17:26 107 121
tomtom2 17:27 26:28 151 171
keithandginnybirrell 18:13 24:51 136 154
david 18:18 13:02 71 80
Askani 18:24 10:48 58 65
TonyK 18:30 17:39 95 107
ian.shepherd 19:07 15:37 81 92
Hazelnut 19:58 19:38 98 111
DaFitzy 20:41 29:29 142 161
paulmcl 21:08 12:37 59 67
pfalloon 21:33 10:12 47 53
philby 22:00 25:50 117 132
SilleG 22:28 19:59 88 100
jlloyd4424 25:04 14:42 58 65
Flora Garden 25:14 22:42 89 101
DrAnatomist 29:51 19:54 66 75
kevinlimanta 33:11 21:17 64 72
Jikolp 39:16 30:40 78 88
crossworder 46:41 30:45 65 73
revolting tonic 57:06 35:22 61 69

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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