Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3092

Date 12 September 2025
Number 3092
Setter Kybos
Day of week Friday
NITCH 120
Count of ref solvers 78
Ref solvers excluded with errors 11
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3092

* 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 02:44 122 101
cmjhutton 02:18 02:31 109 90
verlaine 02:38 03:40 139 115
mistigris 02:39 02:56 110 91
Magoo 02:46 04:03 146 121
aphis99 aphis99 02:51 03:25 119 99
Flimmy flammy 03:11 02:49 88 73
markdobell 03:39 03:51 105 87
Kinghedger 04:01 05:29 136 113
SimonAnthony 04:04 04:15 104 86
glheard 04:06 06:25 156 130
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:11 06:09 147 122
Deane Short 04:13 04:44 112 93
MikeOsborne 04:17 03:50 89 74
Morphosis 04:28 04:49 107 89
chindit 04:37 07:36 164 136
EricK 04:38 08:36 185 154
Bluejacket 04:39 03:48 81 67
tilbee 04:40 05:53 126 105
lucyg43484 04:41 06:41 142 118
Freemers 04:44 06:50 144 120
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:46 05:04 106 88
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:46 04:53 102 85
alexh 04:47 05:11 108 90
Jon Delfin 04:52 10:43 220 183
LouWeed LouWeed 04:53 09:09 187 155
andrewlake 04:53 08:06 165 137
andy 04:55 07:29 152 126
fshephe 04:56 04:19 87 72
Liari 04:57 04:44 95 79
cdb_100 05:00 08:17 165 137
Ed freshpot 05:04 07:38 150 125
Aybee 05:07 06:31 127 105
nina s 05:10 03:34 69 57
Zander 05:14 04:57 94 78
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:16 06:56 131 109
Tibthorpe 05:19 07:08 134 111
babka 05:21 06:35 123 102
AndyKnott321 05:27 06:56 127 105
Vannyx 05:30 06:47 123 102
rrricharrrd 05:32 10:20 186 155
Streaky Bacon 05:35 05:14 93 77
esmeralda 05:38 07:11 127 105
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:38 07:14 128 106
Finzi 05:39 06:43 118 98
Crossiant 05:42 09:21 164 136
mcrossib1 05:45 06:07 106 88
Encota 05:47 05:26 93 77
mw7000 05:48 07:59 137 114
Penfold_61 05:48 06:58 120 100
Rabbitoh galspray 05:49 05:15 90 75
MrChumley MrChumley 05:52 06:21 108 90
Gaius 05:53 08:51 150 125
Looch 05:58 07:51 131 109
KET 06:02 06:53 114 95
Mike C 06:04 08:06 133 110
Carol 06:20 08:40 136 113
andrewfeist96 06:22 08:15 129 107
dr.shred dr.shred 06:26 07:40 119 99
Shabbo 06:32 08:56 136 113
Dzhigit 06:34 10:50 164 136
Adrian Cobb 06:34 09:43 147 122
julian_w 06:35 07:10 108 90
GMcD 06:38 12:37 190 158
jimwetzler 06:39 13:28 202 168
jon 06:47 10:54 160 133
valerian1967 06:56 07:43 111 92
mjsaunders9 06:56 07:54 113 94
KenD51 06:57 10:27 150 125
uvofiz 07:01 09:07 129 107
James P 07:05 09:16 130 108
Obrador 07:10 11:34 161 134
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 07:13 09:51 136 113
robertL 07:13 12:05 167 139
Jamie Fox 07:15 11:21 156 130
robinh 07:18 09:22 128 106
Aldus 07:23 09:21 126 105
Puzzleplease 07:27 10:57 146 121
DamienKnapma 07:29 08:13 109 90
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 08:22 110 91
TomHerbert 07:44 09:24 121 100
Dvynys Dvynys 07:45 10:04 129 107
Corymbia Corymbia 07:47 10:15 131 109
ChrisBrea 07:51 12:04 153 127
mjwiseman 07:53 13:19 168 140
Solving slo mo 08:07 05:55 72 60
plett11 Plett11 08:14 09:46 118 98
Templar Redux Templar 08:30 09:20 109 90
hemantyd 08:36 08:47 102 85
Jeeves 08:38 09:15 107 89
johndun John Dunleavy 08:40 09:31 109 90
goblin 08:43 08:59 103 85
m5harp 08:46 12:05 137 114
Cuppa378 08:46 07:11 81 67
mattindoha 08:49 11:19 128 106
MichelinPoitiers 08:55 11:26 128 106
Troothful 08:56 09:42 108 90
Peloton 08:59 12:02 133 110
crosswordian 09:00 11:10 124 103
FelicityTT 09:01 11:13 124 103
JeffHobbs 09:02 10:29 116 96
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:04 10:28 115 95
nigelmzzz 09:06 09:52 108 90
gsriordan52 09:08 13:18 145 120
Kernowdoc 09:08 08:18 90 75
mich_punk 09:17 12:39 136 113
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:31 09:23 98 81
Calculator001 09:35 15:05 157 130
Edprof 09:38 08:53 92 76
Solfynn 09:39 16:25 170 141
Poff 09:40 14:39 151 125
annikins 09:51 11:02 112 93
phatman 10:02 09:54 98 81
intentional rounding 10:10 10:01 98 81
Birdingbob 10:12 14:11 139 115
Alias Noble 10:29 16:48 160 133
starstruck starstruck_au 10:49 11:33 106 88
russellcannon 10:51 18:50 173 144
Nuck_the_king 11:07 22:44 204 170
symbenall2 11:11 12:00 107 89
TonyN6 11:14 11:41 104 86
simjt simjt 11:21 11:24 100 83
rlowin2 11:21 18:06 159 132
paul.verney 11:23 13:07 115 95
Cedric Statherby 11:34 22:56 198 165
Dr. Memory 11:41 17:59 153 127
maisiemae 11:43 13:59 119 99
alistair.boere 11:45 17:54 152 126
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:52 11:53 100 83
chabuduo chabuduo 12:22 28:53 233 194
kapietro kapietro 12:39 14:01 110 91
Hugster 12:49 22:04 172 143
suethepotterer 12:51 15:44 122 101
martinr486 13:02 15:29 118 98
tyrotim tyrotim 13:07 20:13 154 128
trish_tang 13:12 11:10 84 70
mpbthorpe 14:13 20:53 146 121
Steve Wood 14:31 11:23 78 65
Mark from Ipswich 14:31 14:05 97 80
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:50 21:39 145 120
kfb20 14:58 19:37 131 109
james 15:08 76:21 504 420
Xebeq 15:13 13:41 89 74
pfalloon 15:15 07:54 51 42
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 15:25 17:44 115 95
horners1974 Jonathan Hornby 15:45 15:05 95 79
New Driver 16:06 22:44 141 117
danielbluebisson Blue92 16:40 25:06 150 125
TonyK 19:27 30:09 155 129
ian.shepherd 19:50 20:24 102 85
bangsar DearHector 21:12 30:36 144 120
Damien Grover 21:14 57:25 270 225
maryht 23:25 26:31 113 94
mozbadel mozbadel 24:24 24:17 99 82
paulmcl 24:28 11:44 47 39
Flora Garden 25:01 21:19 85 70
Aresbiscuits 27:48 20:30 73 60
Jikolp 38:17 39:00 101 84
mcfarl 46:44 43:48 93 77

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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