Crossword SNITCH

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

Reference solvers for April 2026

The following solvers are used as references for the NITCH calculations in this month. The time indicated is their average solving time for error-free puzzles during the prior six months. The solvers average NITCH for each day of week is also shown, with the number of solutions for that day.

RankSolverSolutions usedAverage time MonTueWedThuFri
1 Nathan Panning 84 06:12 76 (18) 85 (19) 90 (14) 105 (17) 145 (16)
2 cmjhutton 80 06:21 77 (17) 76 (17) 80 (16) 113 (18) 169 (12)
3 Paul Gilbert 86 06:29 75 (20) 77 (16) 103 (17) 106 (19) 146 (14)
4 lili 118 06:41 73 (24) 81 (23) 100 (22) 96 (24) 144 (25)
5 Magoo 82 06:45 71 (17) 75 (14) 83 (11) 106 (20) 143 (20)
6 verlaine 115 07:05 74 (24) 84 (23) 93 (23) 107 (23) 144 (22)
7 mistigris 91 07:44 77 (17) 79 (19) 101 (18) 98 (18) 140 (19)
8 Jason 116 07:46 77 (24) 83 (24) 84 (22) 124 (21) 130 (25)
9 HoneyBadger 121 08:09 79 (23) 88 (24) 95 (24) 100 (25) 134 (25)
10 aphis99 112 08:16 79 (25) 84 (22) 92 (23) 118 (23) 131 (19)
11 Alexis Johansen 74 08:19 70 (17) 101 (18) 90 (16) 114 (12) 141 (11)
12 Umpire 70 08:50 76 (15) 86 (12) 100 (14) 92 (13) 137 (16)
13 asaldanha 90 10:10 75 (20) 85 (19) 96 (18) 102 (16) 147 (17)
14 Ciolf 99 10:12 79 (20) 86 (21) 96 (20) 114 (22) 127 (16)
15 richard 76 10:17 69 (16) 88 (15) 85 (16) 116 (17) 151 (12)
16 markdobell 104 10:27 81 (24) 86 (23) 94 (19) 108 (20) 138 (18)
17 Amoeba89 107 10:55 69 (21) 85 (23) 86 (18) 104 (21) 146 (24)
18 glheard 76 10:57 77 (19) 84 (16) 95 (13) 115 (17) 141 (11)
19 philjordan1147 95 11:04 86 (22) 96 (24) 92 (17) 112 (20) 121 (12)
20 morleyterrier 78 11:10 73 (18) 85 (17) 101 (15) 113 (15) 137 (13)
21 LoreleiBill 85 11:28 79 (17) 90 (17) 94 (18) 107 (16) 128 (17)
22 Kinghedger 99 11:38 74 (22) 91 (22) 88 (15) 104 (21) 143 (19)
23 Deane Short 68 11:48 65 (11) 68 (12) 96 (17) 108 (16) 157 (12)
24 Aybee 106 11:56 89 (25) 94 (22) 94 (20) 105 (21) 119 (18)
25 Groucho 84 12:03 81 (20) 84 (19) 100 (17) 115 (18) 136 (10)
26 Heyesey 71 12:08 80 (15) 81 (13) 86 (17) 114 (16) 153 (10)
27 keriothe_ 101 12:10 76 (24) 82 (22) 94 (18) 117 (21) 142 (16)
28 Askival 86 12:17 67 (19) 80 (17) 102 (17) 106 (17) 149 (16)
29 lickert 95 12:20 74 (21) 86 (16) 101 (21) 114 (21) 125 (16)
30 David Crooks 75 12:49 78 (15) 95 (20) 95 (15) 117 (19) 121 (6)
31 chindit 94 12:59 76 (19) 84 (18) 96 (22) 112 (23) 142 (12)
32 Adelaider 66 13:05 87 (23) 96 (17) 108 (12) 113 (8) 123 (6)
33 miked1961 74 13:09 77 (14) 79 (15) 100 (18) 107 (14) 138 (13)
34 clarkeybaby 109 13:09 77 (22) 86 (22) 91 (22) 114 (23) 131 (20)
35 EricK 110 13:15 73 (23) 84 (24) 101 (24) 112 (18) 134 (21)
36 cdb_100 60 13:17 74 (16) 83 (11) 94 (11) 114 (14) 155 (8)
37 neilr 75 13:27 85 (20) 93 (20) 87 (13) 116 (10) 135 (12)
38 chriswords 92 13:32 79 (23) 95 (24) 101 (18) 107 (16) 138 (11)
39 Tom Stubbs 117 13:33 81 (24) 84 (24) 93 (24) 106 (23) 137 (22)
40 Topical Tim 107 13:37 69 (23) 89 (24) 90 (18) 116 (23) 139 (19)
41 Semillon 111 13:37 76 (24) 84 (24) 97 (22) 102 (18) 140 (23)
42 andy 82 13:40 80 (18) 87 (17) 93 (19) 117 (17) 135 (11)
43 tilbee 91 13:56 69 (16) 84 (19) 87 (20) 112 (18) 145 (18)
44 alexh 65 14:02 88 (19) 96 (17) 105 (11) 102 (11) 125 (7)
45 Silva 93 14:07 88 (22) 96 (22) 92 (19) 107 (16) 125 (14)
46 MikeOsborneMason 100 14:13 76 (21) 82 (23) 96 (19) 111 (22) 147 (15)
47 Sheapey 118 14:19 69 (23) 83 (25) 99 (24) 110 (23) 138 (23)
48 canismiser 62 14:32 79 (15) 86 (17) 105 (15) 125 (9) 136 (6)
49 Secondbass 81 14:46 69 (15) 80 (18) 93 (19) 125 (15) 140 (14)
50 OliGrant 60 14:50 79 (13) 99 (12) 87 (15) 109 (8) 130 (12)
51 Stavros 77 15:03 75 (16) 82 (16) 96 (16) 117 (19) 137 (10)
52 JimboFS 81 15:07 78 (16) 87 (17) 99 (19) 116 (15) 122 (14)
53 March 98 15:08 65 (22) 84 (19) 92 (17) 113 (22) 148 (18)
54 Pootle 73 15:13 73 (22) 86 (15) 105 (14) 114 (14) 164 (8)
55 Sue Sweeper 45 15:15 73 (12) 81 (10) 92 (8) 142 (6) 133 (9)
56 Ed freshpot 70 15:21 80 (15) 94 (15) 89 (11) 106 (18) 132 (11)
57 Looch 78 15:21 90 (19) 92 (20) 103 (15) 114 (14) 108 (10)
58 Paul Hammond 65 15:44 77 (18) 96 (16) 86 (11) 112 (11) 151 (9)
59 LouWeed 102 15:47 73 (21) 82 (22) 87 (23) 113 (17) 152 (19)
60 TonyG0 52 15:48 67 (9) 85 (12) 89 (10) 125 (10) 128 (11)
61 Penfold_61 64 15:57 70 (6) 85 (16) 94 (19) 119 (11) 125 (12)
62 CentralLine 81 16:04 74 (19) 87 (18) 94 (15) 116 (13) 135 (16)
63 Finzi 118 16:21 88 (25) 95 (25) 93 (23) 103 (22) 120 (23)
64 franceslc11 71 16:29 74 (14) 85 (9) 84 (16) 106 (15) 137 (17)
65 7dPenguin 64 16:43 80 (10) 79 (17) 101 (12) 121 (18) 117 (7)
66 andrewlake 118 16:53 74 (24) 85 (21) 100 (24) 113 (25) 124 (24)
67 benbush 79 16:56 70 (14) 76 (19) 86 (13) 106 (16) 155 (17)
68 Tibthorpe 110 17:03 72 (23) 83 (23) 94 (21) 117 (22) 135 (21)
69 Ben Staveley 99 17:17 74 (20) 82 (21) 82 (18) 118 (22) 144 (18)
70 tapbarker 90 17:29 75 (20) 85 (19) 93 (14) 99 (18) 146 (19)
71 Encota 63 17:34 78 (13) 89 (12) 87 (14) 125 (13) 123 (11)
72 rrricharrrd 71 17:45 70 (15) 75 (11) 84 (16) 113 (18) 165 (11)
73 Bluemilan 53 17:48 75 (14) 76 (10) 95 (11) 108 (8) 155 (10)
74 james150374 47 17:57 75 (9) 82 (11) 92 (8) 100 (9) 146 (10)
75 Squallaby 82 18:03 81 (20) 85 (21) 100 (17) 121 (16) 138 (8)
76 Galspray 89 18:16 74 (18) 79 (19) 103 (20) 109 (18) 143 (14)
77 DanSolo 88 18:46 81 (20) 85 (15) 92 (16) 110 (18) 127 (19)
78 Aldus 67 19:07 95 (19) 91 (18) 95 (14) 116 (9) 120 (7)
79 Anomalospiza 99 19:07 77 (22) 82 (18) 95 (18) 110 (22) 135 (19)
80 The Caffeine Kid 92 19:25 82 (18) 96 (22) 98 (18) 109 (20) 116 (14)
81 cerid 71 19:26 82 (16) 101 (14) 91 (17) 108 (12) 124 (12)
82 KET 48 19:31 63 (10) 87 (12) 94 (10) 121 (8) 149 (8)
83 mjsaunders9 94 19:43 72 (20) 82 (18) 105 (21) 104 (19) 141 (16)
84 Valance 61 19:51 68 (13) 79 (8) 85 (13) 110 (15) 150 (12)
85 robinh 93 19:55 81 (19) 85 (17) 91 (19) 105 (19) 134 (19)
86 endafk 60 20:05 78 (15) 97 (14) 89 (14) 116 (11) 152 (6)
87 PGooden 71 20:21 72 (14) 82 (16) 94 (9) 108 (21) 149 (11)
88 Nangle 47 20:27 76 (12) 91 (10) 103 (13) 124 (6) 127 (6)
89 Zander 86 20:39 74 (19) 87 (15) 88 (16) 104 (17) 140 (19)
90 LJCN 86 20:42 73 (19) 76 (15) 87 (16) 107 (17) 149 (19)
91 pc8 109 20:43 70 (22) 79 (24) 106 (21) 100 (22) 149 (20)
92 daniel.faith 59 20:56 65 (9) 83 (12) 89 (12) 108 (15) 147 (11)
93 valerian1967 77 21:06 77 (15) 85 (16) 91 (17) 104 (14) 143 (15)
94 uvofiz 67 21:13 80 (16) 93 (16) 94 (14) 108 (11) 141 (10)
95 GMcD 111 21:19 75 (23) 84 (24) 92 (22) 109 (20) 140 (22)
96 Crossiant 67 21:37 61 (9) 64 (15) 96 (14) 101 (13) 156 (16)
97 Willie F 95 21:37 76 (21) 83 (18) 92 (17) 111 (19) 134 (20)
98 Balawo 53 21:50 84 (10) 42 (8) 89 (10) 110 (13) 148 (12)
99 pterodactyl 63 21:55 90 (14) 96 (16) 93 (14) 114 (12) 112 (7)
100 Achernar 88 22:11 83 (19) 85 (19) 91 (17) 104 (18) 143 (15)
101 Zabadak3 101 22:13 75 (22) 86 (22) 89 (21) 122 (12) 133 (24)
102 Colin2355 56 22:43 65 (8) 78 (13) 88 (17) 126 (7) 151 (11)
103 chrisw42 69 22:45 64 (15) 82 (14) 101 (16) 112 (14) 157 (10)
104 UisceTe 45 22:52 80 (13) 94 (12) 101 (6) 114 (6) 128 (8)
105 george.garlick 72 22:57 84 (19) 98 (16) 95 (15) 119 (13) 114 (9)
106 Tudds 82 23:34 77 (22) 90 (18) 108 (17) 118 (15) 125 (10)
107 alwsn8 106 23:51 77 (22) 82 (23) 98 (22) 119 (21) 129 (18)
108 brian.richards1 44 23:54 85 (8) 71 (7) 108 (8) 97 (14) 139 (7)
109 gsriordan52 75 23:54 79 (17) 90 (18) 96 (13) 115 (17) 129 (10)
110 Rod B 99 23:55 80 (24) 79 (21) 95 (21) 115 (19) 148 (14)
111 James P 79 24:03 61 (16) 86 (15) 92 (17) 110 (17) 154 (14)
112 Hamish.S 93 24:10 76 (23) 83 (20) 84 (17) 131 (18) 137 (15)
113 JayEm 99 24:11 82 (17) 88 (21) 97 (21) 105 (22) 125 (18)
114 Astonvilla.1 50 24:24 70 (11) 82 (12) 93 (12) 122 (8) 162 (7)
115 goblin 122 24:49 82 (25) 91 (25) 97 (25) 104 (25) 126 (22)
116 Corymbia 82 25:34 76 (14) 76 (15) 88 (16) 106 (19) 140 (18)
117 En Cee 44 25:40 80 (12) 97 (10) 105 (9) 96 (6) 132 (7)
118 rjcassidy 84 25:41 71 (16) 83 (20) 94 (18) 113 (15) 144 (15)
119 Jamie Fox 97 25:45 69 (20) 81 (24) 86 (17) 107 (16) 157 (20)
120 medodd 67 25:47 77 (20) 99 (16) 108 (12) 116 (12) 122 (7)
121 infinitejest 47 25:59 74 (12) 78 (8) 99 (9) 124 (11) 128 (7)
122 Gallion Fish 73 26:43 69 (17) 72 (14) 80 (14) 98 (16) 200 (12)
123 chris661554 93 26:50 75 (22) 88 (20) 97 (21) 108 (15) 145 (15)
124 Snorter 96 26:53 79 (20) 79 (22) 91 (18) 122 (19) 134 (17)
125 crosswordian 64 27:23 85 (11) 86 (12) 98 (14) 102 (14) 122 (13)
126 Dr_Bob 75 27:35 90 (20) 98 (20) 102 (17) 106 (10) 116 (8)
127 Deezzaa 81 27:52 80 (18) 94 (21) 97 (16) 110 (15) 134 (11)
128 intentional rounding 67 28:19 76 (12) 83 (16) 94 (14) 107 (13) 143 (12)
129 JohnDun 90 29:24 76 (20) 83 (18) 94 (16) 103 (21) 152 (15)
130 ulaca 85 29:55 77 (23) 92 (17) 81 (17) 115 (15) 157 (13)
131 tonym 58 30:18 71 (13) 83 (14) 92 (8) 121 (14) 139 (9)
132 Mudge 75 30:25 67 (19) 78 (11) 90 (12) 111 (16) 146 (17)
133 rv_1 91 30:59 78 (21) 88 (21) 88 (14) 111 (19) 140 (16)
134 MichelinPoitiers 60 31:06 74 (13) 92 (18) 99 (10) 122 (8) 126 (11)
135 Mike Harper 101 31:07 68 (22) 93 (21) 94 (21) 113 (22) 143 (15)
136 JPTC 42 31:12 68 (10) 79 (8) 103 (7) 125 (10) 128 (7)
137 Manveru 77 31:55 81 (21) 90 (19) 105 (16) 106 (11) 142 (10)
138 gbestanley 90 32:06 83 (23) 93 (18) 96 (17) 116 (21) 119 (11)
139 The Real Steve Snackman 111 32:39 71 (23) 86 (21) 98 (23) 103 (23) 142 (21)
140 Alias Noble 45 33:38 89 (10) 90 (13) 106 (9) 111 (7) 114 (6)
141 laurence_da 84 33:47 69 (17) 74 (18) 82 (17) 135 (17) 144 (15)
142 Yatton50 48 33:58 89 (11) 88 (9) 106 (13) 99 (9) 123 (6)
143 LiamD 56 34:27 58 (12) 74 (13) 88 (11) 102 (12) 214 (8)
144 Grumpole 65 34:43 78 (18) 76 (13) 95 (10) 120 (12) 140 (12)
145 barracuda 49 35:01 80 (8) 82 (9) 101 (11) 115 (10) 112 (11)
146 BertieVII 70 35:38 83 (17) 94 (15) 99 (16) 115 (13) 117 (9)
147 vinyl12345 80 35:58 73 (19) 72 (19) 105 (13) 126 (16) 139 (13)
148 neil.rutledge 54 37:31 76 (13) 87 (13) 90 (12) 115 (7) 153 (9)
149 kapietro 57 37:37 74 (16) 90 (10) 87 (10) 112 (9) 142 (12)
150 E Bradford 78 37:53 76 (22) 85 (15) 115 (19) 114 (14) 132 (8)
151 Pleasuredome 53 38:52 81 (13) 102 (8) 95 (16) 110 (10) 131 (6)
152 koro 114 38:53 78 (23) 84 (25) 101 (22) 104 (22) 133 (22)
153 Aidleys 70 40:03 86 (20) 95 (14) 90 (13) 116 (14) 125 (9)
154 Peloton 77 40:06 74 (15) 78 (12) 91 (14) 104 (18) 137 (18)
155 starstruck 92 40:19 76 (19) 83 (19) 95 (19) 104 (18) 146 (17)
156 Gordon B 68 40:23 90 (14) 87 (15) 83 (14) 121 (15) 122 (10)
157 baronrob 45 40:35 78 (9) 84 (12) 96 (7) 119 (11) 130 (6)
158 Shushannah 95 40:37 75 (18) 91 (18) 91 (20) 108 (20) 130 (19)
159 WordPlodder 110 41:37 75 (20) 85 (23) 94 (24) 103 (23) 144 (20)
160 bridgesong 31 42:24 82 (7) 90 (6) 102 (6) 104 (6) 122 (6)
161 Steve Wood 100 43:45 77 (21) 84 (21) 90 (20) 119 (18) 132 (20)
162 CoxBurglar 54 44:33 70 (10) 85 (15) 75 (11) 83 (8) 191 (10)
163 Dr Dolittle 61 46:33 54 (13) 66 (8) 84 (13) 92 (12) 176 (15)
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