Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3111

Date 04 October 2025
Number 3111
Setter Juji
Day of week Saturday
NITCH 120
Count of ref solvers 73
Ref solvers excluded with errors 4
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3111

* 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 01:49 90 75
cmjhutton 02:14 01:48 80 66
verlaine 02:36 03:03 117 97
mistigris 02:40 03:15 121 100
aphis99 aphis99 02:47 03:00 107 89
Flimmy flammy 03:17 05:42 173 144
HoneyBadger 03:17 03:03 92 76
Ciolf 03:26 04:16 124 103
markdobell 03:28 03:58 114 95
Amoeba89 03:30 03:14 92 76
Heyesey 03:33 06:20 178 148
richard 03:34 04:52 136 113
Wizard of Aus 03:42 03:30 94 78
Deane Short 03:50 05:02 131 109
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:05 05:47 141 117
fshephe 04:18 04:19 100 83
lickert 04:22 05:15 120 100
EricK 04:22 04:12 96 80
tilbee 04:35 04:32 98 81
Jon Delfin 04:40 07:08 152 126
lucyg43484 04:40 06:51 146 121
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:43 06:48 144 120
Ed freshpot 04:44 06:41 141 117
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:45 07:52 165 137
alexh 04:45 05:48 122 101
March 04:48 04:43 98 81
scrabbler 04:48 06:30 135 112
andy 04:51 05:50 120 100
rrricharrrd 04:51 04:43 97 80
Aybee 04:56 05:22 108 90
Zander 05:01 05:27 108 90
Tibthorpe 05:05 06:12 121 100
Squallaby 05:06 05:56 116 96
Johninterred 05:07 05:48 113 94
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:18 05:56 111 92
Encota 05:26 07:37 140 116
Rabbitoh galspray 05:27 05:28 100 83
KarenR 05:29 06:58 127 105
mcrossib1 05:30 09:55 180 150
chriswestontour 05:31 06:53 124 103
Finzi 05:38 06:33 116 96
andrewfeist96 05:46 07:29 129 107
dr.shred dr.shred 05:48 05:58 102 85
Looch 05:50 06:10 105 87
julian_w 06:02 08:19 137 114
Tudds 06:03 07:57 131 109
Dzhigit 06:10 06:48 110 91
Curarist 06:14 06:42 107 89
paul.whitehouse69 06:15 07:38 122 101
Jamie Fox 06:25 06:55 107 89
James P 06:28 09:33 147 122
jimwetzler 06:32 07:44 118 98
Aldus 06:32 08:33 130 108
GMcD 06:35 08:24 127 105
uvofiz 06:45 08:04 119 99
KenD51 06:45 17:04 252 210
mjsaunders9 06:53 22:02 320 266
Willie F 06:59 10:56 156 130
Obrador 07:03 09:21 132 110
Mudge 07:04 07:22 104 86
DamienKnapma 07:07 07:45 108 90
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 07:08 08:57 125 104
Puzzleplease 07:10 09:02 126 105
Corymbia Corymbia 07:16 11:10 153 127
The Caffeine Kid 07:18 07:44 105 87
robinh 07:20 13:14 180 150
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:26 07:43 103 85
Dvynys Dvynys 07:35 10:25 137 114
ChrisBrea 07:37 12:16 161 134
Solving slo mo 07:44 12:34 162 135
robertL 07:47 11:04 142 118
Templar Redux Templar 07:48 09:13 118 98
plett11 Plett11 07:53 09:29 120 100
johndun John Dunleavy 08:02 08:03 100 83
Sheen 08:02 08:30 105 87
John Arnold 08:12 09:50 119 99
jemcd33 08:15 11:29 139 115
jaraab 08:17 09:10 110 91
goblin 08:30 10:03 118 98
intentional rounding 08:31 11:18 132 110
mattindoha 08:32 11:51 138 115
Jeeves 08:32 08:53 104 86
m5harp 08:41 11:10 128 106
gsriordan52 08:41 11:49 136 113
mich_punk 08:44 10:45 123 102
Troothful 08:49 10:06 114 95
crosswordian 08:51 12:26 140 116
nigelmzzz 08:52 10:28 118 98
Mkgnao Mkgnao 08:52 11:41 131 109
kath 08:59 12:17 136 113
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:05 11:24 125 104
vinyl12345 vinyl1 09:09 07:59 87 72
Kernowdoc 09:11 10:12 111 92
barracuda barracuda 09:17 11:50 127 105
starstruck starstruck_au 09:29 09:44 102 85
Cryptique 09:32 22:29 235 195
Birdingbob 09:47 12:35 128 106
symbenall2 10:05 10:24 103 85
Married Admirer 10:17 18:14 177 147
Alias Noble 10:25 10:31 100 83
The Real Steve Snackman 10:30 11:19 107 89
rlowin2 10:37 13:29 127 105
Captain Burnaby 10:53 15:27 141 117
maisiemae 11:04 10:19 93 77
horners1974 Jonathan Hornby 11:09 12:23 111 92
Cedric Statherby 11:15 12:29 110 91
chabuduo chabuduo 11:15 15:09 134 111
TonyN6 11:19 13:42 121 100
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 12:02 09:43 80 66
kapietro kapietro 12:09 14:40 120 100
Sonofjim 12:24 31:55 257 214
suethepotterer 12:40 15:42 123 102
Steve Wood 12:46 13:37 106 88
Mark from Ipswich 13:15 10:58 82 68
Muckypuppy 13:47 18:08 131 109
david.14587 13:56 11:00 78 65
kfb20 14:39 16:50 114 95
Guy Hatton 15:24 31:26 204 170
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 15:33 19:29 125 104
TonyK 18:36 28:25 152 126
mozbadel mozbadel 22:05 09:32 43 35
philby 23:01 24:17 105 87
maryht 23:03 34:51 151 125
Flora Garden 24:20 22:03 90 75
Tomov 28:17 37:05 131 109
andybry andybry 37:31 36:46 98 81
mcfarl 45:44 60:02 131 109

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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