A hint ladder is a sequence of clues sorted by how much they reveal. Used well, it turns a hard daily puzzle into a guided solve.
The first rungs should be structural: word length, category, or first letter. Later rungs can mention theme or phrase pattern. The final rung is the answer itself.
The value of the ladder is that it lets each player stop at their own comfort level. Some want a nudge, some want the solution, and both are legitimate ways to play.