Customer Reviews

The Book of Kakuro #1

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Just when you thought Sudoku was the latest puzzle to drive you crazy, along comes Kakuro, another Japanese puzzle to become the newest craze. Like Sudoku, Kakuro is really anything but new; it has been in Dell puzzle publications for years under the name "Cross Sums." No matter what you want to call it, however, it is an interesting puzzle with rules as simple as those of Sudoku and that's as maddeningly challenging.

I have two complaints with this book that knock a star off its rating. First, the difficulty ratings seem based more upon the size of the puzzle grid than upon its true difficulty. The first few puzzles in the book have a small grid, but they're not as easy as warm-up puzzles should be. Second, the book's paper is rather pulpy and it is difficult to erase your mistakes. In spite of these glitches, it's still a great way to exercise your gray cells. Try it, and watch the hours disappear.

Eileen Rieback

Yes, I agree that the quality of the paper is poor and the puzzles are all difficult, even the "Easy" ones. However, for those looking for tough puzzles, this book is very good, and outshines the other Kakuro (aka "Add 'Em Up") books I've seen. The difficulty rating really refers only to the size of the grid; i.e., the "Easy" ones have the fewest rows and columns. The techniques required to solve the puzzles are pretty much the same for all difficulty levels.

I would like to mention one technique that is required to solve many, if not most, of the puzzles in this book. That is because it does not seem to be required in other Kakuro books I've seen, and could be a stumbling block for some readers of this book. Consider any rectangular area of the puzzle. Let R be the sum of all entries in this area, when the row totals are summed. Similarly, let C be the sum of all entries when the column totals are summed. Naturally, R = C. Sometimes R can be calculated (i.e., each row total equals the given row sum less the sum of known entries in the row that are outside the given area), and C can expressed C = A - x, where A is a computed constant and x equals the unknown value of a cell that is not in the given region. It follows that x = A - R. (Obviously, the same technique can be employed when C can be computed and R can be expressed R = A - x.) Occasionally, Mepham is particularly devilish, requiring us to extend this approach to obtain an expression x = y + B (or x = B - y), where x and y represent values of two cells outside the area, and B is a computed constant. Together with other information, this may indicate the values of x and y. Clear as mud?

Just like his Sudoku books; 4 levels of difficulty - Gentle, Moderate, Tough and Diabolical.

All of the puzzles make you "use your noodle". I have yet to complete one of his puzzles, although some other Kakuros give me no difficulty solving.

One thing this book has going for it is a primer on solving Kakuro.

This book is such a poor example of an edited puzzle book. Our family does daily kakuro and sudoku puzzles from the paper or other sources. The "gentle" make you think so hard that that it's NO FUN. Don't think anyone tried them before the book was published.

I read other reviews before ordering, and I wanted a bit of a challenge instead of the many Kakuro books that have puzzles so easy you hardly have to think. Like said earlier, all puzzles are hard, even the "easy" ones. One puzzle was repeated. Often there didn't seem to be a logical way to find solutions, so I got there by trail and error, and then the crappy paper (erasing) is no fun, also because some times it seemed that I had for instance found a "1" somewhere to later realize it had pressed through from the puzzle on the other side. Anyway, all in all I just didn't enjoy these puzzles very much. I like a bit harder puzzles, love the Mensa book and the Black Belt Kakuro is good too, but this one, no fun. I stumbled through it because I can't find many other Kakuro books, thinking this was better than nothing, but I can't recommend this book. New Kakuro fans skip it, experienced ones can try it if they've run out of better books.

I was very pleasantly surprised that the 1st puzzle (Gentle) I started was a challenge, actually had to put my numbers into the box to finish the puzzle. I am so used to the easy puzzles taking a minute, that it was nice to get my money's worth from this book. If you want something you can breeze through, this book might not be it; but if you want a book that gives you some challenging gratification, this book rocks! I simply can't put it down! If you are a Kakuro addict, this is a must have issue...

I generally agree with the majority of the comments expressed about this book. Firstly, the puzzles ARE very hard , - yes even those titled "Gentle". As such it could get you down and very frustrated but no doubt Michael Mepham would say that's the whole point. However, it WILL appeal to those people who like challenges so it could score on that point. I think it is absorbing nevertheless.

I first got hooked on Kakuro from an inexpensive paperback so I decided to upgrade to a higher quality book. I found that all the puzzles in this book are difficult, even the ones designated as "easy". For someone with experience solving difficult Kakuro puzzles, this book is challanging. However, if you are a beginner, you will become frustrated trying to solve the first puzzle and might not ever want to try another.