Crossword puzzles are a very common thing seen in bookstores, newspapers, and magazines. People enjoy doing them just for the satisfaction of solving small phrases with one word answers or having something to do on an airplane. They’ve been around since the early 1900’s when Arthur Wynne published the first “word-cross” puzzle in the New York World. It was initially thought to be a waste of time and it really didn’t catch on until around 1924. Since then, the crossword puzzle has been a highly popular form of simple entertainment that challenges the mind with a variety of topics. The New York Times tends to offer the most challenging crossword puzzle for those looking for something really difficult.

Crossword puzzles have also started appearing on the internet. No longer do you have to find a newspaper or buy a magazine to find the latest crossword, but just a simple search online can find you a variety of challenging online puzzles. Yahoo! has put together a great online crossword puzzle for people to solve. You’ll also find many major newspaper websites have the option to solve puzzles online.

Educators are also taking advantage of the value that a crossword puzzle brings. Presenting worksheets, quizzes, and other materials in the standard question/answer form can be mind dulling for a student. Crossword puzzles can not only be used as a simple form of entertainment, but also a challenging material of learning. Some of the curriculums offered to teachers do have crosswords incorporated into the subject matter but many teachers look to other resources to help them with the subject area they are teaching in. Once again, the web is a great place to find subject related crossword puzzles (http://puzzlejet.com). Educators have even incorporated creating their own crossword puzzles in order to expand the curriculum in their classroom.

If you’re one of those who enjoy crosswords, there is a good chance that you’ll have plenty of challenging puzzles to come in the future as it seems that this unique but simple “word-cross” isn’t going away. Education too can take advantage of different ways to present material, and crossword puzzles could prove to be a challenging and effective way to teach kids.