What makes a good puzzle?
1. FUN. My definition of a puzzle is a problem that is fun to solve. Different people find different things fun, so my first question when I design puzzles is always who is the audience, and what do they like to do? For instance my monthly puzzle for the Adobe web site was addressed to artists, so I had to make puzzles that were visually appealing. Other things that make a puzzle fun are amusing illustrations and an intriguing premise. Problems that feel like chores are no fun; they need a bit of whimsy or fantasy. 2. CHALLENGING. A good puzzle should be challenging, but fair. To make a puzzle fair I first make sure that everything the reader needs to know to solve the puzzle is communicated on the page. (For this reason I usually avoid trivia questions.) Then I break each puzzle into several parts that start easy and get harder, so every reader can find something at the right challenge level. 3. INTERESTING. Part of the reward of solving a good puzzle is not just finding the solution,
