Riddle me this: there’s a new trend sweeping my high school. It’s good for your mind and cheap to participate. All you need is a newspaper (preferably a Gazette) and pen. What is it? The puzzle page!

That’s right, the latest craze to hit my school are all the puzzles found in the Gazette. Each morning, a group of students can be found in the library photocopying the paper, so that they can have their own copy of the cross-word sudoku, and Wonderword all throughout the day. I even now a group of kids who race everyday during lunch to see who can finish the Wonderword first.

It probably seems silly, but there’s something universal about puzzles. My mom watches Wheel of Fortune almost every night, and I love when I can join her. There’s a rush you get when you know you’re close to solving it. I know I’m pretty nerdy, but everyone I know, who does these puzzles, has the same feeling. Puzzles can get annoying when you’re stuck, but nothing beats the feeling when you’ve finished.

So I thought I’d leave some links to puzzles, in case you don’t have your own copy of the puzzle page.

http://www.dailygazette.com/fun_games/ - The Gazette offers the LA Times Crossword Puzzle and a new Sudoku every day.

http://www.jigzone.com/ - This site is neat if you like jigsaw puzzles. It features a new puzzle of the day and you can submit your own.

http://www.crpuzzles.com/ - This site has a wide variety of puzzles. It has an anagram game, word games, and logic puzzles (my favorite).

http://www.braingle.com/ - This site also has a lot of different types of puzzles. It has optical illusions, brain teasers and a Rubik’s cube.

So what do you all think about puzzles? Do you get the rush? Or are they boring?