Nothing of the history of the criminal known as the Puzzler has been revealed prior to his appearance in Metropolis in the summer of 1942.  That June, during a ping-ping tournament being covered by the Daily Star, Clark Kent noticed something amiss with a ping-pong ball.  Quickly changing to Superman, he staged a brief demonstration playing the game with himself and then leaped into the sky with the ball as it exploded against his invulnerable body.   Switching back to Clark Kent, he and Lois are informed that the ping pong champion had been threatened by a criminal known as the Puzzler.  Shortly thereafter, the champions car is found with a bullseye painted on it and then a group of gunmen appear and open fire.  Super,am quickly intervenes and sends the gang to jail.   The following day, a vagrant is brought in for breaking a window but reveals himself to be disguised.  In reality, he is the Puzzler and he stuns the guards and frees his men.

A few days later, a letter arrives for Clark Kent, inviting him to interview the Puzzler.   lois intercepts the letter and goes to interview the Puzzler.  As he explains his criminal plans, Lois foolishly pulls a gun.   She is quickly overwhelmed and strapped into one of the Puzzler's death traps.  In the meantime, Clark has found the letter and changes to Superman, racing to the scene.  Bursting into the Puzzler's lair, he is stymied by Lois imminent danger.  The Puzzler offers to release her if he can be beaten at checkers.  Sadistically, if Superman loses, the Puzzler expects him to passively watch Lois die.  Superman "cheats" by moving the checkers so quickly the Puzzler cannot see, exploring every strategy unseen so that he wins the game.  Lois is freed but  the Puzzler collapses the ceiling of his lair, forcing Superman to save Lois while he escapes.

Later in the week, another letter arrives from the Puzzler.  This one instructs Lois to give Superman a puzzle piece on it. The piece has the word "World's" on it and a clue to the location of the next piece,  He finds all the pieces, evading the Puzzler's traps and assembles the phrase "World's Toughest Intellectual Game".  When he returns to the Star, he learns that the Puzzler has been kidnapping prominent men with the names of chess pieces (King, Queen, Bishop. etc.).  Tracking the Puzzler to his new lair, he finds the villain has also kidnapped Lois and threatened to kill her with poison gas.  He coerces Superman into another game, this one a card game.  Superman manages to convinced the Puzzler's gang that they are being swindled and as a fight breaks out, Superman uses the distraction to rescue Lois.  Coming to their senses, the mob attacks Superman while the Puzzler once more escapes.  As Superman closes in pursuit, the Puzzler drops into a river and disappears.  Superman gives up the chase, assuming  the Puzzler dead (Action Comics #49).