This is fantastic in every way. The hardest part of participating for me was finding more time closer to the holidays as the challenges got harder. Fewer, better challenges, with more space between them and the end of the year is a brilliant solution. So excited and grateful.
I don't see how less puzzles is an improvement - you always had the option to only do 12 puzzles and skip ones you don't find interesting. I guess just from a statistical perspective, you're probably more likely to find 12 puzzles you find interesting out of 25 vs. find all 12 puzzles interesting.
There's also nothing preventing you from doing more of them, or finishing in January... in fact, I know some people that space them out over the entire year, only doing a handful each time when they have lots of spare time.
I came here to say almost the same thing - except I don't think there's more space between the puzzles. From the post:
Why did the number of days per event change? It takes a ton of my free time every year to run Advent of Code, and building the puzzles accounts for the majority of that time. After keeping a consistent schedule for ten years(!), I needed a change. The puzzles still start on December 1st so that the day numbers make sense (Day 1 = Dec 1), and puzzles come out every day (ending mid-December).
Honestly, I prefer this. I've never had time to finish AoC because as we get later into December, I'm crunched with wrapping up work things so that I can do more family things and prep for the holidays. I look forward to this every year, and every year, I can see that I stop around day 11 +/- 1 day (except for 2021 when I somehow got to day 17).
I came here to say almost the same thing - except I don't think there's more space between the puzzles. From the post:
Why did the number of days per event change? It takes a ton of my free time every year to run Advent of Code, and building the puzzles accounts for the majority of that time. After keeping a consistent schedule for ten years(!), I needed a change. The puzzles still start on December 1st so that the day numbers make sense (Day 1 = Dec 1), and puzzles come out every day (ending mid-December).