Toronto Star launches weekly 40-page puzzle magazine That's Puzzling!, available to subscribers for C$1.49/week

Sandy Yang

TORONTO , November 4, 2011 (press release) – Do you ever wonder why some people are addicted to puzzles or whether doing puzzles makes you smarter?

Dr. Marcel Danesi, a University of Toronto anthropologist who is one of the world's leading authorities on puzzles, believes puzzles are addictive because they help satisfy our need to solve problems, something we don't often experience in our daily lives.

He also believes that like music and reading, puzzles stimulate the brain and help fend off or delay serious brain deterioration.

Now, Dr. Danesi is bringing his expertise to a unique new weekly puzzle magazine, That's Puzzling!, which the Toronto Star is launching this week. Dr. Danesi, who has written several books about puzzles and teaches students about puzzles, has created his own puzzles exclusively for the new That's Puzzling! magazine.

That's Puzzling! is a weekly 40-page brain-boosting book filled with 51 puzzles, with 25 types of puzzles ranging in difficulty from easy to expert and includes such favourites as Lexicon, Boggle, ScrabbleGrams, Jumble Crossword and Jumble for Kids. Many of the puzzles cannot be found in traditional puzzle magazines or newspapers.

More than half of the Star's subscribers do puzzles regularly. Many of them say they find puzzles beneficial in helping their elderly loved ones sharpen their brains and for helping teach children how to solve problems.

That's Puzzling! is available free to Saturday home-delivery subscribers until Saturday, Nov. 19. After that, the puzzle magazine will be available to any subscriber that wants it at a cost of an additional $1.49 a week, which includes taxes. That's a tremendous value, given that similar puzzle magazines often cost considerably more, and are not delivered to home doors each week. All of the existing puzzle content in the Star will remain.

That's Puzzling! will also be included in all copies of the Friday Star sold at retail outlets and in newspaper boxes.

Home-delivery subscribers of the Star can register to continue receiving That's Puzzling! after the three-week trial period expires at www.thatspuzzling.ca or by calling the Star at 416-603-8040 or 1-855-603-8040.

ABOUT THE TORONTO STAR

The Toronto Star, founded in 1892, is read in print and online (thestar.com) by 3.0 million readers every week. The Toronto Star is a division of Star Media Group, which includes Toronto.com, Torstar Syndication Services, The Grid, Sway Magazine and The Canadian Immigrant. Star Media Group also includes the jointly owned Metro free daily newspapers in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Winnipeg and London, Ontario, and the Chinese language newspaper Sing Tao. Star Media Group is a division of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, which is a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation.

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