I have a specific example: I recommended “The Lookout” ( Here ) to a friend who never played IF before and he managed to complete it without help and English isn’t his mother tongue.
So I can recommend that one. However, I gave him Zarf’s IF Card: Play Some Interactive Fiction
Thank you all for your many recommendations and insights. Many messages clearly deserve a more complete and thoughtful response from me, but I am an ungrateful wretch who refuses to make time for such things.
But seriously, thank you. I may return to this thread later. You all have given me a lot to think about and at the very least, I have a lot to take into consideration if/when I eventually get around to making my own games. I no longer feel quite so bad, though clearly there is room for improvement. But I guess that’ll be half the fun.
My wife and I played Lost Pig. I wanted to show it to her before playing it with our daughter, as neither had played text adventures before. Anyway, after solving the puzzles we spent nearly as long analysing red herrings – until checking the hints page and deducing that we just needed to leave! So we can nearly claim not to have used the hints 
I agree with you about how well the game is written. I think it’s ideal to show beginners/children as long as you can guide them through the puzzles.
Also, I second Garry’s praise of the TALP games.
I have a hard time with most parser games. I think most of them are not written well enough to play without a walkthrough. I have decided that I am okay with this. I’m more interested in the narrative possibilities of IF than its puzzles.