Newspapers have included word puzzles for nearly a century, giving those hungry for the day’s news a fluffy dessert separate from their main course. 

Extra, extra! The dividers on your paper plate have just been broken. 

The first release from fledgling development studio Finger Arts, Guess the News combines news and entertainment into a piece of software with a little from each course — the lean meat of headline-making news stories and the sugary diversions of puzzles. The result is a great example of edutainment, an iPhone application that is simultaneously amusing and informative. 

The premise couldn’t be simpler. Each puzzle presents a headline pulled from major news outlets like the New York Times, CNN and USA Today. But the headline isn’t complete — several letters are missing, and it’s your job to drag Scrabble-like letter pieces from a pile in the center of the screen to the appropriate holes in the headline. Your only clues are at the bottom of the screen, where the source and first few words of the story are revealed. 

If fiery pundit Chris Matthews were to develop an iPhone game, it would probably shout at you. Otherwise, it might be a lot like Guess the News. 

Don’t be deterred by phrases like “informative edutainment.” Heuristic as Guess the News can be, it’s still a game, albeit a decidedly casual one, with many of its components borrowed from popular word games across multiple media. Imagine a mélange of games like Hangman, Scrabble and Wheel of Fortune, in fact, and you’d be close to the idea behind Guess the News. 

Provided you added a dash of CNN or Matthews’ Hardball, that is. 

Just as the media keeps score in Washington, Finger Arts keeps score of your performance, as well. Borrowing from Scrabble, each letter has a point total. After dragging a letter into the headline, you are awarded points based on the letter and your multiplier, which starts at x20 when the puzzle begins. With every ten seconds that pass, however, it decreases by one — to get higher scores, you’ll need to work quickly and utilize higher multipliers. 

In addition to keeping score, Guess the News also keeps track of mistakes you make. Make too many in a given puzzle, and your game will be over. 

Finger Arts added enough elements synonymous with video games to ensure Guess the News isn’t overlooked as simply a diversion application, but the developer also covered its bases in terms of the game’s informative elements. After finishing a puzzle, Guess the News gives you the option to read the article upon which the puzzle was based. The article loads within the application in full HTML, and when you’re finished, Guess the News returns you to the game — precisely where you were before, in fact. 

Once you’ve guessed the news, you can actually read it, too. 

While the game’s score-keeping and news-reporting please gamers and political junkies, Guess the News has the TMZ crowd covered, too. Before starting a new game, you’ll choose which kind of news headlines you’d like to solve. The categories include top stories, national, worldwide, business, entertainment, sports, technology, science, health and even “odd stories” from such not-so-respected sources as The Onion and Yahoo! News.

Deciphering hilarious headlines such as “NFL scientists postulate theoretical down before first down” from The Onion is one of the best parts of the game. 

Guess the News succeeds as both an entertaining puzzle game and an informative option for news across several topics without diluting either. It’s not the deepest experience in the App Store, but it might be one of the most unique, an exemplary piece of edutainment that excels at providing both an interactive way to access news and an instantly accessible, addictive little game to make the day’s most tedious moments seem a bit more lively. 

For a handful of change, can you really ask for much more? 

Guess the News is available now in the App Store at a special introductory price of 99 cents until Oct. 8, 2009 when the regular price of $2.99 takes effect.
 

Gameplay: 8.0
Touch a letter and drag it to the headline. It’s responsive and simple, and solving these headline puzzles can become pretty addictive, as well. 

Graphics: 7.0
Simple and functional, Guess the News sports a clean appearance. Some animations, particularly when words like “magical” appear on the screen to congratulate a good score, are nice and complement the look very well. 

Sound: N/A
There’s no sound, not even boring elevator music. Sort of a bummer. 

Difficulty: Easy, Medium, Hard
There are three difficulty options and some surprising challenge, too. 

Concept: 9.0
I have to applaud Finger Arts for coming up with such a unique concept. Guess the News pairs Hangman with Scrabble, adds a dash of Wheel of Fortune and throws in a handful of CNN. It’s an absolutely brilliant way to incorporate headline-making news stories into a sleek little puzzle game. 

Overall: 8.0
Extra, extra — we have a winner! Guess the News is a truly unique and exemplary piece of edutainment software that excels at providing both an interactive way to access news and an instantly accessible, addictive little game to make the day’s most tedious moments seem a bit more lively.