If he has cut the number of puzzles in half, why not then release a new puzzle every other day? That would make more sense because AoC would still run until Christmas, and it would give people more time per puzzle. Maybe unlock part 2 of each puzzle the day after the puzzle has been posted, so there still something new every day.

I once tried participating, but gave up halfway through because one puzzle per day was just too much time. If it was one puzzle every two days it would be more manageable.