Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3108

Date 01 October 2025
Number 3108
Setter Pedro
Day of week Wednesday
NITCH 100
Count of ref solvers 77
Ref solvers excluded with errors 3
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3108

* 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 02:08 02:13 103 103
lili 02:14 02:12 98 98
cmjhutton 02:14 02:27 109 109
verlaine 02:36 02:25 92 92
mistigris 02:40 02:44 102 102
Magoo 02:41 02:41 100 100
Jason 02:42 02:30 92 92
aphis99 aphis99 02:47 02:29 89 89
hilarym 02:51 02:39 92 92
HoneyBadger 03:17 02:52 87 87
Flimmy flammy 03:17 02:54 88 88
markdobell 03:28 03:21 96 96
Amoeba89 03:30 05:20 152 152
Heyesey 03:33 03:19 93 93
Deane Short 03:50 02:46 72 72
SimonAnthony 03:54 04:14 108 108
Kinghedger 03:57 04:11 105 105
glheard 04:03 04:38 114 114
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:05 04:22 106 106
Bluejacket 04:12 03:59 94 94
MikeOsborne 04:14 03:46 88 88
fshephe 04:18 03:19 77 77
EricK 04:22 05:07 117 117
lickert 04:22 05:01 114 114
JayEm 04:34 04:44 103 103
tilbee 04:35 05:33 121 121
chindit 04:37 05:28 118 118
tiggis 04:39 05:43 122 122
Jon Delfin 04:40 04:20 92 92
lucyg43484 04:40 06:02 129 129
andrewlake 04:41 05:43 122 122
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:43 05:41 120 120
Ed freshpot 04:44 05:21 113 113
cdb_100 04:44 05:04 107 107
benbush 04:44 05:47 122 122
alexh 04:45 05:50 122 122
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:45 04:49 101 101
canismiser 04:46 04:33 95 95
scrabbler 04:48 05:12 108 108
March 04:48 04:44 98 98
andy 04:51 05:25 111 111
neilr neilr 04:51 05:03 104 104
rrricharrrd 04:51 05:44 118 118
Aybee 04:56 03:24 68 68
Zander 05:01 05:55 117 117
LouWeed LouWeed 05:03 04:07 81 81
Tibthorpe 05:05 05:47 113 113
Squallaby 05:06 05:18 103 103
Johninterred 05:07 04:57 96 96
Vannyx 05:08 05:56 115 115
Riche Riche 05:15 05:24 102 102
whichcraft 05:16 04:55 93 93
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:18 05:04 95 95
Encota 05:26 04:13 77 77
Rabbitoh galspray 05:27 05:19 97 97
KarenR 05:29 07:54 144 144
mcrossib1 05:30 05:17 96 96
mw7000 05:33 07:13 130 130
esmeralda 05:36 06:31 116 116
Finzi 05:38 06:23 113 113
dr.shred dr.shred 05:48 05:19 91 91
Carol 05:49 06:47 116 116
Looch 05:50 06:41 114 114
Anomalospiza 05:52 05:36 95 95
hopkinb hopkinb 05:57 07:09 120 120
Onelug 05:57 06:13 104 104
KET 05:58 05:05 85 85
Tudds 06:03 06:20 104 104
PGooden 06:08 06:24 104 104
Shabbo 06:08 07:53 128 128
Dzhigit 06:10 06:48 110 110
Curarist 06:14 05:41 91 91
paul.whitehouse69 06:15 07:09 114 114
Rosron 06:20 07:34 119 119
Jamie Fox 06:25 06:23 99 99
mfg1971 06:25 07:26 115 115
Adrian Cobb 06:27 06:55 107 107
James P 06:28 07:49 120 120
joseffjones 06:30 05:56 91 91
Aldus 06:32 08:41 132 132
jimwetzler 06:32 07:44 118 118
Kalakuta72 06:34 05:58 90 90
GMcD 06:35 06:20 96 96
janesa 06:40 07:56 119 119
tds 06:43 06:46 100 100
uvofiz 06:45 10:07 149 149
KenD51 06:45 06:47 100 100
ilan 06:51 08:01 117 117
mjsaunders9 06:53 08:18 120 120
garsoli 06:58 04:34 65 65
Nangle 06:59 07:30 107 107
endafk 06:59 08:33 122 122
Mudge 07:04 06:27 91 91
DamienKnapma 07:07 07:03 99 99
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 07:08 08:15 115 115
Puzzleplease 07:10 07:48 108 108
The Caffeine Kid 07:18 05:36 76 76
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:20 09:10 125 125
robinh 07:20 08:37 117 117
TomHerbert 07:23 06:45 91 91
smalley552 07:25 09:54 133 133
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:26 07:08 95 95
Gussie 07:29 07:49 104 104
docg 07:31 09:03 120 120
Dvynys Dvynys 07:35 07:01 92 92
ChrisBrea 07:37 07:45 101 101
Templar Redux Templar 07:48 07:17 93 93
ulaca ulaca 07:51 07:56 101 101
plett11 Plett11 07:53 09:23 119 119
john.brassey 07:58 10:43 134 134
johndun John Dunleavy 08:02 08:32 106 106
OldSolver 08:06 08:13 101 101
RPY 08:12 10:43 130 130
hemantyd 08:17 06:48 82 82
Mike Mansbridge 08:27 07:51 92 92
goblin 08:30 10:14 120 120
intentional rounding 08:31 05:25 63 63
mattindoha 08:32 09:43 113 113
gsriordan52 08:41 08:46 100 100
m5harp 08:41 09:30 109 109
piltdown man 08:56 13:25 150 150
vefatica vefatica 08:56 06:36 73 73
kath 08:59 10:14 113 113
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:05 05:58 65 65
phatman 09:08 09:04 99 99
vinyl12345 vinyl1 09:09 06:42 73 73
Kernowdoc 09:11 11:04 120 120
starstruck starstruck_au 09:29 09:45 102 102
Cryptique 09:32 10:04 105 105
banni-wae 09:35 08:56 93 93
Birdingbob 09:47 10:25 106 106
Alias Noble 10:25 12:32 120 120
The Real Steve Snackman 10:30 07:29 71 71
LiamD 10:46 05:49 54 54
E Bradford E Bradford 10:50 08:07 74 74
maisiemae 11:04 11:25 103 103
horners1974 Jonathan Hornby 11:09 09:47 87 87
chabuduo chabuduo 11:15 08:28 75 75
Cedric Statherby 11:15 12:31 111 111
TonyN6 11:19 09:14 81 81
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 12:02 10:42 88 88
kapietro kapietro 12:09 11:25 93 93
Hugster 12:17 12:00 97 97
martinr486 12:19 16:48 136 136
mpbthorpe 12:31 10:54 87 87
youngbaz 12:36 16:38 132 132
suethepotterer 12:40 11:44 92 92
Steve Wood 12:46 10:30 82 82
Mark from Ipswich 13:15 14:10 106 106
Mendes Mendesest 13:36 12:22 90 90
danielbluebisson Blue92 13:58 12:06 86 86
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:28 15:12 105 105
Xebeq 14:40 12:55 88 88
pfalloon 15:10 15:31 102 102
james 15:18 11:20 74 74
Guy Hatton 15:24 12:01 78 78
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 15:33 10:16 66 66
140 Mandak 262 Jamuna 16:08 23:38 146 146
RPE10538 RPE10538 16:22 13:55 85 85
Flora Garden 24:20 03:30 14 14
paulmcl 25:13 26:48 106 106
andybry andybry 37:31 33:06 88 88

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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