Visit play.usatoday.com for a one-stop hub for daily puzzles, crosswords, and brain teasers designed to keep your mind active and your mood lifted.

Pens, pencils and a facility with numbers. Also helpful: earplugs, plushies, a water bottle, calming herbal oil and the occasional “wild bifurcation” (a.k.a. a wild guess). Competitors at the World ...

Thomas Snyder (aka Dr. Sudoku) is a three-time World Sudoku Champion and five-time US Puzzle Champion, as well as the author of several books of puzzles. His puzzles are hand-crafted, with artistic ...

Find answers to the latest online sudoku and crossword puzzles that were published in USA TODAY Network's local newspapers.

They baffle, delight, and frustrate millions of people around the world on a daily basis. But even the most dedicated Sudoku-solver might have never spotted this secret pattern. Mathematicians have ...

Maki Kaji "came up with the name Sudoku and was loved by puzzle fans from all over the world," his company said Jason Hahn is a former Human Interest and Sports Reporter for PEOPLE. He started at ...

A former investment banker has become an unlikely YouTube sensation by posting videos of him completing difficult sudoku puzzles. Simon Anthony, 46, decided to take a risk and quit his job at a London ...