I am not an avid puzzler. I should be honest about that up front. I can be pulled into a time vacuum by Threes without much resistance, but I do not have a daily regimen and I have never queued up for a crossword. So being asked to invent a puzzle was not a case of scratching my own itch. It was somebody else's itch, described to me over a desk, and I had to go and find out what would satisfy it.
The answer turned out to be a shape rather than a subject. Hawfold is a progressive weekly puzzle. Monday is mild. Each day after it advances, so by the end of the week you are working properly for it.
Everybody gets the same parish on the same day, so the difficulty is shared. Monday is where you learn the move that Sunday expects you to already know.
Then I showed it to work.
This is the part I did not plan for. I shared it with colleagues and they took to it immediately. A chat thread appeared on its own, and it filled up with people comparing notes.
I'm 3 of 3
Tough one today - but managed it without any clues
I prefer this to my daily Wordle
That last one stopped me in my tracks a bit. It is obviously very early days and I am not going to pretend a work chat thread is a market, but having something you built be genuinely enjoyed by other people is the drug that keeps you coming back for more.
What happens next.
The next phase is taking the feedback on board. My favourite piece of it, and the one I am acting on first, was also the simplest.
If you fancy joining in and getting your daily brain food, the door is open.
Hawfold, one parish a day.
A progressive weekly puzzle that starts mild on a Monday and works you harder as the week goes on. Everybody gets the same parish on the same day. It plays in a browser, and there is nothing to install and nothing to pay.