Puzzles

Jigsaw puzzles are fun to solve, but can be frustrating, too. Here are some tips to help you finish those difficult puzzles with ease.

By Melanie Radzicki McManus

Crossword puzzles, whether you do them in pencil or wield a pen and live dangerously, are fun and good for your brain. These tips will help.

By Laurie L. Dove

If you're a fan of jigsaw puzzles, get a load of these. Some hold Guinness World Records as the biggest. And some are just incredibly hard to solve.

By Patty Rasmussen

The New York Times crossword puzzle is still keeping it fresh after all these years.

By Jesslyn Shields

Bring your closest friends and team up with total strangers to solve your way out of a room full of puzzles.

By Clint Pumphrey

Have you ever spent hours (days, weeks) staring at a Rubik's Cube, only to twist and turn its colored squares hopelessly? With a bit of deciphering, you can solve that cursed cube.

By Laurie L. Dove

Despite its simple setup -- a few posts and several discs that form a pyramid -- the game known as Towers of Hanoi can be hard to solve without the right solution.

By Laurie L. Dove

While 8 Queens is popular with the programming set, the less math-savvy among us can also squeeze some fun out of this classic puzzle.

By Kate Kershner

As fun as they are, most traditional puzzles can fall a little flat. However, 3-D puzzles - made from plastic, wood, fabric and more -- have been boggling minds for centuries. What separates 3-D puzzles from their two-dimensional brethren?

By Dave Roos

Word games can be fun (and frustrating) forms of entertainment, but if you're tired of the same old crosswords, why not try your hand at their puzzle cousins, acrostics?

By Nathan Chandler

If you love the challenge of chess and can't get enough of the game, you can try out special chess puzzles to improve your skills.

By Jane McGrath

First used for confidential messages during times of war, cryptograms have now evolved into leisure-time puzzles. What are some of the keys to breaking the codes?

By Colleen Cancio

Although (or perhaps because) no lives are at stake when you decipher a cryptoquote, these cryptology-based word puzzles are a brain game for the ages.

By Joy H. Montgomery

Puzzle boxes were originally created in Japan as a way to thwart thieves. Today, they're popular around the globe as decorative brain teasers. Here's how they work.

By Melanie Radzicki McManus

Some can see them; some can't. They're 3-D eye puzzles and they were all the rage in the '90s. Get the tricks to solving these crazy images.

By Danielle Fisher

In Japanese, the word Futoshiki means unequal. And if you like sudoku or KenKen, this number puzzle might be your next addiction.

By Jonathan Strickland

What do you get when you combine a crossword puzzle grid, the logic of sudoku and a bit of basic math? Find out how kakuro puzzles add up.

By Jane McGrath

KenKen puzzles, referred to as the new sudoku at the time they were created, are popular brain teasers that vary in degree of difficulty. Here's how the game is played.

By Melanie Radzicki McManus

If you've ever seen the TV game show "Concentration," you've seen a rebus puzzle. How did these unique puzzles get their name?

By Dave Roos

Since the 1880s, sliding puzzles have delighted and infuriated the people who try to solve them. What makes these simple games so compelling?

By John Kelly

Tangrams are puzzles made of cut-out shapes that can be combined to form other shapes or designs. So exactly how do they work?

By Matt Sailor

It's no surprise a certifiable genius created Numbrix. It's challenging and unique -- and trains your brain.

By Chris Warren

Many puzzles can stump even the smartest players. But which head-scratcher is the hardest in the world?

By Terri Briseno