Puzzle Description:

Matches, of course.

#1: Lauri Juhani Sevon (ranepasanen) on Nov 28, 2009

Very clever!

Thanks. Now and then I find a good riddle and wonder, "Can I make a puzzle out of that?" And the answer is, "Of course!"

Clever.

Thanks, BlackCat.

Ditto the clever comments.

Good puzzle, good riddle!

Thanks, Adam and Sallie.

Really nice matches :)

I like the riddle and puzzle

Thanks, Telly.

Love it!

Thanks!

Great! So, as an expert puzzle-maker, what is your advice for what makes a good puzzle? Good image, difficulty, fun to solve, clever title, what? I've been solving my way through yours and Adam's puzzles, and I started wondering what drove you guys to create these puzzles, so I decided to try my hand at a puzzle. The next thing I knew, I had 4 ready for publication. Trouble is, I have no clue if they're any good. What do you do to make sure a puzzle is good? I'm asking you because you make consistently great puzzles.

Diana, I'm glad you are ready to start creating and publishing puzzles. I have listened to lots of feedback, and this is what I have learned that people like:

Most solvers prefer B&W between 20x20 and 40x40 (although a few like the bigger ones). Sometimes I will go a little bigger for a portrait, as faces are hard to do in a smaller grid.

I like to go for the "Aha!" experience, but that is hard to predict. I try to have a good balance of black and white, more white and just enough black to make it solvable.

The title should be VERY obscure, something that throws them off, that they will only understand when they see the final image. The subject matter should be unique, and it's quite fun to create something off the top of your head.

In the beginning you might want to only publish puzzles that the checker says are solvable by logic alone. Hold off on the ones that say you need to check yourself to see if it's solvable, as those might require guessing, and that's a real turnoff most of the time. ALWAYS solve it yourself using logic only, to see how difficult it is. Then you can publish it, and sit back and wait for the comments.

Let us know in the comments that it's your first puzzle, and people will be nicer, generally. :-)

cool puzzle
i was trying to figure out what it would be from the title but i couldnt think of anything

wow - cool riddle and excellent graphic image! how clever.

Hmmm...

Why was the tennis pro's trophy collection a huge fire hazard?
...Because she won so many matches!

Loved everything about this puzzle, Teresa! Yonah...I also greatly enjoyed your clever riddle!

Goto next topic

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