Crossword SNITCH

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

Reference solvers for December 2018

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 Magoo 23341 06:22 78 (10) 110 (13) 101 (16) 95 (15) 106 (17)
2 Eamon Ryan 49233 06:57 87 (26) 98 (25) 98 (25) 106 (26) 108 (26)
3 Jason 51928 07:39 82 (25) 94 (24) 101 (24) 103 (24) 117 (26)
4 verlaine 46357 08:40 87 (23) 96 (23) 99 (19) 107 (21) 119 (13)
5 mistigris 49745 09:00 87 (22) 99 (22) 86 (17) 108 (20) 116 (21)
6 aphis99 65853 09:27 80 (24) 99 (25) 102 (26) 105 (26) 111 (25)
7 Midas 68613 09:41 89 (26) 103 (26) 100 (26) 102 (26) 104 (24)
8 AlanS 71747 10:40 94 (26) 99 (25) 88 (25) 96 (23) 123 (23)
9 richard 35296 10:53 84 (12) 101 (13) 90 (13) 116 (16) 99 (10)
10 Ron's mum 37314 10:54 117 (18) 127 (12) 96 (14) 62 (12) 85 (11)
11 chindit 66521 11:25 85 (22) 96 (23) 100 (19) 104 (22) 114 (21)
12 lickert 65351 11:35 90 (21) 106 (20) 87 (19) 97 (21) 115 (23)
13 chriswords 75392 11:58 96 (25) 105 (20) 91 (25) 96 (22) 111 (23)
14 asaldanha 77562 12:11 92 (25) 103 (24) 87 (19) 103 (24) 110 (24)
15 trux 31674 12:16 77 (12) 101 (13) 108 (12) 110 (8) 109 (8)
16 glheard 65463 12:23 86 (19) 101 (19) 102 (18) 101 (23) 107 (19)
17 Spur58 56691 12:56 91 (18) 104 (16) 99 (18) 101 (18) 105 (13)
18 Derek Harrison 57523 12:57 86 (10) 98 (17) 97 (20) 100 (22) 112 (15)
19 Topical Tim 86202 13:25 83 (24) 107 (25) 95 (21) 110 (23) 102 (24)
20 Tom Stubbs 91081 13:33 86 (26) 96 (24) 102 (22) 102 (25) 112 (25)
21 Silva 89721 14:39 84 (25) 105 (26) 98 (18) 103 (22) 109 (21)
22 neilr 98845 14:42 85 (26) 98 (24) 95 (23) 101 (24) 119 (25)
23 Stavros 72602 14:45 83 (19) 97 (20) 88 (16) 113 (20) 116 (17)
24 Ben Staveley 43494 14:47 85 (9) 99 (14) 107 (13) 84 (13) 124 (10)
25 noidea 73648 14:58 90 (19) 105 (19) 101 (19) 98 (19) 105 (16)
26 p.wild 106303 15:00 91 (26) 99 (26) 94 (26) 107 (26) 108 (24)
27 fshephe 106444 15:09 94 (24) 97 (26) 102 (25) 99 (26) 105 (26)
28 mikegrocott 58315 15:11 93 (16) 97 (11) 98 (17) 103 (13) 106 (17)
29 keriothe_ 83871 15:21 77 (19) 101 (21) 100 (20) 103 (20) 115 (21)
30 SimonAnthony 75641 15:22 84 (21) 104 (20) 100 (18) 104 (17) 110 (16)
31 jimpen 83970 15:22 86 (22) 104 (21) 99 (21) 99 (20) 114 (17)
32 PGooden 87343 15:29 83 (23) 100 (23) 104 (18) 93 (22) 123 (18)
33 Jon88 111818 15:47 85 (25) 100 (26) 101 (26) 100 (26) 112 (25)
34 xyster 41409 16:03 79 (12) 97 (13) 98 (9) 114 (10) 118 (9)
35 Sheapey 99444 16:14 78 (21) 90 (23) 106 (22) 101 (24) 123 (22)
36 cyrillic 76539 16:21 89 (17) 94 (18) 95 (20) 108 (17) 114 (16)
37 Tibthorpe 110951 16:21 76 (26) 99 (24) 102 (26) 112 (26) 111 (21)
38 Groucho 87935 16:28 90 (26) 109 (19) 99 (21) 102 (17) 102 (16)
39 Malcj 108730 16:37 85 (24) 104 (25) 97 (24) 95 (23) 117 (23)
40 Spanna 46435 16:49 97 (16) 106 (9) 101 (13) 96 (12) 101 (6)
41 Sue Sweeper 74841 17:49 78 (15) 102 (15) 97 (14) 101 (18) 115 (18)
42 sotira 100654 18:02 86 (22) 100 (20) 102 (19) 101 (20) 109 (22)
43 phthisis 61963 18:07 86 (15) 102 (13) 100 (13) 100 (13) 112 (13)
44 robinh 123521 18:13 87 (25) 95 (25) 104 (24) 100 (24) 113 (25)
45 David Crooks 101906 18:27 83 (23) 110 (21) 98 (22) 104 (19) 107 (17)
46 MikeOsborne 108318 18:48 83 (23) 102 (22) 103 (18) 103 (22) 108 (21)
47 OliviaRhineb 132133 19:08 81 (26) 98 (25) 100 (26) 107 (26) 114 (22)
48 JezWoolfrey 91132 19:28 80 (15) 85 (15) 108 (19) 97 (17) 116 (22)
49 GMcD 142426 19:56 86 (26) 93 (26) 92 (25) 111 (26) 116 (26)
50 David P 43933 20:20 96 (8) 93 (9) 105 (9) 92 (9) 109 (11)
51 Squallaby 115053 20:50 80 (24) 96 (23) 105 (19) 111 (21) 114 (15)
52 annelambirth 93914 20:52 92 (20) 106 (16) 96 (18) 89 (18) 123 (13)
53 sampson 90216 21:10 94 (20) 103 (22) 103 (14) 94 (17) 112 (8)
54 John Arnold 86889 21:36 94 (20) 100 (13) 104 (13) 84 (16) 121 (15)
55 barracuda 151935 21:38 88 (26) 101 (26) 100 (26) 101 (23) 107 (26)
56 mcjwright 134988 22:16 83 (22) 103 (23) 94 (21) 96 (22) 121 (23)
57 Ed freshpot 110284 22:24 90 (21) 91 (18) 108 (20) 97 (14) 112 (19)
58 Kevin Gregg 123667 22:24 91 (20) 110 (22) 100 (20) 89 (22) 109 (18)
59 RobR 89472 22:35 88 (18) 99 (16) 95 (13) 114 (16) 104 (13)
60 Zabadak 158693 22:36 86 (26) 100 (26) 96 (25) 102 (25) 114 (25)
61 LouWeed 161653 22:38 90 (26) 99 (26) 95 (26) 105 (25) 109 (26)
62 benedick 91622 22:47 82 (16) 114 (18) 98 (17) 96 (14) 107 (12)
63 gbestanley 108505 22:53 88 (20) 104 (11) 100 (22) 94 (19) 116 (17)
64 Craven 155526 22:56 86 (24) 100 (25) 97 (25) 104 (24) 111 (25)
65 pterodactyl 108979 22:59 84 (19) 106 (17) 102 (20) 95 (16) 111 (17)
66 diogenes 86917 23:21 86 (18) 109 (15) 106 (15) 97 (15) 106 (9)
67 Looch 101807 23:33 78 (16) 103 (18) 107 (17) 96 (13) 110 (18)
68 poskir 126948 23:46 97 (20) 93 (18) 106 (23) 96 (20) 103 (18)
69 colin2355 145550 25:00 88 (19) 101 (25) 89 (23) 108 (21) 112 (19)
70 Edprof 111147 25:01 83 (17) 100 (17) 105 (21) 100 (19) 118 (10)
71 Solver52 175884 25:03 92 (25) 104 (26) 102 (25) 94 (25) 105 (26)
72 rjcassidy 138922 25:10 82 (22) 108 (24) 96 (22) 96 (18) 119 (16)
73 crosswordian 74565 25:21 80 (11) 92 (11) 103 (17) 105 (9) 117 (11)
74 zythum 115151 25:56 87 (18) 107 (18) 97 (15) 100 (17) 107 (16)
75 phmfantom 168230 27:29 89 (24) 106 (20) 94 (23) 102 (21) 108 (24)
76 Chadwick 133817 27:32 84 (16) 102 (17) 105 (19) 96 (20) 108 (19)
77 Mkgnao 106078 27:37 91 (16) 97 (16) 95 (13) 98 (16) 120 (13)
78 struggler 186561 28:00 92 (24) 103 (24) 101 (24) 101 (25) 101 (24)
79 dont_panic 151517 28:22 86 (20) 101 (23) 101 (21) 98 (17) 112 (18)
80 dec 114515 29:21 84 (18) 103 (17) 105 (16) 105 (15) 106 (9)
81 Manveru 103576 29:45 81 (16) 98 (12) 105 (16) 106 (12) 113 (12)
82 iagmathewson 141885 29:56 86 (18) 95 (20) 105 (18) 96 (15) 116 (18)
83 William M 141527 30:38 79 (16) 99 (19) 100 (17) 110 (15) 107 (20)
84 fudgiebates 96611 32:51 74 (13) 95 (11) 90 (8) 96 (12) 131 (15)
85 koro 229623 33:16 84 (25) 101 (25) 98 (25) 102 (25) 112 (25)
86 branch 174470 33:25 73 (18) 107 (20) 94 (18) 112 (21) 107 (20)
87 NAPASAI 133009 33:35 92 (16) 108 (11) 90 (20) 102 (14) 114 (15)
88 nekabue 202323 33:43 86 (23) 94 (24) 101 (21) 103 (19) 114 (23)
89 cassandra 244280 33:55 94 (26) 98 (26) 103 (26) 103 (26) 99 (26)
90 FelicityTT 135287 35:13 89 (13) 98 (15) 99 (17) 92 (9) 110 (20)
91 ulaca 144509 35:25 84 (16) 115 (17) 89 (17) 87 (15) 127 (13)
92 rosselliot 184825 35:49 83 (21) 110 (19) 108 (18) 95 (19) 105 (19)
93 Glyndwr 203681 36:53 92 (24) 107 (19) 98 (23) 97 (20) 109 (16)
94 JohnDun 234985 37:17 71 (24) 109 (23) 98 (25) 103 (20) 120 (23)
95 Big Nug 261604 38:35 87 (25) 99 (25) 88 (26) 114 (24) 111 (23)
96 Crippens1 224368 38:57 79 (25) 105 (24) 108 (19) 87 (18) 124 (20)
97 Tudds 261444 39:15 90 (25) 92 (25) 87 (22) 118 (24) 109 (25)
98 1234 249618 39:37 84 (24) 107 (24) 99 (22) 96 (24) 115 (21)
99 Jeeves 119030 39:40 82 (12) 111 (12) 85 (12) 106 (11) 113 (13)
100 eniamretrauq 183168 40:10 86 (15) 106 (15) 88 (17) 98 (18) 115 (21)
101 empty 290916 40:44 90 (26) 107 (25) 100 (26) 98 (26) 102 (26)
102 Jefe 119998 46:30 76 (11) 107 (13) 93 (11) 119 (6) 111 (12)
103 JerryR 304525 53:25 73 (21) 105 (21) 93 (22) 115 (22) 113 (19)
Back