The local paper started carrying these yesterday (April 23) - the Conceptis puzzles by Dave Green. So, I gave it a shot, but I got stuck. Can anyone help me out?
link?
if it’s what I think it is, Dell (the puzzle people, not the computer folks) has been carrying it for decades as Cross Sums. I happen to like this kind of puzzle almost as much as Sudoku, but find playing it on line annoying
I’ve been addicted to these for years. You can also find them in Dell puzzle magazines as “Cross Sums” or Pennypress as “Sum Totals”.
Start out by looking for blocks that only have one possible combination of numbers. For example… (1+2 =) 3, (1+3=) 4, (7+9=) 16, (8+9=) 17. If a sum of 4 intersects a sum of 3, then you know that the shared cell must be a 1. Similarly, if a 16 intersects a 17, then you know the shared cell is a 9.
Once you get used to the 2-digit fixed sums, start learning the others, like (1+2+3)=6, (1+2+3+4=) 10, (5+6+7+8+9=) 35, etc.
Any block with 9 digits will have to add to 45 and contain every digit from 1 through 9. If you have a block of 8, then you can figure out which number is missing by subtracting the sum from 45. This can often be useful to know. For example, if you have a block of 8 (sum=37) intersecting with a block of 2 (sum=17), then you can reason that the 8-block is missing an 8, so the shared cell must be a 9.
Another common strategy is to look for a section of the puzzle that is only linked to the rest of the puzzle by a single square. For example, suppose one square is sticking out the bottom of a section. Add up all the down sums in that section, subtract all the across sums and the result will be the value that goes in that extra cell.
Finally, get used to figuring out the minimum and maximum numbers in any given block. For example, in a 3-block that adds to 22, the lowest any digit can be is 5, since that would require the others to be 8 and 9.
Good luck and enjoy!
I don’t have a link - it’s a King Features item, I think. Lemme search again…
Here’s a website for them (it’s evidently KAKURO, not KAKURA): http://www.kakuropuzzle.com/
Are you looking for help with the specific puzzle that you’re working on, or just the puzzles in general?