Quick SNITCH

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

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3091

Date 11 September 2025
Number 3091
Setter Mara
Day of week Thursday
NITCH 92
Count of ref solvers 76
Ref solvers excluded with errors 7
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3091

* 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 01:43 76 82
cmjhutton 02:18 01:56 84 91
verlaine 02:38 03:22 127 138
Magoo 02:46 01:54 68 73
hilarym 02:50 03:07 110 119
aphis99 aphis99 02:51 02:15 78 84
Flimmy flammy 03:11 03:15 102 110
Ciolf 03:37 03:16 90 97
richard 03:37 04:19 119 129
markdobell 03:39 04:53 133 144
Amoeba89 03:55 02:47 71 77
Kinghedger 04:01 04:33 113 122
SimonAnthony 04:04 03:44 91 98
glheard 04:06 03:12 78 84
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:11 05:36 133 144
Deane Short 04:13 03:33 84 91
MikeOsborne 04:17 03:57 92 100
toots 04:30 04:53 108 117
MK76 04:35 04:25 96 104
chindit 04:37 04:19 93 101
EricK 04:38 03:48 82 89
Bluejacket 04:39 04:06 88 95
tilbee 04:40 04:19 92 100
lucyg43484 04:41 05:10 110 119
Freemers 04:44 04:32 95 103
Tom Stubbs Tom Stubbs 04:46 04:37 96 104
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:46 05:27 114 123
alexh 04:47 05:52 122 132
scrabbler 04:51 03:42 76 82
canismiser 04:52 04:30 92 100
Jon Delfin 04:52 07:09 146 158
LouWeed LouWeed 04:53 03:56 80 86
andrewlake 04:53 04:41 95 103
andy 04:55 04:35 93 101
fshephe 04:56 04:17 86 93
d.middleton 04:57 04:57 100 108
tiggis 04:57 03:24 68 73
cdb_100 05:00 03:25 68 73
JayEm 05:01 03:00 59 64
March 05:03 05:21 105 114
Ed freshpot 05:04 05:34 109 118
Honggui 05:06 05:19 104 113
Aybee 05:07 03:38 71 77
nina s 05:10 06:11 119 129
Zander 05:14 05:43 109 118
Squallaby 05:15 04:52 92 100
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:16 04:45 90 97
Tibthorpe 05:19 05:48 109 118
babka 05:21 04:55 91 98
Vannyx 05:30 05:43 103 111
Riche Riche 05:32 06:43 121 131
Streaky Bacon 05:35 04:53 87 94
esmeralda 05:38 07:37 135 146
Paul Hammond Paul Hammond 05:38 05:32 98 106
Finzi 05:39 05:48 102 110
Crossiant 05:42 05:44 100 108
mcrossib1 05:45 05:57 103 111
chriswestontour 05:47 06:21 109 118
Encota 05:47 06:22 110 119
Penfold_61 05:48 05:28 94 102
Rabbitoh galspray 05:49 05:06 87 94
MrChumley MrChumley 05:52 05:54 100 108
SBQuick 05:54 04:50 81 88
Looch 05:58 06:51 114 123
Mike C 06:04 05:31 90 97
hopkinb hopkinb 06:07 06:45 110 119
Anomalospiza 06:10 06:39 107 116
PGooden 06:15 06:15 100 108
Onelug 06:17 05:42 90 97
Carol 06:20 04:41 73 79
plusjeremy (Jeremy Weissmann) plusjeremy 06:21 11:53 187 203
dr.shred dr.shred 06:26 04:59 77 83
paul.whitehouse69 06:34 07:32 114 123
Adrian Cobb 06:34 07:32 114 123
Dzhigit 06:34 06:47 103 111
julian_w 06:35 07:00 106 115
Kalakuta72 06:36 06:21 96 104
Tudds 06:38 05:38 84 91
GMcD 06:38 06:06 91 98
jimwetzler 06:39 06:21 95 103
Curarist 06:42 07:13 107 116
jon 06:47 05:41 83 90
ilan 06:52 05:40 82 89
mjsaunders9 06:56 06:07 88 95
valerian1967 06:56 04:49 69 75
tds 06:57 05:19 76 82
uvofiz 07:01 05:59 85 92
Willie F 07:05 05:23 76 82
Jamie Fox 07:15 05:29 75 81
robinh 07:18 07:14 99 107
Puzzleplease 07:27 07:13 96 104
DamienKnapma 07:29 05:29 73 79
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 08:49 116 126
garsoli 07:42 06:54 89 96
TomHerbert 07:44 09:22 121 131
Corymbia Corymbia 07:47 07:46 99 107
1234 07:51 06:00 76 82
ChrisBrea 07:51 07:17 92 100
nigel 07:54 07:33 95 103
docg 07:56 08:50 111 120
Solving slo mo 08:07 06:02 74 80
smalley552 08:08 09:20 114 123
plett11 Plett11 08:14 08:17 100 108
Sheen 08:15 08:59 108 117
ulaca ulaca 08:25 08:53 105 114
jemcd33 08:25 08:59 106 115
jaraab 08:38 08:57 103 111
Jeeves 08:38 10:21 119 129
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:40 10:00 115 125
johndun John Dunleavy 08:40 08:25 97 105
goblin 08:43 10:06 115 125
m5harp 08:46 09:12 104 113
mattindoha 08:49 09:00 102 110
vefatica vefatica 08:56 10:30 117 127
Peloton 08:59 08:46 97 105
kath 09:02 11:20 125 135
Mkgnao Mkgnao 09:04 08:06 89 96
gsriordan52 09:08 07:08 78 84
f4rch 09:09 08:40 94 102
crucihacker 09:11 07:37 82 89
raincloud 09:25 05:40 60 65
barracuda barracuda 09:28 08:19 87 94
Deezzaa Deezzaa 09:31 11:32 121 131
Edprof 09:38 10:45 111 120
Solfynn 09:39 09:55 102 110
Poff 09:40 10:59 113 122
annikins 09:51 07:01 71 77
phatman 10:02 09:16 92 100
piltdown man 10:06 06:05 60 65
intentional rounding 10:10 07:09 70 76
Alias Noble 10:29 07:28 71 77
CoxBurglar 10:31 08:03 76 82
starstruck starstruck_au 10:49 09:05 83 90
Nuck_the_king 11:07 10:14 92 100
simjt simjt 11:21 10:03 88 95
Cedric Statherby 11:34 10:56 94 102
The Real Steve Snackman 11:38 07:58 68 73
maisiemae 11:43 10:41 91 98
alistair.boere 11:45 11:57 101 109
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:52 09:27 79 85
E Bradford E Bradford 11:52 11:35 97 105
chabuduo chabuduo 12:22 11:08 90 97
kapietro kapietro 12:39 09:33 75 81
youngbaz 12:41 09:52 77 83
Hugster 12:49 07:30 58 63
suethepotterer 12:51 09:52 76 82
martinr486 13:02 10:03 77 83
tyrotim tyrotim 13:07 13:50 105 114
trish_tang 13:12 10:21 78 84
ifincham2 13:15 13:49 104 113
Mendes Mendesest 14:04 14:56 106 115
Charpentier 14:13 09:18 65 70
mpbthorpe 14:13 09:51 69 75
Muckypuppy 14:25 13:34 94 102
Steve Wood 14:31 07:33 52 56
Mark from Ipswich 14:31 15:10 104 113
Guy Hatton 14:40 18:09 123 133
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:50 10:35 71 77
kfb20 14:58 10:46 71 77
james 15:08 09:57 65 70
pfalloon 15:15 12:48 83 90
Doofenschmirtz Doofenschmirtz 15:25 12:34 81 88
Holly O 15:34 19:36 125 135
horners1974 Jonathan Hornby 15:45 08:29 53 57
New Driver 16:06 16:55 105 114
danielbluebisson Blue92 16:40 10:26 62 67
tomtom2 17:47 16:21 91 98
keithandginnybirrell 18:47 17:53 95 103
TonyK 19:27 14:44 75 81
ian.shepherd 19:50 11:28 57 61
bangsar DearHector 21:12 16:28 77 83
Damien Grover 21:14 53:19 251 272
philby 22:00 19:18 87 94
maryht 23:25 18:55 80 86
paulmcl 24:28 44:44 182 197
Flora Garden 25:01 22:04 88 95
shankar 33:03 25:57 78 84
Jikolp 38:17 34:24 89 96
revolting tonic 38:45 34:20 88 95
crossworder 48:57 58:47 120 130

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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