Alexey and team created an ambitious daily puzzle called Mind Aerobics for MSN, then the Zone, which ran for about a year. The puzzles were excellent, but the game was poorly positioned and few people were able to find it. Mind Aerobics is now off the air, though some of the puzzles live on in the CD-ROM game Pandora's Box . As they say in real estate, location location location. New York Times Crossword Puzzle .
Crossword puzzles work well on computer, making good use of limited screen real estate.
The key idea here is to use a fixed puzzle format with rotating content, instead of a completely different kind of puzzle every day. Most syndicated puzzles do that. Easier for players to understand, and easier for game designers to create. Not only is there a new puzzle to solve every day, you can also create custom puzzles with your own uploaded pictures. Shockwave just hired a couple veteran puzzle designers from the TV industry to strengthen their puzzle offerings.