Kakuro Puzzle Books

Kakuro is often called the crossword of numbers. Instead of words, you fill runs of white squares with the digits 1 to 9. Each run has a clue: the total its digits must add up to. And within a run, no digit can be used twice. Runs go across and down, crossing each other like the answers in a crossword, so every square belongs to two runs at once.

The skill is in the combinations. A two-square run totalling 3 can only be 1 and 2; a three-square run totalling 24 can only be 7, 8 and 9. Learn the most useful combinations and the crossing runs start to pin each other down, until the whole grid falls into place. Start with the shortest runs and the most extreme totals: they have the fewest possibilities. It's a lovely mix of mental arithmetic and logic.

Our Kakuro series is 180 Large Print Kakuro, printed in big, easy-to-read type with one puzzle on every page. There are three books. Novice is the place to start if you're new to Kakuro or coming back to it after a break. Adept steps up the challenge for solvers who know the common combinations. Master is for experienced solvers who want large print without giving up a challenge, and it holds 182 puzzles rather than 180.

Large print suits anyone who prefers bigger numbers and more room to write: for comfort, for eyesight, or simply for a more relaxed solve. With one puzzle per page, there's space to note the combinations you're considering beside the grid. Many solvers write the possible combinations for a tricky run in the margin, then cross them off as the crossing runs rule them out.

If you enjoy Kakuro, you may also like Killer Sudoku, which adds cage sums to the Sudoku grid, and Calcudoku, which uses all four operations in its cages. All three reward the same mix of quick sums and careful reasoning.