Will Shortz Presents Summertime Pocket Kakuro [Mass Market Paperback]

Will Shortz (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Will Shortz Presents... | Publication Date: May 30, 2006

For sudoku fans looking for a new puzzle to delight and challenge them, Will Shortz, the crossword editor of The New York Times and America's puzzlemaster, presents kakuro. If you've never tried these deceptively simple-looking puzzles, get set: Millions of puzzlers around the globe are already hooked! The object is quite simple: Place a single digit from 1 to 9 in each white square of a crossword-like grid. A clue number, shown in a shaded square, represents the sum of the digits to be placed in the white squares to the right of it (for an Across answer) or beneath it (for a Down answer). No digit is repeated within an answer. Like sudoku, kakuro is a crossword puzzle using numbers. The only skills needed to solve a kakuro puzzle are addition and subtraction (no other math), and a good sense of logic. So pick up your pencil and get ready to see if you can kakuro!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Diabolically addictive."--The New York Post

"A puzzling global phenomenon."--The Economist

"The biggest craze to hit The Times since the first crossword puzzle was published in 1935. Sudoku is dangerous stuff. Forget work and family--think papers hurled across the room and industrial-sized blobs of correction fluid. I love it!"--The Times of London

"England's most addictive newspaper puzzle."--New York magazine

"The latest craze in games."--BBC News

"Sudoku are to the first decade of the twenty-first century what Rubik's Cube was to the 1970s."--The Daily Telegraph

"Britain has a new addiction. Hunched over newspapers on crowded subway trains, sneaking secret peeks in the office, a puzzle-crazy nation is trying to slot numbers into small checkerboard grids."--Associated Press

"Forget crosswords."--The Christian Science Monitor

From the Back Cover

IF YOU LIKE SUDOKU, YOU'LL LOVE KAKURO!

For sudoku fans looking for a new puzzle to delight and challenge them, Will Shortz, the crossword editor of The New York Times and America's puzzlemaster, presents kakuro. If you've never tried these deceptively simple-looking puzzles, get set: Millions of puzzlers around the globe are already hooked! The object is quite simple: Place a single digit from 1 to 9 in each white square of a crossword-like grid. A clue number, shown in a shaded square, represents the sum of the digits to be placed in the white squares to the right of it (for an Across answer) or beneath it (for a Down answer). No digit is repeated within an answer. Like sudoku, kakuro is a crossword puzzle using numbers. The only skills needed to solve a kakuro puzzle are addition and subtraction (no other math), and a good sense of logic. So pick up your pencil and get ready to see if you can kakuro!

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks; 1st edition (May 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312941846
• ISBN-13: 978-0312941840
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,157,295 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good puzzles; however, book has some annoyances., July 25, 2006

By 

J. Stoner "Plants and Books" (Parkville, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Will Shortz Presents Summertime Pocket Kakuro (Mass Market Paperback)

This collection of kakuro contains 150 puzzles ranging from difficulty levels "light and easy" to "beware! very challenging." I go through phases of doing tons of kakuro to doing none at all and this book definately has a lot to offer even the starting kakuro solver. There is a nice combinations table at the beginning of the book for those of us that like to have the possible combinations given instead of trying to figure them all out. The table provides all possible combinations for numbers and clues that have only one or two solutions (i.e. 11: 1, 2, 3, 5 and 12: 1, 2, 3, 6; 1, 2, 4, 5). The few other books I have encountered have only show the clues that have only one possible solution. That is one of the reasons I got this book.

I am annoyed with some aspects of this collection. Some of the puzzles have starting numbers already filled in the puzzle. I have no idea why this is; but I wish it was completely empty. I also don't like the fact that the clue number boxes are colored in. It makes it difficult to quickly read the number. Finally, the paper quality is not optimal and easily rips or tears with a sharp pencil. I have found that if you place scotch tape over the entire puzzle it makes it more sturdy and you can easily erase pencil from the tape. It also seems that there are more easier level puzzles and fewer of the harder difficulty levels, which may trouble some more advanced puzzlers. Of course, if you are starting out, this book contains 65 of the easiest difficulty levels.

Overall, this is a nice book if you can get over the small things mentioned (or if those things do not bother you). Good luck!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Puzzles are too small, February 22, 2008

By 

GusEmery "keeping it simple" (Arroyo Grande, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Will Shortz Presents Summertime Pocket Kakuro (Mass Market Paperback)

I am an avid Kakuro fan and have purchased quite a few books. I was excited to see a book by Will Shortz because he has such a good name in the puzzle field. But I was very disappointed by this collection. The puzzels are simply too small. I enjoy a puzzle that is at least 10 x 10, I prefer even larger puzzle, ones that take up the full page. This book is filled with small puzzles, some are tough to complete but don't have the complexity of a larger puzzle.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Bad Printing, September 6, 2009

By 

Michael Brady "ThreeTikis" (Las Vegas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Will Shortz Presents Summertime Pocket Kakuro (Mass Market Paperback)

The clue numbers are printed in black with a gray background. In the copy I received, the gray backgound was printed so dark on many of the puzzles that the number could not be read and the puzzles are useless.