Puzzle mags squeeze onto mobile phones

Those of you who like to pummel your parietal lobe with puzzles in every spare second might well be overjoyed at the prospect of a new service becoming available to O2 mobile customers.

Visitors to the O2 Active portal will soon be able to download mobile versions of sudoku, kakuro and crossword puzzles from the Puzzler magazines direct to their phone.

What's more, they'll also be able to show off just how damned smart they are by competing against chums in mini-puzzle leagues or entering national competitions to win prizes.

O2's head of games Antony Douglas broke off from pondering seven-across long enough to claim, "With Puzzler Media's expert help, we have broadened our popular mobile entertainment services to include a fun and intriguing selection of mobile puzzles that should speak to a wide audience amongst O2's 16 million customers."

At 50p per time the puzzles aren't quite cheap enough to compete with a newspaper for sheer value (and there's no sports news). However, with 1,000 puzzles on offer and more being added each day, they certainly win out in terms of variety, and the convenience of a crossword on mobile is undeniable: have you ever tried opening a broadsheet during the morning commute?

Incidentally, pocket gamers who aren't on O2 might want to check out these puzzling options for their phone.