Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3103

Date 25 September 2025
Number 3103
Setter Wurm
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 139
Count of ref solvers 78
Ref solvers excluded with errors 8
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3103

* Requires access to the Times Crossword Club

Detailed solving results

 

If you would like to help cover the costs of running the SNITCH site, please "buy me a coffee".

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 03:09 141 101
Jason 02:35 04:04 157 112
verlaine 02:38 03:25 129 92
mistigris 02:39 02:51 107 76
Magoo 02:46 02:57 106 76
aphis99 aphis99 02:51 05:21 187 134
Flimmy flammy 03:11 05:10 162 116
markdobell 03:39 05:18 145 104
Heyesey 03:41 05:19 144 103
Amoeba89 03:55 04:36 117 84
Kinghedger 04:01 06:31 162 116
SimonAnthony 04:04 04:52 119 85
glheard 04:06 04:18 104 74
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:11 08:13 196 141
Deane Short 04:13 03:53 92 66
lickert 04:15 06:12 145 104
MikeOsborne 04:17 06:57 162 116
chindit 04:37 08:17 179 128
EricK 04:38 05:50 125 89
Bluejacket 04:39 08:13 176 126
lucyg43484 04:41 06:04 129 92
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:46 04:31 94 67
alexh 04:47 06:46 141 101
scrabbler 04:51 05:24 111 79
Jon Delfin 04:52 09:38 197 141
LouWeed LouWeed 04:53 09:08 187 134
andy 04:55 07:45 157 112
fshephe 04:56 07:02 142 102
Johninterred 05:00 09:42 194 139
JayEm 05:01 05:02 100 71
neilr neilr 05:02 04:19 85 61
March 05:03 05:32 109 78
Aybee 05:07 08:17 161 115
nina s 05:10 08:51 171 123
Zander 05:14 05:35 106 76
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:16 05:46 109 78
Tibthorpe 05:19 07:01 131 94
AndyKnott321 05:27 06:14 114 82
Vannyx 05:30 07:10 130 93
rrricharrrd 05:32 08:08 146 105
whichcraft 05:36 09:36 171 123
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:38 09:24 166 119
esmeralda 05:38 12:02 213 153
Finzi 05:39 06:17 111 79
Crossiant 05:42 13:03 228 164
mcrossib1 05:45 07:17 126 90
Encota 05:47 06:30 112 80
Rabbitoh galspray 05:49 06:33 112 80
Mike C 06:04 09:35 157 112
hopkinb hopkinb 06:07 08:20 136 97
PGooden 06:15 15:46 252 181
Carol 06:20 13:02 205 147
dr.shred dr.shred 06:26 12:11 189 135
thewanderingeditor 06:27 08:44 135 97
Shabbo 06:32 08:09 124 89
Dzhigit 06:34 07:44 117 84
paul.whitehouse69 06:34 09:36 146 105
Kalakuta72 06:36 08:00 121 87
GMcD 06:38 10:14 154 110
Tudds 06:38 08:49 132 94
Curarist 06:42 07:32 112 80
jon 06:47 11:50 174 125
ilan 06:52 09:11 133 95
kate 06:53 12:46 185 133
valerian1967 06:56 08:10 117 84
mjsaunders9 06:56 09:14 133 95
KenD51 06:57 08:14 118 84
tds 06:57 16:02 230 165
James P 07:05 14:05 198 142
Nangle 07:08 10:23 145 104
Gussie 07:08 13:46 192 138
robertL 07:13 12:21 171 123
Jamie Fox 07:15 07:49 107 76
robinh 07:18 11:51 162 116
Puzzleplease 07:27 10:18 138 99
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 11:48 155 111
garsoli 07:42 09:52 128 92
TomHerbert 07:44 13:20 172 123
Corymbia Corymbia 07:47 11:22 146 105
Doyler 07:49 13:57 178 128
ChrisBrea 07:51 11:21 144 103
Solving slo mo 08:07 11:19 139 100
smalley552 08:08 19:29 239 171
plett11 Plett11 08:14 12:35 152 109
Sheen 08:15 13:56 168 120
jemcd33 08:25 12:48 152 109
john.brassey 08:30 11:49 139 100
Jeeves 08:38 16:10 187 134
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:40 21:59 253 182
goblin 08:43 12:25 142 102
mattindoha 08:49 09:21 106 76
MichelinPoitiers 08:55 13:47 154 110
Peloton 08:59 07:28 83 59
FelicityTT 09:01 17:42 196 141
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:04 24:20 268 192
nigelmzzz 09:06 11:53 130 93
gsriordan52 09:08 11:57 130 93
f4rch 09:09 38:55 425 305
Cryptique 09:10 15:08 165 118
mich_punk 09:17 10:25 112 80
annbrew 09:28 15:05 159 114
barracuda barracuda 09:28 16:00 169 121
Calculator001 09:35 13:18 138 99
Edprof 09:38 10:52 112 80
hookyt 09:39 18:49 194 139
Pauline Minter 09:56 20:29 206 148
intentional rounding 10:10 15:16 150 107
Birdingbob 10:12 13:25 131 94
starstruck starstruck_au 10:49 11:15 104 74
The Mighty Salmon 10:56 19:08 175 125
simjt simjt 11:21 18:26 162 116
The Real Steve Snackman 11:38 17:51 153 110
alistair.boere 11:45 14:58 127 91
Captain Burnaby 11:50 12:05 102 73
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:52 17:49 150 107
BertieVII 12:14 14:53 121 87
chabuduo chabuduo 12:22 30:08 243 174
kapietro kapietro 12:39 15:18 120 86
suethepotterer 12:51 16:08 125 89
tyrotim tyrotim 13:07 18:02 137 98
ifincham2 13:15 18:03 136 97
nick.wilson 13:19 09:14 69 49
Mendes Mendesest 14:04 21:24 152 109
Charpentier 14:13 12:43 89 64
Steve Wood 14:31 14:22 98 70
Mark from Ipswich 14:31 17:45 122 87
kfb20 14:58 21:32 143 102
pfalloon 15:15 18:33 121 87
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 15:25 26:57 174 125
RPE10538 RPE10538 16:35 18:04 108 77
danielbluebisson Blue92 16:40 19:06 114 82
david 19:23 22:16 114 82
DaFitzy 21:05 18:27 87 62
bangsar DearHector 21:12 36:30 172 123
paulmcl 24:28 95:26 390 280
Tired_commuter Tired_commuter 24:33 38:19 156 112
Flora Garden 25:01 22:40 90 64
kevinlimanta 35:46 46:14 129 92
Jikolp 38:17 65:14 170 122

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.

Loading...
Loading...
Back