Puzzles - 1 step forward 5 steps back

With the new change in how puzzles are done, I've noticed that the rating gain and loss isn't consistent.  When I get a puzzle correct, I gain like 2-4 rating points maybe.  When I get one wrong, I lose like 12-13.  I had a streak of something like 27 in a row that was erased with a handful of errors.  What gives?

Here's another example. I got 4 wrong out of 21 and gained only 4 rating points. ???

Change your Difficulty setting to Hard or Extra Hard.

The default is Standard where the average rating of puzzles is lower than your current puzzle rating. Due to that you'll get fewer points on a success and lose more on a failure. The other difficulties with lose less on failure and gain more in a success, but you'll tend to miss more puzzles overall and the total amount of change will be similar.

Shouldn't I stay the same if I'm at a ~50% success rate? If an 80% success rate doesn't increase points, how do you gain without borderline perfection?

The average rating of puzzles, with the success rate, is going to keep your rating relatively stable, unless your improving. Though you can still have times you're focused and do better or less focused and tilt.