Here are a few thoughts for puzzle makers.

I have a bias against puzzles that produce a bunch of letters that need to be anagrammed as a final step. There are a number of such unpublished puzzles that are otherwise quite elegant. If you have created such puzzles, feel free to re-work them so that they give solvers the ordering of the letters.

Careful with backgrounds that give away the answer! It’s fine to have a subtle reference that becomes clear after the puzzle has been solved as intended.

For the most part, people don’t like having to do lots of research in order to solve a puzzle. Most people should be able to get a good start on the puzzle with out rushing off to Google or Wikipedia.

Careful with using colors, especially subtle ones. By this I mean having the solution dependent on distinguishing different colors. Different people see colors differently.

Any one have anything to add?