I did exactly half of the puzzles last year, and I think my case is not too uncommon. I am perfectly fine with this, only maybe it would be slightly better if the puzzles came out every two days instead, to ward off the FOMO and give us more time per puzzle?
Advent of Code 2025: Number of puzzles reduce from 25 to 12 for the first time
141–150 of 226 posts
Re: Advent of Code 2025: Number of puzzles reduce from 25 to 12 for the first time
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hate to be the... whoever I'm being right now, but names have meaning. It's the reason to have them in the first place. > Advent of Code isn't about there being 25 puzzles, and so maintaining volume at all costs has nothing to do with it. It's the Advent of Code. Not "Random late year event with no religious / commercial tradition connotations whatsoever" of Code. The 25 is there in the name. It's the whole point :).
You need to turn in your polish passport for publicly saying that the advent is 25, not 24 days ;P
To be fair in the original Advent of Code the last day is just a freebie and not a real programming problem.
Re: Advent of Code 2025: Number of puzzles reduce from 25 to 12 for the first time
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean, wasn't pretty much the second half of all AoC exercises beyond LLM capabilities? I remember there being multiple accounts trying to one-shot AoC and all ended on day 10 or so.
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There's plenty of prior work to go on. I mean, you could use a font ligature or one of the browser extensions (although I don't know if Chrome still lets you have a browser extension touch all text).
Change ChatGPT to 'my drunk uncle' while you're at it.
Re: Advent of Code 2025: Number of puzzles reduce from 25 to 12 for the first time
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
>predictable given how the last 2 years went QRD? Was it AI?
Yeah, a bunch of people started going on witch hunts against the people where were obviously using AI (eg ~30 second solve times) and also anyone who had "AI" anywhere in their bio. IMO the levels it got to was wildly out of proportion, even if these people were cheating (say what you will about AI, but if the rules say not to use it and you do: you're a cheater) but maybe I would have felt differently if the timezon…
sounds like the competition had challenges even before AI or any rules about AI or not.
I never followed this challenge aside from doing a few 10 years ago in college.
If speed to problem completion matters though, then question release time will be brutal for some.
Re: Advent of Code 2025: Number of puzzles reduce from 25 to 12 for the first time
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
> one door per day until it's Christmas eve That would be 24.
You also open one on Christmas. Some people consider Christmas more important than Christmas eve. https://www.hallmark.com/house-and-home/figurines/precious-m...
That really depends on which country you're in.
Re: Advent of Code 2025: Number of puzzles reduce from 25 to 12 for the first time
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
I thought it was meant to be like an Advent Calendar, which is normally 25.
Not in all traditions. E.g. in Germany Christmas Eve is typically the last day so you only get 24.
And even in the places where it’s 25 days, there’s plenty of advent calendars that only have 12 doors - though they’re typically budget versions of expensive calendars (eg a dram of whisky behind each door)
Re: Advent of Code 2025: Number of puzzles reduce from 25 to 12 for the first time
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not in all traditions. E.g. in Germany Christmas Eve is typically the last day so you only get 24.
And even in the places where it’s 25 days, there’s plenty of advent calendars that only have 12 doors - though they’re typically budget versions of expensive calendars (eg a dram of whisky behind each door)
Falsehoods programmers believe about time #604: all advent calendars have 25 slots
Re: Advent of Code 2025: Number of puzzles reduce from 25 to 12 for the first time
#148I see the leaderboard is gone too. Unfortunate but entirely predictable given how the last 2 years went. That being said, I was worried he'd cancel the entire thing, so this is still good news!
The leaderboard has led to the same predictable discussion for as long as the AoC has existed. Recurring themes: - The puzzles get published in the middle of the night for most of Europe, can't we have a better system like scoring on . - It's weird that many of the pages say "just have fun, it's not a race" and then also there's a prominent leaderboard page to show who's currently ahead in the race. - There's been pe…
6am or later for most of Europe is not middle of the night.
Re: Advent of Code 2025: Number of puzzles reduce from 25 to 12 for the first time
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hate to be the... whoever I'm being right now, but names have meaning. It's the reason to have them in the first place. > Advent of Code isn't about there being 25 puzzles, and so maintaining volume at all costs has nothing to do with it. It's the Advent of Code. Not "Random late year event with no religious / commercial tradition connotations whatsoever" of Code. The 25 is there in the name. It's the whole point :).
Advent is the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. 4 is in the name, not 25.
Yep, Advent wreaths have 4 candles, so there's wiggle room to reduce the frequency further.
Re: Advent of Code 2025: Number of puzzles reduce from 25 to 12 for the first time
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean, wasn't pretty much the second half of all AoC exercises beyond LLM capabilities? I remember there being multiple accounts trying to one-shot AoC and all ended on day 10 or so.
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here you go, helping with exposure therapy
https://gist.github.com/clairefro/1cf81f5d7125e124975f4aba22...