Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3104

Date 26 September 2025
Number 3104
Setter Cheeko
Day of week Friday
NITCH 99
Count of ref solvers 75
Ref solvers excluded with errors 9
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3104

* 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 02:45 123 124
Jason 02:35 02:56 113 114
verlaine 02:38 02:33 96 96
mistigris 02:39 03:33 133 134
Magoo 02:46 03:18 119 120
hilarym 02:50 03:32 124 125
aphis99 aphis99 02:51 04:12 147 148
Flimmy flammy 03:11 03:21 105 106
markdobell 03:39 03:38 99 100
Heyesey 03:41 04:28 121 122
Amoeba89 03:55 03:13 82 82
Kinghedger 04:01 04:43 117 118
SimonAnthony 04:04 03:49 93 93
glheard 04:06 03:31 85 85
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:11 04:07 98 98
Deane Short 04:13 03:16 77 77
lickert 04:15 04:34 107 108
MK76 04:35 05:28 119 120
chindit 04:37 05:07 110 111
EricK 04:38 04:27 96 96
Bluejacket 04:39 03:47 81 81
tilbee 04:40 04:27 95 95
lucyg43484 04:41 08:23 179 180
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:46 04:47 100 101
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:46 06:54 144 145
alexh 04:47 05:02 105 106
scrabbler 04:51 05:56 122 123
Jon Delfin 04:52 03:10 65 65
canismiser 04:52 04:33 93 93
LouWeed LouWeed 04:53 03:53 79 79
andrewlake 04:53 04:21 89 89
fshephe 04:56 06:15 126 127
d.middleton 04:57 05:45 116 117
Johninterred 05:00 05:58 119 120
cdb_100 05:00 04:25 88 88
JayEm 05:01 03:36 71 71
March 05:03 05:01 99 100
Ed freshpot 05:04 04:59 98 98
Aly Duncan 05:07 06:15 122 123
Aybee 05:07 04:22 85 85
nina s 05:10 03:15 62 62
Zander 05:14 05:53 112 113
Squallaby 05:15 05:41 108 109
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:16 05:49 110 111
Tibthorpe 05:19 06:39 125 126
AndyKnott321 05:27 06:00 110 111
Vannyx 05:30 04:48 87 87
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:38 05:39 100 101
Finzi 05:39 07:09 126 127
Crossiant 05:42 05:01 88 88
mcrossib1 05:45 06:35 114 115
Encota 05:47 05:00 86 86
mw7000 05:48 07:37 131 132
Rabbitoh galspray 05:49 05:16 90 90
KarenR 05:57 05:47 97 97
Looch 05:58 06:25 107 108
hopkinb hopkinb 06:07 07:15 118 119
Anomalospiza 06:10 05:25 87 87
Onelug 06:17 08:00 127 128
Rosron 06:18 07:12 114 115
Carol 06:20 05:42 90 90
andrewfeist96 06:22 06:06 95 95
dr.shred dr.shred 06:26 04:37 71 71
thewanderingeditor 06:27 04:38 71 71
paul.whitehouse69 06:34 06:58 106 107
GMcD 06:38 06:52 103 104
jimwetzler 06:39 07:58 119 120
endafk 06:42 09:08 136 137
jon 06:47 06:30 95 95
mjsaunders9 06:56 07:15 104 105
tds 06:57 07:38 109 110
KenD51 06:57 07:23 106 107
janesa 07:03 07:28 105 106
James P 07:05 06:06 86 86
Willie F 07:05 07:04 99 100
Nangle 07:08 09:32 133 134
Obrador 07:10 08:07 113 114
Jamie Fox 07:15 05:16 72 72
robinh 07:18 10:52 148 149
Puzzleplease 07:27 09:07 122 123
DamienKnapma 07:29 08:07 108 109
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:31 07:23 98 98
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 08:38 113 114
Dvynys Dvynys 07:45 08:17 106 107
Corymbia Corymbia 07:47 06:31 83 83
ChrisBrea 07:51 06:28 82 82
John Arnold 08:12 10:32 128 129
plett11 Plett11 08:14 07:44 93 93
ulaca ulaca 08:25 08:42 103 104
jemcd33 08:25 09:29 112 113
Templar Redux Templar 08:30 09:19 109 110
john.brassey 08:30 09:47 115 116
jaraab 08:38 09:43 112 113
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:40 13:20 153 154
johndun John Dunleavy 08:40 06:24 73 73
goblin 08:43 09:11 105 106
m5harp 08:46 09:42 110 111
RPY 08:52 07:27 84 84
Rosey6 08:55 11:07 124 125
vefatica vefatica 08:56 06:53 77 77
Troothful 08:56 08:24 94 94
Peloton 08:59 06:43 74 74
JeffHobbs 09:02 10:11 112 113
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:04 13:30 148 149
nigelmzzz 09:06 11:12 123 124
timbo 09:11 09:37 104 105
mich_punk 09:17 07:56 85 85
raincloud 09:25 15:27 164 165
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:31 10:30 110 111
Edprof 09:38 07:01 72 72
Mike Mansbridge 09:53 16:52 170 171
phatman 10:02 07:15 72 72
intentional rounding 10:10 07:02 69 69
Birdingbob 10:12 14:16 139 140
Alias Noble 10:29 12:29 119 120
starstruck starstruck_au 10:49 07:57 73 73
symbenall2 11:11 12:48 114 115
simjt simjt 11:21 10:12 89 89
Cedric Statherby 11:34 10:56 94 94
The Real Steve Snackman 11:38 14:58 128 129
Dr. Memory 11:41 12:38 108 109
maisiemae 11:43 08:00 68 68
alistair.boere 11:45 11:56 101 102
Captain Burnaby 11:50 09:44 82 82
E Bradford E Bradford 11:52 07:57 66 66
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:52 11:12 94 94
BertieVII 12:14 14:28 118 119
chabuduo chabuduo 12:22 10:09 82 82
kapietro kapietro 12:39 13:18 105 106
suethepotterer 12:51 12:47 99 100
tyrotim tyrotim 13:07 17:05 130 131
ifincham2 13:15 12:13 92 92
Charpentier 14:13 13:50 97 97
mpbthorpe 14:13 14:21 100 101
Muckypuppy 14:25 16:06 111 112
Steve Wood 14:31 15:20 105 106
Mark from Ipswich 14:31 12:52 88 88
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:50 14:42 99 100
kfb20 14:58 14:30 96 96
pfalloon 15:15 12:06 79 79
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 15:25 15:47 102 103
Jax74 15:27 16:09 104 105
Holly O 15:34 22:43 145 146
horners1974 Jonathan Hornby 15:45 09:33 60 60
RPE10538 RPE10538 16:35 20:41 124 125
danielbluebisson Blue92 16:40 13:17 79 79
tomtom2 17:47 66:51 375 378
anderson1965 19:06 14:35 76 76
david 19:23 24:14 125 126
bangsar DearHector 21:12 25:12 118 119
Hazelnut 21:47 24:54 114 115
Flora Garden 25:01 24:47 99 100
Aresbiscuits 27:48 17:01 61 61
shankar 33:03 30:48 93 93
kevinlimanta 35:46 18:53 52 52
Jikolp 38:17 58:03 151 152
revolting tonic 38:45 29:25 75 75
crossworder 48:57 40:40 83 83

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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