Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3102

Date 24 September 2025
Number 3102
Setter Mara
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 114
Count of ref solvers 74
Ref solvers excluded with errors 3
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3102

* 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
mohn 02:07 02:12 103 90
Paul Gilbert 02:14 02:33 114 100
Jason 02:35 03:37 140 122
verlaine 02:38 03:25 129 113
mistigris 02:39 03:27 130 114
aphis99 aphis99 02:51 03:32 123 107
Flimmy flammy 03:11 03:28 108 94
davebees 03:27 03:48 110 96
richard 03:37 04:29 123 107
markdobell 03:39 05:02 137 120
Heyesey 03:41 04:02 109 95
Amoeba89 03:55 03:47 96 84
Kinghedger 04:01 04:39 115 100
SimonAnthony 04:04 05:52 144 126
glheard 04:06 05:00 121 106
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:11 08:16 197 172
Deane Short 04:13 05:38 133 116
lickert 04:15 05:37 132 115
MikeOsborne 04:17 04:36 107 93
Morphosis 04:28 05:59 133 116
MK76 04:35 05:21 116 101
chindit 04:37 07:50 169 148
EricK 04:38 04:21 93 81
Bluejacket 04:39 04:55 105 92
tilbee 04:40 05:24 115 100
lucyg43484 04:41 04:29 95 83
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:46 06:30 136 119
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:46 04:22 91 79
alexh 04:47 06:06 127 111
scrabbler 04:51 05:38 116 101
Jon Delfin 04:52 04:03 83 72
canismiser 04:52 07:10 147 128
andrewlake 04:53 05:06 104 91
LouWeed LouWeed 04:53 06:40 136 119
andy 04:55 05:55 120 105
fshephe 04:56 04:22 88 77
tiggis 04:57 06:28 130 114
cdb_100 05:00 06:24 128 112
JayEm 05:01 05:26 108 94
neilr neilr 05:02 05:38 111 97
March 05:03 06:36 130 114
Aybee 05:07 05:52 114 100
nina s 05:10 06:25 124 108
Squallaby 05:15 04:13 80 70
Tibthorpe 05:19 05:21 100 87
babka 05:21 05:00 93 81
Vannyx 05:30 06:44 122 107
rrricharrrd 05:32 04:19 78 68
whichcraft 05:36 05:21 95 83
esmeralda 05:38 08:55 158 138
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:38 06:51 121 106
Finzi 05:39 06:45 119 104
Encota 05:47 06:11 106 92
Rabbitoh galspray 05:49 10:17 176 154
KarenR 05:57 07:56 133 116
Looch 05:58 07:00 117 102
KET 06:02 09:49 162 142
Mike C 06:04 07:12 118 103
Anomalospiza 06:10 07:59 129 113
Onelug 06:17 10:11 162 142
thewanderingeditor 06:27 05:05 78 68
Dzhigit 06:34 06:12 94 82
Kalakuta72 06:36 07:40 116 101
Tudds 06:38 06:50 103 90
GMcD 06:38 10:26 157 137
jimwetzler 06:39 07:59 120 105
endafk 06:42 08:00 119 104
Curarist 06:42 07:28 111 97
jon 06:47 07:14 106 92
mjsaunders9 06:56 08:00 115 100
valerian1967 06:56 10:15 147 128
KenD51 06:57 09:02 129 113
uvofiz 07:01 10:23 147 128
James P 07:05 06:54 97 85
Willie F 07:05 06:47 95 83
Nangle 07:08 14:14 199 174
Jamie Fox 07:15 09:35 132 115
robinh 07:18 09:04 124 108
Puzzleplease 07:27 10:33 141 123
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:31 07:39 101 88
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 10:03 132 115
garsoli 07:42 06:17 81 71
TomHerbert 07:44 10:02 129 113
Corymbia Corymbia 07:47 06:20 81 71
1234 07:51 10:54 138 121
Solving slo mo 08:07 01:49 22 19
smalley552 08:08 10:44 131 114
John Arnold 08:12 09:27 115 100
plett11 Plett11 08:14 09:10 111 97
Sheen 08:15 09:07 110 96
ulaca ulaca 08:25 11:36 137 120
wwicksteed 08:25 08:39 102 89
OldSolver 08:27 11:12 132 115
Templar Redux Templar 08:30 10:24 122 107
hemantyd 08:36 11:13 130 114
johndun John Dunleavy 08:40 09:44 112 98
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:40 12:08 140 122
goblin 08:43 10:57 125 109
vefatica vefatica 08:56 09:55 111 97
Peloton 08:59 08:36 95 83
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:04 10:53 120 105
nigelmzzz 09:06 09:00 98 85
gsriordan52 09:08 14:27 158 138
crucihacker 09:11 10:20 112 98
timbo 09:11 13:24 145 127
barracuda barracuda 09:28 14:08 149 130
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:31 14:01 147 128
Solfynn 09:39 11:00 113 99
Poff 09:40 07:41 79 69
Mike Mansbridge 09:53 07:00 70 61
intentional rounding 10:10 08:13 80 70
Birdingbob 10:12 18:52 184 161
alexngbr 10:19 12:51 124 108
Alias Noble 10:29 14:58 142 124
CoxBurglar 10:31 10:43 101 88
starstruck starstruck_au 10:49 10:49 100 87
russellcannon 10:51 10:06 93 81
TonyN6 11:14 21:20 189 165
simjt simjt 11:21 13:14 116 101
Cedric Statherby 11:34 14:39 126 110
The Real Steve Snackman 11:38 10:24 89 78
Dr. Memory 11:41 14:08 120 105
alistair.boere 11:45 11:02 93 81
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:52 12:41 106 92
BertieVII 12:14 16:37 135 118
Richard the First 12:20 15:07 122 107
chabuduo chabuduo 12:22 24:07 195 171
kapietro kapietro 12:39 15:41 123 107
youngbaz 12:41 15:48 124 108
martinr486 13:02 10:10 78 68
tyrotim tyrotim 13:07 15:03 114 100
Mendes Mendesest 14:04 17:39 125 109
Charpentier 14:13 13:11 92 80
Muckypuppy 14:25 13:32 93 81
Steve Wood 14:31 15:14 104 91
Mark from Ipswich 14:31 09:18 64 56
kfb20 14:58 15:34 104 91
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 15:25 16:29 106 92
thechan 16:27 36:03 219 192
RPE10538 RPE10538 16:35 15:56 96 84
danielbluebisson Blue92 16:40 18:21 110 96
140 Mandak 262 Jamuna 16:41 28:01 167 146
tomtom2 17:47 21:18 119 104
philby 22:00 30:33 138 121
maryht 23:25 30:52 131 114
IanV IanV 31:11 33:00 105 92
kevinlimanta 35:46 19:28 54 47
revolting tonic 38:45 23:40 61 53
mcfarl 46:44 60:28 129 113
crossworder 48:57 53:54 110 96

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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