What's New

28 October 2026

Medium Was Harder Than Hard. Not Any More.

Something odd showed up on our Community Trends chart this month: more of you were solving Hard puzzles than Medium ones. A few friends had already told us Medium felt like the toughest of the three, and it turns out they were right.

It wasn't just the solve rate. Since July, a solved Medium puzzle has taken just over 8 minutes on average. A solved Hard puzzle has taken just over 2.

What was going on

Most of us solve these puzzles the same way: get close to the goal, then nudge it over the line with a small number. Hard puzzles nearly always let you play like that. On 14 October, Hard's goal was 157, and you could get to 152, 153 or 162 and nudge from there.

About half of Medium puzzles didn't. Instead you had to work backwards from the goal, figure out what it splits into, and often divide along the way. That same day, Medium's goal was 250, and every single way to reach it meant dividing at some point. That's a much harder way to think, and not what a middle level should ask of you.

What we changed

From 29 October, every Medium puzzle has at least one way through that works like Hard does: get close, then nudge, with no dividing needed. There are still other routes, some trickier than others, and Medium still has a big number to tame. It just shouldn't feel harder than Hard any more.

We'll be watching the Community Trends chart to see whether it worked, and we'll report back here.

Does Medium feel different to you, or not? Tell us in the comments below.