Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3107

Date 30 September 2025
Number 3107
Setter Hurley
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 83
Count of ref solvers 72
Ref solvers excluded with errors 4
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3107

* 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 02:01 01:56 95 114
Paul Gilbert 02:08 01:36 75 90
lili 02:14 02:20 104 125
verlaine 02:36 03:15 125 150
mistigris 02:40 02:43 101 121
Magoo 02:41 02:45 102 122
Jason 02:42 02:39 98 118
aphis99 aphis99 02:47 02:30 89 107
hilarym 02:51 02:48 98 118
davebees 03:14 02:39 81 97
Flimmy flammy 03:17 02:25 73 87
HoneyBadger 03:17 02:39 80 96
markdobell 03:28 03:04 88 106
Amoeba89 03:30 02:52 81 97
Heyesey 03:33 02:53 81 97
SimonAnthony 03:54 03:23 86 103
Kinghedger 03:57 02:51 72 86
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:05 03:24 83 100
Bluejacket 04:12 03:08 74 89
MikeOsborne 04:14 02:41 63 75
toots 04:17 03:50 89 107
fshephe 04:18 03:44 86 103
EricK 04:22 03:50 87 104
lickert 04:22 03:33 81 97
JayEm 04:34 04:04 89 107
tilbee 04:35 03:21 73 87
MK76 04:36 03:25 74 89
chindit 04:37 04:22 94 113
Jon Delfin 04:40 04:22 93 112
lucyg43484 04:40 04:57 106 127
andrewlake 04:41 04:53 104 125
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:43 05:38 119 143
Ed freshpot 04:44 04:41 98 118
cdb_100 04:44 04:08 87 104
alexh 04:45 04:24 92 110
CentralLine CentralLine 04:45 04:18 90 108
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:45 04:39 97 116
canismiser 04:46 03:54 81 97
scrabbler 04:48 04:16 88 106
March 04:48 05:09 107 128
rrricharrrd 04:51 04:21 89 107
neilr neilr 04:51 04:25 91 109
andy 04:51 04:46 98 118
DunPangolin 04:53 05:04 103 124
Aybee 04:56 03:45 76 91
Paul Bacon 04:57 05:19 107 128
Zander 05:01 05:05 101 121
LouWeed LouWeed 05:03 03:16 64 77
Tibthorpe 05:05 05:05 100 120
AndyKnott321 05:06 06:01 117 140
Squallaby 05:06 04:21 85 102
Johninterred 05:07 04:29 87 104
ChuckB 05:07 06:17 122 146
Vannyx 05:08 04:37 89 107
Riche Riche 05:15 05:06 97 116
whichcraft 05:16 02:49 53 63
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:18 04:40 88 106
nina s 05:20 05:58 111 133
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:21 04:39 86 103
Encota 05:26 03:43 68 81
Rabbitoh galspray 05:27 04:17 78 93
cmcnsmith 05:28 06:12 113 136
KarenR 05:29 04:26 80 96
mcrossib1 05:30 05:38 102 122
chriswestontour 05:31 05:32 100 120
esmeralda 05:36 04:45 84 101
Finzi 05:38 06:18 111 133
Gaius 05:40 05:26 95 114
MrChumley MrChumley 05:43 05:12 90 108
Crossiant 05:43 04:55 86 103
andrewfeist96 05:46 05:35 96 115
Mike C 05:46 05:07 88 106
Looch 05:50 04:43 80 96
Anomalospiza 05:52 03:42 63 75
Onelug 05:57 05:16 88 106
hopkinb hopkinb 05:57 04:16 71 85
KET 05:58 04:07 68 81
Tudds 06:03 05:40 93 112
PGooden 06:08 05:57 97 116
Dzhigit 06:10 07:24 120 144
plusjeremy (Jeremy Weissmann) plusjeremy 06:12 04:58 80 96
paul.whitehouse69 06:15 05:41 90 108
Jamie Fox 06:25 03:55 61 73
Adrian Cobb 06:27 05:10 80 96
joseffjones 06:30 03:52 59 71
jimwetzler 06:32 06:31 99 119
Aldus 06:32 06:01 92 110
GMcD 06:35 05:16 80 96
jon 06:39 05:48 87 104
janesa 06:40 05:28 82 98
tds 06:43 06:08 91 109
uvofiz 06:45 06:17 93 112
ilan 06:51 06:48 99 119
Nangle 06:59 04:53 69 83
Mudge 07:04 04:47 67 80
DamienKnapma 07:07 05:17 74 89
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 07:08 06:47 95 114
1234 07:10 06:10 86 103
Puzzleplease 07:10 05:33 77 92
robinh 07:20 06:26 87 104
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:20 06:01 82 98
TomHerbert 07:23 05:35 75 90
smalley552 07:25 07:02 94 113
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:26 04:42 63 75
docg 07:31 06:23 84 101
Dvynys Dvynys 07:35 05:29 72 86
ChrisBrea 07:37 06:38 87 104
Templar Redux Templar 07:48 05:43 73 87
ulaca ulaca 07:51 05:29 69 83
plett11 Plett11 07:53 05:59 75 90
raincloud 07:53 04:24 55 66
johndun John Dunleavy 08:02 06:25 79 95
Sheen 08:02 06:36 82 98
OldSolver 08:06 06:35 81 97
John Arnold 08:12 06:22 77 92
RPY 08:12 06:41 81 97
goblin 08:30 06:40 78 93
intentional rounding 08:31 05:13 61 73
mattindoha 08:32 07:06 83 100
gsriordan52 08:41 07:49 90 108
m5harp 08:41 06:34 75 90
Peloton 08:41 05:21 61 73
hookyt 08:46 06:05 69 83
Troothful 08:49 05:11 58 69
crosswordian 08:51 06:24 72 86
nigelmzzz 08:52 08:20 93 112
piltdown man 08:56 05:17 59 71
vefatica vefatica 08:56 07:49 87 104
kath 08:59 08:25 93 112
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:05 05:37 61 73
Word Psmith 09:07 07:43 84 101
phatman 09:08 06:42 73 87
vinyl12345 vinyl1 09:09 07:25 81 97
Kernowdoc 09:11 06:29 70 84
starstruck starstruck_au 09:29 09:07 96 115
Birdingbob 09:47 07:02 71 85
Alias Noble 10:25 06:20 60 72
The Real Steve Snackman 10:30 09:26 89 107
rlowin2 10:37 09:52 92 110
LiamD 10:46 07:39 71 85
E Bradford E Bradford 10:50 06:36 60 72
simjt simjt 10:58 07:26 67 80
maisiemae 11:04 06:03 54 65
horners1974 Jonathan Hornby 11:09 06:33 58 69
chabuduo chabuduo 11:15 09:09 81 97
Cedric Statherby 11:15 09:03 80 96
Pendrov 11:16 07:32 66 79
TonyN6 11:19 09:37 84 101
BertieVII 11:31 09:41 84 101
Dr. Memory 11:45 09:38 81 97
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 12:02 08:41 72 86
alistair.boere 12:02 08:13 68 81
kapietro kapietro 12:09 09:01 74 89
martinr486 12:19 08:15 66 79
Sonofjim 12:24 09:07 73 87
mpbthorpe 12:31 06:01 48 57
youngbaz 12:36 09:21 74 89
tyrotim tyrotim 12:38 06:52 54 65
suethepotterer 12:40 10:14 80 96
Charpentier 12:45 12:24 97 116
Steve Wood 12:46 07:19 57 68
Mendes Mendesest 13:36 09:55 72 86
Muckypuppy 13:47 07:41 55 66
david.14587 13:56 11:16 80 96
danielbluebisson Blue92 13:58 10:41 76 91
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:28 14:50 102 122
kfb20 14:39 12:34 85 102
james 15:18 09:06 59 71
Guy Hatton 15:24 09:56 64 77
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 15:33 09:24 60 72
RPE10538 RPE10538 16:22 09:28 57 68
keithandginnybirrell 16:34 34:50 210 253
tomtom2 18:30 16:18 88 106
philby 23:01 15:52 68 81
shankar 29:43 28:16 95 114
mcfarl 45:44 41:35 90 108
crossworder 47:40 17:37 36 43

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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