Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3089

Date 09 September 2025
Number 3089
Setter Izetti
Day of week Tuesday
NITCH 81
Count of ref solvers 78
Ref solvers excluded with errors 6
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3089

* 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 02:07 01:34 74 91
Paul Gilbert 02:14 02:03 91 112
Jason 02:35 02:02 78 96
verlaine 02:38 02:27 93 114
Magoo 02:46 02:22 85 104
hilarym 02:50 02:26 85 104
aphis99 aphis99 02:51 03:13 112 138
Flimmy flammy 03:11 02:48 87 107
richard 03:37 03:30 96 118
Ciolf 03:37 03:29 96 118
markdobell 03:39 02:53 78 96
Heyesey 03:41 03:19 90 111
Amoeba89 03:55 03:13 82 101
AlanS 03:55 03:11 81 100
Kinghedger 04:01 03:55 97 119
SimonAnthony 04:04 03:14 79 97
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:11 04:02 96 118
lickert 04:15 03:51 90 111
MikeOsborne 04:17 02:37 61 75
toots 04:30 04:13 93 114
chindit 04:37 03:53 84 103
EricK 04:38 04:17 92 113
Bluejacket 04:39 04:21 93 114
tilbee 04:40 03:18 70 86
lucyg43484 04:41 03:55 83 102
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:46 05:08 107 132
alexh 04:47 05:21 111 137
scrabbler 04:51 03:52 79 97
Jon Delfin 04:52 02:25 49 60
andrewlake 04:53 03:59 81 100
LouWeed LouWeed 04:53 05:21 109 134
andy 04:55 04:42 95 117
footballblue 04:56 04:40 94 116
cdb_100 05:00 03:45 75 92
neilr neilr 05:02 03:55 77 95
March 05:03 04:48 95 117
Ed freshpot 05:04 02:09 42 51
Aybee 05:07 03:34 69 85
nina s 05:10 06:40 129 159
Zander 05:14 05:10 98 120
Squallaby 05:15 04:05 77 95
ChuckB 05:18 05:13 98 120
babka 05:21 06:34 122 150
Vannyx 05:30 04:06 74 91
GeorgeTz 05:30 05:11 94 116
Riche Riche 05:32 03:37 65 80
rrricharrrd 05:32 04:10 75 92
Streaky Bacon 05:35 07:06 127 156
esmeralda 05:38 05:07 90 111
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:38 04:19 76 93
Finzi 05:39 05:21 94 116
Crossiant 05:42 05:07 89 109
mcrossib1 05:45 05:10 89 109
Encota 05:47 03:35 61 75
KarenR 05:57 03:59 66 81
Looch 05:58 04:06 68 83
KET 06:02 05:43 94 116
Mike C 06:04 04:30 74 91
hopkinb hopkinb 06:07 06:54 112 138
Anomalospiza 06:10 06:11 100 123
PGooden 06:15 06:30 104 128
Onelug 06:17 04:26 70 86
andrewfeist96 06:22 04:04 63 77
thewanderingeditor 06:27 16:05 249 307
Shabbo 06:32 05:10 79 97
paul.whitehouse69 06:34 06:38 101 124
julian_w 06:35 05:50 88 108
GMcD 06:38 06:11 93 114
Tudds 06:38 05:46 86 106
jimwetzler 06:39 05:33 83 102
Curarist 06:42 04:55 73 90
endafk 06:42 07:26 110 135
jon 06:47 04:42 69 85
ilan 06:52 09:28 137 169
kate 06:53 04:31 65 80
mjsaunders9 06:56 08:00 115 141
KenD51 06:57 07:53 113 139
uvofiz 07:01 05:29 78 96
James P 07:05 04:26 62 76
Gussie 07:08 08:43 122 150
Obrador 07:10 06:52 95 117
robertL 07:13 11:15 155 191
robinh 07:18 08:50 121 149
Aldus 07:23 07:14 97 119
Puzzleplease 07:27 06:21 85 104
Desdeeloeste Desdeeloeste 07:31 07:07 94 116
TomHerbert 07:44 07:20 94 116
Dvynys Dvynys 07:45 05:09 66 81
ChrisBrea 07:51 07:36 96 118
1234 07:51 08:02 102 125
nigel 07:54 11:03 139 171
JanieP 08:01 07:31 93 114
Solving slo mo 08:07 07:13 88 108
plett11 Plett11 08:14 08:34 104 128
OldSolver 08:27 08:38 102 125
Templar Redux Templar 08:30 08:51 104 128
Jeeves 08:38 07:14 83 102
johndun John Dunleavy 08:40 08:13 94 116
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:40 11:34 133 164
goblin 08:43 05:24 61 75
mattindoha 08:49 06:36 74 91
vefatica vefatica 08:56 08:30 95 117
Peloton 08:59 11:14 125 154
crosswordian 09:00 10:53 120 148
kath 09:02 08:06 89 109
JeffHobbs 09:02 08:33 94 116
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:04 09:36 105 129
nigelmzzz 09:06 08:22 91 112
gsriordan52 09:08 08:16 90 111
mich_punk 09:17 06:39 71 87
barracuda barracuda 09:28 08:45 92 113
Calculator001 09:35 10:05 105 129
Edprof 09:38 06:14 64 79
hookyt 09:39 06:16 64 79
Poff 09:40 11:03 114 140
Married Admirer 09:40 15:17 158 195
annikins 09:51 06:19 64 79
Mike Mansbridge 09:53 07:08 72 88
piltdown man 10:06 06:58 68 83
intentional rounding 10:10 07:40 75 92
alexngbr 10:19 07:34 73 90
Alias Noble 10:29 07:54 75 92
CoxBurglar 10:31 09:48 93 114
Laputan 10:47 08:51 82 101
starstruck starstruck_au 10:49 06:28 59 72
russellcannon 10:51 09:03 83 102
The Mighty Salmon 10:56 12:24 113 139
jackk.larg 11:10 10:09 90 111
symbenall2 11:11 08:37 77 95
simjt simjt 11:21 07:58 70 86
Cedric Statherby 11:34 10:18 89 109
Pendrov 11:44 12:16 104 128
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:52 14:22 121 149
E Bradford E Bradford 11:52 08:25 70 86
chabuduo chabuduo 12:22 09:10 74 91
kapietro kapietro 12:39 11:01 87 107
tyrotim tyrotim 13:07 10:47 82 101
nick.wilson 13:19 07:22 55 67
Chrisa9 13:20 07:01 52 64
Muckypuppy 14:25 18:52 130 160
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:50 15:06 101 124
james 15:08 14:31 95 117
Xebeq 15:13 14:39 96 118
horners1974 Jonathan Hornby 15:45 09:48 62 76
danielbluebisson Blue92 16:40 12:08 72 88
Narayanan 16:56 21:34 127 156
Jean in Oxford 17:37 19:25 110 135
keithandginnybirrell 18:47 10:10 54 66
bangsar DearHector 21:12 19:56 94 116
Askani 21:15 28:38 134 165
Hazelnut 21:47 20:21 93 114
dominic.c-b 22:21 19:09 85 104
mozbadel mozbadel 24:24 28:28 116 143
Flora Garden 25:01 04:19 17 20
Aresbiscuits 27:48 18:21 66 81
shankar 33:03 03:30 10 12

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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