Thank you so much for the thoughtful feedback! Honestly, we're right there with you about the difficulty -- we spent a while trying to figure out a good balance between too-sparse hints and just outright giving the solution, and even on submission were thinking it was probably still not super solvable (hence the walkthrough inclusion lol).
Beyond appreciate the alternative ideas you've pitched here, both would make for a much more forgiveable solving curve. Done right, multiple solutions would probably lean far more into that aspect of player-driven creativity, actually. Just updated the jam page to actively invite other suggestions on improving the hint system; turns out fresh playtester perspectives like yours are exactly what the jam doctor ordered :)
Thanks again!